Anachronisms

[firepoint525]

Admittedly a spinoff topic from another thread, and you can really only have these with TV shows set at some time in the past, but what continuity errors of this type can you spot from such shows? There are usually dozens of them, usually because some writer or stage hand was not careful enough with continuity.

I have mentioned a few of these in other threads, but wanted to see what everyone can come up with here.

 

[jwk1979]

"Happy Days" and "M*A*S*H" were full of them. During the last few seasons of "Happy Days", the clothing and hair styles the characters were wearing were from the early 80s, not the mid 60s, when the later seasons of "Happy Days'' were set. Howard Cunningham was wearing a digital watch (not available in 1965) and wire rimmed glasses (1965, black horned rimmed glasses would have been the norm for middle aged man) and the Fonz was wearing bell bottomed jeans (from the early 80s) when straight-legged jeans would have been the norm.

On one episode of the later episodes of "M*A*S*H", they showed a scene from New Years Eve 1950, in which Col. Potter, BJ Honeycutt, Major Winchester and Corp. Klinger were all there ring out 1950 and ringing in 1951, yet several years earlier, they had a Christmas episode that was set in 1951, in which Frank Burns, Trapper John, Col. Blake and Radar were getting ready for Christmas 1951. Since BJ, Col. Potter and Major Winchester replaced Frank, Trapper John and Col. Blake, how could the first three celebrate New Years 1951 in Korea and before the later 3 clelbrated Christmas 1951.

 

[firepoint525]

"Happy Days" and "M*A*S*H" were full of them. During the last few seasons of "Happy Days", the clothing and hair styles the characters were wearing were from the early 80s, not the mid 60s, when the later seasons of "Happy Days'' were set. Howard Cunningham was wearing a digital watch (not available in 1965) and wire rimmed glasses (1965, black horned rimmed glasses would have been the norm for middle aged man) and the Fonz was wearing bell bottomed jeans (from the early 80s) when straight-legged jeans would have been the norm.

In the last few years of Happy Days, they just simply quit trying. Even on the very last episode when Joanie and Chachi (whose hair was always WAY too long for those days!) got married, Howard Cunningham commented on raising two wonderful children. That Chuck Cunningham just could not get any respect, could he? But that is more of a continuity issue, not an anachronism.

Were there any time-sensitive pop-culture references at all in the latter years of Happy Days, even if not placed in correct chronological order? I seem to recall that in the spinoff Laverne and Shirley, they at least celebrated the Beatles, but probably nothing to that effect in the later years of Happy Days.

 

[onairb]

"Happy Days" and "M*A*S*H" were full of them. During the last few seasons of "Happy Days", the clothing and hair styles the characters were wearing were from the early 80s, not the mid 60s, when the later seasons of "Happy Days'' were set. Howard Cunningham was wearing a digital watch (not available in 1965) and wire rimmed glasses (1965, black horned rimmed glasses would have been the norm for middle aged man) and the Fonz was wearing bell bottomed jeans (from the early 80s) when straight-legged jeans would have been the norm.

In the last few years of Happy Days, they just simply quit trying. Even on the very last episode when Joanie and Chachi (whose hair was always WAY too long for those days!) got married, Howard Cunningham commented on raising two wonderful children. That Chuck Cunningham just could not get any respect, could he? But that is more of a continuity issue, not an anachronism.

Were there any time-sensitive pop-culture references at all in the latter years of Happy Days, even if not placed in correct chronological order? I seem to recall that in the spinoff Laverne and Shirley, they at least celebrated the Beatles, but probably nothing to that effect in the later years of Happy Days.

There were a few; in one episode, Howard and Marian are watching TV, we hear a few bars of the Gilligan's Island theme, and Marion wonders why the Professor doesn't just build a boat. ;D
There was also an episode where Howard takes Potsie to see a Milwaukee Braves game, their last chance to watch the Braves before they move to Atlanta(the episode was set in 1964, which was supposed to be the team's last year in Milwaukee; in real life, they stayed one more year, and played their first game in Atlanta in '66...but it was established that HD was still in 1965 when the series ended).

 

[FredLeonard]

Bonanza made reference to historical events occurring supposedly at the time episode covering a range of some 40 years in shows a few weeks apart.

Wagon Train was supposedly set during the Grant Administration but by that time the transcontinental railroad had been completed along the same route and wagon trains had stopped running.

