Strange things on TV sitcoms

[roadman65]

We all talked about the Dallas saga and the Season 9 dream thing was very strange concept for television.  I thought I would start a thread now to discuss other strange things characters or writers have done throughout the years on TV.

Here are mine:

How come Wilson on Home Improvement never showed his face?
How come Maris on Frasier never showed her entire body?
How come Charlie on Charlie's Angels never revealed himself to the girls?

[Big John]

How come the Howells brought a couple of treasure chests with them on a 3-hour tour in Gilligans Island?

[Takumi]

Wilson was because of childhood interactions someone involved with the show (either Tim Allen or one of the writers) had with a neighbor, where he never saw his face through the fence.

[dlsterner]

How come the Howells brought a couple of treasure chests with them on a 3-hour tour in Gilligans Island?

Or, when Gilligan accidentally foiled the Professor's escape plan, why didn't they just try it again (this time keeping Gilligan occupied, far away from the rest)?

[roadman65]

How come the Howells brought a couple of treasure chests with them on a 3-hour tour in Gilligans Island?

Or, when Gilligan accidentally foiled the Professor's escape plan, why didn't they just try it again (this time keeping Gilligan occupied, far away from the rest)?

Why could they not build their own boat and just float back to Honolulu?

[kurumi]

How come the Howells brought a couple of treasure chests with them on a 3-hour tour in Gilligans Island?

A 3-hour tour means the destination is max 90 minutes from shore.
The boat they were on has a cruising speed of 12 knots (13.8 mph)
This gives you a range of 20.7 miles.
If you're in a resort area, just find a 30-story hotel tower; the view to the horizon from 300 feet up is 21.2 miles.
Get a good enough spyglass, and... "Oh. There they are."

Specs for the fictional boat:
http://www.gilligansisle.com/minnow.html

[PHLBOS]

How come Wilson on Home Improvement never showed his face?
How come Maris on Frasier never showed her entire body?
How come Charlie on Charlie's Angels never revealed himself to the girls?

Add "How come one never fully sees Norm's wife Vera on Cheers?" 
Note: While she is seen in one Season 5 episode, her face is covered with a pie.

[abefroman329]

How come Wilson on Home Improvement never showed his face?

Because he was supposed to be an "everyman" character; your older, wiser, (maybe) wealthier neighbor with more free time and more time to contemplate the mysteries of the universe/dispense advice.

How come Maris on Frasier never showed her entire body?

Because they could never find an actor that could match the descriptions of her.

[roadman]

How come the Howells brought a couple of treasure chests with them on a 3-hour tour in Gilligans Island?

And why did Ginger bring her entire wardrobe with her?

[roadman65]

How come on Dallas (where Ginger went on to be JR's mistress) the upstairs after the seventh season was bigger than the outside of the house? 

Up until the Southfork Fire you never saw an upstairs corridor, but the corridor and the amount of rooms per side should not fit as the front of the house from the exterior shots only has three balconies from the front.

Then in Season Four when Bobby was president of Ewing Oil he had problems with liquid cash to go into a deal with the Cartel as his daddy spent the reserves on real estate.  Yet the moment JR stepped back in after driving Bobby out of the president's chair, the company had a lot of reserve cash so JR can pay off rebels in a foreign nation to get his oil wells back of the unnamed Southeast Asian country government who stole them from him.

I always thought that JR used his own money, but being the fate of Ewing Oil was at stake when Jeremy Wendell squealed on JR to the Texas Senate and not the fate of JR alone, it had to be with company funds as if JR did it solo he would have faced investigation alone and the company charter would have not been an issue to the authorities.

Also how the hell did Detective McSween get a warrant out on Kristin for prostitution so easily.  Its not that easy to just ask a judge to issue a warrant for an arrest without proof.  Remember the Who Shot JR episode, he had McSween knock on her door to give her notice to leave town which prompted her to shoot JR.

[abefroman329]

In the pilot, Clair Huxtable asks Cliff why they have four kids and he responds "Because five would be too many."  Later, we learn they have five kids.

[roadman65]

Probably because of Vanessa Williams contraversial Playboy Pictorial which featured her in a lesbian photo shoot.  She was to be the fifth kid at the time when this nation was not that open minded. 

Today you have Ellen Degeneres, Sara Gilbert, and many others who are in the alternate lifestyle and have shows that keep them.  In the 1980's they were given hardship by sponsors and such.

[PHLBOS]

Probably because of Vanessa Williams contraversial Playboy Pictorial which featured her in a lesbian photo shoot.  She was to be the fifth kid at the time when this nation was not that open minded. 

Today you have Ellen Degeneres, Sara Gilbert, and many others who are in the alternate lifestyle and have shows that keep them.  In the 1980's they were given hardship by sponsors and such.

Actually, Ellen's first show (titled Ellen) that ran during the 90s ultimately took a sizable blow in the ratings after her character was outed and every subsequent episode dwelled on such.  The show was cancelled one year/season later.

[jeffandnicole]

Howard's mom in The Big Bang Theory is never shown as well.

Tim Allen's shows have been family friendly; first with 3 boys and the 2nd with 3 girls (or whatever children and inlaws he now has).  However, as a stand-up comedian, he shoots for the adult crowd.  I remember one story where he was about to deliver his normal routine when he realized the crowd was filled with kids, and drastically had to change his material for that performance.

