I like that the set looks bigger now. I bet I could sit in the audience for hours fish-eyed, just staring at the color-changing patterns. If they would hold on a wide shot of the set for more than a couple of seconds, the massive color changing would probably look better on TV -- the effect doesn't come across as well when, for example, they show the families clapping during the credits and you can only see the center wall.
As for continuity, I don't remember the name of the winning family from last season's final episode, but on the Monday episode of the CBS2 run in Los Angeles, Richard made a passing comment to the head of the Rudolph family that it had been about two months since he'd seen them. So I think that one of the runs is going in proper chronological order.
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Scott Robinson