Unanswered questions

[ricksegers]

What in your opinion are the great unanswered questions in TV show story lines?

My two would be what ever happened to the oldest Cunningham son in "Happy Days" and one of the daughters in "Family Matters".

 

[firepoint525]

From The Cosby Show, first season:

CLAIRE HUXTABLE: "Why do we have four kids?"
HEATHCLIFF HUXTABLE: "Because we did not want five!"

Yet later that season, a fifth child appeared. Was she a college student? Why did they forget about her during the above conversation?

 

[FreddyE1977]

Why would the US Government spend all of that money on training and equipment for a Marine Corps
if they never do anything but rake gravel and hold singing contests?

If Lt. Commander Montgomery Scott was such a great Chief Engineer, how come they never got around to oiling any of those doors on the Enterprise?

Why would the future Enterprise Captain be named Jean Luc Picard when he is clearly about as French
as William Shakespeare?

Where did Little Ricky Ricardo, Ritchie Petrie and Pebbles Flintstone come from if their parents always
slept in separate beds?

How come the General Lee could execute a 20 yard jump every week and yet be out of the body
shop in time for the next episode?

Why THAT Girl? Seriously!

Why do the Feds show up at your door if you Google "Anarchists Cookbook" but you can get step-by-step
How To instructions for building a fertilizer bomb from MacGyver reruns?

 

[mleach]

Mama's Family: The first season Venton Harper had two kids from a previous marriage Buzz & Sonja.

When Mama went syndication, other than a line from Thelma Harper saying that Buzz and Sonja won't be at Aunt Fran's funeral, those kids were never mentioned again. Not even in the last episode when Naomi gives birth to Buzz and Sonja's step sister.

The Lucy Show..when the series moved to California the writers did mention about Ms. Bagley had gotten married and how Sherman loves his new dad and of course Lucy's son Jerry was going to military school...nothing was said about whatever happned to Lucy's daughter Chris played by Candy Moore. Many of the Lucy books that had been published over the years mentioned that Chris had gone to college but I don't ever recall ever hearing that being mentioned on the Lucy Show.

 

[anotherguyTN]

There's the differences in MASH the movie vs. the TV series. At the end of the movie Hawkeye left the 4077th while Trapper, Henry, and Radar were still there. In the TV show Trapper, Henry, and Radar all left at some point and Hawkeye was there until the end of the war and the series. Also, nothing was said about what happened to Spearchucker, who was in the first season, but was never mentioned in later seasons, although it could be assumed he want home. Also in the movie Henry Blake was a career officer where in the TV series he was a draftee like the other doctors with the exception of Col. Potter. I'm sure there are other differences as well.

 

[Markxxx]

The bigger question in "Mama's Family" was what happened to the missing bedroom

In the NBC years, we had Mama and Fran having a bedroom. Fran had a studio to write in. This later became Sonia's bedroom. Buzz slept in the attic, and Vince (and later Naomi) in the basement.

In the syndie years, there were only two bedrooms upstairs. Mama's and Aunt Fran's (later Bubba's room). Mama needed Bubba upstairs so she could keep a constant eye on him.

If this was so, we would have Mama and Carl Harper in the one room and Eunice and Ellen and Vince in the other. That's a bit odd. Unless Mama put Vince in the attic or in the basement.

Rooms often come and go in TV series depending on plot needs

"The Lucy Show," after it moved from NY to California was so full of plot holes. It was almost like a new show from episode to episode. Lucy was an overworked efficent secretary in one episode and the next she was too imcompetent to type. And what ever happened to the trust fund her husband left her?

 

[firepoint525]

Mama's Family: The first season Venton Harper had two kids from a previous marriage Buzz & Sonja.

When Mama went syndication, other than a line from Thelma Harper saying that Buzz and Sonja won't be at Aunt Fran's funeral, those kids were never mentioned again. Not even in the last episode when Naomi gives birth to Buzz and Sonja's step sister.

It's possible that Buzz and Sonia may have grown up and left home. I don't know how old they were in the NBC series, but I'm thinking teenagers. At any rate, that still doesn't explain the presence of Bubba (mentioned in another reply here). He would have at least had to be a child during the NBC series.

 

[beachguy3b]

What happened to Hawkeye's sister ON M*A*S*H?

 

[therealjm12]

What happened to Hawkeye's sister ON M*A*S*H?

.....and his mother?

 

[gr8oldies]

How can Jack Bauer get the crap beaten out of him, be all bruised and bloody and be healed and clear complected 10 min. later?

 

[firepoint525]

In one of the early seasons of The Brady Bunch, they discussed moving Greg to a bedroom in the attic. Couldn't happen because he was more than two feet tall! Yet in a later season, they indeed moved Greg into an attic bedroom. Maybe Mike added on to the house in the couple of years between those episodes.

 

[landtuna]

How can Jack Bauer get the crap beaten out of him, be all bruised and bloody and be healed and clear complected 10 min. later?

And.....

How can Jack drive from one side of El A to the other in less than 10 minutes?

How come his gun never runs out of bullets?

Chloe has a face, and attitude, that would stop a train yet she is the longest-running employee of CTU (except Jack)? Doesn't CTU have an HR department?

