As an avid TV fan, it’s often frustrating to see potentially great shows ruined by lazy scriptwriting, planning or development. Of course, there’s no such thing as a ‘perfect’ television show, and while a show may not be to my personal taste, I’d always respect other people’s right to enjoy it. Some flaws, however, make you wonder whether or not the scriptwriters actually care about the world they’re creating. Flaws like…
5. Inconsistency
The main offenders are shows with large writing teams, presumably because not everyone remembers all the details that other scriptwriters have mentioned. I can forgive some slight lapses – although really, is it that hard to remember a character’s age? Some shows, however, seem to change their mind about things like a character’s personality and their religious and political views on a weekly basis. The worst culprit I’ve ever encountered is Glee. This list mentions some of the more obvious inconsistencies, and it’s a hefty 9000 words long. I don’t know how a Glee writer sets out to write a four week character arc, but I imagine it would go something like this.
Week 1: Female character has a heart of gold. Gives generously to charity. Flirts with Will Schuester
Week 2: Character treats the rest of the cast terribly. Flirts with Will Schuester.
Week 3: Character reverts to treating everyone well, but suddenly has a long term drinking problem. Flirts with Will Schuester.
Week 4: Character starts a lesbian relationship.
Now, personally I find it permissible if there’s a minor continuity error between Season 1 and Season 46 of Dr Who, but when even casual viewers can’t help noting the inconsistencies of a TV show, one really has to wonder how much effort the scriptwriting team is putting into their work.
How to Fix It: Hire a continuity editor. It’s that simple. The internet is full of people (such as myself) who spend their free time picking apart these inconsistencies, so hire one to make sure these mistakes don’t keep happening.
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5 Comments
#2 is wrong. That’s why they’re called SITUATION COMEDIES. They are no means an imitation of real life or proper drama stories. It is all about putting the characters in various situations and watching how they react to them. Usually to humorous effect. That’s also why most sitcoms are not serialized.
Yeah Lost managed to be totally different each series which was pure genius.
And I’m glad Two and a Half Men is still going, it’s just as funny as ever!!
There were twenty-six episodes of Blackadder, not sixteen. Each of the four series had six episodes, and there was a Christmas Special between Backadder The Third and Blackadder Goes Forth and a Millennium Special in 1999.
James, you’re right. For some reason I did 4 by 4, not 4 by 6. I’m a big Blackadder fan, whoops. Frill Artist, it’s not about the fact that sitcoms aren’t realistic, it’s about the fact that they’re not internally consistent. And Ben, Lost had a lot going for it. :) But it’s flawed as well.
Arrested Development is essentially the perfect TV show.