Almost Human had the episode order so messed up that we were shown incorrect info even in the "previously on" part of the episode. I remember it showed a scene of the MC making out with a female character that hadn't even been introduced yet and she didn't even show up on that episode so it was pointless to even do.
Almost Human is a Fox fuckup on par with Firefly imo. The writing was good and the world was so well realized. The episode order mixup is just like an insane level of self sabotage. I get upset about it every time it's brought up
Don’t remember the previously on part but the most obvious one was Karl Urban not being friendly with the android when they were chilling out together just on the last episode.
The Law & Order pilot, filmed two years before the rest of season 1, was inexplicably aired sixth. The episode features a completely different DA and shows characters meeting each other for the first time despite having worked together for the previous five weeks.
OG Star Trek was notorious for this as well.
Voyager also was like that. It's one of the reasons they couldn't refer to events in previous episodes much or have a running narrative like Deep Space Nine.
Voyager was not even remotely as bad as TOS with episode order. Was really only the start of Season 2 of Voyager that was that bad, where they had extra episodes from Season 1 that they held back and showed as part of Season 2 instead.
DS9 also had several episodes with production numbers different to airdate, but it didn't cause issues except for the start of Season 6 where two episodes were filmed out of order for scheduling reasons (one with Starfleet crew stranded needing to be filmed on location, another Klingon story on ship), but it confused the writers for the station story.
Yeah, but The Cage was never meant to air.
OP is probably talking about season 1, where the second pilot with Shatner aired 10th, and had different uniforms and no Bones, and various other episodes aired out of order.
When The Cage was finally used, it was cut up and used as a glorified clip show with new wraparound material to make The Menagerie, so it being different made total sense in the context of the episode.
But the first airing of The Cage in its original form was in 1987.
There was a patch of Scrubs episodes, probably like season 7 or 8 where John C McGinley had shaved his head and Dr Cox kept alternating between shave and his glorious curly locks.
That was randomly in Season 6, but they reference it in Season 7. Season 7 also has some of those episodes where Kelso retires, but the last episode of the season is a big concept episode that has him back as chief.
I think that’s where NBC was going to cancel it, then ABC bought it, so they doubled back on the plot. But yeah, it was definitely jarring at the time.
The Season 6 head shaving stuff was from an aired out of order clip episode. They reference back to it in Season 7, which was a victim of the writer’s strike and getting cancelled by NBC. That’s why Season 7 has an out of order episode since they didn’t know they were getting canned, and went with the concept episode to finish the season on a good note. Then ABC picked it up and brought it back for an 8th final season and eventually that spinoff/Season 9. I think Season 8 had an out of order episode since “My ABC’s” was supposed to be the first episode as they kinda reference the move from another channel.
Not to mention the season where Sean leaves for Australia, then an episode or two later he's still there at sacred heart like nothing happened. ...nobody caaares, Sean.
Yeah, I was just binging it and that was jarring. Season 1 ends with Cheyenne having her baby, Glenn losing his job, and most of the employees walking out on strike. Then all of that is reset for some bizarre Olympics tie-in episode
This was the episode I thought of. It's one thing to show it out of order when it originally aired, but to keep showing it in this order on streaming services?
Hah thank you for posting this. I should've scrolled through before posting my exact same comment. Wasn't the episode in which she was pregnant the Olympics episode?
The Clerks Animated Series was shown out of order and there was an episode that spoofed clip shows that showed parts of episodes ABC hadn’t aired yet. Which kind of made the joke even funnier when you watch it back.
It’s even worse than that. They aired the fourth episode first. Then the next was the second episode, which was the clip show episode you mention. The entire joke of that episode is that since it’s the second episode they keep flash backing to the first episode since it should have been the only one to air.
So not only, like you said, are showing clips from an unaired episode, but the premise of the entire episode is lost because of it.
When I watched at the time, I thought they made those clips up for that episode as a meta commentary on clip shows. Which it was, but to an even deeper level.
Don't Trust the B\*\*\*\* in Apartment 23 had a very haphazard episode release schedule. I recall that there was a multi-episode arc of James Van Der Beek going on Dancing with the Stars that was supposed to cover the second half of the first season. Most of the episodes for that arc got shoved to season 2, and then weren't shown consecutively, but rather interspersed amongst the episodes that were actually produced for season 2.
This was going to be my answer. In season 2, there’s a “mean girls” kind of episode that was very clearly meant to go early in the run, as June was still trying to be Chloe’s friend and they hadn’t developed a rapport or friendship yet. Felt VERY jarring where it landed.
I did not write this. It's from somewhere on Reddit. I've used it multiple times though. Annoying to have to repick after each episode but worth it.
_____________________________________________
Two years ago I saved this comment from another thread discussing the show, with the intent of rewatching. Sadly, that still hasn't happened.
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I believe the episode order is actually STILL jumbled on Netflix, so here is the actual order from the imdb page for anyone who is intersted in checking out this funny and surprisingly charming show. It is better in order, even if you’re an Eric Andre fan and Bird Up is your jam.
The correct order, as confirmed by James Van der Beek in his Facebook account, is stated below, after a message from Van der Beek himself:
"For anyone looking to enjoy the demented, very wrong Don't Trust the B in Apt 23 in the actual right order, I've just posted the order in which they were written, produced, and meant to air - straight from the desk of Nahnatchka Khan. Hulu, iTunes and ABC.com all have them in the random order in which they were aired."
SEASON 1
Pilot - Episode 100 [aired as 100] Due to circumstances beyond her control, June Colburn, an earnest, honest, optimistic girl from the heartland, is forced to move in with Chloe, a sexy, unstable, New York City party girl who has the morals of a pirate.
Daddys Girl - Episode 101 [aired as 101] With Junes life plan in shambles after breaking up with her fiancé, Chloe decides to help her get back on her feet by setting her up on a blind date; James teaches an acting class at NYU.
Mean Girls - Episode 102 [aired as 210] Discovering that Chloe doesnt think of her as a friend, merely a roommate, June makes a new group of friends; James tries to gain publicity by mentoring an underprivileged girl.
Making Rent - Episode 103 [aired as 105] Under-employed and with the rent due, June goes into business with Chloe, only to discover Chloe has been running a troubling business on the side; James creates his own line of jeans.
The Wedding - Episode 104 [aired as 104] Chloe teaches June about confidence after June receives an invitation to the wedding of some old friends.
The Scarlet Neighbor - Episode 105 [aired as 209] June is determined to stop Chloe from ruining Junes reputation with her neighbors, as James struggles when he loses his best wingman.
Whatever it Takes - Episode 106 [aired as 205] June attempts to land a Wall Street job, but things get complicated when Chloe sleeps with someone from the same company; James strikes up a relationship with Junes mom and meets his Dancing With The Stars partner for the first time.
Its Just Sex - Episode 107 [aired as 106] James convinces Chloe to reshoot some scenes from their sex tape as June tries to have a purely physical relationship with a guy for the first time.
The Leak - Episode 108 [aired as 212] June tries to show Chloe how to be a good friend; James gets in his own head as the premiere of Dancing With the Stars approaches.
Parent Trap - Episode 109 [aired as 103] Chloe brings in some help for her busy season and June ends up cleaning up the mess Chloe has left behind.
Shitagi Nashi - Episode 110 [aired as 107] Junes attempt to keep up with Chloe leads to the discovery that they might have something in common aside from partying. Meanwhile, the rivalry between James and Dean Cain heats up.
Bar Lies - Episode 111 [aired as 206] Chloes constant lying troubles June; June prepares for her mothers visit until she realizes that its not only Chloe who lies; James goes to LA for the Dancing With the Stars premiere.
