# What TV shows have the most inconsistencies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 8, 2011, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-the-most-inconsistencies/584716 "2011-06-08T04:53:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-the-most-inconsistencies/584716/61 "2011-06-09T19:56:43Z")
Saying that the writers don’t care about continuity hardly covers it. They openly mock the idiot fans who care enough to remember throwaway lines from two seasons earlier. And rightly so, since 99% of the audience only wants something entertaining to watch for a few minutes and then puts it out of their minds the second it’s off. One thing to treat continuity errors as a fun game, another to think that the world turns around it. Or as William Shatner so aptly summed it up: “Get a life!” ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-the-most-inconsistencies/584716/62 "2011-06-09T20:03:57Z")
> [@tanstaafl](#): > > But really, was consistency that big of an issue in television until (relatively) recently? I know that except for the occasional two-parter the concept of a story arc lasting over multiple episodes is a (again, relatively) recent development. (I want to say that _Hill Street Blues_ was the first series to deal with “story arcs” but have no cite.) > > I guess what I am asking is, is expecting a TV series to be completely consistent from one episode to the next a relatively new thing? Or were viewers back in the '60s (or whenever) really that concerned that someone’s sofa was blue in one episode and green in the next? Certainly in the 70s & 80s, the more rabid Trek fans delighted in explaining away the endless inconsistencies in _Star Trek_, which always seemed like an exercise in futility with me. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-the-most-inconsistencies/584716/63 "2011-06-09T20:13:32Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > The problem I have with _the Simpsons_ is that the inconsistencies are NOT done on purpose. If you listen to the DVD commentaries, the writers just didn’t care. And then they pass off their incompetence, by having Lisa have a throw-a-way line, “You’re bound to repeat yourself.” Bull. They are very clearly doing it on purpose due to whatever’s funniest for that episode. For example, early in the show’s run, a comet is going to crash into the town and the citizens of Springfield can’t leave because “the only bridge in town” is destroyed. A few episodes later, Springfield and Shelbyville are shown to share a long border and “the only bridge in town” goes unmentioned. Didn’t care? No, “Rule of Funny”. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-the-most-inconsistencies/584716/64 "2011-06-10T01:37:26Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Or as William Shatner so aptly summed it up: “Get a life!” Speaking of which, what about Get A Life? A cop shoots Chris dead early on in the series, but he’s back in another episode in time to die at the hands of a strangler – and then he returns, with no explanation, only to be stabbed to death before successfully competing in a number of spelling bees – I’m not sure we can square _ **any** _ of that of with his later years as disgraced celebrity Walletboy. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-the-most-inconsistencies/584716/65 "2011-06-10T01:52:19Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > …On Mama’s Family, she had one brother Vinton, played by Ken Berry. Even in the flashback episode, no other brothers were shown. **Mama’s Family** has alot of continuity erros as a result of the move from network to first-run syndication. In the NBC episodes the Harper house had 3 bedrooms; Thelma’s, Fran’s, & Sonia’s. Buzz slept in the attic, Vinton & Naomi in the basement. In the first syndicated episode Vint & Naomi were so excited to finally move out of the basement now that Buzz & Sonia were gone (& Fran was dead), but Bubba arrived and Thelma gave him Fran’s old room. This means that either Eunice, Ellen, & Vinton all shared the same bedroom growing up or Vinton slept in the attic. Also Buzz & Thelma once spent an afternoon cleaning the attic (to distract Thelma from a surprise party) and it was just an unfinished attic. And let’s not forget Thelma’s best friend, Iola Boylan, who grew up with Vinton and lived in Raytown her entire life, but was never mentioned in the NBC episodes. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-the-most-inconsistencies/584716/66 "2011-06-10T04:37:14Z")
