Networks showing episodes of a series not in the order they were produced.

Pacing Mule

I have been watching "The Finder" on Universal channel.

A couple of weeks ago whilst watching I got the distinct impression that the episode was a bit disjointed - characters seemed to be acting differently to each other than they had been previously but couldn't put my finger on it.

Last night I was watching an episode where one of the main characters (Leo) had an interaction with one of the recurring characters (Timo) of the last few weeks but during it acted like he had never met him before (even going as far as to say "so this is Timo")

I thought I was losing the plot so had a Google to see if anyone else had spotted this glaring continuity error. What I found makes no sense at all. It seems that the network executives had decided to air the series in a different order to what was produced.

They were aired in this order:

1
5
3
4
7
9
10
8
2
6
12
11
13

Episode 2 being the one I just watched 9 episodes in ! Now I can understand last minute swap arounds to maybe not clash with something similar or a sensitive news story etc. But this show was aired all over the place. The show itself has continuing story arcs / character relationship developments across the entire series and airing them in the manner they have done was highly stupid, left the show feeling disjointed, looking amatuer and ultimately cancelled after one season due to poor ratings.

Has this happened with other shows ? And what goes through the head of a TV executive who meddles with the production order that much that it ruins the show ?

brian_t

Pageant Messiah wrote: »

I have been watching "The Finder" on Universal channel.

They were aired in this order:

1
5
3
4
7
9
10
8
2
6
12
11
13

I didn't watch it myself but they appear to have mixed up the Production Codes with the Episode numbers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Finder_(U.S._TV_series)#Episodes

Pacing Mule

brian_t wrote: »

Pageant Messiah wrote: »

I have been watching "The Finder" on Universal channel.

They were aired in this order:

1
5
3
4
7
9
10
8
2
6
12
11
13

I didn't watch it myself but they appear to have mixed up the Production Codes with the Episode numbers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Finder_(U.S._TV_series)#Episodes

The production numbers are what I laid out above. The makers produced the series to be shown in the order of the production numbers. Yet the network messed them around and aired them completely out of synch.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

this happens from time to time.. I think mainly when the networks just dont give a **** about a show


the last season ofthe drew carey show was aired like this.. the first aired ep was from the middle of the season, and nothing made sense at all until you get to like ep 15 or something

iirc farscape had a similar thing happen to it although it wasn't quite as bad.. just a few eps in one season were aired in the wrong order

brian_t

Pageant Messiah wrote: »

The production numbers are what I laid out above. The makers produced the series to be shown in the order of the production numbers. Yet the network messed them around and aired them completely out of synch.

In that case Fox originally showed the series out of sequence too then ?

Pacing Mule

brian_t wrote: »

In that case Fox originally showed the series out of sequence too then ?

They did yeah. Universal showed it as it was broadcast in the states. It was Fox's decision to mess the viewing order around.

brian_t

Fox did it before with Sliders

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sliders#Episodes_aired_out-of-order

Kiwi_knock

Happy Endings is quite bad for it as well, it was really noticeable in the 1st season. The second and third produced shows were shown 10th and 11th in order. It was all over the place.

CastorTroy

Firefly was one as well. In the States they aired the Train Job first and didn't air the pilot until the end or near the end of the series.
So could imagine that. A brand new show with a lot of characters and Fox decide not to air the episode that introduces them and sets up the series.

VinLieger

CastorTroy wrote: »

Firefly was one as well. In the States they aired the Train Job first and didn't air the pilot until the end or near the end of the series.
So could imagine that. A brand new show with a lot of characters and Fox decide not to air the episode that introduces them and sets up the series.

Yeah fox is notorious for it and many blame them for Firefly not taking off for specifically this reason.

Simple answer is when it comes to TV networks execs are ****tards who have no idea about how to please their audience

Pacing Mule

Let's spend a few million dollars filming and producing a series, then show it arseways so that the audience think it is rubbish, cancel it for poor ratings and then do the same next year. Great thinking lads !

It's really irritating when they show part one of an episode and then show a completely different one afterwards. Damn them.

Boom_Bap

A couple that spring to mind are Blue Mountain State (happened 2 years running) and more recently NYC22.