CLASSIC SHOWS WITH CLASSIC ERRORS/GOOFS

[LKellerIII]

If you remember, Tod and Buz (and later Linc) drove a Corvette. Despite their being poor

I thought Buz had a lot of money.

I don't think so, at least not how I remember it. Buz (George Maharis) was the guy with the working class background. The back story on Tod (Martin Milner) is that he had come from a privileged background, but his father had lost all of his money in bad business deals before his death, leaving Tod nothing but the Corvette.

 

[firepoint525]

Freaks and Geeks, a couple more examples from that show:

The show was set in 1980, and one scene, during a pep rally, I think, featured "Do You Wanna Touch Me" by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. It wasn't even released until 1982. (The Blackhearts were sort of the "house band" for Freaks and Geeks (their song, "Bad Reputation," was the show's theme song), so I can kind of overlook that one.)

The dj at the disco, played by Joel Hodgson, referred to "Miss You" by the Stones as being their "new" song. By this time, it was 1981 on the show, and the Stones had put out the Emotional Rescue album by then. (Disco? In 1981? Remember that these kids weren't exactly "hip." They were freaks and geeks, after all!)

 

[firepoint525]

...perhaps "looking like Lulu" would be a better description? ;D ...

Dunno. Had Lulu "broken through" by 1965? By the way, I have since remembered that the song that Joss Stone sang on that particular episode was "Right to be Wrong."

Then there's Good Morning, Vietnam, set earlier in '65, and its effective but anachronistic sequence of war atrocities perpetrated against a soundtrack of Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World." That song wasn't written until 1967, and Satchmo's record of it wasn't released until New Years' Day 1968...

We've been subjected to near constant airplay of that song for the past 20+ years because someone made a mistake? :

 

[Ultimajock]

...perhaps "looking like Lulu" would be a better description? ;D ...

Dunno. Had Lulu "broken through" by 1965?

...her first big British hit was a 1964 version of "Shout" (the Isley Brothers item) that was almost immediately released in the States by Parrot Records. Parrot plugged the thing so heavily that it did get good radio airplay but was never more than a regional hit in different pockets of the U.S. So, although she didn't have a massive hit here until "To Sir With Love," she was certainly as well known here as Cilla Black, who had only one moderate hit ("You're My World") in the States and was much better known as a close chum of The Beatles...

Then there's Good Morning, Vietnam, set earlier in '65, and its effective but anachronistic sequence of war atrocities perpetrated against a soundtrack of Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World." That song wasn't written until 1967, and Satchmo's record of it wasn't released until New Years' Day 1968...

We've been subjected to near constant airplay of that song for the past 20+ years because someone made a mistake? :

...that, and A&M Records plugging the snot out of the soundtrack album...

 

[Ultimajock]

Freaks and Geeks, a couple more examples from that show:

The show was set in 1980, and one scene, during a pep rally, I think, featured "Do You Wanna Touch Me" by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. It wasn't even released until 1982. (The Blackhearts were sort of the "house band" for Freaks and Geeks (their song, "Bad Reputation," was the show's theme song), so I can kind of overlook that one.)

...actually, both recordings were released on the Joan Jett album in 1980. "Do You Wanna Touch Me" wasn't released as a single until 1982...

 

[firepoint525]

Freaks and Geeks, a couple more examples from that show:
The show was set in 1980, and one scene, during a pep rally, I think, featured "Do You Wanna Touch Me" by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. It wasn't even released until 1982. (The Blackhearts were sort of the "house band" for Freaks and Geeks (their song, "Bad Reputation," was the show's theme song), so I can kind of overlook that one.)

...actually, both recordings were released on the Joan Jett album in 1980. "Do You Wanna Touch Me" wasn't released as a single until 1982...

Again, these kids weren't particularly "hip," so I'm thinking that they probably wouldn't have gotten into it before it became a single. However, if it were simply used as a musical backdrop for that pep rally scene (and I don't remember because it has been so long since I have seen it), then that would be okay.

 

[firepoint525]

As for that whole disco scene, I'm thinking that disco would have been long dead by 1981, especially in Detroit, where the show was set, regardless of who was actually patronizing the disco. (The bouncer at the place, however, hinted that it was about to close.) I lived in rural northwest Tennessee in the early '80s, and I can tell you that disco was long dead there by then, not that it was ever really all that popular in northwest TN, anyway.

 

[Ultimajock]

Freaks and Geeks, a couple more examples from that show:
The show was set in 1980, and one scene, during a pep rally, I think, featured "Do You Wanna Touch Me" by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. It wasn't even released until 1982. (The Blackhearts were sort of the "house band" for Freaks and Geeks (their song, "Bad Reputation," was the show's theme song), so I can kind of overlook that one.)

...actually, both recordings were released on the Joan Jett album in 1980. "Do You Wanna Touch Me" wasn't released as a single until 1982...

Again, these kids weren't particularly "hip," so I'm thinking that they probably wouldn't have gotten into it before it became a single.

...I can assure you, from personal experience, if there was anyone considered to be legitimately "hip" in 1980, it would not be a fan of any of The Runaways ;D ...

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

Freaks and Geeks, a couple more examples from that show:


The dj at the disco, played by Joel Hodgson, referred to "Miss You" by the Stones as being their "new" song. By this time, it was 1981 on the show, and the Stones had put out the Emotional Rescue album by then. (Disco? In 1981? Remember that these kids weren't exactly "hip." They were freaks and geeks, after all!)