CTU is the most secure place on the face of the Earth yet anyone can walk in and around with nothing more than a visitor's badge (including people who have been "on the other side")?

"Where's da bomb?"

 

[azumanga]

How can Jack Bauer get the crap beaten out of him, be all bruised and bloody and be healed and clear complected 10 min. later?

And.....

How can Jack drive from one side of El A to the other in less than 10 minutes?

How come his gun never runs out of bullets?

Simple -- he's a space alien working for the CTU.

 

[oldiesfan6479]

How can Jack drive from one side of El A to the other in less than 10 minutes?

Similarly, how can Special Agent Gibbs and staff get from the DC Navy Yard
to the Norfolk Naval Base--by car--so quickly? (And don't answer "you ever
see how Gibbs drives?" ;D)

Maybe the question should be: Norfolk has such a huge US Navy facility,
why doesn't it have its own NCIS squad to handle crimes in that area?

 

[mleach]

Similarly, how can Special Agent Gibbs and staff get from the DC Navy Yard
to the Norfolk Naval Base--by car--so quickly? (And don't answer "you ever
see how Gibbs drives?" ;D)

Maybe the question should be: Norfolk has such a huge US Navy facility,
why doesn't it have its own NCIS squad to handle crimes in that area?

Ya know I wonder if this is a case of the Virginia Film Commisson at work? Film or mention anything Virginia related..gotta find something to tie in with Washington DC even if one is talking about Norfolk which is a good 200+ miles away from Washington. Kinda like the movie "Evan Almighty", how did Charlottesville's WVIR-TV and Harrisonburg's WHSV-TV ended up being "Washington DC" TV stations? Like that satellite truck in the film that sported the actual "NBC 29" logo but "WVIR-TV Washington" ??

Or that sexy young reporter in the movie talking to Steve Carell claiming that she was from "WHSV Washington".

 

[Stanislav]

How can Jack Bauer get the crap beaten out of him, be all bruised and bloody and be healed and clear complected 10 min. later?

And.....

How can Jack drive from one side of El A to the other in less than 10 minutes?

How come his gun never runs out of bullets?

Chloe has a face, and attitude, that would stop a train yet she is the longest-running employee of CTU (except Jack)? Doesn't CTU have an HR department?

CTU is the most secure place on the face of the Earth yet anyone can walk in and around with nothing more than a visitor's badge (including people who have been "on the other side")?

"Where's da bomb?"

: You know, the first couple seasons were not nearly as far-fetched and over the top -- unrealistic, of course, but at least remotely plausible. As the years have gone by, it's like the writers have challenged themselves every season to see how many more multiplying and interconnected crises and plot twists they can cram into 24 hours. It's really become a live-action cartoon -- sort of like The A-Team, but without the (intentional) humor.

That said, it's a guilty pleasure for me. I take it in the spirit of being a complete farce, and just enjoy it. I get more laughs out of this supposed "drama" than I do from most sitcoms...

(Oh, and yes, in the real world, a squirrely, perennially pissed off and argumentative flake like Chloe, no matter how brilliant and smart she may be, would be waiting tables at Denny's, not becoming the acting head of CTU!!) :

 

[ixnay]

How can Jack Bauer get the crap beaten out of him, be all bruised and bloody and be healed and clear complected 10 min. later?

That's faster than Beetle Bailey heals when Sgt. Snorkel gives him similar treatment.

ixnay

 

[firepoint525]

In the Vacation movies, the Griswalds always seem to have child actors playing their kids. Only problem is, it's been 27 years since the first Vacation. They need child actors to bounce things off of, to make it funny, but it would be more believable if they would pass off those child actors as the Griswalds' grandkids. Maybe they have in a movie or two. I haven't seen them all.

 

[firepoint525]

How can Jack Bauer get the crap beaten out of him, be all bruised and bloody and be healed and clear complected 10 min. later?

That's faster than Beetle Bailey heals when Sgt. Snorkel gives him similar treatment.
ixnay

I was always amazed at how Wile E. Coyote could take the Road Runner's abuse (fall off of cliffs and whatnot) and always be able to come right back for more! 8)

 

[LKellerIII]

How can Jack Bauer get the crap beaten out of him, be all bruised and bloody and be healed and clear complected 10 min. later?

That's faster than Beetle Bailey heals when Sgt. Snorkel gives him similar treatment.
ixnay

I was always amazed at how Wile E. Coyote could take the Road Runner's abuse (fall off of cliffs and whatnot) and always be able to come right back for more! 8)

Well, we all know they can do that with animation. If you watch closely ini live-action shows, you'll see all sorts of continuity problems ...chase scenes in which cars are all dented up, then come around the corner and the are dent free...speeding cop cars that suddenly change from Fords into Dodges...actors covered in sweat or blood that are suddenly much cleaner after the next cut.

I'm sure directors sometimes discover these things in the editing room, and go "oh s**t*", but unless you have the luxury of filming a scene again, you have to deal with what you've got.

I still recall a scene in a late 70s movie (can't remember the title), when a mike boom comes down into the picture, and almost smacks Martin Sheen in the head. It was a talky low budget picture. I don't know how they missed it in the dailies, but they probably couldn't afford to re-shoot the scene.