**What TV shows have the most inconsistencies?** FOX and Friends ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-the-most-inconsistencies/584716/67 "2011-06-10T04:41:35Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > On The Carol Burnett Show, Eunice Harper Wiggins had a bunch of brothers, played by the guest of the week. Someone once asked Burnett how many brothers she had, and she didn’t know. > > On Mama’s Family, she had one brother Vinton, played by Ken Berry. Even in the flashback episode, no other brothers were shown. And Mama wasn’t a feisty old lady- she was a backstabbing old [horror](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7vFu6kiccg). ---
**Author:** ![storyguide3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@storyguide3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/storyguide3)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-the-most-inconsistencies/584716/68 "2011-06-10T10:59:53Z")
_A Country Practice_, an Australian sorta-soap opera from the 80’s to mid 90’s, switched networks for its final season. In so doing, the sleepy town of Wandin Valley, NSW became the sleepy town of Wandin Valley, Victoria without anyone in town noticing the move. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-the-most-inconsistencies/584716/69 "2011-06-10T14:10:47Z")
> [@storyguide3](#): > > _A Country Practice_, an Australian sorta-soap opera from the 80’s to mid 90’s, switched networks for its final season. In so doing, the sleepy town of Wandin Valley, NSW became the sleepy town of Wandin Valley, Victoria without anyone in town noticing the move. No, they noticed. But everybody was warned not to mention it. [Under penalty of torture!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Principal_and_the_Pauper) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-the-most-inconsistencies/584716/70 "2011-06-10T14:20:40Z")
The Flintstones are pretty bad too. I remember watching it once where Wilma was walking through the house and she passed the same damn table and lamp 12 times. But in outside shots of the house – the building looks nowhere near big enough to have a room so big. Same thing happened when Fred and Barney were in the backyard. They were walking and the stone fence went on for-freaking’-ever. ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Jocko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncle_jocko/32/2932_2.png) [@Uncle\_Jocko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Jocko)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-the-most-inconsistencies/584716/71 "2011-06-10T15:11:27Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > In the last year of _Newhart_ huge amounts of continuity were thrown out. The show was very different the last year. With Larry, Darryl and Darryl almost being totally rewritten. Well, to be fair, how much continuity do _your_ dreams have? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-the-most-inconsistencies/584716/72 "2011-06-10T15:36:19Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > The Flintstones are pretty bad too. I remember watching it once where Wilma was walking through the house and she passed the same damn table and lamp 12 times. But in outside shots of the house – the building looks nowhere near big enough to have a room so big. > > Same thing happened when Fred and Barney were in the backyard. They were walking and the stone fence went on for-freaking’-ever. if Roger Meyers Jr. made that show it never would have happened. ---
**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 10, 2011, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-the-most-inconsistencies/584716/73 "2011-06-10T16:14:02Z")
> [@tanstaafl](#): > > Consistency issues have been around forever. In _Sherlock Holmes_, was Dr. Watson’s first name John or James? Was he shot in the arm or the leg? > > But really, was consistency that big of an issue in television until (relatively) recently? I know that except for the occasional two-parter the concept of a story arc lasting over multiple episodes is a (again, relatively) recent development. (I want to say that _Hill Street Blues_ was the first series to deal with “story arcs” but have no cite.) > > I guess what I am asking is, is expecting a TV series to be completely consistent from one episode to the next a relatively new thing? Or were viewers back in the '60s (or whenever) really that concerned that someone’s sofa was blue in one episode and green in the next? The pictures were fuzzy and there were no VCR’s, so we couldn’t go back and check, even if we wanted to. Tony Dow (Wally on _Leave It to Beaver_) used to tell the story of a fan who had written, claiming to have figured out the combination of Wally’s locker. Dow had to explain that opening his locker was merely a piece of visual business to accompany the dialog, the lock was a non-functioning prop, and that he simply moved the dial back and forth with no thought to what he was actually doing. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-the-most-inconsistencies/584716/74 "2011-06-11T23:11:24Z")