The Andy Griffith Show had multiple mentions of characters listening to "The Masked Tenor," Leonard Blush for 15 minutes one day a week on the Mt. Pilot radio station. There had been a "masked tenor" in old time radio but this type of program was extinct in radio by the 60s.

 

[Corky Marlowe]

Does Soap Opera Progeria count here? One example: the Tom Hughes character on "As The World Turns" was born around the same time I was, and when I was about 10 years old, he was in a field hospital after having been wounded in Vietnam.

 

[Markxxx]

On "the Golden Girls" Rose mentions Barbara Billingsley inspired her to take acting in high school.

Her first credited role was 1949, Betty White was born in 1922, I don't know how old she was supposed to be on GG but in real life she was 63. Billingsley first role (uncredited) was 1945. It still would have put Rose as too old. Even if Rose was supposed to be younger it would've put Rose at 17 in 1949 (so she'd be in HS to see Billingsley.

That would have made Rose 53 on the GG and the roughly the same age as Blanche, which she wasn't

Yes, I put way too much thought into this.

"The Golden Girls" is a text book case of inconsistencies.

 

[bpatrick]

Also, in the episode "Keeper Of The Flame," which originally aired
in 1962, Aunt Bee is shown listening to a radio soap opera. The
last radio soap episodes were broadcast November 25, 1960.

On another occasion (I think it's "Andy And The New Mayor") Barney
wants to see Juanita that night; he has a new record by Ted Weems
he wants to play for her. It doesn't seem likely that a new Weems
record would be in the stores in the 1960s; in fact, Weems died in
1963, only a few months after this episode originally aired.

Re "M*A*S*H," Hawkeye's hair always seemed a little too long to
me, both for the time (the early 1950s) and the fact that he was
in the Army.

Soap operas are notorious for jumping the ages of children; I think
only Patti Barron ("Search For Tomorrow") and Amy Ames ("Secret
Storm") are the only children ever allowed to age normally, which would
explain why Tom Hughes was suddenly in Vietnam (and if you were an
"ATWT" fan you'll remember he fathered a daughter who turned up on
the show in 1988).

 

[cwf1701]

On one episode of the later episodes of "M*A*S*H", they showed a scene from New Years Eve 1950, in which Col. Potter, BJ Honeycutt, Major Winchester and Corp. Klinger were all there ring out 1950 and ringing in 1951, yet several years earlier, they had a Christmas episode that was set in 1951, in which Frank Burns, Trapper John, Col. Blake and Radar were getting ready for Christmas 1951. Since BJ, Col. Potter and Major Winchester replaced Frank, Trapper John and Col. Blake, how could the first three celebrate New Years 1951 in Korea and before the later 3 clelbrated Christmas 1951.

And in another, the date of arrival of both Potter and Honeycutt to the 4077 was set in October 1952.

 

[Markxxx]

"Gilligan's Island" had Mary Ann listening to radio soap operas as well.


"That 70s Show" also meshed timelines a lot. Where something took place sooner or later than it should have or like when Eric wanted a cassette tape not an 8-track. Cassette though existing were not popular till the Walkman of the 80s showed up.

Then of course it seems every living sitcom character attended Woodstock too

 

[BD Sullivan]

Just yesterday, ME-TV showed a Wild Wild West episode in which the completed Statue of Liberty is part of a plot by Ed Begley. He quotes the Emma Lazarus poem ("Give me your tired, your poor," etc...) even though the show was set in the 1870's and the poem wasn't written until 1883.

 

[LKellerIII]

Also, in the episode "Keeper Of The Flame," which originally aired
in 1962, Aunt Bee is shown listening to a radio soap opera. The
last radio soap episodes were broadcast November 25, 1960.

Soap operas are notorious for jumping the ages of children; I think
only Patti Barron ("Search For Tomorrow") and Amy Ames ("Secret
Storm") are the only children ever allowed to age normally, which would
explain why Tom Hughes was suddenly in Vietnam (and if you were an
"ATWT" fan you'll remember he fathered a daughter who turned up on
the show in 1988).

Actually, I recall that in the early and mid 60s, there was one AM radio station in LA that ran reruns of old 30s thru early 50s radio dramas, comedies, and soap operas. I don't know if the station in Mt. Pilot ( ;D) was doing the same thing, but it's possible.

Sitcoms are also notorious for jumping the age of the children. Having a baby is a good plot device, but the writers like to write lines for wisecracking little kids, so that baby at the end of one season will often be 5 years old at the start of the following season.

