What sitcom would you say paid absolutely no attention to past episodes and followed no continuity (for the most part)?

My vote would go to “The Golden Girls”.

I'm a fan of Leave It To Beaver, but the show had a fair amount of continuity problems.

Some shows have a script continuity credit...I think they all need that, and maybe fewer executive producers. Somebody needs to "know the show."

"MASH" was pretty bad, but not as bad as "THE ODD COUPLE"

Saved By the Bell. They moved from Indianapolis to Bayside, California, and no-one noticed. Their friends Mikey and Nikki go missing, and no-one talks about it. Three-fourths of the staff disappear between seasons, and no-one mentions them again. Zach's father has a face transplant, and it's hushed up. Then even Kelly and Jessie disappear, replaced by a girl named Tori. Then she, too, disappears, and Kelly and Jessie are suddenly back without explanation. No-one even blinks an eye. Do I even need to mention the other disappearing characters? Stacy Carosi and her father, Max the magician, Kelly's boyfriend Jeff, Violet Bickerstaff... it was like a serial killer was loose, and everyone refused to mention all these people were disappearing.

I'm a fan of Leave It To Beaver, but the show had a fair amount of continuity problems.

Some shows have a script continuity credit...I think they all need that, and maybe fewer executive producers. Somebody needs to "know the show."barbra billingsley herself said that they changed junes backstory so much that she herself became very confused by the changes

They changed minor characters' last names, Beaver had the measles twice, they used June's maiden name Bronson for a babysitter. Ward's backstory is also confusing.

As I said on the Beaver forum, stuff like this is less noticeable over a 6 year run, than a 6 month syndicated run.

The show definitely needed somebody in charge of continuity.

Re the comment above about SBTB moving: I love it when the stars relocate to a faraway city, and the whole cast just happens to move there, also. Like Laverne and Shirley. Or when cast members leave, and their existence is wiped out, like Buzz and Sonya on Mama's Family.

As I said on the Beaver forum, stuff like this is less noticeable over a 6 year run, than a 6 month syndicated run.
I think that’s the case with all shows. No one noticed these things in its original run but with the invention of syndication and DVDs, we all rewatch things and dissect/analyze everything.

Re the comment above about SBTB moving: I love it when the stars relocate to a faraway city, and the whole cast just happens to move there, also.


Yeah, who moves to a new state with their friends? Are we really supposed to believe that four families (Belding, Morris, Turtle, and Powers) simultaneously moved to the West Coast? If so, how did the school building get there, too? The producers obviously didn't care about continuity at all, and if they believed that setting the show on Mars would help ratings, Zach Morris and his friends would have grown antennae.





Like Laverne and Shirley.


It was clear the writers on L&S were out of ideas. The California years were terrible. Even worse was when Shirley left, leaving just a note. Shirley wouldn't do that, and was obviously kidnapped. Why didn't Laverne figure it out?





Or when cast members leave, and their existence is wiped out, like Buzz and Sonya on Mama's Family.


Never really watched that one, but I hate it when a character is Chuck Cunninghammed out of existence.

I think that’s the case with all shows. No one noticed these things in its original run but with the invention of syndication and DVDs, we all rewatch things and dissect/analyze everything.


But TV syndication has existed since at least the 1950s.

Or when cast members leave, and their existence is wiped out, like Buzz and Sonya on Mama's Family.
At least they were mentioned once when the show went into syndication. I guess once is better than none.

But TV syndication has existed since at least the 1950s.

True, but no way was it like it is now. Almost all channels now show sitcom reruns.

True, but no way was it like it is now. Almost all channels now show sitcom reruns.


Good point about the number of reruns. The sheer number of channels, now, exposes viewers to more variety than what was ever possible during previous TV eras. When I was a kid, we only had four, then five, channels. My grandparents had cable, but even in that era, the number of channels was limited. There definitely weren't 500 channels.

That 70s Show, especially once they decided the show should stay stuck in 1978.

Saved by the Bell's continuity problems are a whole nother level of being all over the place and carelessness.

I was a kid in the 60s, and I don't remember shows in reruns that doubled up on episodes every day. Maybe a show syndicated for weekends would show two together instead of one each on Saturday and Sunday. But this thing where shows double up every day, or show what amount to mini-marathons, that was unimagined.