_Nip/Tuck_ had some inconsistencies mainly in season 6, though a few turned up in season 4 and maybe 5 too. Annie’s age: She was supposedly born in 1996, but in season 4, set in 2006, she was 12. Then she was 13 in the first half of seson 6, set in 2010 (the next half was set in 2011, though that was problematic in itself). Annie’s Rapunzel syndrome problem in s. 6: She was pulling her hair out and eating it, but seemed to recover very fast by the time she moved in with her grandmother, just a few days or so after having a hairball removed. Sean’s age: He and Christian were supposed to have been born a few weeks or days apart in June 1964, but in season 6, his birth year appeared to be 1967. Christian, Liz, and the aborted fetus from season 2, revisited in season 6: In a group therapy session, Liz implies that Christian would not have wanted the Down Syndrome baby she was carrying back in season 2 and wanted it aborted. Actually, Liz made that decision on her own and did not tell him until after it was done and over with. (Yes, I’ve seen all the seasons many times.) ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-the-most-inconsistencies/584716/75 "2011-06-12T08:31:38Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > **Mama’s Family** has alot of continuity erros as a result of the move from network to first-run syndication. In the NBC episodes the Harper house had 3 bedrooms; Thelma’s, Fran’s, & Sonia’s. Buzz slept in the attic, Vinton & Naomi in the basement. In the first syndicated episode Vint & Naomi were so excited to finally move out of the basement now that Buzz & Sonia were gone (& Fran was dead), but Bubba arrived and Thelma gave him Fran’s old room. This means that either Eunice, Ellen, & Vinton all shared the same bedroom growing up or Vinton slept in the attic. Also Buzz & Thelma once spent an afternoon cleaning the attic (to distract Thelma from a surprise party) and it was just an unfinished attic. And let’s not forget Thelma’s best friend, Iola Boylan, who grew up with Vinton and lived in Raytown her entire life, but was never mentioned in the NBC episodes. There was also a [2 hour live special presentation](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKHubzv5Mcs&feature=related) in 1982 that spanned the lives of Eunice/Ed and Mama from 1955 to 1978. In that one Ken Berry played the successful brother Phil- for consistency Betty White was on board with snooty sister Ellen- but there was one really major and irreconcilable difference as far as Mama’s Family was concerned: Mama died in 1978. The last third of the teleplay has to do with her funeral and its aftermath. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-the-most-inconsistencies/584716/76 "2011-06-12T10:07:32Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > **The X-Files** has some pretty big blunders. _\_ I didn’t watch this show, but I was visiting friends once who were rabid fans, so I was stuck sitting thru an episode. Within the first few minutes, I knew I was right in not wasting time with the series. The main guy was awakened by a phone call, and at the bottom of the screen, it said something like “Baltimore 8:27 AM.” Because of the call, he leaps out of bed and the scene fades to him getting out of his car and the caption reads (can’t recall the exact city or time) “Providence, RI, 11:43 AM.” The point is, he went from asleep in bed to cleaned up and dressed and 7 or 8 hours away (with good traffic) in a ridiculously short amount of time. I don’t think he could have met the timeline if he’d had a jet warmed up and waiting for him in the back yard. I was a polite guest and didn’t mock the show as I normally would have… Or is that too specific to be an inconsistency? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-the-most-inconsistencies/584716/77 "2011-06-12T15:27:15Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > I didn’t watch this show, but I was visiting friends once who were rabid fans, so I was stuck sitting thru an episode. Within the first few minutes, I knew I was right in not wasting time with the series. > > The main guy was awakened by a phone call, and at the bottom of the screen, it said something like “Baltimore 8:27 AM.” Because of the call, he leaps out of bed and the scene fades to him getting out of his car and the caption reads (can’t recall the exact city or time) “Providence, RI, 11:43 AM.” The point is, he went from asleep in bed to cleaned up and dressed and 7 or 8 hours away (with good traffic) in a ridiculously short amount of time. I don’t think he could have met the timeline if he’d had a jet warmed up and waiting for him in the back yard. > > I was a polite guest and didn’t mock the show as I normally would have… > > Or is that too specific to be an inconsistency? If that’s an inconsistency then every hour ever of “24” qualifies. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-the-most-inconsistencies/584716/78 "2011-06-12T16:01:24Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > If that’s an inconsistency then every hour ever of “24” qualifies. :rolleyes: Tell me about it. I remember one episode where Jack beats LA traffic to arrive at a house across town _before an Air Force jet does_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-the-most-inconsistencies/584716.md?page=3)