 

[Corky Marlowe]

Just yesterday, ME-TV showed a Wild Wild West episode in which the completed Statue of Liberty is part of a plot by Ed Begley. He quotes the Emma Lazarus poem ("Give me your tired, your poor," etc...) even though the show was set in the 1870's and the poem wasn't written until 1883.

"The Wild, Wild West" gets a pass here...That show was straight-up trippin' most of the time.

 

[jwk1979]

Bonanza made reference to historical events occurring supposedly at the time episode covering a range of some 40 years in shows a few weeks apart.

The Andy Griffith Show had multiple mentions of characters listening to "The Masked Tenor," Leonard Blush for 15 minutes one day a week on the Mt. Pilot radio station. There had been a "masked tenor" in old time radio but this type of program was extinct in radio by the 60s.

Same thing happened on "Daniel Boone". One episode I remember, British Soilders had come into Boonesborough, so it was suggested it took place before the Revolunary War. Yet an episode a year or so later, Daniel and Joshua (Jimmy Dean) go to New Orleans to visits the US newest aquisition, which the US didn't aquire until the early 1800s, 20 years or so after the Revolunary War and 10 years after the death of Daniel Boone.

Speaking of Leonard Blush, in one episode, when Barney mentions Leonard Blush's name, Andy doesn't even know who Leonard Blush is. Yet, in another episode, Andy keeps telling Barney to turn Leonard Blush back on.

 

[desertv]

When they moved Laverne & Shirley from Milwaukee to LA, they jumped timewise from the period of Happy Days, to the mid-60s.

Then there is Mad Men..1st season set in 1960, then 1962,1963, then late 64-early 65, and the last season supposedly 1966 (although there was a reference to the movie Casino Royale-which was not released until 1967!)

 

[BD Sullivan]

When they moved Laverne & Shirley from Milwaukee to LA, they jumped timewise from the period of Happy Days, to the mid-60s.

Then there is Mad Men..1st season set in 1960, then 1962,1963, then late 64-early 65, and the last season supposedly 1966 (although there was a reference to the movie Casino Royale-which was not released until 1967!)

No, the last season of Mad Men had the last few episodes set in 1967. While they may have stretched it to late April '67 (when Casino Royale was released), producer Matthew Weiner has talked about how they are very careful to avoid anachronisms, lest they get trashed by some of the show's very particular fans.

 

[rnigma1]

Just yesterday, ME-TV showed a Wild Wild West episode in which the completed Statue of Liberty is part of a plot by Ed Begley. He quotes the Emma Lazarus poem ("Give me your tired, your poor," etc...) even though the show was set in the 1870's and the poem wasn't written until 1883.

"The Wild, Wild West" gets a pass here...That show was straight-up trippin' most of the time.

Amen. One episode had a foreign agent (Harvey Korman... I half expected him to call himself "Hedley") trying to blackmail President Grant with a movie of him taking a bribe. Motion pictures would not arrive for another 15-20 years.

An "Andy Griffith" episode had Barney reading the newspaper and chuckling at the comics: "oh, that Andy Gump." "The Gumps" ended in 1959, and the number of papers carrying it had declined during the '50s. (Its heyday was in the '20s and '30s.)

 

[FredLeonard]

Amen. One episode had a foreign agent (Harvey Korman... I half expected him to call himself "Hedley") trying to blackmail President Grant with a movie of him taking a bribe. Motion pictures would not arrive for another 15-20 years.

Maybe not an anachronism. One of the Jules Verne type concepts of WWW was evil scientists who discovered or invented stuff (which Jim and Artie then destroyed) before they became publicly known.

 

[ronald54321]

The "Wonder Woman" season set in the WWII period had everyone with too long hair.

 

[BD Sullivan]

Just yesterday, ME-TV showed a Wild Wild West episode in which the completed Statue of Liberty is part of a plot by Ed Begley. He quotes the Emma Lazarus poem ("Give me your tired, your poor," etc...) even though the show was set in the 1870's and the poem wasn't written until 1883.

"The Wild, Wild West" gets a pass here...That show was straight-up trippin' most of the time.

Amen. One episode had a foreign agent (Harvey Korman... I half expected him to call himself "Hedley") trying to blackmail President Grant with a movie of him taking a bribe. Motion pictures would not arrive for another 15-20 years.

It wasn't a motion picture, but a series of photographs that was cranked rapidly in order to simulate motion.