Yep. It was the same in the 1970s, with very few exceptions.


(The big exception I can think of, in the late 1970s, was Pinwheel/early Nickelodeon, which would air back-to-back episodes of Pinwheel in marathons for many hours of the weekday morning.)

Saved by the Bell's continuity problems are a whole nother level of being all over the place and carelessness.


Indeed. Very sloppy "continuity".

The Honeymooners, especially the Lost Episodes had a lack of continuity. It seems that Alice has different brothers and sisters.

I think the problem with MASH was that a real army unit would not function at all like they did. In real life personnel would come and go and no one would be stuck in the unit for their entirety of service. We would be believed that Hawkeye was stuck at the camp until the duration of the war, when in reality, a field surgeon did maybe a few months out in the field and he sent somewhere else. Commanders would change often. There wouldn’t be the comradere between the people at the unit because of the frequent changes of command and staff.

Other military sitcoms are like this. Gomer Pyle is a good example. He has the same DI (Gunnery Sargeant not Sargeant) Carter and then sent to a base with the same Gunnery Sargeant and most of the people you did Basic with? Let’s say in Gomer’s Universe there is more or less World Peace and no wars at that time, Gomer would have moved from post to post, been promoted in rank, at least to Sargeant E-3 and possibly a rifle instructor (wore a Marine First Class Rifleman medal), until the bigwigs found out he could sing like he did, and was funny and was transferred to the USO as a performer.

The Honeymooners, especially the Lost Episodes had a lack of continuity. It seems that Alice has different brothers and sisters.also in the lost episodes the Kramdens front door changes sometimes.

Saved By the Bell.

The Indianapolis years was actually a Disney program, Good Morning, Miss Bliss, with Hailey Mills, as their teacher. That series was cancelled, and NBC picked it up, and moved them to California. In the syndication package, they repackaged a few episodes as, "Bell."

The Brady Bunch comes to mind first. I've never done a chronological viewing of the show. There was a VH1 series called Pop-up Brady, where they would show full episodes (syndicated versions) and have these facts pop up just like on pop-up video. There were a lot of continuity errors pointed out during the episodes I watched.

The Indianapolis years was actually a Disney program, Good Morning, Miss Bliss, with Hailey Mills, as their teacher. That series was cancelled, and NBC picked it up, and moved them to California. In the syndication package, they repackaged a few episodes as, "Bell."

I'm aware that the GMMB episodes were repackaged as SBTB. But if they were going to take cast members from one show (and the set) and put it on another, and even repackage episodes of one show as another, they should have tried to keep the continuity. Have Nikki and Mikey come back for a couple of episodes, for example, or bring in Miss Bliss as a one-time guest star. And it would have cost NO money whatsoever to keep the existing continuity such as Zach's parents' names, etc., so why even change that?

Same with the later episodes, with the Tori situation: have Slater or Lisa mention that Kelly and Jessie are gone for a couple of weeks due to a field trip to Washington, DC. That would have been sooo easy to explain: they were only missing for ten episodes, scattered throughout the season. Then, once Jessie and Kelly come back, have Tori appear alongside them for a couple of episodes so it doesn't look like the school can only have six students.

How difficult would it have been to have Belding on the phone with "Tina"? Easy. And it wouldn't have cost the production any money at all for Zach, Lisa, or Screech to mention they'd just run into Nikki in the hall.

Most shows try to provide this type of continuity, but SBTB didn't bother.

Boy Meets World

Saved By the Bell. They moved from Indianapolis to Bayside, California, and no-one noticed. Their friends Mikey and Nikki go missing, and no-one talks about it. Three-fourths of the staff disappear between seasons, and no-one mentions them again. Zach's father has a face transplant, and it's hushed up. Then even Kelly and Jessie disappear, replaced by a girl named Tori. Then she, too, disappears, and Kelly and Jessie are suddenly back without explanation. No-one even blinks an eye. Do I even need to mention the other disappearing characters? Stacy Carosi and her father, Max the magician, Kelly's boyfriend Jeff, Violet Bickerstaff... it was like a serial killer was loose, and everyone refused to mention all these people were disappearing.

