# Clip shows--extinct? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 14, 2018, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clip-shows-extinct/816085 "2018-06-14T12:29:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![caligulathegod](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caligulathegod/32/9685_2.png) [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2018, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clip-shows-extinct/816085/41 "2018-06-15T15:49:54Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > Think that’s bad? _Full House_ ENDED on a clip show! With the dumb premise that Michelle fell and hit her head getting amnesia and the rest of the family tells her moments from old episodes to try to get her to remember again. So did Seinfeld. They refused to help a guy getting mugged and then were put on trial with clips showing their previous bad character AND that was after a tribute clip show celebrating it. That’s what pissed ME off about the finale. I just watched a clip show to get me ready for it and then it’s just ANOTHER clip show? ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2018, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clip-shows-extinct/816085/42 "2018-06-15T15:55:20Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > Think that’s bad? _Full House_ ENDED on a clip show! With the dumb premise that Michelle fell and hit her head getting amnesia and the rest of the family tells her moments from old episodes to try to get her to remember again. Until it came back last year, the original X-Files Finale was also a clip show. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2018, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clip-shows-extinct/816085/43 "2018-06-15T16:01:38Z")
_The Dick Van Dyke Show_ also ended with a clip show–“The Last Chapter,” in which Rob finishes his long-awaited book, triggering clips of his wedding, Richie’s birth, the time they thought they had the wrong baby, and so forth. “The Last Chapter” tends to show up next to last in syndication, because of production order. But it originally aired as the series finale. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2018, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clip-shows-extinct/816085/44 "2018-06-15T21:40:13Z")
[Leave it to Beaver](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0827865/?ref_=ttep_ep39) did one as their final episode. June found an old scrapbook while cleaning out the attic. Bewitched not only had episodes that [reused whole scenes](http://www.harpiesbizarre.com/recycledshows.htm)out of earlier episodes, it also [recycled entire scripts](http://www.harpiesbizarre.com/declineofbewitched.htm). ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2018, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clip-shows-extinct/816085/45 "2018-06-16T05:19:40Z")
I always associated clip episodes with down periods of the TV season. I don’t know if television seasons have the same arcs that they did in the classic network era. Season premieres, sweeps periods, holidays, season finales, and summer repeats. The clip shows seemed to come around the holidays or after a sweeps period. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2018, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clip-shows-extinct/816085/46 "2018-06-16T19:33:46Z")
I thought a clip show was Talk Soup , the Soup, etc. where they show clips of other talk shows. Don’t recall seeing a show with clips of other episodes of that show but maybe I did and cannot remember . ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2018, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clip-shows-extinct/816085/47 "2018-06-16T21:00:48Z")
> [@syncrolecyne](#): > > I always associated clip episodes with down periods of the TV season. I don’t know if television seasons have the same arcs that they did in the classic network era. > Season premieres, sweeps periods, holidays, season finales, and summer repeats. The clip shows seemed to come around the holidays or after a sweeps period. They were also used a lot to “celebrate” a milestone, like 100 episodes or 200 episodes of a long-running show. I always enjoyed those. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2018, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clip-shows-extinct/816085/48 "2018-06-16T22:56:03Z")
I remember one now, it was Barney Miller and they honored Jack Soo who died while the show was still doing new episodes. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2018, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clip-shows-extinct/816085/49 "2018-06-16T23:08:16Z")
They used to be very common–check out some of the examples (under Live Action TV) [here](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ClipShow). ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clip-shows-extinct/816085/50 "2018-06-17T12:09:50Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > They used to be very common–check out some of the examples (under Live Action TV) [here](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ClipShow). Good link. It answers the _NCIS_ clip show question: From [December 2014](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4238980/). One weird item. In mentioning Discovery Channel’s 25th Anniversary stuff airing a _Mythbusters_ clip show, it has a link to the page this appears on. [Nice](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21027686&postcount=50). ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clip-shows-extinct/816085/51 "2018-06-17T12:21:41Z")
I found this (from **Darren Garrison** ’s link) to be interesting: > [@](#): > > The Season 7 M_A_S_H episode “Our Finest Hour” has reporter Clete Roberts, previously used in the acclaimed Season 4 episode “The Interview”, returning to the 4077th to interview the doctors and nurses for a black-and-white TV documentary. However, whereas the earlier episode featured all-new material and never broke from its concept, “Our Finest Hour” awkwardly inserts a large number of (color) clips from earlier episodes in a manner that destroys any kind of narrative flow in the Roberts segments. All of this goes a long way toward explaining why “Our Finest Hour” is regarded by many M_A_S_H fans as one of the weakest episodes in the show’s run, making its title more than a little ironic. mmm ---
