Should people worry really about Hollywood retrofitting on TV Shows

[roadman65]

These days with all the internet and chat rooms and all the cyber talk places, many people love to bring out the fact that many TV shows that are retrofitted for each episode, the most common Chuck Cunningham Syndrome where key characters are not written out of the script of a TV show where the story continues without explanation of where the character went and in some cases the existence of the previous character is never mentioned either.  Like the person was not there like with Mike Douglas, played by Tim Constantine who wanted out of his contract midway through the series of My Three Sons.  He was said to have gotten married and moved away in the first color episode of the series, where the void was filled in with Ernie Douglas, by adoption.  Then later it was never spoken again about Mike or the fact that Ernie was adopted.

Then there are other things out there that are brought up.  Sometimes as running gags and then sometimes when a whole show creates a new character out of a place that he or she should not like Martin Crane on Fraiser as the show was a direct spin off of Cheers, where Dr. Fraiser Craine was a character of for several years already with a deceased father.  Martin, as we know who watched the spin off, was Fraiser's dad.  In addition they made Fraiser out to be a total snob rejecting all people who were not in the upper social class, unlike on Cheers where he befriended a bar full of losers going nowhere in life, and even drank beer then.  In the retrofitted Fraiser sitcom, it was made out that Dr. Crane hated beer and could not stand his father's average joe lifestyle that he was part of himself on Cheers.  Of course that was all done because the previous Fraiser character would have not made out on a TV show if he was left like he was at Cheers, so the producers made some changes to make the character more desirable.  They, in fact, did address some of that when Sam came to visit Fraiser later on Fraiser's TV show, by saying that Fraiser had an argument with his father at the time he told Sam he was dead and did that out of the anger of his argument.

Enough on that, however many people love to gossip about TV shows and complain about retrofitted acts.  My question is are we who talk about  changes or overlooked scenarios on television really going to far, or is it really a worthwhile discussion to have and to post and get into?  To me I sometimes do get into that if it discussed, but not to the point of obsession.  However, I am wondering how far is being obsessed over things Hollywood does constantly in a make believe world they create?

[Rothman]

*shrug*

Thanks to my teenager kids, I now know about all the character "disappearances" on Glee.  They were quite rampant.  The overall reaction is a shrug.

[roadman65]

Sometimes it can be amazing including TV land when they would mention the Brady Bunch's doghouse with the missing dog as midway through Season 2 of that show the family pet suffered from Chuck Cunningham Syndrome.  However, TV Land used to bust that show chops about not removing the dog house even three season's later.

In reality it was to cover a hole in the astroturf that would have been seen if the house was removed, so producers left it behind to cover it.

[Mr. Matté]

People who worry about this remind me of an old Styx proverb.

[Pete from Boston]

No, people shouldn't.

[roadman65]

Sometimes I wonder, if television is worst than politics as people are so glued to it!  Me, I will watch mainly reruns primarily the shows I grew up with.  My dial is set for MeTV, and so what if the writing is not consistent in  a show.  Yes TV world is fake, but at least its entertaining and it gives you another world to retreat to after a long day.

[Pete from Boston]

It'll all turn out fine.

What's a dial?

[jp the roadgeek]

Then there's the Lionel Jefferson situation where the original actor (Mike Evans) is replaced by a new one (Damon Evans, no relation), only for the original Lionel to return a couple seasons later.  It was for Mike to focus more on production of Good Times, and he returned once that series ended. No real changes in the plot, just the acting style.

[Pete from Boston]

"Roseanne" switched back and forth between actors in the role of one of the daughters over the course of a season.

[NJRoadfan]

They even made fun of it in Roseanne.

[GCrites]

^Oh, "New Becky"

[jeffandnicole]

What I dislike more is when a character changes significantly - even though it's the same person - and it's not addressed.  This happens frequently with child actors, and usually between the ending of taping for one season and the beginning of taping for the next season. 

A recent example is Luke Dunphy on Modern Family.  When the show started up this year, he had grown so much I wasn't sure if this person was Haley Dunphy's brother or if Haley had a new boyfriend.

One example of how I felt it was handled properly was on the Big Bang Theory.  When Penny got a new hair style this summer, OCDing Sheldon pointed it out twice in the season's opening episode. Letting that elephant out of the room acknowledges what everyone can see, and allows the show to continue to flow without interruption. 

[Pete from Boston]

A recent example is Luke Dunphy on Modern Family.  When the show started up this year, he had grown so much I wasn't sure if this person was Haley Dunphy's brother or if Haley had a new boyfriend.