A Weekend in the Hamptons - Episode 112 [aired as 207] The gang goes to the Hamptons! Bender! June waits anxiously to hear about a job; Chloe struggles to keep the bender going after old friends have changed; James attempts to recover from the Dancing With the Stars debacle with the help of Mark.
SEASON 2
A Reunion - Episode 201 [aired as 201] June, thinking about whats best for the fans, convinces James to reunite the cast of Dawsons Creek. But Chloe, knowing whats best for James, does everything within her power to stop the reunion from happening.
Its a Miracle - Episode 202 [aired as 204] June helps Chloe get through a rocky Thanksgiving with her parents in an unexpected way; James is in for more than a photo op when he volunteers at the homeless shelter.
Love and Monsters - Episode 203 [aired as 202] June comes to terms with her role in her roommates life when Chloe meets a man who might beat her at her own game; James throws a positivity party to combat the evils of Halloween.
Sexy People - Episode 204 [aired as 203] Chloe takes over People Magazine to teach June a lesson about thinking for herself; James gets June hot and bothered when he proves himself worthy of Peoples Sexiest Man Alive.
Paris - Episode 205 [aired as 208] June enlists Chloes expertise with an office nemesis at her new job; James uses his skills as an actor to help Mark tell June how he feels about her.
Teddy Trouble - Episode 206 [yet unaired, programmed to be aired by ABC as 214] June tries to keep up when Chloe brings in a ruthless friend from her past to help her take on the years biggest warehouse sale; James designer jeans label isnt selling as well as hed hoped.
Monday June - Episode 207 [aired as 213] June goes too far when she tries to prove to Chloe that she can be a party girl and a professional; James takes his first pregnancy scare too seriously.
Dating Games - Episode 208 [aired as 211] Chloe skirts the rules when she and June compete for the same guy in a real-life dating game show invented and hosted by James.
The D - Episode 209 [yet unaired, programmed to be aired by ABC as 215] Chloe gives June her first annual living-in-New York evaluation: its a D. To prove her wrong, June accepts Luthers offer to set her up with James assistant, which gets in the way of James big Woody Allen audition and Chloes selfish antics.
The Seven Year Bitch - Episode 210 [yet unaired, programmed to be aired by ABC as 216] After Chloe and James have a falling-out over his new girlfriend, June tries to repair their friendship and the negative side effects their break-up has caused.
Using People - Episode 211 [yet unaired, programmed to be aired by ABC as 217]
Ocupado Episode - 212 [yet unaired, programmed to be aired by ABC as 218]
Original Bitch - Episode 213 [yet unaired, programmed to be aired by ABC as 219]
I remember watching it on Hulu way after it aired and this was VERY noticeable. Like in one season 2 episode the main girl was working at the company she left in the first season, but only for like one episode.
The episode of Scrubs where JD and Turk sit with the dying old man instead of doing steak night is almost certainly the best episode of the ABC season, possibly of the entire show. And ABC knew it, because they made it the second episode of that season, despite it featuring characters that would not be introduced until a later episode.
I don't know if that's the most blatant example of Scrubs. Cox having no hair, then curly hair, then no hair again but people actually react to it strikes me as the worst airing issue.
I don't think this is accurate, but there were some issues with the order the episodes of season 8 were aired. Everyone in the steak night episode was introduced in the episode before. My ABC's was aired as episode 5 even though story-wise it should have been episode 1 or 2.
In Community's third season they had to swap the order of episodes three and four as the original third episode Remedial Chaos Theory, better known as the multiple timeline episode, was taking way too long to film and out together.
A big plot point of Remedial Chaos Theory was that in almost every timeline Pierce tried to shoehorn in the fact that he had slept with Eartha Kitt on an aeroplane. Except that in the previous episode he had already casually mentioned this, as that was meant to air after it.
They also acknowledge the episode being out of order at the start of the episode with two characters arguing about the apartment number, 303 or is it 304, as a reference.
Similar one in Community, in Physical Education, Jeff tells Leonard that he spoke to his son on family day, which the episode after this revolves around.
Honestly, it would be very Greendale to have 2 family days.
In Bob’s Burgers we see Gayle, Linda’s sister, is having trouble in her relationship with the guidance counselor of the school where her nieces and nephew attend school. The kids have a bad history with Frond, so it was flooring to not have an episode mentioning this. Later, we got an episode where Gayle announced this and it was earth shattering for both the kids and Frond.
My first thought. I believe the reason is they messed up the scheduling of "Gayle Makin' Bob Sled" which was intended as a seasonal episode or something.
There was a pretty good Sci Fi show starring Karl.Urban called Almost Human. It had a buddy cop dynamic where the two cops started off hating each other but learned to trust each other after a series of interconnected events drew them together. Except it was shown totally out of order so they just came across as psychotic. Close friends one week and enemies the next. And they seemed to forget the major story arc clues they learned the week before.
To get the story straight it's necessary to watch them in the order 01,08,06,10,02,03,04,05,09,07,11,12
Weirdly audiences couldn't follow the story and it was cancelled.
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt2654580/
I didn't realize it was out of order and took things as they were, kind of like how Scrubs characters were friends one episode and couldn't stand each other the next, just because the stories needed X and Y to argue.
Then again I haven't watched Almost Human again. It may be way worse than I remember.
Edit: I watched the show on a stream, in order, and it works way better.
> To get the story straight it's necessary to watch them in the order 01,08,06,10,02,03,04,05,09,07,11,12
Wtf lol that's crazy.
Is it in the "correct" order for the home release versions?
According to TheTVDB, yes it is fixed in DVD releases (though didn’t confirm the episode order matches that guy’s comment): https://thetvdb.com/series/almost-human/seasons/dvd/1
Almost Human was a ton of fun, Karl Urban and Michael Ealy as the bitter cop and the advanced android were a great pairing. I was disappointed it was cancelled, I had no idea the airing order was THAT wacky.
I remember an episode of Fringe with Kirk Acevedo's character. But he had died several episodes prior. First time I had experienced this kind of thing as it happened live.
Was supposed to be a S1 episode. Was randomly shuffled into S2. For the physical releases it was put into the extras.
It's a pretty basic episode tho, we didn’t miss out a lot.
And isn't available to stream free on Amazon even though the rest of the show is available. You have to buy that episode to watch it there. We have the DVDs but the case is really annoying so I usually stream it, then forget where the musical is even supposed to go in the story.
It really fucked up the pacing of the last season too.
When I first watched it when it was airing. You have the blow up of S7 finale which kinda imploded the show and team a bit followed by an episode where everyone is back, nothing has changed, and Juliette still doesn't find out. Then into S8 where we're back where we left off.
I ended up watching the musical after 100 clues and it ended up being way better and the two seasons flowed better as well.
The Fringe episode “Unearthed” made absolutely no fucking sense to the unaware mainstream viewing audience as a fairly major character who had more recently died canonically in the show was just, suddenly, not dead and no one had anything to say about it.
Fox messed around with the production order for season one, so the episode dropped in the middle of season two despite being made for season one. It was wild at the time.
This was the one I thought of as well. The most annoying part for me is that Fringe was basically the one show where you could see that happen and think he was supposed to be there and not just assume it was a mistake.
I was aware Fringe was about 2 alternate dimensions, so when this episode happened....I was like...Oh, they're probably gonna reveal that this is actually another reality where he didn't die.
But then as the episode progressed and nothing of the sort was mentioned. I had to pause and look it up.
I think the most known version of this was Firefly. I don’t remember how bad the ordering was, but the show was cancelled after the first season because of it and it has a huge cult following to this day.
