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"Wrong reel/scene" errors

S

Stanislav

Proving that even in this post-film, post-tape, all-digital computerized era, egregious errors can still occur, tonight's Jeopardy! came back from the last commercial break with three different contestants (and a different Final Jeopardy category/question) than had been featured earlier. That's right -- somehow the final scene of an entirely different episode got tacked onto this one! (Since we are no longer dealing with swapping between physical reels of film or tape, this was obviously a pre-air editing error.)

We've previously discussed some famous "wrong reel/scene" errors such as the reels of the special "33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee" airing out of order, or the Part 2/Part 3 goof-up with the TV-Movie "Loose Change." What are some lesser-known examples that you may have witnessed in which scenes of a show aired out-of-order, or one episode's scenes were mixed up with another (like tonight's Jeopardy! goof). Had this happened to other game shows, sitcoms, soaps, etc?
 
Did this error happen on other stations that carry Jeopardy?

Stations that receive shows via the internet often have each segment delivered as a separate file, which may explain the goofup, in which they accidentally left the previous episode's Final Jeopardy in by mistake.
 
azumanga said:
Did this error happen on other stations that carry Jeopardy?

Stations that receive shows via the internet often have each segment delivered as a separate file, which may explain the goofup, in which they accidentally left the previous episode's Final Jeopardy in by mistake.
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I don't know how widespread the error was, but there were a bunch of dismayed tweets floating around, and I don't know if they all came from the same market (mine) or not.
 
What market/station did you see it on? I haven't heard any complaints in DFW. It would be very easy for a station's traffic department to mislog one segment, making the segment from another day air.
 
newsmark said:
What market/station did you see it on? I haven't heard any complaints in DFW. It would be very easy for a station's traffic department to mislog one segment, making the segment from another day air.
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Orlando/Daytona Beach.

I had no idea syndies were distributed in segments. I always assumed it would be one large file, with timed gaps for local ads/breaks/inserts.
 
What about radio? I seem to remember a portion of NPR's "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" being played out of order before it was corrected midway.

The same can be said for "American Top 40", which I think is also sent as separate files (previously, they were delivered to stations via albums and later discs).
 
I had no idea syndies were distributed in segments. I always assumed it would be one large file, with timed gaps for local ads/breaks/inserts.
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Some stations may do it that way. It's all in how the station preps its programs for air. Most put them into one playback system for both commercials and program segments. It's all one big playlist, with one server playing back everything without the need to switch back and forth between servers.

(The barter spots in a syndicated show can also be broken out as 1 or more separate segments, giving the station a little flexibility on when they play--and creating a computer generated log of exactly when each spot aired.)

(This way's also more forgiving for timing purposes. In the videotape days, a syndicator would leave 2:02 of black for a 2 minute break. Now, the station can control how tight/loose they want playback to be. They can also adjust break lengths, if for whatever reason they want break 1 to be a little shorter and break 2 to be a little longer... or if they want to make the in-show breaks longer and not have commercials in between programs.

(Of course it's different when you're hitting network or a live program.)
 
Just this past Saturday on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, the closing credits for the anime series Eureka Seven played at the beginning, where the opening theme should have been.

Despite this error, the actual episode still aired in its entirety without any issues.
 
And back in the day when stations ran shows on 16mm film, there were the spaces where "Place Commercial Here" appeared. Most stations spliced commercials directly into the print of the show, then, after airing, removed them and respliced the film before sending it on to the next station.

I don't recall any segments airing out of order, but there was an instance in the mid-late '70s where WCTV aired a French-dubbed "Star Trek" episode in its entirety.
 
Way back when (late 60's) Bangor's WEMT now WVII 7 aired "The Incredible Shrinking Man" as a 4:30 movie. I would say it was 3 reels or segments. Part 1 was correct, but the second and third parts were reversed, so he went from normal, to way tiny, to medium.
 
Mr. Head said:
Just this past Saturday on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, the closing credits for the anime series Eureka Seven played at the beginning, where the opening theme should have been.

Despite this error, the actual episode still aired in its entirety without any issues.
Click to expand...
...I recall a period in the early '70s where WISN-TV/12 Milwaukee would run the end credits for its late night movies at the very beginning of the broadcast, and then run the entire picture -- minus those credits -- afterwards. Struck me as really odd at the time. Then, several years ago, I acquired an aircheck of Tom Snyder interviewing Tim Conway on TS' old ABC Radio show, and in the conversation Conway told of being the director for Ernie Anderson's daytime movie show in Cleveland (he didn't identify which station, but Wikipedia says it was on both KYW-TV/3 and WJW-TV/8 at different times); Conway couldn't properly time the breaks for the movies, so on Mondays thru Thursdays they'd run the main parts of the pictures and on Fridays they'd run the conclusions in a single show...
 
rnigma said:
And back in the day when stations ran shows on 16mm film, there were the spaces where "Place Commercial Here" appeared. Most stations spliced commercials directly into the print of the show, then, after airing, removed them and respliced the film before sending it on to the next station.
Click to expand...
...there were quite a few times when both WFLD-TV/32 Chicago and WTMJ-TV/4 Milwaukee were running The Best of Groucho when they let that "Place Commercial Here" get out over the air between segments...
 
rnigma said:
I don't recall any segments airing out of order, but there was an instance in the mid-late '70s where WCTV aired a French-dubbed "Star Trek" episode in its entirety.
Click to expand...