I'd only seen this show in reruns until recently, so I know what you mean.

That said, if you ever don't see a kid for a year and the puberty kicks in, you return to a mutant form of what you thought you knew.  I know TV is supposed to be easier and gentler than real life, but I guess sometimes it's a little extra real.

[english si]

A recent example is Luke Dunphy on Modern Family.  When the show started up this year, he had grown so much I wasn't sure if this person was Haley Dunphy's brother or if Haley had a new boyfriend.

You must have missed a season, as while there's a huge change as seasons have gone, he was pretty grown at the end of the one before.

Manny and Alex had similar, though less noticeable as they didn't spend the first few seasons being the most child-like character on the show.

Lily is a much more extreme change, but was a while back. Baby Lily was basically a prop, and she was getting bigger and couldn't act. So they added 18 months to her age and change the actress, so the character can be a sassy toddler rather than an inert baby.

[vdeane]

I would think that the way TV is produced would make the change more obvious.  Seasons tend to be shot all at once, so the gap in shooting the finale of one season and the start of the next is much longer than the gap in when the episodes air or take place.

[PHLBOS]

Lily is a much more extreme change, but was a while back. Baby Lily was basically a prop, and she was getting bigger and couldn't act. So they added 18 months to her age and change the actress, so the character can be a sassy toddler rather than an inert baby.

Family Ties was even worse with that.  One season, Andrew was a baby; the following season, he was portrayed as a 3-year old (played by Brian Bonsall).

[spooky]

Lily is a much more extreme change, but was a while back. Baby Lily was basically a prop, and she was getting bigger and couldn't act. So they added 18 months to her age and change the actress, so the character can be a sassy toddler rather than an inert baby.

Family Ties was even worse with that.  One season, Andrew was a baby; the following season, he was portrayed as a 3-year old (played by Brian Bonsall).

I believe Growing Pains did the same thing with the 4th Seaver child.

Of course, soap operas are still the king of rapid aging.

[jeffandnicole]

If you watch the ending credits of 22nd Jump Street, they parody a bunch of future sequels.  In 29 Jump Street, one of the main characters is replaced due to a 'contract dispute'.  The actors on the screen play it off as if nothing happened, which is hilarious because of the vast difference in looks of the regular actor (Jonah Hill) vs. replacement actor (Seth Rogen).

This is simply Hollywood making fun of Hollywood.

As it turns out, they are making a 23rd Jump Street.  It's rumored to include the parodies featured within 22 Jump Street's credits.

[SP Cook]

It is a TV show.  Who cares?  Worry about accuracy in things like the news, history textbooks, and instructions on how to fly airplanes.

[spooky]

It is a TV show.  Who cares?  Worry about accuracy in things like the news, history textbooks, and instructions on how to fly airplanes.

"Worry" was a poorly chosen word, as is typical of the OP. No sane person is worried about any of this, but that doesn't mean people can't find the topic worthy of discussion.

[Pete from Boston]

You don't worry about what's happening to the characters in the six days and 23 hours you can't keep an eye on them? 

I've been worried about Quincy since 1983.  I hope he's okay.

[briantroutman]

Not so well.

[Pete from Boston]

See?  I told you there's reason to worry.

A whole generation succumbed to punk rock after Quincy stopped fighting back.

[roadman65]

You know nobody ever questioned MASH being on the air longer than the actual Korean War, which the show was to take place.  We can be grateful for that, as well as Hogan's Heroes being on longer than America's involvement in World War II.  Also like MASH, Hogan's Heroes was taken place during the second big war, and was on total of six seasons.  US involvement in that war was from 1941 to 1945.  In addition Ivan Dixon also left after Season 5, and producers replaced him with Kenneth Washington and a whole new character going way beyond Chuck Cunningham Syndrome as Season 6 had its own completely different fictional world as it was implied Washington's character was there all along.

[jwolfer]

You know nobody ever questioned MASH being on the air longer than the actual Korean War, which the show was to take place.  We can be grateful for that, as well as Hogan's Heroes being on longer than America's involvement in World War II.  Also like MASH, Hogan's Heroes was taken place during the second big war, and was on total of six seasons.  US involvement in that war was from 1941 to 1945.  In addition Ivan Dixon also left after Season 5, and producers replaced him with Kenneth Washington and a whole new character going way beyond Chuck Cunningham Syndrome as Season 6 had its own completely different fictional world as it was implied Washington's character was there all along.

Breaking bad news was on for 5 or 6 seasons but I he time lapsed in the show was a year and a half