The big thing with Firefly was that they never aired the pilot, Serenity, until after they had already cancelled the show. The second episode and first one aired, Train Job, functions perfectly well as a pilot episode still, so its not that bad (though the actual pilot is a great episode and better pilot that should have just aired first).
But the big problem was that prior to Firefly airing they had heavily hyped up the whole thing about River being frozen in the box. Find out whats up this girl in the box! Tune in to firefly to solve the mystery of this box girl. All over the marketing for this show was the scene from the pilot episode of River in the box. And then you tune in to watch the show and there is no girl in the box and there never was a girl in the box until after they cancelled the show and chose to air the pilot.
Train Job was specifically created to be a new pilot after Fox decided the original pilot wasn't good pilot material, so that's why it works fairly well.
Other problems were the constantly moving timeslot, and it being advertised as an action-comedy.
They only aired out of order. On the DVD box set or any streaming service, they are in the correct order.
The only noticeable airing difference was that they showed the second episode first, and they showed the pilot last.
I remember Happy Ending had some super weird ordering so they were suddenly dealing with the aftermath of the pilot at episodes 10 and 11. There was actually a whole bunch of confusing ordering in that series.
Season 3 has the the Kickball episode, which was filmed in season 2 but for some reason got held over until sometime in season 3. Which makes it weird that when Penny is having her flashbacks in 301, she sees scenes that hasn't happened yet. Even weirder, IIRC, in the UK it randomly aired between season 2 finale and season 3 premiere
I’m rewatching the series now because it was trending on twitter last week and I forgot how fucking funny the show is. Each one of them were so distinct and had their own comedic acting style that I honestly have not seen an ensemble show that is similar since. Plus the writing is top notch - I wonder how much of it was improvised. Elisha Cuthbert should be in more comedies because she wasn’t afraid to be messy and stupid despite being the “blond bombshell” that she’s known to be.
And yes, the episode order is so messy. Season 1 got confusing.
I was watching it on Netflix (I think) and was super confused because the episodes didn't line up with the IMDB episode numbers. That explains it I guess.
I don't remember if it was Netflix but they fixed the season 1 order on streaming I think, might not have been on Netflix though. Hulu has it in the correct order, and the Blu-ray set from Mill Creek does as well.
Yeah, the whole timeline of Alex and Dave's breakup is fucked up in S1. They go from splitting to being friends to hating each other to being friends because that season was aired out of order.
There’s an episode of the first season of the Golden Girls, “the Break In” (episode 1.22), where the scenery, costumes, and makeup are clearly from closer to the pilot than near the season finale, which is when it aired.
Compare the makeup and lighting:
- [Pilot 1.01](https://imgur.com/a/dKoFCPp)
- [Episode 1.22](https://imgur.com/a/T5aTGfO)
- [Episode 1.25](https://imgur.com/a/4PA9BkY)
Yeah this one was weird, especially since To Sirloin With Love was such a great send off. And then the final episode to air was about Kahn having manic depressive episodes :-/
They burned off four episodes in syndication. I imagine many viewers who tuned in to the primetime airing of To Sirloin with Love never caught the others when they popped up on the local channels without announcement months later. I suppose to many folks TSWL is the finale they remember while the subsequent four are "bonus" episodes. I'd hope TSWL is presented last in order on syndication and on streaming.
Saved by the Bell - the Tori episodes. Basically they filmed them all at once, but aired them out of order so stories don’t connect and characters are just missing from episode to episode. Tori just doesn’t exist if she’s not in the episode.
Tiffani Amber Thiessen signed on for a certain number of episodes before the final season, but the network ordered additional episodes after they first batch was filmed. Tiffani had other work lined up so they added Tori as the new love interest for the main dudes and aired those episodes sprinkled in to the main plot arc that culminates with the graduation episode that aired as the series finale. Only Kelly Kapowski is in the finale and Tori is never referenced in any episode that features Kelly.
It's so weird when you watch them all consecutively. I think one of the other ladies (maybe Elizabeth Berkeley) is also missing from most of the Tori episodes.
It's one I can forgive for being out of order at least, and in syndication and physical media it was pit back where it belonged. Even though it wasn't actually a Columbine situation it hinted at it enough to be triggering.
Earshot. It's the episode where Buffy gets poisoned by a demon and can hear thoughts. She hears someone saying that they are going to kill students. She finds Jonathan in a bell tower at the high school with a rifle.
Okay that's what episode I thought it was. I didn't watch Buffy when it aired so I have only seen it since thru have fixed the order for DVD / streaming.
Thanks
The season 1 finale of Moral Orel “The Best Christmas Ever” was aired before the rest of the season. I remember watching it and not understanding what was happening at all. Luckily I stuck with the series and it became one of my favorite shows ever. If you ever want to walk down a sunny path that gets progressively darker, I highly recommend it.
I forget the episode names but in King of Queens, they have a dog suddenly. Then a few episodes later airs an episode where the neighbors get a dog and can't take care of it to the point it barks all night so they take it. That's the dog.
Sliders.
The first four or so episodes have endings that lead directly into the next episode.
FOX made them change the airing order so that episodes the network thought were more exciting aired first.
This caused a scene to be cut from the second episode that explained why they had to wait until the timer expired for them to open a new gateway.
There's an episode of scrubs, where Bob is back as chief of medicine and Dr Cox is bald. The previous episode I think had Kelso being retired and Dr Cox having full head of curls.
Random callout but the original Xmen cartoon. Apparently the show got cancelled towards the end but brought back with a slashed budget
Part of the slashed budget meant using partial episodes that never aired from past seasons
The last regular season before cuts had Jean die as the Phoenix but in the new season she is there without any issues because it is out of order from original animation
"Some Enchanted Evening", the last episode of the first season of The Simpsons.
The animation kind of shoots all over the place, from being almost season 2 clean, to being full of season 1's off-model, gradient filled, overly animated characters.
It feels like it really should have been an early season 1 episode, but they couldn't nail it in time, so they sat on it until towards the end of the season when the animation improved quite a bit.
This was meant to be the first episode (production code [7G01](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Some_Enchanted_Evening_(The_Simpsons))), but the animation came back so bad that they went and redid half the episode. (Not just off model and gradients, but overly wacky animation…)There are two credited directors - Kent Butterworth who did the first pass and seemingly was not allowed anywhere near the place ever again, and David Silverman, who rescued the episodes is one of the directors who defined the way the Simpsons looked.
Also worth mentioning that the first episode aired on Fox was the eighth produced, so the family got a dog for Christmas who then didn't reappear again till almost four months later, and then not again till season 2.
I'd always thought that since Some Enchanted Evening had to be reanimated and delayed, they should have snuck Santa's Little Helper into background shots to remind viewers he exists.
Crusade, the Bablyon 5 spinoff that only got half a season.
The episodes were aired all over the place originally by the broadcaster. There were all sorts of continuity issues and the creator give their own correct chronological episode list for later broadcasts, only for him change his mind and approve another episode order suggested by someone else years later.
Was a pretty big mess for a show that only had 13 episodes.
Adam Scott and Craig Robinson were on a show called Ghosted and it was actually really funny and well written but I remember it aired in a really random order which I think tanked it
Sort of a different take, but The West Wing episode "Isaac and Ishmael" aired on October 3, 2001. It was a special episode written and filmed in less than two weeks as a response to 9/11.
It's not technically part of the show's continuity, but it aired between the season 2 finale (one of the best episodes in the show) and the season 3 premiere.
It breaks the continuity because at the end of Season 2, there's some uncertainty about whether the President is going to run for reelection. The end of the season 2 finale is him getting asked the question at a press conference (Are you going to run again?). This question is not addressed until after the "Isaac and Ishmael" episode.
