I read that Carroll O'Connor disliked live audiences. AITF was no longer filmed before a live audience after the seventh season (it GREATLY affected the pacing!) And Archie Bunker's Place never used a live audience (except the one time when Edith, Mike and Gloria all had Thanksgiving dinner together in the first season.)

Do you think that is why the pacing in this show was flat? I remember Archie in this series seemed to mumble his lines. He was so lethargic!

I haven't seen ABP, so I can't comment it on being flat, but AITF was recorded in front of a live audience until the end of the 8th season, not the 7th.

Source: Season 8 DVD

I read that Carroll O'Connor disliked live audiences. AITF was no longer filmed before a live audience after the seventh season (it GREATLY affected the pacing!) And Archie Bunker's Place never used a live audience (except the one time when Edith, Mike and Gloria all had Thanksgiving dinner together in the first season.)

Do you think that is why the pacing in this show was flat? I remember Archie in this series seemed to mumble his lines. He was so lethargic!


It is more stressful filming in front of a live audience, perhaps because the heat is on for the performer to be more disciplined in how he delivers his lines, and how the flow of the taping goes. Without a studio audience, things are more lax, and any line reciting mistakes are not keeping the audience there longer and can be taken out on the cutting room floor. I remember someone I know telling me that she went to an According to Jim taping, and she was there for like 3 or 4 hours. Everything had to be perfect. After a while, she got a little squirmish.