# Shows that work better WITHOUT continuity **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 26, 2017, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-work-better-without-continuity/780811 "2017-02-26T06:12:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-work-better-without-continuity/780811/1 "2017-02-26T06:12:31Z")
Now that we’ve left the Classical Age of Television behind, now that Netflix means TV screenwriters are writing for the trades and making shows designed to be binged, continuity is no longer something that happens to other mediums, as far as television is concerned. Even light comedies like “The Office” have plot arcs, because the writers know the episodes aren’t going to be aired in some random sequence. Networks no longer demand that, and viewers would be put off by it. In short, TV writers can, and must, learn to tell stories again, and do so for longer than a single episode. As far as I’m concerned, that’s a good thing. I can think of multiple shows which were ruined by the former era’s lack of continuity, and more shows which would have been improved by more plot arcs and tighter plotting on an inter-episode basis. So, what shows (or kinds of shows) would either not work with the kind of continuity people expect now, or work better with the loose or nonexistent continuity which characterized TV back in the Classical Age? (People who say “all of 'em!” are invited to get off my lawn. ;)) ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-work-better-without-continuity/780811/2 "2017-02-26T11:11:43Z")
X-files immediately came to mind as a show that failed in its world building. It was obvious they had no idea where they were going with the bigger story arcs. Babylon 5, on other side, was a show where you could easily forgive terrible plot-of-the-week episodes because the overarching story was so compelling. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-work-better-without-continuity/780811/3 "2017-02-26T11:17:23Z")
Any Murder-of-the-week shows like _Castle_ are better without any story arc. It got so convoluted with that one as they tried to keep it going long past when it was _already solved_. Twice, I think. It made the finale episode’s rushed conclusion really lame because the cliffhanger they insisted on including was so melodramatic. Not that they should ignore development and growth of characters and their dynamic. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-work-better-without-continuity/780811/4 "2017-02-26T12:23:26Z")
The Simpsons and Law & Order both worked great without trying to force any particular continuity. Let’s distinguish between shows that have continuity and shows that depend on season long plot arcs. Most shows would be improved by having solid continuity, without trying to force feed a plot arc on top of a weekly episode. OTOH, I don’t really need to see Floyd’s character development on the Andy Griffith Show, or follow Sheriff Tupper’s re-election campaign on Murder She Wrote, these shows are just fine the way they are. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-work-better-without-continuity/780811/5 "2017-02-26T16:09:58Z")
I think South Park works best without continuity. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-work-better-without-continuity/780811/6 "2017-02-26T16:33:41Z")
Maybe not quite the same thing, but there was a Nero Wolfe TV series, with an ensemble cast…such that the victim one week might be a witness the next week, and the murderer the week after that. They didn’t bring in as many guest stars as other shows do, but “recycled” their ensemble. There was no continuity of minor roles. As has been observed many times, series like “Murder, She Wrote” must ignore overall internal continuity, otherwise Mrs. Fletcher would never be allowed to come and visit…because there’s always a murder when she does! ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-work-better-without-continuity/780811/7 "2017-02-26T16:44:48Z")
Columbo? ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-work-better-without-continuity/780811/8 "2017-02-26T17:22:32Z")
The X Files (already said) is a good example. The Monster of the Week episodes were leaps and bounds better than the kooky obviously made up as they go along Mythology episodes. I always felt Star Trek worked best with mostly self contained episodes. You can do the majority of shows where they get resolved in the hour but have plot threads that stretch across episodes. TNG was probably a little too self contained (the character growth was way too subtle) but DS9 had a nice balance. I’m not sure if this counts for this discussion but I miss anthology shows (i.e. zero continuity). I’m hoping the success of Black Mirror will maybe bring them back to some degree. They don’t even have to be completely open ended. I remember when they announced a spin off to The Walking Dead, I was really hoping for an anthology format. It could work really well there. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-work-better-without-continuity/780811/9 "2017-02-26T17:30:32Z")
_Gilligan’s Island_. If everybody remembered every previous time Gilligan had screwed up a rescue attempt, they would have drowned him by the fourth episode. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-work-better-without-continuity/780811/10 "2017-02-26T17:33:51Z")
Personally, I think most sitcoms should work without strong continuity. While having character growth over a series is good and should be included for long-standing fans, individual episodes should stand on their own and the viewer should not be expected to, for example, recall the previous two times Beetlejuice has been referenced right before he shows up in the background. That’s a great Easter egg (which is what that was and didn’t affect to overall episode), but sitcoms shouldn’t hinge on that kind of obsessiveness. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-work-better-without-continuity/780811/11 "2017-02-26T17:42:43Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > So, what shows (or kinds of shows) would either not work with the kind of continuity people expect now, or work better with the loose or nonexistent continuity which characterized TV back in the Classical Age? Note that I would call these shows “episodic” as opposed to the serial shows like Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones or, infamously, Lost. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_John_Marcej)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-work-better-without-continuity/780811/12 "2017-02-26T18:31:00Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > _Gilligan’s Island_. If everybody remembered every previous time Gilligan had screwed up a rescue attempt, they would have drowned him by the fourth episode. That and offing Doctor Smith on _Lost In Space_ ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-work-better-without-continuity/780811/13 "2017-02-26T19:34:15Z")
