Sitcoms that Freeze time - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Urklelfan · 01-17-2002, 12:13 AM

Did you notice in a lot of Sitcoms, they literally sometimes freeze time. Usually they do this with the kids on a series. For instance, on Family Matters Eddie was a Senior in both the 4th season, and the 5th season. Steve and Laura also were Seniors again in Season 7, just like they where in Season 6. On Happy Days, in Season 1, Richie and his pals were in 11th grade when the series began in 1974, then Seniors in Season 2, then suddently they were back to being Juniors in Season 3, and seniors once again in season 4. Also it seems as though Karen on Step by Step was a Senior 3 years in a row, and did not start College until the last season. I think they made Al (Christine Lakin) go back in time a little too, because she was 17 in the last season, and I figured she would have been that age a few years before that. Another interesting bit of Trivia is that Carl on Family Matters mentioned he was 38 during an episode from Season 3. Then the next year when Steve and Carl appear on American Gladiators it says his age is 42. Then during the last season, which is 5 years later he mentions something to Laura about being 41. Very strange if you ask me. Does anyone else know of any TV time freezes?

TV Guy · 01-17-2002, 12:55 PM

I think you can find this on a lot of sitcoms with kids, especially as the kids start to age. It lets the writers postpone (and sometimes avoid altogether) the problem of what to do when the kids are out of school.

The strangest example I can think of is Ernie on "My Three Sons". Ernie was originally Chip's best friend and they were both in the same grade at school. Then, oldest son Mike left the show, and Steve Douglas adopted Ernie to stay true to the show's title. But after the adoption, Ernie was suddenly several grades behind Chip in school!

Penny Lane · 01-17-2002, 03:29 PM

On Leave It To Beaver Wally was in high school until the last episode! When the show began he was at least 6 years older than Beaver and was in about the 8th grade .

dawsongirl · 01-17-2002, 05:46 PM

Or how about shows where the kids miraculously age 2-3 years overnight?

Little Ricky went from a toddler that didn't even talk to a 5 year old in kindergarten!

Urklelfan · 01-17-2002, 09:19 PM

Yes and the same thing happened with Richie on Family Matters, Andy on Family Ties, Kristi on Growing Pains, and Lily on Step by Step.

TJL · 01-17-2002, 11:01 PM

My favorite recent example is "Friends."
The show began in 1994 with all of the characters hovering around the 27-28 year mark.
Last season they finally did the 30th B-day episode, with flashbacks about the fun times they had when they turned thirty.

Someone's messing with space and time, and I don't like it...

Urklelfan · 01-18-2002, 05:57 AM

I think I know what you mean TVguy! Sometimes it's hard to know what to do with the kid's on the show once they graduate High School. This has been a problem on TV before. On Family Matters Eddie went to College in season 6, and moved out of the his parent's house and into an apartment with Waldo. That year Eddie wasn't seen much, and only came back for ocasional episodes. The next year Darius McCray wanted to come back on the show full time, so the writers wrote and episode about Eddie's apartment getting infested with Termites, causing Eddie to have to move back home. Eddie moved out again near the end of the last season, but that was because The writers knew the show would soon be cancelled and wanted to tie up a lot of loose ends. Another example is on The Wonder Years when Karen went to College. She only appeared in 6 episodes after she left home. The last 2 was a 2 parter in which she and her boyfriend Michael get married and move to Alaska.

Meathead1971-1978 · 01-19-2002, 09:06 PM

Also Henry Winkler was 10 years older than the charachter of the Fonz on Happy Days.

James · 01-21-2002, 12:48 AM

An example could be "The Wonder Years"; in the first season (the six episodes from the first half of 1988) Kevin (and friends) were in seventh grade, and in the second season (fall 1988-spring 1989) they were STILL in seventh grade! At the time of the first season Fred Savage would have been in the sixth grade according to my calculations.

TMC · 01-23-2002, 12:21 AM

*Good Times-Before it was spun off from Maude, the father on Good Times was named Henry yet, it was changed to James when Good Times came around.

*Ferris Bueller-The show was set in Southern California even though the movie that it was based on took place in Chicago.

*Married With Children-In the middle of the show's run, virtually an entire season centered on the pregancy of Katie Segal's character. Soon after she miscarried in real life, Married... decided to pull a Dallas by simply explaining to us that the whole thing was "just a dream."

