Maddening inconsistencies/discontinuities in old TV shows: forgot how to watch with "old eyes"?

George and Jerry each had 2 dads. Actually, George had THREE dads -- the guy who was originally hired to be Dad #2 was let go before his scene was filmed, as Jerry Stiller suddenly became available.

The scene with George's 1st dad was re-shot for syndication, but the scene with Jerry's 1st dad was never re-shot -- apparently because they didn't want to recreate Jerry's old apartment, and because Jerry had supposedly gained too much weight that they didn't think the audience would accept it. (Yeah, the audience is going to be upset over 20 pounds but they're not going to be upset over the completely different dad?!?)

 

I never thought of that

 

And that "Twilight Zone" episode where they cut it, thereby removing the most frightening part of the story.

 

Slightly off topic, but I remember an episode of some '70s action/drama show (might have been "The Rockford Files") where they showed a car speeding away......the camera had zoomed in on the steering column to show the driver switch gears......from "D" to "L1" on the automatic transmission......as if it was supposed to signify that the car was going faster?!? Even as a kid I knew that was a ridiculous and pointless concept!

 

I only remember that my favorite old shows were consistently good:

Colombo
Rockford Files
Kojak.

I'm not a big TV guy by any means but I have every episode of all three of those shows on DVD.

 

Ah, the errant palm trees.

The episode of THE FUGITIVE from the fourth season, "Nobody Loses All The Time" is supposedly set in Ohio. We're given this information and it's later visually confirmed on this license plate shot:


Later on, as Kimble is both pursuing the one-armed man, and being pursued by the police, he's seen crossing a street:

Notice the street sign which indicates Burlington and 4th.

A few frames later, we get to look up Burlington and see the impossible Ohio palm tree up the street:


Looking up a street view in Google at Burlington and 4th in Los Angeles, we can see that that "Ohio palm tree" is still there:

 

I don't think it was the weight thing, but the aging thing. I know Larry David once said that the characters had all aged too much to re-shoot the scene and drop it back into the early season. Sounds a bit strange since it was only a few years, but if you go back and see what the main four look in Seasons 1 and 2, and then Seasons 4 and 5, they all look a bit different (Elaine's ever-changing hair, Jerry went from a skinny guy to a guy who was clearly lifting weights a lot and looking bulkier but not fat, George went from being maybe just a tad overweight to being probably 20-30 pounds overweight).

 

This one is easy to dispel.
You see, that palm tree was in the yard of Mr. Jacobson...Dr. Jacobson to be exact.
Dr. Jacobson was an arborist for the University of Ohio and he was conducting a gene splicing experiment in an attempt to develop a cold tolerant palm variety.

Judging by your recent photo, of the same area, I would suggest his experiment worked.

 

Heavens yes, enjoy the show despite the error. Otherwise don't bother watching.
But, when these gems do appear they are fun none the less, and if they happen in gross excess they are worth talking about the next day during lunch.

 

Cheers where in season 1 where Sam's brother came to town and impressed Diane but we never saw or heard from Sam's brother again

 

Couples in the 50s did not sleep together. In fact no one got pregnant either. And no one got divorced. And all men worse suits and ties all the time.

 

And no one ever went to the bathroom. Did you ever see a toilet in any of those old shows?

 

Wally and The Beave had a pet swimming in the tank of their toilet in one episode.

 

Wouldn't "All In The Family" be the first show in the USA to evoke - by the sound of flushing, and other narrative means - the existence of the toilet in a normal household? I remember Mad magazine lampooning the show with Archie bellowing something like "And this [showing the toilet] is a turlet! It's for [word bleeped in the drawing] and [bleep], and also for [bleep]!"... I inferred from that that the toilet in a sitcom had been taboo before that show.

 

A slight tangent - there's a great Star Trek site that gives a little background on the lot and what was filmed there, with animated maps/images. It provides specific details for Star Trek, with episode shots placed on the lot and camera angles, etc. I found it interesting. A separate section of the site features lost/unseen shots from Trek taken from individual film frames from dailies/production/trims that were cut up and sold by Gene Rodenberry's company. There's an awful lot of interesting production information if you're fan of TOS. Some of the site is Flash based...

Culver City - StarTrek History - Behind the Scenes

lost clips - Star Trek History - Behind the Scenes

 

Outrageous.

 

Cut what?

I seem to recall Lucy got pregnant in 1951.

 

I just watched the first four seasons of Bewitched over the last few months and there are indeed quite a few discrepancies. In the first few episodes, Samantha claims she can only do small stuff but when Tabitha is a child, she can teleport, conjure up real life versions of characters from books and change people into animals. This would indicate Sam is most likely just a run of the mill witch as far as powers go yet in the first episode of the 4th season, she becomes queen of the witches! And that plot point only lasts for a couple more episodes before it's never mentioned again. That 4th season is also the last time we see or even hear the name Aunt Clara. Certainly, Marion Lorne's death was a major factor but why not simply recast? It's not like they were averse to the concept. We already had 2 Gladys Kravitzes , 2 Louise Tates, 2 Frank Stephenses and a second Darrin was a season away. Aunt Clara was supposedly Sam's favorite aunt yet not only does she not live on in the story, she's completely forgotten. A final spell gone awry?

 

I wonder how the are going to resolve Sheldon's descriptions of his father in earlier episodes of The Big Bang Theory where he was basically an abusive drunk who cheated on Sheldon's mother with how he is portrayed in Young Sheldon

 

A Seinfeld issue on this front: the interior of Monk's Cafe doesn't match the exterior establishing shot in the slightest.

 

Ozzie & Harriet also shared a bed, early on too IIRC, but it either changed from episode to episode or I watched them out of sequence.

 

Talk about a change in character traits, in the first episode from Cheers Carla was portrayed as as a caring parent, and she even verbalized it quite loudly:

"Carla's late again".

"Nuts".

"OK, I'm late! My kid was throwing up all over the place.
You don't buy that excuse, I quit.
I don't work for a man who has no compassion for my children".

And from every episode then on, she was bad mouthing her kids in a somewhat uncomfortable way any chance she got, and even joking about their early demise at times!

Also, it seemed that every sixth episode or so they found a reason to have the patrons either solo or in a group fashion, break into an actual or impromptu song in various lengths ranging from a couple of measures or close to a full verse, yet it was a bar that had a Jukebox in it that only clocked in with about two minutes worth of music coming out of it during the entire eleven season run (probably due to music rights).

 

It’s TV Land, not reality. They’re sets, scripts, actors. Sit on your porch and watch the neighbors if you’re looking for believability and be bored.

 

That's good tv research. If only they had gotten permission to cut down the palm tree.

 

You are right of course but I can't imagine how they would replace the distinct humour that Aunt Clara was. Could you imagine Paul Lynde's character being replaced? The humans were generic I suppose and therefore replaceable.