The original Star Trek. Each episode is a surprise meeting with some new creature , with no need to worry about how they dealt with last week’s weird creature. And the same with technology…one week there’s an impenetrable force field, next week there isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-work-better-without-continuity/780811/14 "2017-02-26T19:37:23Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > Let’s distinguish between shows that have continuity and shows that depend on season long plot arcs. Most shows would be improved by having solid continuity, without trying to force feed a plot arc on top of a weekly episode. Yes, as I understand it the term “[continuity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuity_%28fiction%29)” in fiction refers to the consistency of the fictional world. Sometimes violating continuity can be justified for the sake of comedy or practical considerations, but in general few shows are going to be improved by a sloppier approach to continuity. The OP seems to be talking about shows with multi-episode [story arcs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Story_arc) vs. traditional sitcoms and “problem of the week” dramas where each episode has a largely self-contained plot. As for which format works better for a particular show, I think the real question is whether the writers are capable of pulling off a satisfying long-term arc. For a more episodic show then, if the basic formula works, viewers may be content to see it play out again and again for years. There may be occasional duds (e.g. the solution to this week’s mystery was either too obvious or didn’t make sense), but it’s not that big a deal since this doesn’t impact other episodes. However, if the resolution to a long-running storyline falls flat, viewers are a lot more likely to be annoyed and even to feel like the whole season or series (even the episodes they enjoyed at the time) was a waste of time. _The X-Files_ has been mentioned already as a show where the multi-season “myth arc” didn’t work, but I’d say the problem wasn’t so much that there _was_ an arc, it was that the arc turned out to be a bloated, confusing, sloppy mess. It’s my recollection that when the show originally aired there were fans who preferred the “myth arc” episodes to the “monster of the week” episodes, because they believed this was all building up to something awesome. Sadly, it did not. I think it would be at least theoretically possible for someone to write a satisfying long-running arc in which Mulder and Scully uncovered a vast government conspiracy to hide the existence of aliens, but it would probably have to be less sprawling than the actual _X-Files_ myth arc. Going from the list of [myth arc episodes on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mythology_of_The_X-Files), these episodes alone (not counting the movie) amounted to about 50 hours of screen time without commercials. For comparison, that’s more than double the running time of the eight-movie _Harry Potter_ series. I’m not a screenwriter, but telling a coherent and satisfying story that long, especially if it has to be spread out in 45-minute increments over a period of several years, seems like it would be very difficult. ---
**Author:** ![igor\_frankensteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/839c29/32.png) [@igor\_frankensteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/igor_frankensteen)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-work-better-without-continuity/780811/15 "2017-02-26T19:56:22Z")
I don’t know, really. Almost any series COULD be written so that it’s episodic or non-episodic. All it takes, is leaving out progressive subplots. Most “cop shows” are written even today, such that it either doesn’t matter which show you watch, or at least such that you can tolerate the long-term sub-plot stuff that you don’t know about. NCIS, Bones, and especially all the Law and Order type stuff is like that. I think that the Castle series was MOSTLY non-episodic, until they decided to put an end to the cyclical sex theme between the two main characters. It was pretty “old school” until then. I still remember the first big time that a studio decided to end a series with an actual resolution, back in the sixties. The Fugitive had been successful for five years, when they decided to end it by having the Fugitive proven innocent, and the One Armed Man caught. There was a huge BUSINESS debate about it, because everyone thought that no one would want to see the repeat episodes again, if the story was resolved. I think myself, that the reason there have been changes as there have been, has been because of the nature of the entertainment business. It’s always been mostly run by business people trying to make a profit, rather than by artists trying to tell a story, or enlighten a thoughtful audience. Hence, even the decision to cater to people who DID want long story arcs, wasn’t made for artistic reasons, it was made because the producers and investors thought they could make more money from that group. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-work-better-without-continuity/780811/16 "2017-02-26T20:49:51Z")
One of my favorite writers is Talbot Mundy – a sort of Americanized low-cal Kipling. He wrote a whole series of novels which actually do follow an overall story arc – but the reader loses nothing by reading them out of order. They’re sufficiently “stand alone” to – well, to stand alone. This is sort of my Holy Grail in serial fiction. I want each part to be self-sufficient. Dashiell Hammett’s “Red Harvest” is another interesting example of this. The book was serialized, in four large segments, in the pulp magazine Black Mask. So each of the four main divisions of the novel is, in essence, a complete story. Yet the four stories add up to a complete novel. It’s an example of very elegant writing mechanics. ---
**Author:** ![yesanything](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@yesanything](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yesanything)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-work-better-without-continuity/780811/17 "2017-02-26T21:08:58Z")
Southpark Southpark Southpark Southpark Southpark Southpark Southpark Southpark Southpark Southpark Southpark Southpark Southpark Southpark Southpark Southpark Southpark Southpark Southpark Southpark Southpark Southpark Southpark Southpark Southpark Southpark Southpark Southpark Southpark Southpark Southpark Southpark Southpark Southpark Southpark Southpark Southpark Southpark Southpark and in case I was not clear South Park !! ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-work-better-without-continuity/780811/18 "2017-02-26T22:46:29Z")
I think the world was mostly destroyed several times in Urusei Yatsura. The next episode always simply reset everything. It was probably for the best. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-work-better-without-continuity/780811/19 "2017-02-26T23:48:57Z")
Dr Who has suffered terribly from excessively complicated story arcs. Some even spanning more than a season. At most a two part episode is sufficient for a Doctor Who story. One of my pet peeves with New Doctor Who is reminding us of all the tragedy he’s faced. Last season somebody got hurt. So now the Doctor is wounded emotionally. That gets tedious very quickly. Doctor Who is light hearted fantasy. It’s not supposed to be dark and depressing. ---
**Author:** ![AndrewL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-work-better-without-continuity/780811/20 "2017-02-27T00:08:23Z")
I prefer to think of each episode of Doctor Who as being its own continuity, with any appearance of continuity between episodes being completely coincidental. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-work-better-without-continuity/780811.md?page=2)