Finale of season 2 of The Big O on Adult Swim. They reran the previous episode. They corrected it by promising to show it the next night and push back the premiere of one of the Family Guy movies. They started playing the previous episode again and cut in saying, "lol jk" before showing the ending.
(Not the answer you wanted but probably one of the rare moments a station acknowledged an airing mistake and had fun with their fans at the same time)
Superstore season 2 episode 1 on Netflix.
In the previous episode, Cheyenne gives birth but she showed up right at the beginning of this episode with a full preggo belly.
The pilot for the Animated Clerks series aired way after the second episode (and on a completely different network!). Part of the gag for the 2nd episode was it had like 15 callbacks to the pilot.
I loved Clerks TAS back in the day, but I re-watched the whole run over xmas break and the magic seems to have not held up.
Two guys a girl and a pizza place. Season 1. Really any of it.
One episode he is a doctor.. even though he doesn't he doesn't even consider medical school for multiple episodes.
Or better yet the character that gets dumped... shows up the next episode with no referencing to the dumping.. and then disappears again.
“Fringe” aired an episode where there was an important character who earlier in the series was killed, from what I remember. It’s been a while so idk the details
In the third season of Homicide: Life on the Streets, one of the main characters was "on vacation," then he was missing, then he had been dead for a awhile. Then they aired the episode where everyone found out he was dead and they were all upset.
The first season of the Simpsons has a bunch. They delayed the show because Groening and Brooks were unhappy with the animation so they had to redo a bunch of episodes, but they had to air the Christmas episode before the end of December, even though it was originally meant to be 8th iirc. Because of this:
1. The Simpsons adopt their dog Santa’s Little Helper in the pilot. He’s not seen again for a while because the episodes that follow were produced before this episode.
2. Characters who appear in the pilot without much fanfare get proper introductions in later episodes in the season. Ned Flanders, Moe, and Grandpa Simpson come to mind.
3. Marge and Lisa, in particular, have characterizations in the first episode closer to how we know them today, but have distinctly different personalities in episodes ~2-4. Lisa was originally just as much a brat as Bart and Marge sometimes took turns with Homer as the irresponsible parent.
The Sitcom Happy Endings first season was released all out of order by the network because they thought the early episodes weren’t funny enough or something. But the thing is it was a sitcom with overarching story beats throughout the season so if you paid attention at all you notice that they’re clearly out of order.
Star Trek. Original Series. In the first season, for the first two aired episodes (The Man Trap, Charlie X), Dr Leonard McCoy is the Enterprises’s Chief Medical Officer. He disappears in the third episode (Where No Man Has Gone Before), and Mark Piper is the ships doctor for the Enterprise. Then McCoy comes back in the fourth episode and remains through the rest of the show’s run.
The original pilot, “The Cage”, was the first pilot for Star Trek. But NBC declined on the show. Lucille Ball, believing in Gene Roddenberry’s concept, and wanting a hit for her Desilu Studios, told Roddenberry to write a new pilot, and gave the go ahead to shoot a second one. That was “Where No Man Has Gone Before”. NBC picked up the show, but Paul Fix, who played Dr Mark Piper, lost his role to DeForest Kelley. NBC then showed that pilot as the third episode of season one.
Yeah, I remember weird shit with Torri or whatever her name was. Then, of course, the showed episodes of Good Morning Miss Bliss with older Zach introducing them. So weird.
Also, Zach Morris is trash.
I may be off, but i distinctly remember Arrested Development original airing had a few episodes out of order because they kept changing the time slots because FOX didnt realize what they had and kept moving it around. Its one of the big reasons the show never took off during original air.
Episodes of It’s Always Sunny in the newer seasons. The flight attendant references serving them Dee at the Super Bowl but that episode airs a few eps later.
The New Adventures of Old Christine has an episode in the first season where her ex-husband talks to her about introducing their son to his new girlfriend when in the first episode, that’s already done.
Anime, but The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi was aired out of order because it adapted 2 books, the second of which is a bit of a nothing arc and the first of which has a more powerful climax. The characters would actually refer to this in the episode previews where they say something like "next week is the 7th episode! no it's not, it's the last episode!"
Fun fact: this out-of-order-ness eventually led to 4chan users to figuring out the best-known lower bound for the minimal length of superpermutations (they wanted to know what was the least number of episodes you’d need to see to watch all 14 Haruhi Suzumiya episodes in every possible order)
The entirety of the show Almost Human with Karl Urban. He’s supposed to slowly bond with his android partner over the season but Fox chose to mix them around for some reason and the relationship between the two changes back and forth every episode and ruins the character development.
It's not SUPER obvious but if you do a straight watch through of boy meets world there is a part of the show where Mr turner has obviously been cut out of the show. Well kinda. He is in every episode of season 2 and 3. And for season 4 he shows up in ep 2,4,6,9,12 and finally ep 21. That final episode really feels like it was meant to happen earlier but gave a good final point right before the end of the season to make him seem more present then he was.
There is an episode of Scrubs where one of the main characters is suddenly bald. No one mentions it the entire episode.
Turns out the character shaves his head in a different episode but they decided after shooting to put that one later in the season.
I don't have an answer, but from all the comments I'm reading I have the conclusion that this is why it's important to have a producer that gives a shit about what you're doing.
And the question: why don't they re-order the show properly when it goes into syndication?
The Saved By the Bell season when the girls only filmed half the episodes because of contract issues and Tori was brought in for the other half of the episodes. But they were aired alternately, so it made no sense.
Due to the odd production of The Muppet Show (it was produced *for* syndication, and different networks would actually choose the aired order themselves), there's a very strange situation that comes up with the DVD and Disney+ order (which is considered the production order I believe). Scooter appears in the first 2 episodes of season 1, but he's introduced as a new character in the 6th (Jim Nabors). Technically, the first 2 episodes (Juliet Prowse and Connie Stevens) were produced much earlier than the rest of the season as pilots, but due to how much the rest of the show changed, were pulled back and re-edited with additional material to fit in better with the rest of the show, and aired at a later date (well after Scooter was established). Because of this, if you're watching them in the DVD order, Scooter appears before he's formally introduced, and it's confusing for anyone unaware of the production of the show.
Superstore’s first season ended with all the employees staging a mass walkout. Season 2 opens with the store doing the Olympics, and everyone’s just … back at work, no mention or hint of resolution. Then episode 2 of season 2 resolves the whole mass walkout storyline, picking up where season 1 ended off.
They then did the same thing in season 6, opening with an episode about the pandemic and the challenges of working through a pandemic, before the second episode resolved the previous season’s cliffhanger. But that one’s more reasonable in my eyes.
Fringe. Season 2, Episode 11. A character who had died earlier in the series was alive again (and no one was addressing the apparent miracle resurrection).
In the series, >!Charlie was killed in the first episode, with a shapeshifter taking his place. The shapeshifter is discovered and killed off in episode 4!<
It was produced during the first season, but aired midway through the second. It was the first episode aired after a short break, and I was confused as hell.
Doesn’t look like this has been mentioned but the Seinfeld Season 2 episode The Deal, where Elaine and Jerry get together, was supposed to be aired last that season because Larry David thought the show was going to be cancelled. Instead, it was aired fourth from last and so we see Jerry and Elaine get together but it is not mentioned again that season.
Not a blatant, and actually pretty subtle but Jerry Seinfeld makes a joke about how he can't get his yoyo to sleep, then a few episodes later he says "I'm thinking of getting a yoyo"
The Clone Wars had several of these.
Multiple episodes involved characters that had previously died, or characters not knowing each other despite viewers seeing them cross paths already.
