OT: Why Is ABC Airing In Justice complely Out Of Order?

[mhadley]

First, they start the series with the third damn episode (which
references the first 2 episodes THAT HAVE NOT AIRED), then they air the pilot, then the second episode.

The nets seem to have absolutly no desire to give the audience the
complete/correct story so why even bother airing them then if they make no sense?

Would Lost or Desperate Housewives be hits if ABC had aired the 3rd episodes first, then the 6th episode, then the 9th episode, then the pilot? Hell no, so why **** can so many other series by ignoring the continuity order? Sometimes the producers fight like hell (and still lose) to get them shown in the correct order (like Firefly and Crusade and Homicide) but it still does not matter.

Here are some other examples of shows with completly ****ed continuities due to airing out of order:

Earth 2: One of the episodes aired at the very end of the series (3rd
from the end I think) was meant to be seen around episode 7. Okay, so we get a DVD release of Earth 2, you would THINK that Universal would put the episodes in the correct order would you not? Nope, air date order so they still make little continuity sense. Note, when reaired on Scifi Channel, they aired IN ORDER.

SeaQuest 2032: A main character gets killed midway through season 3,
but hey, don't worry, according to the way NBC airs these he is just
fine again in 2 more episodes in which he is alive that air after his
death episode. Note, when reaired on Scifi Channel, they aired IN
ORDER.

The Job: They aired what was obviously filmed as the series finale
(closed off many storylines, one of which never even started as the
episode that began it did not air until AFTER the finale).....then they aired 3 more episodes all that take place before that (obviously). I was wondering while watching the show what the hell they were talking about now and then and it turns out that was because the episode bering referred to had not aired yet. Everyones hair kept getting longer and shorter as well between episodes as well.

Action: Aired wildly out of order to the point of not even making sense by the time FOX axed it, hell, of the 5 episodes unaired by FOX, 3 of them take place before the last 2 FOX aired. Note, when reaired on FX, they aired IN ORDER.

Homicide: Life On The Street: Some goofs later on but nothing as bad
as having "Night Of The Dead Living" air so out of order that it need a card at the beginning to frame it as a flashback to explain the time of year it takes place and that a character that got shot in the head and blinded was now fine again. Note, these were also not aired in CONTINUITY order when reaired on CourtTV. For some reason CourtTV aired them in Production order rather then continuity order, but I think it was season 3 or 4 was not filmed in the order the episodes take place so all of sudden you have Pemblton recovering from a stroke in one episode, then 3 episodes later CourtTV showed the episode where he HAD the stroke.

Brimstone: Episode 5 (I think) opens with Ezekial getting his coat
fixed from the bullet holes in it, the next episode is where the bullet holes GET in the jacket.

The Practice: "Season 2" as aired on ABC was partially made up of
unaired episodes from season 1, so you would assume those would air
first right? Nope, so not only are storylines jumping all around but
Lara Flynn Boyle keeps appearing and disappearing from the show (and
the opening credits).

Freakylinks: The last 6 eps or so aired wildly out of order. They kept referring to events in the past tense that would happen in following weeks.

Breaking News: They had an episode air that started with "Previously On Breaking News" with scenes and a subplot that we had not seen and a story that (as aired) made no sense, then the next week they showed the episode that the "Previously On Breaking News" scenes were from and (looking back) it now made sense.

The Others: After what was obviously the series (or season as they
might have thought it at the time) finale they aired another episode,
that obviously was meant to be the second or third episode. Like that it makes no sense.

Baywatch Nights: Okay first, I know this was not a high caliber show
but it's one of my guilty pleasures, a goofy detective show and then a poor-mans X-files (I like Angie Harmon too) but it also fits my
examples. The first episode called "Pilot" was obviously not meant to be such as it starts out with these new characters and no introduction at all, just throws them at you. Now, episode 7 (framed as a flashback) is obviously the real pilot as it shows how they get
together AND everyone looks younger since it was shot months before the episode called "Pilot".

Why is this still happening on the nets? Most Cable shows on
channels like Scifi, FX, USA etc.... air in order. Why can't the nets do this? The way they do this I am surprised that really continuity heavy shows of old where aired in order (like Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere, NYPD Blue, Twin Peaks, The X-Files etc...).

When I make DVD sets I try and put them in the correct order rather then the air order.

Another quick gaff I have since I am on a roll, don't you hate it
when you watch a show and see scenes in the "Previously On..." segment that NEVER AIRED? I know that episodes run long sometimes and scenes have to be cut, but if they are important enough that you keep referering to them maybe they should not have been cut don't you think?
Farscape did this more than once where a subplot would be continuing but the viewers never saw it start outside of the "Previously On Farscape" segment. The Practice did this twice in it's final season too.