There was another one. When the group was part of a band, Jessie was missing from that episode or episodes. I think it spanned more than one episode but when I look online, it shows it was just one fantasy episode.

I think pre Kelly/Jessie/Slater episodes, I could give a pass for missing characters (Mikey/Nikki, etc.) from the Disney version never shown or talked about again. Can also give a pass for minor, uninteresting characters like the boyfriends of Kelly and Jessie not shown again.

But once Kelly/Jessie were regulars, it was odd when they were not on episodes, i.e not included on the episodes in last season and no mention of either of the two or both, as you mentioned. And poor Tori. Just in there as a replacement, and once Kelly is back, completely out of the picture and never explained, and not considered for the College Years spinoff. I actually liked the introduction of Tori. She was like Jo from Facts of Life, as she had a edge and not so goody two shoes like the rest of the group, but not caustic either like Staci Carosi (Leah Remini), although I thought Kelly and Jessie should have not both been missing or not explained about.

I think the Staci Carosi episodes were just a season over the summer. She was never part of Bayside High.

There was another one. When the group was part of a band, Jessie was missing from that episode or episodes. I think it spanned more than one episode but when I look online, it shows it was just one fantasy episode.

There was only one Zach Attack episode that I'm aware of.


I think pre Kelly/Jessie/Slater episodes, I could give a pass for missing characters (Mikey/Nikki, etc.) from the Disney version never shown or talked about again.

Not me. Why repackage the GMMB episodes, even create new opening credits for them, if you're going to completely ignore those episodes' continuity at every moment?


But once Kelly/Jessie were regulars, it was odd when they were not on episodes, i.e not included on the episodes in last season and no mention of either of the two or both, as you mentioned.

Yep! And it wouldn't have cost them any money to drop in a line about why they were gone. At least try to be a show, SBTB! :lol:


And poor Tori. Just in there as a replacement, and once Kelly is back, completely out of the picture and never explained, and not considered for the College Years spinoff. I actually liked the introduction of Tori. She was like Jo from Facts of Life, as she had a edge and not so goody two shoes like the rest of the group, but not caustic either like Staci Carosi (Leah Remini), although I thought Kelly and Jessie should have not both been missing or not explained about.

I agree that there was a "Jo" factor to Tori, and that they should have tried to continue her character after Jessie and Kelly came back. At least give her a farewell episode, producers!

The worst part is that I have seen promos of the show where they gathered the cast, including Tori and Kelly and Jessie, so they were all on set at least for a while.


I think the Staci Carosi episodes were just a season over the summer. She was never part of Bayside High.

That's true. She didn't go to Bayside. But that didn't mean the characters couldn't mention their summer away from Bayside, after those episodes. It was like they did those episodes, and then completely forgot they existed.

Was the repackaging of GMMB into syndication, well after the NBC SBTB was produced?

I kind of think those GMMB episodes like the first season of Facts of Life with all those different girls, or first season of Charles in Charge with the different family. Somewhat useless episodes that aren't as enjoyable when re-watched, could be obliterated. Ironically, for several other shows, it's the last seasons when new characters are introduced that should be obliterated.

Another point - I also kind of think it's okay to forget about the middle school years. Even in life, I made a few friends in middle school (or kids who I would play with), only to come into H.S. and find out those friends moved away over one summer. To me, there was no explanation and was like a disappearance without notice. Phone numbers changed or lost. This was well before the Facebook/smartphone days where everyone is connected.

The Flintstones seems to have the worst continuity, since nothing is standardized. Everything from their address to the boss's name! In Dino Goes Hollyrock, Dino's dog food offers an autographed picture of Sassy, but changes to a paid appearance on the Sassy show in the same episode!

The Flintstones seems to have the worst continuity, since nothing is standardized. Everything from their address to the boss's name! In Dino Goes Hollyrock, Dino's dog food offers an autographed picture of Sassy, but changes to a paid appearance on the Sassy show in the same episode!

The set backgrounds changed constantly, also. Different animators must never have compared notes.

Barney's voice changes are accounted for by Me Blanc's auto accident.