Yesterday evening, I attended a taping of the new ABC comedy, Better With You starring JoAnna Garcia as Mia, Jennifer Finnigan as Maddie, Josh Cooke as Ben, Jake Lacy as Casey, with Kurt Fuller as Joel and Debra Jo Rupp as Vicky.

Maddie and Ben have been dating for nine years. They know each other inside and out, a relationship marked by contentment and affection, seeing their commitment to one another as a “valid life choice,” something they proclaim often—and often loudly. Maddie’s younger sister, Mia, has been dating Casey for seven weeks. With a shared c’est la vie attitude, Mia and Casey are smitten with each other, and thrilled to explore the oh-so-many things they don’t know about each other yet. But when they announce they’re getting married and having a baby, it’s news that throws Maddie for a loop. Surprisingly, the girls’ parents, Vicky and Joel, couldn’t be more pleased. Married 35 years, they have recently adopted a carpe diem sort of philosophy, rather like Mia’s, maybe because they’re getting older and lost a good portion of their savings when the economy tanked. With three very different relationships tightly intertwined in one family, will it be free thinkers vs. over-thinkers, or will each couple begin to see things a little bit differently?

Better With You is executive produced and written by Shana Goldberg-Meehan. The pilot was directed by James Burrows.

The episode that was being filmed I believe was the fifth episode. The taping was scheduled to begin at 5 pm, I arrived to get in line around 3 pm, and left the studio just shy of 11 pm. Yep, this was quite a long taping, but I hung in there and had a nice time seeing the cast and crew of Better With You at work. I originally sat in the far left second seat of the last row in the first of the three seating sections…but towards the last few scenes of the episode, I moved up 3 rows since a few people left as the evening started to get late. There were about 6 rows in each section and 4 television monitors for the entire audience. The warm up guy, Robert was very entertaining throughout the entire taping. He is very creative and his off the cuff humor reminds me of Chelsea Handler.

As per usual, the Pilot was screened before the taping began. The Pilot was entertaining as it introduced the three couples at three different stages in their relationships. After being introduced to these characters, I know that this show has a lot of potential. So hopefully viewers tune in and give these characters a chance.

Once the Pilot was screened, the main cast members came out to say hello and then headed to the opposite side of where I was sitting. Mind you, I am the biggest fan of Joanna Garcia on this show and the set of her character’s home was on the opposite side of where I was sitting. So, I wasn’t too thrilled with my seating arrangement, but what can you do? Not only that but I really do not understand how the ushers were seating people. Tickets are based on a first come, first served basis but it really doesn’t matter when you come…because if you are second in line, like I was, you will be seated in the back. Since I’m talking views…Maddie & Ben’s home (living room and kitchen) take up the right and middle of the stage. Mia and Casey’s home (living room and kitchen is to the left. The entrance to Vicky and Joel’s home is next to the Mia & Casey set but not in view of the audience. Across from that and also out of view was the firehouse set. This set was built just for this episode and that is as far as I will go in spoilers.

I want to say that three scenes were pre-taped, but I do not remember the exact count. All of these scenes were flashbacks. From what I have heard, there are flashbacks in every episode to show the back story for the characters. Flash backs don’t always work well but it works perfectly for this show. The writing overall is just good. The story lines intertwine in such a well written way and I am really looking forward to seeing what other crazy situations (such as the firehouse conflict) these couples get themselves into.

There weren’t too many blooper moments or variation in the punch lines throughout takes. But I loved almost every variation of the punch lines that were thrown out there. So it will be very interesting to see which jokes make the final cut. What’s funny is that each scene was shot only 3-5 times and yet the taping lasted for hours. Sometimes the audience would laugh too loud, so the scene had to be re-shot. Sometimes the audience did not laugh enough, so the writers gathered around to re-write. Also there were plenty of pick ups and a few voice overs that were completed as well. Then after a 20 minute break filled with a wardrobe change and pizza and water for the audience, there was a sound issue. An overhead light bulb was making a buzzing sound, which interfered with playback and it took awhile to find the light bulb that was causing the conflict. At another time, one of the actors had a shadow, which was not in the script, so it needed to be fixed. There are so many things to take into account and it seemed those little things came to light at this taping. So it really brought to light just how important every aspect of every one, every prop, and everything is when shooting.

Finally, the episode wrapped and the remaining audience members cheered on the entire cast and crew for the curtain call. Even though it was the end of the night for the audience, it wasn’t the end of the night for the cast and crew. Even though it was closing in on 11 pm, the cast and crew still had at least 3 hours of work to do with pick ups and such for the first few episodes of the show. So kudos to everyone on this show and in the industry working such erratic hours of the day. Really, thank you.

Better With You films in front of a live audience at CBS Studios in Studio City, CA.

Better With You premieres Wednesday, September 22, 2010 at 8:30/7:30c on ABC.