And no doubt there was a francophone station in Quebec that was wondering what to do with an English-language print of that Star Trek episode.
 
Ultimajock said:
rnigma said:
And back in the day when stations ran shows on 16mm film, there were the spaces where "Place Commercial Here" appeared. Most stations spliced commercials directly into the print of the show, then, after airing, removed them and respliced the film before sending it on to the next station.
Click to expand...
...there were quite a few times when both WFLD-TV/32 Chicago and WTMJ-TV/4 Milwaukee were running The Best of Groucho when they let that "Place Commercial Here" get out over the air between segments...
Click to expand...

I used to watch You Bet Your Life on WFLD, and I'm shocked I never saw one of the "Place Commercial Here" slip-ups.
 
I recall when WUAB, Channel 43 in Cleveland, Ohio showed a "Little Rascals" short out of order. The 20 minute short was broken up into 2 segments. They accidentally played the second half first.

WJW TV8 had "The Late Night Movie" at 1:30 or later in the wee hours of the AM. On a Friday night/Saturday morning they showed (I think) "Astro Zombies". In the middle they got a couple of reels messed up and played them in the wrong order. I thought that was why it was so incomprehensible. Then years later I saw the whole thing in order on VHS tape and it still was incomprehensible, so their mistake didn't really change a thing.
 
Tom Wells said:
Ultimajock said:
rnigma said:
And back in the day when stations ran shows on 16mm film, there were the spaces where "Place Commercial Here" appeared. Most stations spliced commercials directly into the print of the show, then, after airing, removed them and respliced the film before sending it on to the next station.
Click to expand...
...there were quite a few times when both WFLD-TV/32 Chicago and WTMJ-TV/4 Milwaukee were running The Best of Groucho when they let that "Place Commercial Here" get out over the air between segments...
Click to expand...

I used to watch You Bet Your Life on WFLD, and I'm shocked I never saw one of the "Place Commercial Here" slip-ups.
Click to expand...

At least one time when showing Gilligan's Island, WKBS-48 Philadelphia (COL Burlington, NJ) let "Sponsor's Message" (and maybe even a large CBS eye) get out over the air during the otherwise black screen transition between the postscript scene and the closing credits.

ixnay
 
Ultimajock said:
Mr. Head said:
Just this past Saturday on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, the closing credits for the anime series Eureka Seven played at the beginning, where the opening theme should have been.

Despite this error, the actual episode still aired in its entirety without any issues.
Click to expand...
...I recall a period in the early '70s where WISN-TV/12 Milwaukee would run the end credits for its late night movies at the very beginning of the broadcast, and then run the entire picture -- minus those credits -- afterwards. Struck me as really odd at the time. Then, several years ago, I acquired an aircheck of Tom Snyder interviewing Tim Conway on TS' old ABC Radio show, and in the conversation Conway told of being the director for Ernie Anderson's daytime movie show in Cleveland (he didn't identify which station, but Wikipedia says it was on both KYW-TV/3 and WJW-TV/8 at different times); Conway couldn't properly time the breaks for the movies, so on Mondays thru Thursdays they'd run the main parts of the pictures and on Fridays they'd run the conclusions in a single show...
Click to expand...

That was during The 9AM movie slot "Ernie's Place" on WJW-TV 8. which aired July 1961-January 1962, though by it's later stages, Conway had left for Hollywood..Once TV 8 realized Conway couldn't direct, they brought in engineer Chuck Schodowski to kind of steady things, thus began the long friendship of "Big Chuck" and Ernie Anderson..
 
I once heard a story that WPGH/53 Pittsburgh would frequently show episodes of "The Flintstones" in which the middle part would run first, then the beginning, then the end. I don't recall seeing such incidents occurring.
 
On the "place commercial here" clip, I've seen some poorly edited PD DVDs where those clips showed up.

There was an episode of Seinfeld where the timeline intentionally ran in reverse from the end to the beginning, and I think possibly the opening and closing credits were reversed.

Also weren't there some Monty Python episodes where the opening and/or closing credits ran toward the middle of the show?
 
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