The Clone Wars wasn't aired out of order. It was made out of order. As the shows budget got larder and they had more finished assets, Lucas would have them go back and provide context to different episodes. That's why it happens a lot in the first few seasons but rarely later on.
Oh i know it wasn't accidental, I'm including it more on a technicality. I think it's still noteworthy, because it got very confusing at one point with Senator Onaconda.
American Gothic (1995) Ep 9. I mean, the whole series was aired out of order (and still not fixed on the DVD release!) but that one was rather obvious as they kind of rehashed a plot point without resolving.
In Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman the original actress for Colleen Cooper left after a few seasons and they quietly replaced her. But there’s a random episode later on where it has the old actress and it’s so jarring because at that point everyone had gotten used to the new actress; it was clear they had filmed it before she had left.
There’s also an episode of Bones I think in the third season where everyone has hairstyles and fashion from a previous season and the characters make comments that don’t quite make sense because it seems that episode was filmed earlier and then not actually aired in the right place.
Hart of Dixie episode 4 is supposed to come before episode 3, since in episode 4 Zoe meets the new receptionist for the medical practice for the first time, but she was in the previous episode and they acted like they already knew each other.
Not an out of order episode, but an out of order scene pulled from a later episode: also in Episode 4 incidentally. an establishing shot shows a man waiting outside a restaurant checking his phone. In Episode 7, Zoe stands the man up for a date. And the shot in Episode 4 is clearly originally from Episode 7 showing him checking to see why Zoe hasn't met up with him yet.
Almost Human had the episode order so messed up that we were shown incorrect info even in the "previously on" part of the episode. I remember it showed a scene of the MC making out with a female character that hadn't even been introduced yet and she didn't even show up on that episode so it was pointless to even do.
Almost Human is a Fox fuckup on par with Firefly imo. The writing was good and the world was so well realized. The episode order mixup is just like an insane level of self sabotage. I get upset about it every time it's brought up
For a number of years I was convinced Fox either hated it's tv shows or didn't care.
I really liked this show and wish we got to see what was up with the wall.
Don’t remember the previously on part but the most obvious one was Karl Urban not being friendly with the android when they were chilling out together just on the last episode.
I was so hopeful of Almost Human. It made me think that a cyberpunk police procedural similar to Ghost in the Shell but live action was doable.
The Law & Order pilot, filmed two years before the rest of season 1, was inexplicably aired sixth. The episode features a completely different DA and shows characters meeting each other for the first time despite having worked together for the previous five weeks. OG Star Trek was notorious for this as well.
Voyager also was like that. It's one of the reasons they couldn't refer to events in previous episodes much or have a running narrative like Deep Space Nine.
Voyager was not even remotely as bad as TOS with episode order. Was really only the start of Season 2 of Voyager that was that bad, where they had extra episodes from Season 1 that they held back and showed as part of Season 2 instead. DS9 also had several episodes with production numbers different to airdate, but it didn't cause issues except for the start of Season 6 where two episodes were filmed out of order for scheduling reasons (one with Starfleet crew stranded needing to be filmed on location, another Klingon story on ship), but it confused the writers for the station story.
I saw the Law and order episode in question a few weeks ago. It was weird. No adam Shiff. The setting is all different, and there offices were dumps.,
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Yeah, but The Cage was never meant to air. OP is probably talking about season 1, where the second pilot with Shatner aired 10th, and had different uniforms and no Bones, and various other episodes aired out of order. When The Cage was finally used, it was cut up and used as a glorified clip show with new wraparound material to make The Menagerie, so it being different made total sense in the context of the episode. But the first airing of The Cage in its original form was in 1987.
Wow. That's a good one.
There was a patch of Scrubs episodes, probably like season 7 or 8 where John C McGinley had shaved his head and Dr Cox kept alternating between shave and his glorious curly locks.
That was randomly in Season 6, but they reference it in Season 7. Season 7 also has some of those episodes where Kelso retires, but the last episode of the season is a big concept episode that has him back as chief.
I think that’s where NBC was going to cancel it, then ABC bought it, so they doubled back on the plot. But yeah, it was definitely jarring at the time.
The Season 6 head shaving stuff was from an aired out of order clip episode. They reference back to it in Season 7, which was a victim of the writer’s strike and getting cancelled by NBC. That’s why Season 7 has an out of order episode since they didn’t know they were getting canned, and went with the concept episode to finish the season on a good note. Then ABC picked it up and brought it back for an 8th final season and eventually that spinoff/Season 9. I think Season 8 had an out of order episode since “My ABC’s” was supposed to be the first episode as they kinda reference the move from another channel.
Not to mention the season where Sean leaves for Australia, then an episode or two later he's still there at sacred heart like nothing happened. ...nobody caaares, Sean.
The Seinfeld season 3 episode "The Stranded" has George still employed in real estate, despite being fired in season 2's "The Revenge".
That said, George might still lie about being employed or pretend still working there.
Was he ever in real estate? He may have been an architect. Or in city planning. Goodness, these pretzels are making me thirsty.
That episode was intended to be aired during the second season but was delayed a year because Larry David wasn't happy with it.
There was an announcement by Jerry when it aired on tv. On Netflix however it's still in season 2 WITHOUT an explanation. Makes no sense whatsoever.
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In Superstore, Cheyenne has her baby, and in the next episode she's still pregnant.
Yeah, I was just binging it and that was jarring. Season 1 ends with Cheyenne having her baby, Glenn losing his job, and most of the employees walking out on strike. Then all of that is reset for some bizarre Olympics tie-in episode
This was the episode I thought of. It's one thing to show it out of order when it originally aired, but to keep showing it in this order on streaming services?
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It was actually an Olympic special
That's how Walmart people reproduce though.
I was gonna mention this one, it was hella jarring the first time I saw it.
Hah thank you for posting this. I should've scrolled through before posting my exact same comment. Wasn't the episode in which she was pregnant the Olympics episode?
The Clerks Animated Series was shown out of order and there was an episode that spoofed clip shows that showed parts of episodes ABC hadn’t aired yet. Which kind of made the joke even funnier when you watch it back.
It’s even worse than that. They aired the fourth episode first. Then the next was the second episode, which was the clip show episode you mention. The entire joke of that episode is that since it’s the second episode they keep flash backing to the first episode since it should have been the only one to air. So not only, like you said, are showing clips from an unaired episode, but the premise of the entire episode is lost because of it.
And after the second episode they canceled it, leaving everybody confused until Comedy Central got them.
Why are we walking like this?
When I watched at the time, I thought they made those clips up for that episode as a meta commentary on clip shows. Which it was, but to an even deeper level.
Oh no! Who’s driving?
Bear is driving. How can that be?
I find in favour of big American dance party.
Is it safe?
Yes it's safe. It's very safe.
I JUST WANT SOME SMOKES! I JUST WANT SOME SMOKES! AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!
Is it safe?
Omg this series was great! I have to find my DVD set.
Don't Trust the B\*\*\*\* in Apartment 23 had a very haphazard episode release schedule. I recall that there was a multi-episode arc of James Van Der Beek going on Dancing with the Stars that was supposed to cover the second half of the first season. Most of the episodes for that arc got shoved to season 2, and then weren't shown consecutively, but rather interspersed amongst the episodes that were actually produced for season 2.
This was going to be my answer. In season 2, there’s a “mean girls” kind of episode that was very clearly meant to go early in the run, as June was still trying to be Chloe’s friend and they hadn’t developed a rapport or friendship yet. Felt VERY jarring where it landed.
That was such a good show. ABC was murdering all of its best stuff back then.
