Before the show went from a single camera/laugh track format to multi-camera filming in front a studio audience, in the third season, there was a single episode shot in the second season in front of a studio audience that was used as a test ("Fonzie Gets Married"). Below is a link. I'm curious: In this episode, the living room set that was designed for this live audience test is almost identical to the original single-camera set. They just removed the "fourth wall" and expanded the side walls a bit for visibility to the studio audience. So why in the third season did they design a completely different set that looked hardly anything like the original (e.g. the front door is no longer by the staircase)? It made it seem as if they were living in an entirely different home. It seems more logical for them to have kept using the set from this test episode.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaotDGdqUbY

The original set was also lit differently -- it always seemed darker.

Maybe because the first live episode was a test, they didn't want to spend money on a new set. Once they decided to go with shooting in front of a live audience, maybe they wanted a bigger set so that they could shoot it more easily.

The original set was also lit differently -- it always seemed darker.

Maybe because the first live episode was a test, they didn't want to spend money on a new set. Once they decided to go with shooting in front of a live audience, maybe they wanted a bigger set so that they could shoot it more easily.

My point is that the set on that test episode is NOT the same set they were normally shooting on during the first two seasons. You have to look very carefully and you'll see it's NOT the same set, although it appears to be (the right side of the living room is different, as is the left side of the kitchen). Perhaps it made use of the original set, modifying it and moving it to a space where they could accommodate bleachers full of a few hundred people. So my point is that they apparently DID spend money to construct some sort of a live audience set. Yet when the show began shooting regularly in front of a studio audience they built yet another one. If it's a question of lighting, relighting a set is not such a big deal. And if they wanted to expand the set, they could have done that without totally changing it. If for whatever reason they were going to totally change it, they should have written an episode where the Cunninghams move to a new house . . . and don't take Chuck with them.

One distinctive difference I notice, at 24:33, Marion enters the living room from the doorway on the right side. You can see through the door that the very next room is the kitchen (see first illustration, below). But on the regular set, the living room is separated from the kitchen by a dining room (see second illustration). So there's no dining room in this test episode. And the dining room table and chairs are in the front of the living room (see first illustration).

I find it hard watching season 2 and 3 cause of the house. It kinda spoils the continuity.