The weirdest thing about the order they're going with is that the group isn't actually taking a class until a third of the way through the season.
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Community S4 |OT| I Remember When This Show Was About Community College
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The Real Abed
Perma-Junior
Exactly. They fought for the History class in the first episode, but won't actually be attending it until almost a month later. And you know they're going to introduce it as the first day.
Guess we found our jarring part.
There's all sorts of reasons a network would do this. The most worrying possibility is that they considered the second episode produced a dud and moved it back so it wouldn't air second.
I remember when this show was about community college.
Didn't really matter for Community, as they remained low rated anyway. Plus, Community already got good will back by the second episode, so why not air it third? Or does the Inspector Spacetime Convention episode take place directly after the Halloween episode (since Britta asks to go home with Troy to watch it, then the next episode opens up with them watching it)? Even the Inspector and Reggie would be confused by all this space time traveling.
jamesinclair
Banned
Dont worry guys.
Airing the episodes out of order worked wonders for Dont Trust the B. In fact, the practice has a rich and successful history, like with Firefly.
These TV execs know exactly what they're doing.
Why would they be in such well paid positions if they didn't?
Airing the episodes out of order worked wonders for Dont Trust the B. In fact, the practice has a rich and successful history, like with Firefly.
These TV execs know exactly what they're doing.
Why would they be in such well paid positions if they didn't?
I'd imagine the schedule was more or less set in stone before the first episode even aired.
I understand that, but what I'm pointing out is how much of an odd and useless decision that was in hindsight.
NBC's getting pretty desperate in general. It's not surprising to me. All the damage was pretty much done in the first episode but I'm not convinced even swapping the first and second episode would have helped much (but then, I'm speaking as someone who wasn't impressed by either).
That explains some things, yeah.
Besides Annie's troublesome story... I sort of liked the third episodes, at least compared to the first two. I've always thought the reliance on Inspector Spacetime was a fan-service crutch, but a lot of this episode worked, at least where the past two haven't. The ending was also fantastic. Actually, the whole network testing was fantastic and way too close to home (I've been to two, they're both horrible and just like that except without a Shirley).
Fucking Athena!
I'm not entirely concerned about some episodes being out of order. Modern Family still airs out of order and that's the #2 comedy on television. It is what it is and there's probably some sort of reasoning behind it.
Fucking Athena!
I'm not entirely concerned about some episodes being out of order. Modern Family still airs out of order and that's the #2 comedy on television. It is what it is and there's probably some sort of reasoning behind it.
I think I will never understand why networks would do such horrible things to a show. It's like beginning to read a book somewhere in the middle.
Anyone know if this was real?
go on reddit and be a detective
maquiladora
Member
I haven't laughed once during any of the episodes so far this season.
It's just not the same guise...
It's just not the same guise...
Well, if it really was her doing the AMA it looks legit:
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/qwep4/gillian_jacobs/
Yeah, Modern Family is almost amusingly out of order. I haven't watched the show in years so I don't know if that's actually an issue but continuity wasn't the show's emphasis back in the days.
(As opposed to Happy Endings which was an absolute mess when the first season aired out of order.)
Also, saw the third episode last night and disliked it, just like the first two. Everything feels forced, the Troy/Britta relationship doesn't work at all and Annie was in some creepy no man's land.
The worst show for out-of-orderness I've ever seen was Crusade, a network-torpedoed followup to B5, and it was very serial. The network demanded costume changes and then aired it in an order that rendered the costume changes nonsensical, among other really bad continuity errors that cropped up.
Well, until Don't Trust the B came along, with half its first season airing in the middle of its second.
This doesn't really seem like a significant change by comparison, but I guess we'll see.
Well, until Don't Trust the B came along, with half its first season airing in the middle of its second.
This doesn't really seem like a significant change by comparison, but I guess we'll see.
Nappuccino
Member
With all the naysayers around, I thought these episodes were going to be awful drivel.
They're pretty good folks, better than some season 3 episodes so far.
Certainly better than ABED (though, they also aren't reaching as far either).
They're pretty good folks, better than some season 3 episodes so far.
Certainly better than ABED (though, they also aren't reaching as far either).
Jest Chillin
Member
Given how horrible NBC is doing all around, there's still the longshot possibility of another season if the ratings don't bottom out completely during this season.
Don't Trust the B is a new low in network scheduling. There were certain methods to it that I can understand (decided to only air 7 episodes in its first season so they could get all of the episodes behind Modern Family originals), but in practice it was horrid.
