10 major classic TV plot holes (from MeTV)

I came across this list of 10 classic TV plot holes on Me-TV and I thought it was pretty interesting which plot holes cropped up over the years on which shows. 99% of these I would never have probably caught on my own.

10 major plot holes that classic TV writers didn't bother to fix

 

Wait! So Floyd the Barber was gay. Well, I never...

 

Well, Kurt Cobain knew that all along.

 

I wouldn't call that list "plot holes" , it's more like character history discrepancies. I'm surprised the Cunningham sibling Chuck from Happy Days isn't tops on the list. Or Frasier's Dad being mentioned on Cheers as deceased. They even made fun of that on a show when Sam came to visit Seattle. Doctor Who being limited to 12 regenerations, that's a plot hole!

 

FRASIER: “Oh, Sam, this is my brother, Dr. Niles Crane.”

NILES: “Pleasure to meet you.”

SAM: “Yeah, you too. Wow... man, this is freaky. [To Frasier] He looks just like you did when I met you. What happened, huh?”

FRASIER: “Wasn't exactly a health club you were running there, Sam.”

SAM: [To Niles] “This is strange, I gotta tell you. See, I didn't know he had a brother.”

NILES: “Frasier, I don't mind telling you I’m a little offended that in all the time you spent swapping bon mots with the beer-nut set, you never once mentioned you had a brother!”

SAM: “Well, you know, the truth is, I bet he said something; it's just that when Frasier gets going you kind of have to tune him out.”

NILES: “That's a good slogan for his radio show: ‘Dr. Frasier Crane: when he gets going, you have to tune him out.’”

MARTIN: “Hey, what’d he tell you about me, Sam? His father, the old cop?”

SAM: “Um, he told me you were dead.”

MARTIN: “Dead!?”

FRASIER: “Well, we’d had had an argument! You called me a stuffed shirt and hung up on me. I was mad.”

SAM: “You're a cop? [To Frasier] You told me he was a research scientist.”

FRASIER: [Off Martin's glare] “You were dead! What did it matter?”

 

Wasn't there a Cheers episode where Frasier's mother appeared? I'm fuzzy in the details since it's been forever since I watched it, but was her marital status discussed?

As to the linked article, I would agree these are not plot holes but inconsistencies. Plot holes would be like the entire Gillian's Island run .

 

The true story of the lost episode of The Andy Griffith Show

 

Correct - they're continuity goofs, not actual "plot holes"...

 

It is not just old shows - I can think of newer ones with inconsistencies.

On "Big Bang Theory" Sheldon is allergic to cats one on episode, then adopts a clowder of them when he and Amy hit a rough patch.

The pilot episode also cast him as a sperm donor. I don't think the more developed version of his character would have ever done that. Come to think of it though, that could provide an interesting plot twist.

 

Hester Crane appeared in the 1984 Cheers episode, "Diane Meets Mom," played by Nancy Marchand (who would end up playing Livia Soprano in the first two seasons of The Sopranos). I don't think Frasier's dad was mentioned in the episode one way or the other.

In a first-season Frasier episode, Hester is explained as having died six years earlier, which would place her passing around 1987. A rather poignant flashback in the 2002 episode "Rooms with a View," indicates that she died of inoperable lung cancer, which was what killed Marchand.

 

What about the plot hole in Charles in Charge where Scott Baio was supposed to be intelligent.

 

I like the cut of your jib, Mr. Diver.

 

The backstory inconsistencies with The Odd Couple are numerous. One basic item is that in the movie Oscar had kids, but not on the show, which I thought was a strange choice. In "Our Fathers", from season 5, it's revealed that Oscar and Felix's fathers share a history together, yet they never met until years later.

 

I much preferred when she was played by Rita Wilson (in the episode "Momma Mia").

 

"Odd Couple" - and plenty of other series - just made it up as they went along. They were more concerned with coming up with new stories than character continuity, and back in those pre-Internet days, they got away with it more easily!

 

That's, what, the 60s? Can't wait 'til they get to Louie...

 

I never thought the 12 regeneration limit in Doctor Who was a plot hole. Although it may not have been there at the beginning but once introduced they seem to have stuck with it, while also indicating that there is a way to receive more regenerations (as The Master was offered).

If anything, its Dragonball Z that went out of its way with inconsistency when it comes to the Dragon Balls by introducing more and most twists into the rules for the Dragon Balls. It culminated with the introduction of a second set of Dragon Balls from another planet that don't have the limitations of those on Earth.

It wasn't just the lack of the Internet, but back then network TV was basically two and done. They ran the show once new, then once again as a rerun in the season and then it was gone...until local reruns began.

 

Good point - the lack of exposure made it less likely people would pick up on the goofs since they couldn't watch the shows over and over.

And even if you did think "hey, that doesn't fit what happened on an earlier show", you couldn't prove it easily so you might think you'd misremembered/misunderstood...

 

On "Saved by the Bell", Kelly Kapowski can't carry a tune in one episode, and then in another she has a singing group with Lisa and Jessie.

 

NOT a plot hole! Many, many "singers" have proven that you can have a singing career with no talent required!

 

You folks all ROCK in my book. I can't even keep stuff in my own life straight but y'all have managed to bring up some great points about TV shows. I need to start paying attention to plots and continuity more

 

Hogan's Heroes has more holes than my old underwear. For one, if they can come and go from the camp as they please, why don't they just escape? Of course, the Nazis would have just shot Hogan as soon as he started pulling all his crap. I never thought the subject matter lent itself to comedy to begin with. I wish that the Nazis were that stupid and inept.

 

Hey, it's easy to sing when you have a studio musician dubbing in all your singing vocals.

 

No. Just live your life like a normal person does.

 

I'm tryin' but I seem to be running into a wide scope definition of what "normal" is lol