Sitcom with the absolute worst continuity

[tlc38tlc38]

What sitcom would you say paid absolutely no attention to past episodes and followed no continuity (for the most part)?

My vote would go to “The Golden Girls”.

[stevea]

I'm a fan of Leave It To Beaver, but the show had a fair amount of continuity problems.

Some shows have a script continuity credit...I think they all need that, and maybe fewer executive producers. Somebody needs to "know the show."

[treky]

"MASH" was pretty bad, but not as bad as "THE ODD COUPLE"

[RetroGuy2000]

Saved By the Bell. They moved from Indianapolis to Bayside, California, and no-one noticed. Their friends Mikey and Nikki go missing, and no-one talks about it. Three-fourths of the staff disappear between seasons, and no-one mentions them again. Zach's father has a face transplant, and it's hushed up. Then even Kelly and Jessie disappear, replaced by a girl named Tori. Then she, too, disappears, and Kelly and Jessie are suddenly back without explanation. No-one even blinks an eye. Do I even need to mention the other disappearing characters? Stacy Carosi and her father, Max the magician, Kelly's boyfriend Jeff, Violet Bickerstaff... it was like a serial killer was loose, and everyone refused to mention all these people were disappearing.

[70s show watcher]

Originally Posted by stevea

I'm a fan of Leave It To Beaver, but the show had a fair amount of continuity problems.

Some shows have a script continuity credit...I think they all need that, and maybe fewer executive producers. Somebody needs to "know the show."

barbra billingsley herself said that they changed junes backstory so much that she herself became very confused by the changes

[stevea]

They changed minor characters' last names, Beaver had the measles twice, they used June's maiden name Bronson for a babysitter. Ward's backstory is also confusing.

As I said on the Beaver forum, stuff like this is less noticeable over a 6 year run, than a 6 month syndicated run.

The show definitely needed somebody in charge of continuity.

Re the comment above about SBTB moving: I love it when the stars relocate to a faraway city, and the whole cast just happens to move there, also. Like Laverne and Shirley. Or when cast members leave, and their existence is wiped out, like Buzz and Sonya on Mama's Family.

[tlc38tlc38]

Originally Posted by stevea

As I said on the Beaver forum, stuff like this is less noticeable over a 6 year run, than a 6 month syndicated run.

I think that’s the case with all shows. No one noticed these things in its original run but with the invention of syndication and DVDs, we all rewatch things and dissect/analyze everything.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by stevea

Re the comment above about SBTB moving: I love it when the stars relocate to a faraway city, and the whole cast just happens to move there, also.

Yeah, who moves to a new state with their friends? Are we really supposed to believe that four families (Belding, Morris, Turtle, and Powers) simultaneously moved to the West Coast? If so, how did the school building get there, too? The producers obviously didn't care about continuity at all, and if they believed that setting the show on Mars would help ratings, Zach Morris and his friends would have grown antennae.

Like Laverne and Shirley.

It was clear the writers on L&S were out of ideas. The California years were terrible. Even worse was when Shirley left, leaving just a note. Shirley wouldn't do that, and was obviously kidnapped. Why didn't Laverne figure it out?

Or when cast members leave, and their existence is wiped out, like Buzz and Sonya on Mama's Family.

Never really watched that one, but I hate it when a character is Chuck Cunninghammed out of existence.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by tlc38tlc38

I think that’s the case with all shows. No one noticed these things in its original run but with the invention of syndication and DVDs, we all rewatch things and dissect/analyze everything.

But TV syndication has existed since at least the 1950s.

[tlc38tlc38]

Originally Posted by stevea

Or when cast members leave, and their existence is wiped out, like Buzz and Sonya on Mama's Family.

At least they were mentioned once when the show went into syndication. I guess once is better than none.

[tlc38tlc38]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

But TV syndication has existed since at least the 1950s.

True, but no way was it like it is now. Almost all channels now show sitcom reruns.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by tlc38tlc38

True, but no way was it like it is now. Almost all channels now show sitcom reruns.

Good point about the number of reruns. The sheer number of channels, now, exposes viewers to more variety than what was ever possible during previous TV eras. When I was a kid, we only had four, then five, channels. My grandparents had cable, but even in that era, the number of channels was limited. There definitely weren't 500 channels.

[DeadlyToolTime]

That 70s Show, especially once they decided the show should stay stuck in 1978.

Saved by the Bell's continuity problems are a whole nother level of being all over the place and carelessness.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by Alan Brady's Hair

I was a kid in the 60s, and I don't remember shows in reruns that doubled up on episodes every day. Maybe a show syndicated for weekends would show two together instead of one each on Saturday and Sunday. But this thing where shows double up every day, or show what amount to mini-marathons, that was unimagined.

Yep. It was the same in the 1970s, with very few exceptions.


(The big exception I can think of, in the late 1970s, was Pinwheel/early Nickelodeon, which would air back-to-back episodes of Pinwheel in marathons for many hours of the weekday morning.)

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by DeadlyToolTime

Saved by the Bell's continuity problems are a whole nother level of being all over the place and carelessness.

Indeed. Very sloppy "continuity".