There was also a method to this as well, at least in the mind of ABC -- the show didn't really find its footing until halfway through the season. The thought was to load up on those episodes first in order to get better sampling and retention.
But in hindsight, yes, it was a mess. I think it still aired out of order in its second season too. But then again, ABC airs almost all of their comedies out of order.
That's working under the assumption that any continuity blips will cause depletion of viewers. I don't really think audiences care when it comes to comedy.
I have to admit I don't really notice it with Modern Family. But for Community it's a bit of a let down they do it this way. Anyone remembers Freaks & Geeks? They skipped complete episodes in the initial run on NBC. Networks should take more care of their shows.
Here is Modern Family's schedule so far this season, from what aired first to what aired last:
401
403
402
404
406
405
407
408
409
411
413
410
412
414
418
416
415
Not a serialized show, but I'm not sure if it matters for non-serialized comedies.
At some occasions you'll notice some odd continuity errors. As long as it's not concerning relationships or other serious stuff they should be fine. Parks and Rec. for example would be a mess if they start airing this season out of order since some serious things happened for some of the characters.
To be fair, some shows make a distinction between its story order and production order. As in, we'll shoot this episode first even though it goes AFTER the next episode we're shooting.
Season finale not remaining a season finale? What?
The finale isn't in this Schedule right? I take there will be 20+ episodes for MF.
Well, Parks is a more serialized show. Also, I can't find any production codes for Parks online. They very well could have.
Yup. It's only what's been scheduled so far.
True, like the finale being filmed 11th but airing 13th.
Anyone know if this was real?
Wasn't it Gillian's idea to do the October 19th thing too? Hmm...maybe she should be a writer...
I'm at a loss as to why they air them out of order like this, what do they think they'll gain out of it? Save for maybe scheduling episodes around christmas and halloween I cannot understand it.
It seems to have happened in previous seasons if wikipedia is anything to go by.
Do they change the order back on the DVDs?
It seems to have happened in previous seasons if wikipedia is anything to go by.
Do they change the order back on the DVDs?
The Real Abed
Perma-Junior
They did for season 3. But not for 1 or 2. I was surprised.
But this was just Halloween. We still have Thanksgiving and Christmas and Christmas is going to be at the end of the season right before the finale. Unless they move them or do other adjustments.
Nappuccino
Member
Season 1 has some continuity errors that are blatant . . . I don't remember about 2. But I was always bummed they didn't fix those on the dvd.
That, and the Season 2 finale and the change of the cards. Jeff should be King of Clubs and Troy should be Jack of Spades (he was in Blazing Saddles get up, for those who don't remember). Both of those work perfectly and were that way in the preview and they switched them for the actual episode so it made no sense (at least, for jokes)
The Real Abed
Perma-Junior
Season 1 had the episode that took place after the statue was erected that aired before the statue episode so at one point you saw the statue before it was put up. And the episode that mentions Family Day that aired before Family Day.
Season 2 had.. um.. uh.. did it have any? I'm sure it did. I just don't know off hand. It's most obvious when the switch causes obvious continuity errors that are noticeable. And I don't remember anything out of order for that season.
Season 3 had the obvious housewarming timeline episode and the return from holiday break switches, both of which have been put back in place on the DVD.
I think a lot of the time it's to get episodes that test better (and are more likely to tune new audience members in) in slots where they'll be seen by more viewers. Episodes that test better or appeal to a broader audience are not always the same as the ones that appeal to the show's core audience, keep in mind.
beat
Member
Season 1 had blatant continuity errors when NBC re-ordered the episodes, yeah. I remember Harmon saying they attempted to write more serialized elements into the stories specifically to deter NBC from doing that.
S3's "Remedial Chaos Theory" was aired out of order, but I think that was at the request of Harmon & co, because editing it was taking so long that they needed the extra time. So that one wasn't NBC being arbitrary with airing order.
At least with "Chaos Theory", they put in a little nod to the fact things were out of order at the beginning with Britta and Annie commenting on the apartment number, and that was last minute. They had 4-5 months this time.
Scalemail Ted
Member
I've actually really enjoyed season 4 so far, I hope the ratings pick up.
The Real Abed
Perma-Junior
I just hope that if they don't, NBC doesn't decide to just stop airing the episodes and make us wait for the DVD to get the closure and remaining episodes.
They should have put it at 8:30 and put 1600 Penn at 8. See how THAT fares against the BBT jugglenaut.
Sir Garbageman
Member
Still no gifs of Britta's escape? For shame GAF...
MMBosstones86
Member
Thought those would be up before the episode ended
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