*Saved By the Bell-The show took place in Southern California even though its parent show Good Morning Miss Bliss took place in Indiana. Not to mention that the father of one of the main characters of both shows suddenly went from being named Peter to being named Derrick.

*Roseanne-The final season and episode was made out to be some sort of fantasy that came through an on-going novel that told us what *really* happened to everybody.

*Clueless-One of the characters was named Sean (incidentally enough, played by Sean Holland) even though that his name was Lawerence in the movie for which the show was based on.

*Family Matters-The youngest kid in the Winslow family Judy suddenly disappeared (sort of like the third Cunningham kid on Happy Days) for no apparent reason or explaination half way through its run. To go along with that, I could've sworn to seeing Mark-Lyn Baker (Larry on Perfect Strangers) guest star on a later episode while playing a different character than the one on Pefect Strangers. Why am I telling you this, because Family Matters was a spin-off of Perfect Strangers.

*The Simpsons-Bart and Lisa will more than likely forever remain at the ages 10 and 8 (which is understandable since this is a cartoon that we're talking about) even though the show devoted episodes to their births that tell us that Bart was born in 1980 (which treated us with a scene in which Homer pre-maturely revels the major plot twists from the Empire Strikes Back) while Lisa was born in 1984 (as we got various references to the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. So if this was a live action show, Bart would be 22 while Lisa would be 18 as we speak.

01-17-2002, 12:13 AM	#1
Urklelfan Member Forum Hawk Join Date: Jan 17, 2002 Location: New York Posts: 4	Sitcoms that Freeze time Did you notice in a lot of Sitcoms, they literally sometimes freeze time. Usually they do this with the kids on a series. For instance, on Family Matters Eddie was a Senior in both the 4th season, and the 5th season. Steve and Laura also were Seniors again in Season 7, just like they where in Season 6. On Happy Days, in Season 1, Richie and his pals were in 11th grade when the series began in 1974, then Seniors in Season 2, then suddently they were back to being Juniors in Season 3, and seniors once again in season 4. Also it seems as though Karen on Step by Step was a Senior 3 years in a row, and did not start College until the last season. I think they made Al (Christine Lakin) go back in time a little too, because she was 17 in the last season, and I figured she would have been that age a few years before that. Another interesting bit of Trivia is that Carl on Family Matters mentioned he was 38 during an episode from Season 3. Then the next year when Steve and Carl appear on American Gladiators it says his age is 42. Then during the last season, which is 5 years later he mentions something to Laura about being 41. Very strange if you ask me. Does anyone else know of any TV time freezes?
	__________________ Steve: Hi Carl! Carl: Don't you think you ought to start calling me, Mr. Winslow? Steve: Yeah, that's what my parents Herb and Diane tell me.

01-17-2002, 03:29 PM	#3
Penny Lane Butter Pie Forum Icon Join Date: Jul 03, 2001 Location: Beneath the blue suburban skies Posts: 51,269	On Leave It To Beaver Wally was in high school until the last episode! When the show began he was at least 6 years older than Beaver and was in about the 8th grade .
	__________________ Vulgarity is no substitute for wit- Lady Violet Crawley

01-17-2002, 11:01 PM	#6
TJL Suburbanite Extrordinaire Forum Star Join Date: Dec 29, 2001 Location: New Jersey - the cradle of civilization Posts: 16,588	My favorite recent example is "Friends." The show began in 1994 with all of the characters hovering around the 27-28 year mark. Last season they finally did the 30th B-day episode, with flashbacks about the fun times they had when they turned thirty. Someone's messing with space and time, and I don't like it...
	__________________ "I think I'll stroll up to the front to see how the shooting's going..." - Capt. Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce Read my blogs! http://centralparkamisguide.com/ http://dvdcriticscorner.com Visit me on Facebook!http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=641138880 Hey, I do the tweet thing too! http://twitter.com/TomLevier My shop of handmade items! http://www.etsy.com/shop/ColdGarageCreations

01-19-2002, 09:06 PM	#8
Meathead1971-1978 Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Jan 03, 2002 Location: New York Posts: 25	Also Henry Winkler was 10 years older than the charachter of the Fonz on Happy Days.
	__________________ Andy Last edited by Meathead1971-1978; 01-19-2002 at 11:38 PM.

