Season 31 Premiere Week Set Question

[PayingTheRent]

I’ve often wondered why S31 premiered with virtually the same set as S30, only to be overhauled with new doors and the Hollywood mural turntable walls (along with a few other minor changes) the second episode into the season. 

Until I looked at the taping calendar, I just assumed the premiere show was taped well before the rest of the week, but it was actually a matter of only a few days (2231K taped on 6/20/02, 2232K taped on 6/24/02).  It just seems odd to me that the set changes weren’t already made in time for the premiere’s taping — or that the old set wasn’t simply used for the remainder of the week for consistency’s sake, especially with such little time separating the taping dates.

Does anyone know if there was a particular reason for this?  I’m sure there might have been discussion on this topic back when it happened, only to have become lost with time...

[Thatgameshowguy]

IIRC Roger had said the reason they didn't keep the doors was because 31 wasn't a nice round number like 30, but they still wanted to celebrate it for that one day. I'm not sure about the rest of the set though.

[tpirfan28]

Was the premiere the second episode of the day taped?

[PayingTheRent]

Was the premiere the second episode of the day taped?

The premiere (2231K) taped on 6/20, the second episode (2232K) taped on 6/24.

[tpirfan28]

The premiere (2231K) taped on 6/20, the second episode (2232K) taped on 6/24.

I meant was it the "B" show of the tape day (meaning the S30 finale taped first, then the S31 premiere).

EDIT:  Found the answer, I think...wasn't Bob taping episodes in a 2-1-1-1 pattern?  That would put the S31 premiere on a Thursday with other S30 episodes, and #2 the following Monday.  They might not have had enough time to flip the entire set?