Early "live" studio experiment

[richheart]

The episode shown a few days ago where Fonzie was going to get married to a "virgin", until he found out she was really a stripper, was filmed live. But it wasn't like the usual live Happy Days. The house still had the old floor plan, and Chuck was mentioned.

The "official" first live episode happened later. They announce it at the beginning of the show. The house is also in that inverted, illogical format that would become permanent. I think it's the one where Arnold first appears, as a mystery martial arts instructor.

[richheart]

I also noticed a brief shot of Gary Marshall. He's behind the bar in the strip club. Either a bartender or a dishwasher or something.

The shot of him lasts about 5 seconds and looks totally strange and out of place. Almost scary. He's just standing there looking at something or someone.

[TV Guy]

Originally posted by richheart
The episode shown a few days ago where Fonzie was going to get married to a "virgin", until he found out she was really a stripper, was filmed live. But it wasn't like the usual live Happy Days. The house still had the old floor plan, and Chuck was mentioned.

Yeah, this was a test episode to see how the show would work in front of an audience. Obviously, the producers considered it a success. You'll notice, though, that the dining room table was moved into the living room for this episode, and the family ate dinner there. The dining room couldn't be used for episodes with the live audience, because the audience's view would have been obstructed. That's why it was eliminated when the show went with the live audience permanently.