Lack of Continuity - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

McGillicuddy · 03-23-2009, 11:12 AM

I posted on the Golden Girls forum my dismay to the lack of continuity throughout the show. I think its much more noticible in this show because alot of episodes deal with family members or the girls' past.

Now I'm wondering what shows (sitcoms mainly) DO pay attention to continuity. Seinfeld gets an A+ on this one. They were always bringing back characters and continuing or adding to storylines. I don't think they ever had a different actor replace an original for a character except Barney Martin replaced Phil Bruns in the role of Morty, and they even reshot the scenes Bruns was in with Martin for the syndication episodes. Now one might say there was no continuity with Kramer, but thats different, he was Kramer!

jehobden · 03-26-2009, 06:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by markway895

I posted on the Golden Girls forum my dismay to the lack of continuity throughout the show. I think its much more noticible in this show because alot of episodes deal with family members or the girls' past.

Now I'm wondering what shows (sitcoms mainly) DO pay attention to continuity. Seinfeld gets an A+ on this one. They were always bringing back characters and continuing or adding to storylines. I don't think they ever had a different actor replace an original for a character except Barney Martin replaced Phil Bruns in the role of Morty, and they even reshot the scenes Bruns was in with Martin for the syndication episodes. Now one might say there was no continuity with Kramer, but thats different, he was Kramer!

Actually the reshooting was only done for Jerry Stiller as Frank Costanza. When "The Handicap Spot" originally aired in 1993, John Randolph played Frank, but for some reason, just before Seinfeld was syndicated in 1995, Randolph's scenes as Frank were all refilmed w/ Stiller, along w/ the original cast members and guest stars in those scenes. If you buy Seinfeld Season 4 on DVD, you can see, probably for the first time unless you saw it on NBC, John Randolph as Frank Costanza. Also the DVD includes a short intro from Jason Alexander (I don't know if this also aired in syndication.) remembering John Randolph, who had died in 2004.
If you see "The Stakeout" (the first Seinfeld episode aired after the pilot) in syndication, you can still see Phil Bruns playing Morty Seinfeld. Strangely enough, Phil Bruns also played another tv character's father and was replaced by another actor. He originally played Mary Hartman's dad, George Shumway, but he was replaced in the role by Tab Hunter w/ the explanation that he'd fallen into a chemical vat and had to have plastic surgery.

McGillicuddy · 03-26-2009, 08:43 PM

You're right, I got that confused. At any rate I think the show was pretty good with continuity.

browneyes106 · 03-26-2009, 11:08 PM

Seinfeld was pretty good with continuity. I think a lot of the shows on ABC had a lot of continuity issues. I think a lot of sitcoms and one hour dramas that have came out in the past few years really don't have continuity issues. One Tree Hill is probably the only current show that has tons of continuity errors.

03-23-2009, 11:12 AM	#1
McGillicuddy Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Sep 28, 2002 Posts: 5,179	Lack of Continuity I posted on the Golden Girls forum my dismay to the lack of continuity throughout the show. I think its much more noticible in this show because alot of episodes deal with family members or the girls' past. Now I'm wondering what shows (sitcoms mainly) DO pay attention to continuity. Seinfeld gets an A+ on this one. They were always bringing back characters and continuing or adding to storylines. I don't think they ever had a different actor replace an original for a character except Barney Martin replaced Phil Bruns in the role of Morty, and they even reshot the scenes Bruns was in with Martin for the syndication episodes. Now one might say there was no continuity with Kramer, but thats different, he was Kramer!

03-26-2009, 08:43 PM	#3
McGillicuddy Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Sep 28, 2002 Posts: 5,179	You're right, I got that confused. At any rate I think the show was pretty good with continuity.

03-26-2009, 11:08 PM	#4
browneyes106 Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Apr 01, 2008 Posts: 6,094	Seinfeld was pretty good with continuity. I think a lot of the shows on ABC had a lot of continuity issues. I think a lot of sitcoms and one hour dramas that have came out in the past few years really don't have continuity issues. One Tree Hill is probably the only current show that has tons of continuity errors.