And then depending on what part of '81 "Freaks and Geeks" was set in by the time of the disco episode, the Rolling Stones would release their "Tattoo You" album that August (which included "Start Me Up"--which was actually released as a single the week before the album's release).

 

[firepoint525]

Freaks and Geeks, a couple more examples from that show:
The dj at the disco, played by Joel Hodgson, referred to "Miss You" by the Stones as being their "new" song. By this time, it was 1981 on the show, and the Stones had put out the Emotional Rescue album by then. (Disco? In 1981? Remember that these kids weren't exactly "hip." They were freaks and geeks, after all!)

And then depending on what part of '81 "Freaks and Geeks" was set in by the time of the disco episode, the Rolling Stones would release their "Tattoo You" album that August (which included "Start Me Up"--which was actually released as a single the week before the album's release).

I'm guessing that it was spring of '81, because it was the last episode of the season, which turned out to be the last episode ever, because it was soon cancelled.

 

[71dude]

Brady Bunch:

To Move or Not to Move: Bobby shuts off the TV and several minutes later Alice shuts it off again.

The Grass Is Always Greener: The dirty pots and pans disappear during the time that Mike is mopping the floor.

 

[BD Sullivan]

On a 1976 episode of All in the Family, an acquaintance asks Archie what he thinks of Brotherhood Week, and Archie replies, "Being an only child, I never do." Yet two years later, Archie's ne'er-do-well brother shows up at his house.

There's a Honeymooners skit (not from the classic 39) where Jackie Gleason realizes that his fly is open, so he turns around, zips up, and turns around with a smile on his face.

 

[nomadcowatbk]

On a 1976 episode of All in the Family, an acquaintance asks Archie what he thinks of Brotherhood Week, and Archie replies, "Being an only child, I never do." Yet two years later, Archie's ne'er-do-well brother shows up at his house.

There's a Honeymooners skit (not from the classic 39) where Jackie Gleason realizes that his fly is open, so he turns around, zips up, and turns around with a smile on his face.

Didn't Frasier mention something about his parents being dead on Cheers?

 

[PirateJohnny]

American Graffiti - set in 1962 - is full of these mistakes. The scene with Wolfman Jack includes one of the actual XERB radio jingles that samples Grazin in the Grass by Friends of Distinction ("Can you dig it, baby..."), which wasn't released until 1969. The junk yard scene shows crushed cars that weren't even new yet when the film takes place. In the night cruising scenes you see the tail-lights of 70s era cars. The film was produced in 1973.

Of course, the film's Director (George Lucas) can at least be forgiven for the junk yard scene - this was before Star Wars - he was young and unproven, and probably didn't have the budget to build a fake time-appropriate junkyard, and had to film at a contemporary 70s junkyard.

Look close. Wolfman is running a STEREO Gates The Yard (on an AM station).

 

[PirateJohnny]

An episode of MASH has a model of Bell UH-1 Huey helicopter hanging behind Col Blakes desk in his office. At that time period helicopters were not powered by gas turbine engines, only good old piston cranking horsepower. Hueys made their debut during the Vietnam War, a few years later.

M*A*S*H* is supposed to be about the Vietnam war. CBS thought we wouldn't know better.

M*A*S*H took place during the Korean Conflict.

 

[PirateJohnny]

If you believe Science Fiction, when will we replace our new LED, LCD and Plasma 16:9 monitors with the older 4:3 CRT monitors?

Ya'll have ruined classic TV for me. I'm canceling my HULU subscription.

 

[milwaukee_dave]

On a Christmas episode of "Three's Company" in season 2, Helen and Stanley return home early from a botched family gathering at Helen's brother's home. However, in the spin-off "The Ropers" a few years later, there's never a mention of Helen having a brother, just two sisters (both of whom appeared throughout the course of the show's 28 episodes).

 

[rnigma1]

On a 1976 episode of All in the Family, an acquaintance asks Archie what he thinks of Brotherhood Week, and Archie replies, "Being an only child, I never do." Yet two years later, Archie's ne'er-do-well brother shows up at his house.

There's a Honeymooners skit (not from the classic 39) where Jackie Gleason realizes that his fly is open, so he turns around, zips up, and turns around with a smile on his face.

Didn't Frasier mention something about his parents being dead on Cheers?

He mentioned that his father was deceased. Years later on "Frasier" when Sam came to visit Frasier and met his father, he said "You told me he was dead." Frasier said something like "I was mad at him at the time."

 

[Markxxx]

On a 1976 episode of All in the Family, an acquaintance asks Archie what he thinks of Brotherhood Week, and Archie replies, "Being an only child, I never do." Yet two years later, Archie's ne'er-do-well brother shows up at his house.

In one episode he had a sister Alma and a brother Phil. In other episodes he had a brother Fred.

 

[BD Sullivan]

An episode of MASH has a model of Bell UH-1 Huey helicopter hanging behind Col Blakes desk in his office. At that time period helicopters were not powered by gas turbine engines, only good old piston cranking horsepower. Hueys made their debut during the Vietnam War, a few years later.

M*A*S*H* is supposed to be about the Vietnam war. CBS thought we wouldn't know better.

M*A*S*H took place during the Korean Conflict.

The writers admitted that since the show began in the waning years of Vietnam, many of their pointed jokes at the military and other bigwigs during that first year or so were really directed at those running the Vietnam conflict.