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How Bad Continuity Impacted These 5 Popular Shows

Continuity can be one of the most crucial aspects of a television show. Foundational elements of characters and world-building help the characters understand each other, and the audience gains a stronger grasp of what to anticipate from the show they are committed to.

There are times when a show’s evolution has allowed audiences to track character development and the growth stemming from it. However, in other instances, the series may suggest something only to later make massive changes. This often happens because the creators come up with new ideas or want to find ways to keep a character on the show even when they’ve outgrown the storyline.

Many popular shows struggle with continuity issues. Even if a new idea might provide a lot of new ground to cover and new fun, the audience may question if the writers understand their own show. When such details are never revealed before, it can appear as if the characters themselves have lost track of their history.

Fan-favorite comedies and dramas have been guilty of this multiple times. How often have you watched a show trying to unravel a plot hole created just because the show wanted to tell a joke or justify why a fan-favorite character had yet to graduate from high school?

While many shows over the decades have fallen into these traps, there are times when these continuity issues have been used effectively. Sometimes, these inconsistencies significantly help tell a story, while other times, they are ignored and left behind, pretending those original details never existed in the first place.

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