**Author:** ![LLCoolL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/llcooll/32/3596_2.png) [@LLCoolL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LLCoolL)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clip-shows-extinct/816085/52 "2018-06-18T09:10:03Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Hell, **WKRP** did a clip show for their _9th episode_! Some band ought to release a debut album titled, “Greatest Hits”… ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clip-shows-extinct/816085/53 "2018-06-18T10:13:50Z")
Colbert often does them on Friday nights. He films a new monologue in front of the Thursday night audience and does the scene where he runs out of the studio at the end. He usually includes a joke about how this is a great Friday night crowd, unlike that Thursday crowd. Between the two, he typically just runs repeats of guests mostly from the current week, but occasionally from previous weeks. You can tell because his tie changes color. He used to do this every Friday, but now it’s not so consistent. Sometimes the clips might include stuff that was edited out of the previous show. Incidentally, this is one of the reasons the guests on late night shows don’t remain on the couch after their segment is over. It’s easier to do clips. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clip-shows-extinct/816085/54 "2018-06-18T11:01:31Z")
Letterman taped his Friday show on Thursday so maybe that’s where he got the idea. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clip-shows-extinct/816085/55 "2018-06-18T12:04:18Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Letterman taped his Friday show on Thursday so maybe that’s where he got the idea. Colbert has generally done this. But the “clip show Friday” thing is a summer thing, for the most part. Letterman just did a rerun on Fridays during the summer in the last years of the show. Note: Friday is considered a dead night for talk shows. Letterman’s old show was initially only M-Th. NBC ran some video garbage on Friday nights. It was a while before they gave him the Friday slot. Conan still only does M-Th. And he does double episode tapings quite a lot. Sometimes weeks in advance. Many band performances and such are taped separately and inserted in. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2018, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clip-shows-extinct/816085/56 "2018-06-21T19:19:06Z")
A rerun of In the _Heat of the Night_ is on right now, and it is a clip show. The framing device is a reporter interviewing the cops. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2018, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clip-shows-extinct/816085/57 "2018-06-24T13:39:06Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Bewitched not only had episodes that [reused whole scenes](http://www.harpiesbizarre.com/recycledshows.htm)out of earlier episodes, it also [recycled entire scripts](http://www.harpiesbizarre.com/declineofbewitched.htm). I actually marathoned the show. They even would recycle jokes, setup and punchline, from the previous episode! ---
**Author:** ![amaguri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@amaguri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amaguri)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2018, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clip-shows-extinct/816085/58 "2018-06-25T14:42:06Z")
> [@caligulathegod](#): > > So did Seinfeld. They refused to help a guy getting mugged and then were put on trial with clips showing their previous bad character AND that was after a tribute clip show celebrating it. That’s what pissed ME off about the finale. I just watched a clip show to get me ready for it and then it’s just ANOTHER clip show? at least for me, this was extra annoying because Seinfeld clips don’t really work out of the context of the full show. So, if you were a fan and had seen all of the episodes already you could maybe think back to how funny it was originally but if you weren’t much of a fan the clip show was practically nonsensical. ETA: Back in the day when a typical season was 24+ episodes, a clip show was probably a great way to give the writers a break. Nowadays, with shorter seasons, the need to pad out your show is probably reduced? ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2018, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clip-shows-extinct/816085/59 "2018-06-25T15:00:32Z")
> [@](#): > > ETA: Back in the day when a typical season was 24+ episodes, a clip show was probably a great way to give the writers a break. Nowadays, with shorter seasons, the need to pad out your show is probably reduced? I think part of it, too, was that prior to DVDs being common for tv shows, this was, for many people, the only chance to re-see favorite scenes, especially from prior seasons. Now, we not only have DVDs at the end of each season, but streaming, and people can see the old content anytime they want, and so are less tolerant of it during the weekly broadcast, instead wanting _new_ content. And I have no idea when the standard network tv season went to 22 episodes per season. Though certainly cable series often have shorter seasons. But I don’t remember weekly network tv series habitually being \>22 episodes per season since I was old enough to pay attention to that. The latest clip shows I can think of for series that I watched were probably 2002 or 2003. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2018, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clip-shows-extinct/816085/60 "2018-06-25T19:50:53Z")
> [@amaguri](#): > > at least for me, this was extra annoying because Seinfeld clips don’t really work out of the context of the full show. So, if you were a fan and had seen all of the episodes already you could maybe think back to how funny it was originally but if you weren’t much of a fan the clip show was practically nonsensical. A lot of them do work, IMHO. E.g., “He took … it … out.” is great as a standalone bit. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clip-shows-extinct/816085.md?page=2)