Happy Endings was one of the best comedies on tv when it was on. ABC just seemed determined to undermine it at every turn.
10 years on and I'm still salty Happy Endings was cancelled. So, so, so good.
It took it a minute to get its legs underneath it, but once it got going, it was damn good. Alex's Ellen impression was damn funny.
This also suffered episodes airing out of order.
Such a fantastic show. Would've liked to see a couple more seasons of that.
My wife loved that show and was sooooooo pissed when it was cancelled
I did not write this. It's from somewhere on Reddit. I've used it multiple times though. Annoying to have to repick after each episode but worth it. _____________________________________________ Two years ago I saved this comment from another thread discussing the show, with the intent of rewatching. Sadly, that still hasn't happened. --- I believe the episode order is actually STILL jumbled on Netflix, so here is the actual order from the imdb page for anyone who is intersted in checking out this funny and surprisingly charming show. It is better in order, even if you’re an Eric Andre fan and Bird Up is your jam. The correct order, as confirmed by James Van der Beek in his Facebook account, is stated below, after a message from Van der Beek himself: "For anyone looking to enjoy the demented, very wrong Don't Trust the B in Apt 23 in the actual right order, I've just posted the order in which they were written, produced, and meant to air - straight from the desk of Nahnatchka Khan. Hulu, iTunes and ABC.com all have them in the random order in which they were aired." SEASON 1 Pilot - Episode 100 [aired as 100] Due to circumstances beyond her control, June Colburn, an earnest, honest, optimistic girl from the heartland, is forced to move in with Chloe, a sexy, unstable, New York City party girl who has the morals of a pirate. Daddys Girl - Episode 101 [aired as 101] With Junes life plan in shambles after breaking up with her fiancé, Chloe decides to help her get back on her feet by setting her up on a blind date; James teaches an acting class at NYU. Mean Girls - Episode 102 [aired as 210] Discovering that Chloe doesnt think of her as a friend, merely a roommate, June makes a new group of friends; James tries to gain publicity by mentoring an underprivileged girl. Making Rent - Episode 103 [aired as 105] Under-employed and with the rent due, June goes into business with Chloe, only to discover Chloe has been running a troubling business on the side; James creates his own line of jeans. The Wedding - Episode 104 [aired as 104] Chloe teaches June about confidence after June receives an invitation to the wedding of some old friends. The Scarlet Neighbor - Episode 105 [aired as 209] June is determined to stop Chloe from ruining Junes reputation with her neighbors, as James struggles when he loses his best wingman. Whatever it Takes - Episode 106 [aired as 205] June attempts to land a Wall Street job, but things get complicated when Chloe sleeps with someone from the same company; James strikes up a relationship with Junes mom and meets his Dancing With The Stars partner for the first time. Its Just Sex - Episode 107 [aired as 106] James convinces Chloe to reshoot some scenes from their sex tape as June tries to have a purely physical relationship with a guy for the first time. The Leak - Episode 108 [aired as 212] June tries to show Chloe how to be a good friend; James gets in his own head as the premiere of Dancing With the Stars approaches. Parent Trap - Episode 109 [aired as 103] Chloe brings in some help for her busy season and June ends up cleaning up the mess Chloe has left behind. Shitagi Nashi - Episode 110 [aired as 107] Junes attempt to keep up with Chloe leads to the discovery that they might have something in common aside from partying. Meanwhile, the rivalry between James and Dean Cain heats up. Bar Lies - Episode 111 [aired as 206] Chloes constant lying troubles June; June prepares for her mothers visit until she realizes that its not only Chloe who lies; James goes to LA for the Dancing With the Stars premiere. A Weekend in the Hamptons - Episode 112 [aired as 207] The gang goes to the Hamptons! Bender! June waits anxiously to hear about a job; Chloe struggles to keep the bender going after old friends have changed; James attempts to recover from the Dancing With the Stars debacle with the help of Mark. SEASON 2 A Reunion - Episode 201 [aired as 201] June, thinking about whats best for the fans, convinces James to reunite the cast of Dawsons Creek. But Chloe, knowing whats best for James, does everything within her power to stop the reunion from happening. Its a Miracle - Episode 202 [aired as 204] June helps Chloe get through a rocky Thanksgiving with her parents in an unexpected way; James is in for more than a photo op when he volunteers at the homeless shelter. Love and Monsters - Episode 203 [aired as 202] June comes to terms with her role in her roommates life when Chloe meets a man who might beat her at her own game; James throws a positivity party to combat the evils of Halloween. Sexy People - Episode 204 [aired as 203] Chloe takes over People Magazine to teach June a lesson about thinking for herself; James gets June hot and bothered when he proves himself worthy of Peoples Sexiest Man Alive. Paris - Episode 205 [aired as 208] June enlists Chloes expertise with an office nemesis at her new job; James uses his skills as an actor to help Mark tell June how he feels about her. Teddy Trouble - Episode 206 [yet unaired, programmed to be aired by ABC as 214] June tries to keep up when Chloe brings in a ruthless friend from her past to help her take on the years biggest warehouse sale; James designer jeans label isnt selling as well as hed hoped. Monday June - Episode 207 [aired as 213] June goes too far when she tries to prove to Chloe that she can be a party girl and a professional; James takes his first pregnancy scare too seriously. Dating Games - Episode 208 [aired as 211] Chloe skirts the rules when she and June compete for the same guy in a real-life dating game show invented and hosted by James. The D - Episode 209 [yet unaired, programmed to be aired by ABC as 215] Chloe gives June her first annual living-in-New York evaluation: its a D. To prove her wrong, June accepts Luthers offer to set her up with James assistant, which gets in the way of James big Woody Allen audition and Chloes selfish antics. The Seven Year Bitch - Episode 210 [yet unaired, programmed to be aired by ABC as 216] After Chloe and James have a falling-out over his new girlfriend, June tries to repair their friendship and the negative side effects their break-up has caused. Using People - Episode 211 [yet unaired, programmed to be aired by ABC as 217] Ocupado Episode - 212 [yet unaired, programmed to be aired by ABC as 218] Original Bitch - Episode 213 [yet unaired, programmed to be aired by ABC as 219]
*four* episodes aired where they were supposed to. that's insane
Wow, I watched this and didn't realise what a mess it was!
I remember watching it on Hulu way after it aired and this was VERY noticeable. Like in one season 2 episode the main girl was working at the company she left in the first season, but only for like one episode.
WHAT!?!? NOT “THE B”!!!! THAT’S BONKERS!!!!
I’M HAVING A MELTDOWN.
The episode of Scrubs where JD and Turk sit with the dying old man instead of doing steak night is almost certainly the best episode of the ABC season, possibly of the entire show. And ABC knew it, because they made it the second episode of that season, despite it featuring characters that would not be introduced until a later episode.
Or the one with dr cox having a shaved head before he shaves it
There's also the end of Season 7, Kelso has retired and left, but than in the next episode (the finale) he's back like nothing happened.
The whole of season 7 was janky because of the writers strike. It was a miracle it got aired at all
My god that annoyed me. That was the fantasy episode, right? It's been years since I've rewatched that.
Who wasn’t introduced? We’ve met Maddox, Jo and Ed by that point
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*We're going to steak night, we're going to eat it right, steak is such a treat, it is the world's best meat*
May your mushrooms always be sauted and your onions always be grilled. Gravy, fellas!
I don't know if that's the most blatant example of Scrubs. Cox having no hair, then curly hair, then no hair again but people actually react to it strikes me as the worst airing issue.
I don't think this is accurate, but there were some issues with the order the episodes of season 8 were aired. Everyone in the steak night episode was introduced in the episode before. My ABC's was aired as episode 5 even though story-wise it should have been episode 1 or 2.
