Continuity errors/inconsistencies throughout the seasons

[TV_Fan]

Having finished watching my GAB Complete Series DVD set I noticed some continuity errors and inconsistencies throughout the seasons. No more so than other sitcoms really, but I was wondering if anyone else noticed the same or wanted to add more. Rewatching many episodes I haven't seen in years certainly refreshed my memory. Here are some:

1) Date of Margaret's death-in the first season it was explained she died within the last year but in later seasons it was made to seem she died about 10 or more years earlier.

2) Nell's missing sisters-in "Nell Goes Home" we see her air headed sister Marie, but no mention is made of Loretta. In later seasons we see only Loretta and no mention is made of Marie.

3) Carl not letting the girls move out-in one episode of season three or four (can't remember exactly which) Carl says no Kanisky woman leaves the house until marriage, yet he had no problem in season one with letting Katie move out to join a band in "Hot Muffins".

4) Nell's mother meeting Joey-in season three "A Kanisky Christmas" Nell's mother arrives in Glen Lawn at the end of the episode. Presumably she would have met Joey, but in season four "Alabamy Bound" Nell introduces Joey to her mother as if she never met him.

[Smartboy]

All of your points are very well taken! However, I would now like to write about an inconsistency of schools of thought. I have written about this several times before, but nobody seemed too interested in discussing it. If my memory is correct, my last attempt was when I started a thread called "The Flintstones". If anyone is interested in it, it has been pushed down to the second page of this section. A wise guy who used to hearass me about a lot of the things that I would post posted a sarcastic response. I will have to say that I am very pleased with how much support a lot of you guys gave me in telling this bully to leave me alone! Thanks a million! In any event, the inconsistency that I am writing about has to do with the first season episode "Julie's First Love" and the third season episode "Samantha's Protest". In the first season episode, Julie is in want of a date for the school dance and she was calling every guy and his brother! Katie did her best to sell her on the idea that it was the eighties and it was socially acceptable for a girl to ask a guy for a date. As it turned out, Julie finely asked a guy who worked at an amusement arcade and he said yes! Two years later, we come to "Samantha's Protest". In the first scene, we see Katie and Julie walking through the front door and we hear Julie say "I cannot believe the hight of your egotism! He was not whistleing at you, he was calling his dog!" I for one found this one of the funniest lines that this series offered! In any event, throughout the episode Katie flurted her butt off with the guy and got nowhere. In between opportunities to flurt, Katie remained giddy about the prospect of him asking her out! I looked at it as great poetic justice that he asked out Samantha instead! However, the thing that I was never able to figure out is what happened in the course of two years that stopped Katie from asking him for a date. Any thoughts anyone?

[TV_Fan]

Originally Posted by Smartboy

However, the thing that I was never able to figure out is what happened in the course of two years that stopped Katie from asking him for a date. Any thoughts anyone?

Probably because it's easy to give someone advice, but a lot harder to follow your own advice.

[TV_Fan]

Another continuity error I forgot is Carl's brother Eddie. He appears in the first two seasons but from season three onward Carl is referred to as an only child & Eddie never appears.

[Smartboy]

Originally Posted by TV_Fan

Another continuity error I forgot is Carl's brother Eddie. He appears in the first two seasons but from season three onward Carl is referred to as an only child & Eddie never appears.

I am well aware of the disappearance of Carl's brother Ed after the second season. What he experienced is referred to as "Chuck Cunningham Syndrome". This being the case, someone who started watching after the beginning of the third season would be prone to think that Carl was an only child. However, I do not remember any case in which the term "only child" was ever used or whether the situation was ever spelled out. Do any of you guys know of any cases in which it was made clear?

[TV_Fan]

I don't remember the specific episode, but in season three someone says Carl is all Grandpa has left. True, they don't specifically say he is an only child, but it is certainly implied. Also, in "Grandpa's Will" Grandpa makes no mention of Eddie in his will.

[Jude The Obscure]

I always thought it was ludicrous for Julie to never once shown as being actually pregnant and then boom, before she and Jonathan leave the series, there's a baby!

[TV_Fan]

Originally Posted by Jude The Obscure

I always thought it was ludicrous for Julie to never once shown as being actually pregnant and then boom, before she and Jonathan leave the series, there's a baby!

Exactly. Kind of the same way I felt about how boom all of a sudden Joey had a little brother.

Also related to Julie, I can't remember if they ever mentioned her going to college with Jonathan. I know it was shown that she eloped either while still in high school or right after, but I thought she was attending school with Jonathan. However, when Sam starts college, Nell says she is the first in the family to go to college. Even if Julie was married & then pregnant, she was clearly the smartest of the girls. I don't know how in the world she would not have gone onto college.

[Wildchats]

Nell tells Julie in "Julie's Lie" that she's the only one of her girl's who's a straight A student.

In "Sam Goes To College", Sam tells Nell she was a straight A student in high school.


I also hated how they didn't have an episode where Julie had the baby. Season 5 should have ended with Julie having baby Nell.