Another MAJOR flub in the first season!

[OOliver]

Last night I watched the Season One episode of RHODA in which she met up with 'David Bloom', the first boyfriend she ever really loved, and almost married. Seems Bloom called her mother after hearing she was back in NY and wanted to meet with (the now married) Rhoda. Rhoda explains to Joe she was with David from the ages of 23-26, and they broke up because they didn't want to get married. He knew Brenda, and Brenda was joining them for their meeting.

Wait a minute...

First, when Rhoda was 24, she moved to Minneapolis - so how was she in this romantic relationship with David from 23-26? She obviously met him in nYC if he kew Brenda and Ida, so what gives?

Second, she and Mary, she and Brenda, she and many others had discussions about her old boyfriends and dates and never did she mention she was in a relationship with someone for three years and almost married him!

Sorry, but for someone who was so important in her life for three years - whom she confesses she loved very much, he would have been mentioned at some point.

MAJOR MISTAKE from the writers.

[TV_on_the_Porch]

But was it a good episode? In the TV scheme of things, that tends to mitigate a little error in continuity. While your points are valid and well presented, almost nobody would ever notice the 'error' unless it was spelled out the way you have.

As TV continuity errors go, it could be debated if it even qualifies as one.

[OOliver]

Originally Posted by TDRyan

But was it a good episode? In the TV scheme of things, that tends to mitigate a little error in continuity. While your points are valid and well presented, almost nobody would ever notice the 'error' unless it was spelled out the way you have.

As TV continuity errors go, it could be debated if it even qualifies as one.

I disagree when it comes to this series, since it was spelled out numerous times to viewers since September 1970, when we first meet the beloved "Rhoda Morgenstern".

I would venture to guess that the majority of viewers (90 % or better) who tuned into "Rhoda" each week - especially the first season - were loyal viewers of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" for the first four seasons in which 'Rhoda' was a major character.

Viewers were more than familiar with Rhoda's back-story, and especially her romantic trials and tribulations in life. Her major 'comic premise' was that she couldn't find love, which is why she was a single woman in her 30s (when most were married already)...still looking for Mr. Right. She always complained to Mary about her 'physical appearance' which is why she believed she seldom dated. Not disclosing - in her many discussions with her best friend Mary - that she was exclusively involved for three years of her life and close to marrying is totally ( and literally) "out of character" for her.

Those who are not familiar with her from Rhoda know her life-story from her intro: "I decided to move out when I was 24. My mother still refers to this as the time I ran away from home. Eventually, I ended up in Minneapolis where it's cold, and I figured I'd keep better."

(Viewers also know this from TMTMS, in which she has told Mary her story about moving from NY to MN when she was 24). This in itself would eliminate a NY romance from the ages of 23-26.

If this were any other character from the show (Georgette, Sue Anne, Phyllis) it could make more sense - since we didn't know too much of the back story. But viewers knew Rhoda all too well, and this storyline just didn't cut it. Again, a major flub from the writers.