01-17-2002, 12:55 PM	#2
TV Guy Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Jun 25, 2001 Location: Boston, MA, USA Posts: 3,419	I think you can find this on a lot of sitcoms with kids, especially as the kids start to age. It lets the writers postpone (and sometimes avoid altogether) the problem of what to do when the kids are out of school. The strangest example I can think of is Ernie on "My Three Sons". Ernie was originally Chip's best friend and they were both in the same grade at school. Then, oldest son Mike left the show, and Steve Douglas adopted Ernie to stay true to the show's title. But after the adoption, Ernie was suddenly several grades behind Chip in school!

01-17-2002, 05:46 PM	#4
dawsongirl Member Forum Icon Join Date: Jan 04, 2001 Posts: 53,140	Or how about shows where the kids miraculously age 2-3 years overnight? Little Ricky went from a toddler that didn't even talk to a 5 year old in kindergarten!

01-17-2002, 09:19 PM	#5
Urklelfan Member Forum Hawk Join Date: Jan 17, 2002 Location: New York Posts: 4	Yes and the same thing happened with Richie on Family Matters, Andy on Family Ties, Kristi on Growing Pains, and Lily on Step by Step.

01-18-2002, 05:57 AM	#7
Urklelfan Member Forum Hawk Join Date: Jan 17, 2002 Location: New York Posts: 4	I think I know what you mean TVguy! Sometimes it's hard to know what to do with the kid's on the show once they graduate High School. This has been a problem on TV before. On Family Matters Eddie went to College in season 6, and moved out of the his parent's house and into an apartment with Waldo. That year Eddie wasn't seen much, and only came back for ocasional episodes. The next year Darius McCray wanted to come back on the show full time, so the writers wrote and episode about Eddie's apartment getting infested with Termites, causing Eddie to have to move back home. Eddie moved out again near the end of the last season, but that was because The writers knew the show would soon be cancelled and wanted to tie up a lot of loose ends. Another example is on The Wonder Years when Karen went to College. She only appeared in 6 episodes after she left home. The last 2 was a 2 parter in which she and her boyfriend Michael get married and move to Alaska.

01-21-2002, 12:48 AM	#9
James Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Jan 07, 2001 Location: Dayton, Ohio, USA Posts: 6,370	An example could be "The Wonder Years"; in the first season (the six episodes from the first half of 1988) Kevin (and friends) were in seventh grade, and in the second season (fall 1988-spring 1989) they were STILL in seventh grade! At the time of the first season Fred Savage would have been in the sixth grade according to my calculations.

01-23-2002, 12:21 AM	#10
TMC Member Forum Idol Join Date: Jan 09, 2001 Posts: 126,925	Good Times-Before it was spun off from Maude, the father on Good Times was named Henry yet, it was changed to James when Good Times came around. Ferris Bueller-The show was set in Southern California even though the movie that it was based on took place in Chicago. Married With Children-In the middle of the show's run, virtually an entire season centered on the pregancy of Katie Segal's character. Soon after she miscarried in real life, Married... decided to pull a Dallas by simply explaining to us that the whole thing was "just a dream." Saved By the Bell-The show took place in Southern California even though its parent show Good Morning Miss Bliss took place in Indiana. Not to mention that the father of one of the main characters of both shows suddenly went from being named Peter to being named Derrick. Roseanne-The final season and episode was made out to be some sort of fantasy that came through an on-going novel that told us what really* happened to everybody. Clueless-One of the characters was named Sean (incidentally enough, played by Sean Holland) even though that his name was Lawerence in the movie for which the show was based on. Family Matters-The youngest kid in the Winslow family Judy suddenly disappeared (sort of like the third Cunningham kid on Happy Days) for no apparent reason or explaination half way through its run. To go along with that, I could've sworn to seeing Mark-Lyn Baker (Larry on Perfect Strangers) guest star on a later episode while playing a different character than the one on Pefect Strangers. Why am I telling you this, because Family Matters was a spin-off of Perfect Strangers. *The Simpsons-Bart and Lisa will more than likely forever remain at the ages 10 and 8 (which is understandable since this is a cartoon that we're talking about) even though the show devoted episodes to their births that tell us that Bart was born in 1980 (which treated us with a scene in which Homer pre-maturely revels the major plot twists from the Empire Strikes Back) while Lisa was born in 1984 (as we got various references to the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. So if this was a live action show, Bart would be 22 while Lisa would be 18 as we speak.