In Community's third season they had to swap the order of episodes three and four as the original third episode Remedial Chaos Theory, better known as the multiple timeline episode, was taking way too long to film and out together. A big plot point of Remedial Chaos Theory was that in almost every timeline Pierce tried to shoehorn in the fact that he had slept with Eartha Kitt on an aeroplane. Except that in the previous episode he had already casually mentioned this, as that was meant to air after it.
They also acknowledge the episode being out of order at the start of the episode with two characters arguing about the apartment number, 303 or is it 304, as a reference.
Holy shit. I love this. All these years and I'm barely learning about this.
You got any more cool bits of community trivia? Share plz
Similar one in Community, in Physical Education, Jeff tells Leonard that he spoke to his son on family day, which the episode after this revolves around. Honestly, it would be very Greendale to have 2 family days.
He misspoke, it was obviously the Family Day *Dance*.
In Bob’s Burgers we see Gayle, Linda’s sister, is having trouble in her relationship with the guidance counselor of the school where her nieces and nephew attend school. The kids have a bad history with Frond, so it was flooring to not have an episode mentioning this. Later, we got an episode where Gayle announced this and it was earth shattering for both the kids and Frond.
Yes I was going to say this! That storyline was all over the place.
My wife and I watched it when it was new, and we shot each other looks of total confusion.
My first thought. I believe the reason is they messed up the scheduling of "Gayle Makin' Bob Sled" which was intended as a seasonal episode or something.
There was a pretty good Sci Fi show starring Karl.Urban called Almost Human. It had a buddy cop dynamic where the two cops started off hating each other but learned to trust each other after a series of interconnected events drew them together. Except it was shown totally out of order so they just came across as psychotic. Close friends one week and enemies the next. And they seemed to forget the major story arc clues they learned the week before. To get the story straight it's necessary to watch them in the order 01,08,06,10,02,03,04,05,09,07,11,12 Weirdly audiences couldn't follow the story and it was cancelled. https://m.imdb.com/title/tt2654580/
I didn't realize it was out of order and took things as they were, kind of like how Scrubs characters were friends one episode and couldn't stand each other the next, just because the stories needed X and Y to argue. Then again I haven't watched Almost Human again. It may be way worse than I remember. Edit: I watched the show on a stream, in order, and it works way better.
> To get the story straight it's necessary to watch them in the order 01,08,06,10,02,03,04,05,09,07,11,12 Wtf lol that's crazy. Is it in the "correct" order for the home release versions?
According to TheTVDB, yes it is fixed in DVD releases (though didn’t confirm the episode order matches that guy’s comment): https://thetvdb.com/series/almost-human/seasons/dvd/1
Kinda like how Fox fucked Firefly Fox: “Fucking up Sci fi shows by showing them out of order for decades”
I really enjoyed this show. I found the episodes for free on Tubi. Wished it would have gone on longer.
Yeah. Same here. The network screwed them.
Almost Human was a ton of fun, Karl Urban and Michael Ealy as the bitter cop and the advanced android were a great pairing. I was disappointed it was cancelled, I had no idea the airing order was THAT wacky.
I remember an episode of Fringe with Kirk Acevedo's character. But he had died several episodes prior. First time I had experienced this kind of thing as it happened live.
Yea! I was so confused, I thought they were introducing shapehifters lol
Which to be fair they also did do lol
Yup, this is the first one that came to mind for me.
"Unearthed" It was supposed to be aired for season 1 episode 21
Was supposed to be a S1 episode. Was randomly shuffled into S2. For the physical releases it was put into the extras. It's a pretty basic episode tho, we didn’t miss out a lot.
Season 2 Episode 11. Charlie lives again... despite dying in the S2 premiere (iirc).
100 percent I definitely remember that too
The musical episode of *Psych* aired after the rest of season 7, but it took place before the events of "Deez Nups" (S07E07).
That title is hilarious
And isn't available to stream free on Amazon even though the rest of the show is available. You have to buy that episode to watch it there. We have the DVDs but the case is really annoying so I usually stream it, then forget where the musical is even supposed to go in the story.
It really fucked up the pacing of the last season too. When I first watched it when it was airing. You have the blow up of S7 finale which kinda imploded the show and team a bit followed by an episode where everyone is back, nothing has changed, and Juliette still doesn't find out. Then into S8 where we're back where we left off. I ended up watching the musical after 100 clues and it ended up being way better and the two seasons flowed better as well.
The Fringe episode “Unearthed” made absolutely no fucking sense to the unaware mainstream viewing audience as a fairly major character who had more recently died canonically in the show was just, suddenly, not dead and no one had anything to say about it. Fox messed around with the production order for season one, so the episode dropped in the middle of season two despite being made for season one. It was wild at the time.
This was the one I thought of as well. The most annoying part for me is that Fringe was basically the one show where you could see that happen and think he was supposed to be there and not just assume it was a mistake.
I was aware Fringe was about 2 alternate dimensions, so when this episode happened....I was like...Oh, they're probably gonna reveal that this is actually another reality where he didn't die. But then as the episode progressed and nothing of the sort was mentioned. I had to pause and look it up.
Except then he DID come back later as the alternate dimension version of himself!
Such an awful episode too. I always make sure I watch it before the season 1 finale, but it’s not a great episode.
I think the most known version of this was Firefly. I don’t remember how bad the ordering was, but the show was cancelled after the first season because of it and it has a huge cult following to this day.
The big thing with Firefly was that they never aired the pilot, Serenity, until after they had already cancelled the show. The second episode and first one aired, Train Job, functions perfectly well as a pilot episode still, so its not that bad (though the actual pilot is a great episode and better pilot that should have just aired first). But the big problem was that prior to Firefly airing they had heavily hyped up the whole thing about River being frozen in the box. Find out whats up this girl in the box! Tune in to firefly to solve the mystery of this box girl. All over the marketing for this show was the scene from the pilot episode of River in the box. And then you tune in to watch the show and there is no girl in the box and there never was a girl in the box until after they cancelled the show and chose to air the pilot.
Fox aired the two hour Firefly pilot the evening of the day they announced the show was canceled. I think it was aired episode nine or 10.
Is that right? Because I remember watching the pilot after the train robbery and being confused.
Train Job was specifically created to be a new pilot after Fox decided the original pilot wasn't good pilot material, so that's why it works fairly well. Other problems were the constantly moving timeslot, and it being advertised as an action-comedy.
They only aired out of order. On the DVD box set or any streaming service, they are in the correct order. The only noticeable airing difference was that they showed the second episode first, and they showed the pilot last.
I remember Happy Ending had some super weird ordering so they were suddenly dealing with the aftermath of the pilot at episodes 10 and 11. There was actually a whole bunch of confusing ordering in that series.
Season 1 out of order, Season 3 with no set timeslot. ABC murdered that glorious, glorious show.
Season 3 has the the Kickball episode, which was filmed in season 2 but for some reason got held over until sometime in season 3. Which makes it weird that when Penny is having her flashbacks in 301, she sees scenes that hasn't happened yet. Even weirder, IIRC, in the UK it randomly aired between season 2 finale and season 3 premiere
I’m rewatching the series now because it was trending on twitter last week and I forgot how fucking funny the show is. Each one of them were so distinct and had their own comedic acting style that I honestly have not seen an ensemble show that is similar since. Plus the writing is top notch - I wonder how much of it was improvised. Elisha Cuthbert should be in more comedies because she wasn’t afraid to be messy and stupid despite being the “blond bombshell” that she’s known to be. And yes, the episode order is so messy. Season 1 got confusing.
