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The Bill Engvall Show on TBS, Episode 2

Hey everyone! Hope that you all enjoyed the pilot episode of The Bill Engvall Show (Tuesdays at 9 pm/ET, on TBS). When I am traveling around the country doing my live shows, people are always asking me how long it takes to shoot a show like ours, so I thought that we would dedicate this blog to telling you how a typical sitcom is made.

Usually we receive the next week's scripts on Thursday night, after the taping of the previous week's show. Then we all show up Friday morning and do what we call a table read. It is basically exactly what it sounds like: We all sit around a table and read the script out loud. I always enjoy this because it is funny to me to see everyone come dragging in after a late night of taping. Needless to say, the coffee is the first thing to go. After the reading, which usually takes about an hour even though the show is only 30 minutes (I never figured that one out), we — meaning me, Nancy and the kids — all go home for the weekend. The writers then retire to the writing room and begin making changes to the script. You know, making things funnier that maybe didn't get a laugh during the table read. Then sometime late Friday night the person that I like to call the "script fairy" drops off my script at my doorstep. They are like the tooth fairy — you never see them, but like magic the script is there. Then we have all weekend to look over the story and begin learning our lines.

On Monday morning we all show up at the stage and do another table read for the writers. After that we begin rehearsing the show. We start with the first scene and work our way through. We will usually work for about four hours and then we will break for lunch. After lunch we begin finishing up the rehearsing, because that afternoon we do what is called a producers' run-through. This is basically the first time that anyone has seen the show run from the beginning to the end. This is always a stressful time for me, because we are still learning the lines and trying to remember where we are supposed to stand and move and react — all while the producers and writers are watching to see what works and what doesn't. When we are finished, the actors head home. The writers, however, go back into the writing room and make further changes to the script. Then late that night guess who shows up again? That's right, the script fairy.

Now it is Tuesday and we all arrive at the stage to start rehearsing again. Now remember, we were learning one thing and maybe it is still there... and maybe it has changed. That day is pretty much like Monday except that today the "network people" show up. (These would be the executives from TBS.) We do another top-to-bottom show for them that afternoon. Afterwards, they give us their notes for the show and further changes. Then once again, you-know-who shows up late at night with another script.

Wednesday is what we call blocking day. This is when the camera operators show up and we do the show scene by scene so that they can set the shots that you see on TV. This can be a very long day because each scene and every movement has to be written down so that when they are shooting it, they know exactly where to go.

Thursday is tape day, the day that we shoot the show. We basically do another run-through and finalize all our movements. By now, everyone is supposed to have the script memorized, but that doesn't always happen. At 5 o'clock the audience is in their seats and at five minutes before six I come out and the cast is introduced and away we go.

Filming usually takes about three hours. When we are finished we say "good night" and get our script for next week.

Well, there you go, the typical week in a sitcom. See ya next time and tell all your friends to watch The Bill Engvall Show on TBS.