Sometimes, someone is watching their favorite sitcom and realizes things don’t add up. A character has a niece or nephew despite being an only child. The main character gets a visit from their mother who was previously said to be dead. Ultimately, fans have to learn the hard way that writers make mistakes.
Apparently, this has origins in the history of television: before television started airing reruns, writers never expected viewers to see an episode more than once, so continuity between storylines wasn’t too much of a priority. More often than not, however, continuity issues are caused by having multiple writers working on a storyline rather than just one person being forgetful. In fact, it’s not unheard of for a show to go through a new team of writers each season.
7 Bewitched: Fans Still Debate Where The Show Took Place
When it comes to the setting of Bewitched, Samantha and Darrin lived at 1164 Morning Glory Circle, but the show wasn’t always consistent on what state their neighborhood is in, going back and forth between Connecticut and New York.
Darrin once outright claims to live in Westport, Aunt Clara once describes the house as being in New York, and cars in the series usually have New York license plates. Whether he lived in the state or not, Darrin’s place of work appeared to be a Madison Avenue building.
6 I Dream Of Jeannie: Jeannie’s Origins Were Constantly Changing
In early episodes of I Dream Of Jeannie, it was a recurring storyline that Jeannie had once been human but was turned into a genie by the Blue Djinn and trapped in her bottle, a story brought up as late as the second season. In the first season, Jeannie’s human relatives made a few appearances.
Later episodes outright state that Jeannie had been born a genie and portray her other relatives, notably her mother and sister, as genies. The storyline about her being trapped in her bottle until the start of the series was dropped, too, in favor of the running joke she had known various figures throughout history.
5 I Love Lucy: Character Names Changed All The Time
In the classic sitcom I Love Lucy, the full names of even the main characters weren’t always consistent. Ethel’s middle name has been stated as Louise, Roberta, and eventually Mae. Ricky’s name was sometimes given as Enrique, but other times was Ricardo.
Similarly, Fred’s old vaudeville partner was originally named Ted Kurtz, and a sketch in their old act poked fun at their similar names. When he finally appears in person, his name becomes Barney Kurtz.
4 The Golden Girls: Dorothy’s Children Are A Decade Or Two Younger Than They Should Be
A running joke in The Golden Girls is that Dorothy married her cheating ex Stan after he got her pregnant in high school. In the first season, Dorothy mentions she and Stan had been married for 38 years before they divorced, which seems to be two years before the start of the series. However, when Dorothy’s children Michael and Kate appear, both are too young to have been born at the start of their parents’ marriage, with Michael explicitly said to be a twenty-something. In fact, Michael gets younger as the show goes on, going from 29 to 23 during appearances. Dorothy also mentions grandchildren in early episodes. However, neither Kate nor Michael had children until Michael gets married late in the third season.
3 Sabrina The Teenage Witch: Sabrina’s Two-Year Ban On Seeing Her Mother Became Indefinite
In early episodes of Sabrina The Teenage Witch, the sitcom adaptation of the Archie Comics character, it was explained Sabrina couldn’t see her human mother for a period of two years after coming into her powers at 16 on pain of being turned into wax, implied to be a punishment for marrying a warlock.
Later episodes portray this ban as something permanent, with Sabrina no longer allowed to see her mother for the rest of her life. This was an issue even when Sabrina is at college and later her own wedding, long after the two-year period had passed.
2 Gimme A Break: Nell Practically Gets A New Family Out Of Nowhere
When viewers first see Nell’s family on Gimme A Break, she’s shown to have a tender relationship with her mother Emma. Her father virtually disowned her over her running away to become a singer, and her sister Marie was a childish woman who still watched Sesame Street. Nell didn’t seem too involved with her family at the time, as she didn’t seem to know her sister was married.
The second time Nell returns home to Alabama, her sister is now a completely different character named Loretta, who is getting married for what appears to be the first time. Nell’s mother gets renamed Maybelle and is now portrayed as a shrewish woman who always favored Loretta. After Nell’s father died, it was now implied he was the one Nell was close to.
1 The Simpsons: Nelson’s Father Seems To Be Different Characters
In some early episodes of The Simpsons, Nelson was the son of a local soccer coach. Later episodes adopted the running joke that Nelson’s father walked out on him and Nelson instead lives with his neglectful mother. At one point, the show revealed that Nelson’s father was being held captive against his will and is reunited with his wife and son. Despite this twist, later episodes still sometimes portray Nelson’s father as having willingly walked out on his family, while others still have him live with the family.
Added to this, after he was redesigned to look like an older Nelson, the series started going back and forth on what he looks like. Fans even noted that in The Simpsons Movie he alternated between both of his designs.
In the original Friends pilot, Monica introduced Rachel to Chandler for the first time. The series proper, however, had them meet beforehand multiple times.
One flashback shows them meeting each other at a bar a year before, another flashback showed they both once attended a Thanksgiving dinner with the Gellars, and another flashback showed they once made out with each other at a college party, where they even recognized each other from before.
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