View Full Version : Do show writers really plan the season? (warning, long)


DTF955
08-29-2006, 10:09 AM
Does anyone think that writers don’t plan things? Well, here’s proof they at least don’t know weather or not (Sorry, should have put in a bad pun warning :- )

Season 4’s “Crimes and Michelle’s Misdemeanor” must take place mid-October, this from a person in a Bay Area chamber of commerce. I asked, as a writer, when leaves fell, they said mid-October is most realistic to have leaves on the ground. Not only that, but August through early October is the warmest of the year in that area, surely it’s not going to be too cold for Michelle to swim in her wading pool outdoors till about middle October, where I place it. So, right away, we have one set in stone as middle October.

Which means that .the teaser must be before other episodes. I believe in keeping episodes intact, but if something has to be separated, it’s the teaser. Most don’t have any connection with the episode. So, unless it’s clearly connected via scene (“like Viva Las Joey” leads into the opening) or concept (The “Funny Buddy” stuff later in “Silence Is Not Golden”) it can be at any time. This was established before in the naming of Comet, so it’s consistent in the new Chronology. There’s nothing that says, for instance, that on that exact day Jesse tried to teach michelle left from right, for instance.

Now, that leads me to “One last Kiss,” and the writers’ next lack of planning. Okay, because of Pam Jesse was in school the day before he was supposed to graduate, because she took him to school and suspected…well, you’ll have to read the Chronology to see. That’s not the real problem. What is?

D.J.’s already editor of the paper? So it must come after at leas the start of “Good News, Bad News,” which it does. However, Comet turns a year old that day, which throws any chance of the “birthday party” just being for fun out the window. The puppies would be smaller than what was filmed at their birth. And, they had to be separated from their mom after at least 3 weeks of weaning, and 4 of preferred. I’ll be blunt, Comet would *never* do as well as he did without that initial time with the litter, and Frank never would have let them keep one. In fact, the puppies look to be about a month old at the end of that episode.

The problem is that the dogs were in Jesse’s bed. They’re not going to go far for long, and yet almost every episode has Comet – without the others - in it after that one. Most have Jesse’s room with no dogs living there, So, that episode must take place at least a month before “Divorce Court,” which must take place on the weekend of Halloween. See what I mean? The writers just seemed to forget that fact if they thought “One Last Kiss” took place any later than September.

Now, it *is* possible that it takes place Sept. 29, Comet came the 29th and Frank got the other dogs the 26th. If that were the case, the dogs would be there through the earthquake. I may poll on that later for a future edition of the Chronology, if I feel enough else can be altered. However, that still means…

“Good New, Bad News” must take place in September, as D.J. has just been named editor of her paper. Another area where writers don’t plan all that well. Why? Why have an episode that takes place in late October mention that she has *just* been made editor? She could have been for a while, and Kimmy could have been asking for something more than just menial work on the paper. D.J. also says “the only position left to fill” is sports editor. That totally throws out any hope that a previous editor couldn’t do it because it took too much time; else she’d have said that it needs filled. Unless the whole staff got thrown out, but that makes it sound like Kimmy ran it from the start, and she didn’t :- )

“The I.Q. Man” must come before “Good News, Bad News,” meaning it’s in September, also. I struggled to get it into labor Day week. Could they have started school 2 weeks before Labor day, sure, for one year it’s possible. Even one week works, because D.J. could have learned about running a business the previous spring. Indeed, they 8could* have talked briefly about it that previous week while leading up to “Career Day” after Labor Day. That’s what I figure happened.

It does all seem to work okay, except that “Slumber Party” has the attic being fixed up as an office. I figure that Jesse and Joey could easily have used someplace else since it’s not mentioned as that episode that it is the attic. I base that on the fact that the same prop house seems to be used for Aaron’s house as for Brian’s, even though they are clearly different homes. Props aren’t canon, the story is. So, they could have fixed up the attic a month later, and the prop used at the start of “Good news, bad news” is a different place that just happens to look like the fixed up attic studio.

Now, if later I poll about the puppies being there during the quake and get a positive response, I will move “Slumber Party” after “I.Q. Man” but, it must be at least a week after, not the same week, before Steph’s cold must get better, and so must Michelle’s. “Slumber Party” would thus be mid-September, with “Good News, Bad news” the next week, and “One Last Kiss” on the 29th. That would work.

However, while the teaser can take place at any time, the episode “Crimes and Michelle’s Misdemeanor” must take place in mid-October.

Thankfully, season 5 should be much better in terms of order of episodes. And, unlike season 4, most of season 6 can fit before the required placement of Disneyworld in February, and the ones that must be afterward don’t cause a problem. The writers may well have learned to plan ahead a little by this time.

fullhousefan91619
08-29-2006, 03:18 PM
You posted the EXACT same thing at TV.com

DTF955
09-04-2006, 03:08 PM
Aren't there a couple different sets of readers?or are they pretty much the same. Maybe they are. But, I imagine there are a few who only read one.