[PHLBOS]

Howard's mom in The Big Bang Theory is never shown as well.

Yup, and the character was killed off in the later seasons; thereby eliminating any chance of seeing the character at all in future episodes.

[spooky]

Howard's mom in The Big Bang Theory is never shown as well.

Yup, and the character was killed off in the later seasons; thereby eliminating any chance of seeing the character at all in future episodes.

Didn't the woman die who did the voice of the mom? I think that's why they killed off the character.

[Henry]

Howard's mom in The Big Bang Theory is never shown as well.

Yup, and the character was killed off in the later seasons; thereby eliminating any chance of seeing the character at all in future episodes.

Didn't the woman die who did the voice of the mom? I think that's why they killed off the character.

Yes, she did; it was Carol Ann Susi.

As for unseen characters, Seinfeld has not one, but two: Bob Saccamano and Lomez.

[PHLBOS]

Howard's mom in The Big Bang Theory is never shown as well.

Yup, and the character was killed off in the later seasons; thereby eliminating any chance of seeing the character at all in future episodes.

Didn't the woman die who did the voice of the mom? I think that's why they killed off the character.

Yes, she did; it was Carol Ann Susi.

That would certainly explain it.  I guess the casting crew either couldn't find or weren't interested in recasting the role with someone that had or could do a similar voice.

[Rothman]

Howard's mom in The Big Bang Theory is never shown as well.

Yup, and the character was killed off in the later seasons; thereby eliminating any chance of seeing the character at all in future episodes.

Didn't the woman die who did the voice of the mom? I think that's why they killed off the character.

Yes, she did; it was Carol Ann Susi.

As for unseen characters, Seinfeld has not one, but two: Bob Saccamano and Lomez.

George Steinbrenner was also somewhat not seen.

[abefroman329]

Howard's mom in The Big Bang Theory is never shown as well.

Yup, and the character was killed off in the later seasons; thereby eliminating any chance of seeing the character at all in future episodes.

Didn't the woman die who did the voice of the mom? I think that's why they killed off the character.

Yes, she did; it was Carol Ann Susi.

As for unseen characters, Seinfeld has not one, but two: Bob Saccamano and Lomez.

George Steinbrenner was also somewhat not seen.

Voiced by Larry David; don't know who they used as the body double, though.

[Big John]

In the Brady Bunch, why did the architect father design a house with only one bathroom, and didn't include a toilet?

[PHLBOS]

In the Brady Bunch, why did the architect father design a house with only one bathroom, and didn't include a toilet?

Prior to sitcoms like All in the Family, bathroom shots of toilets were hardly ever shown.  Such was still considered taboo to show on TV back then. 

In the case of The Brady Bunch, a toilet in the shared-connecting bathroom was assumed.  It was also assumed that the master bedroom (Mike & Carol's room) had a full bathroom of its own as well. 

Additionally; one never see's Alice's bedroom, likely accessed via the rear kitchen door, let alone a likely bathroom on the main floor.

[roadman65]

In the Brady Bunch, why did the architect father design a house with only one bathroom, and didn't include a toilet?

Prior to sitcoms like All in the Family, bathroom shots of toilets were hardly ever shown.  Such was still considered taboo to show on TV back then. 

In the case of The Brady Bunch, a toilet in the shared-connecting bathroom was assumed.  It was also assumed that the master bedroom (Mike & Carol's room) had a full bathroom of its own as well. 

Additionally; one never see's Alice's bedroom, likely accessed via the rear kitchen door, let alone a likely bathroom on the main floor.

Alice's bedroom was seen in the episode where she sprung her ankle in Season One.  Yes it was all assumed and it was All In The Family that brought out the bathroom including the scene in one episode where Archie was trapped on the John without toilet paper having to yell at Edith from upstairs that "We are out of toilet paper" followed by Archie's response to Edith after she said that it was in the kitchen "It does not do me good down there when I am up here" stating that Archie did number two and has an unclean bunghole would not been allowed originally with that suggestion.

What about the way the Odd Couple had two season three episodes with Oscar's mom coming to visit.  One episode featured her totally unaware of Oscar's divorce and had to call in his ex wife to pretend they were still wed, while the other episode stated by Oscar that his mom was present at the courthouse the day of his divorce.

Now I am aware each Odd Couple episode was self contained and no story lines went from one to the next nor were previous stories ever referred to again.  Even when Howard Cosell was on twice the second time  even never referred to his first time on the show, but being these two mom episodes were both the same season, the writers should have not forgotten nor Garry Marshall who produced the show its entire five year run after a short gap.

[Henry]

On the original Roseanne, Dan dies near the end, but is alive on the revival and its spinoff, The Conners. I was told that there were protests of some sort, so they brought him back to life.

Not to mention that The Conners begins with Roseanne being the one who's dead, and we all know why.

[abefroman329]

On the original Roseanne, Dan dies near the end, but is alive on the revival and its spinoff, The Conners. I was told that there were protests of some sort, so they brought him back to life.

It seemed like they retconned almost the entire last season of the original run of Roseanne.  For example, neither Bev nor Jackie are gay (the last season had Bev come out, but then at the end, Roseanne said it was actually Jackie).