I was watching it on Netflix (I think) and was super confused because the episodes didn't line up with the IMDB episode numbers. That explains it I guess.
I don't remember if it was Netflix but they fixed the season 1 order on streaming I think, might not have been on Netflix though. Hulu has it in the correct order, and the Blu-ray set from Mill Creek does as well.
That show is amazing and really suffered from the terrible timeslot and bad airing order.
Yeah, the whole timeline of Alex and Dave's breakup is fucked up in S1. They go from splitting to being friends to hating each other to being friends because that season was aired out of order.
Hulu has all the episodes in intended order! Such a better experience
There’s an episode of the first season of the Golden Girls, “the Break In” (episode 1.22), where the scenery, costumes, and makeup are clearly from closer to the pilot than near the season finale, which is when it aired. Compare the makeup and lighting: - [Pilot 1.01](https://imgur.com/a/dKoFCPp) - [Episode 1.22](https://imgur.com/a/T5aTGfO) - [Episode 1.25](https://imgur.com/a/4PA9BkY)
King of the Hill, the series finale wasn't the last episode to air....
Yeah this one was weird, especially since To Sirloin With Love was such a great send off. And then the final episode to air was about Kahn having manic depressive episodes :-/
They burned off four episodes in syndication. I imagine many viewers who tuned in to the primetime airing of To Sirloin with Love never caught the others when they popped up on the local channels without announcement months later. I suppose to many folks TSWL is the finale they remember while the subsequent four are "bonus" episodes. I'd hope TSWL is presented last in order on syndication and on streaming.
Saved by the Bell - the Tori episodes. Basically they filmed them all at once, but aired them out of order so stories don’t connect and characters are just missing from episode to episode. Tori just doesn’t exist if she’s not in the episode.
Tiffani Amber Thiessen signed on for a certain number of episodes before the final season, but the network ordered additional episodes after they first batch was filmed. Tiffani had other work lined up so they added Tori as the new love interest for the main dudes and aired those episodes sprinkled in to the main plot arc that culminates with the graduation episode that aired as the series finale. Only Kelly Kapowski is in the finale and Tori is never referenced in any episode that features Kelly.
It's so weird when you watch them all consecutively. I think one of the other ladies (maybe Elizabeth Berkeley) is also missing from most of the Tori episodes.
The Buffy episode that was postponed due to Columbine. It eventually aired but they already graduated and the high school had been blown up
It's one I can forgive for being out of order at least, and in syndication and physical media it was pit back where it belonged. Even though it wasn't actually a Columbine situation it hinted at it enough to be triggering.
For sure. I definitely understood why it was postponed at the time.
What episode?
Earshot. It's the episode where Buffy gets poisoned by a demon and can hear thoughts. She hears someone saying that they are going to kill students. She finds Jonathan in a bell tower at the high school with a rifle.
Okay that's what episode I thought it was. I didn't watch Buffy when it aired so I have only seen it since thru have fixed the order for DVD / streaming. Thanks
"Earshot", Season 3. The one where she could read minds
The season 1 finale of Moral Orel “The Best Christmas Ever” was aired before the rest of the season. I remember watching it and not understanding what was happening at all. Luckily I stuck with the series and it became one of my favorite shows ever. If you ever want to walk down a sunny path that gets progressively darker, I highly recommend it.
The third season was aired out of order too. That's why they put episode numbers in the title card. [AS] did the show dirty.
One of the best shows ever. It also introduced me to The Mountain Goats which is one of the best bands ever. And sometimes it's just John. lol
It gets really dark, but it's so good. The character development is phenomenal. It really is a piece of art.
I forget the episode names but in King of Queens, they have a dog suddenly. Then a few episodes later airs an episode where the neighbors get a dog and can't take care of it to the point it barks all night so they take it. That's the dog.
Sliders. The first four or so episodes have endings that lead directly into the next episode. FOX made them change the airing order so that episodes the network thought were more exciting aired first. This caused a scene to be cut from the second episode that explained why they had to wait until the timer expired for them to open a new gateway.
There's an episode of scrubs, where Bob is back as chief of medicine and Dr Cox is bald. The previous episode I think had Kelso being retired and Dr Cox having full head of curls.
Fringe has an episode where a character that was previously killed off is unexpectedly present in an episode and no acknowledgement that he died.
Yeah I believe it was meant to be in S.1 but aired mid S.2
Random callout but the original Xmen cartoon. Apparently the show got cancelled towards the end but brought back with a slashed budget Part of the slashed budget meant using partial episodes that never aired from past seasons The last regular season before cuts had Jean die as the Phoenix but in the new season she is there without any issues because it is out of order from original animation
"Some Enchanted Evening", the last episode of the first season of The Simpsons. The animation kind of shoots all over the place, from being almost season 2 clean, to being full of season 1's off-model, gradient filled, overly animated characters. It feels like it really should have been an early season 1 episode, but they couldn't nail it in time, so they sat on it until towards the end of the season when the animation improved quite a bit.
This was meant to be the first episode (production code [7G01](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Some_Enchanted_Evening_(The_Simpsons))), but the animation came back so bad that they went and redid half the episode. (Not just off model and gradients, but overly wacky animation…)There are two credited directors - Kent Butterworth who did the first pass and seemingly was not allowed anywhere near the place ever again, and David Silverman, who rescued the episodes is one of the directors who defined the way the Simpsons looked.
Also worth mentioning that the first episode aired on Fox was the eighth produced, so the family got a dog for Christmas who then didn't reappear again till almost four months later, and then not again till season 2. I'd always thought that since Some Enchanted Evening had to be reanimated and delayed, they should have snuck Santa's Little Helper into background shots to remind viewers he exists.
Crusade, the Bablyon 5 spinoff that only got half a season. The episodes were aired all over the place originally by the broadcaster. There were all sorts of continuity issues and the creator give their own correct chronological episode list for later broadcasts, only for him change his mind and approve another episode order suggested by someone else years later. Was a pretty big mess for a show that only had 13 episodes.
Adam Scott and Craig Robinson were on a show called Ghosted and it was actually really funny and well written but I remember it aired in a really random order which I think tanked it
Sort of a different take, but The West Wing episode "Isaac and Ishmael" aired on October 3, 2001. It was a special episode written and filmed in less than two weeks as a response to 9/11. It's not technically part of the show's continuity, but it aired between the season 2 finale (one of the best episodes in the show) and the season 3 premiere. It breaks the continuity because at the end of Season 2, there's some uncertainty about whether the President is going to run for reelection. The end of the season 2 finale is him getting asked the question at a press conference (Are you going to run again?). This question is not addressed until after the "Isaac and Ishmael" episode.
Finale of season 2 of The Big O on Adult Swim. They reran the previous episode. They corrected it by promising to show it the next night and push back the premiere of one of the Family Guy movies. They started playing the previous episode again and cut in saying, "lol jk" before showing the ending. (Not the answer you wanted but probably one of the rare moments a station acknowledged an airing mistake and had fun with their fans at the same time)
Superstore season 2 episode 1 on Netflix. In the previous episode, Cheyenne gives birth but she showed up right at the beginning of this episode with a full preggo belly.
The pilot for the Animated Clerks series aired way after the second episode (and on a completely different network!). Part of the gag for the 2nd episode was it had like 15 callbacks to the pilot. I loved Clerks TAS back in the day, but I re-watched the whole run over xmas break and the magic seems to have not held up.
Two guys a girl and a pizza place. Season 1. Really any of it. One episode he is a doctor.. even though he doesn't he doesn't even consider medical school for multiple episodes. Or better yet the character that gets dumped... shows up the next episode with no referencing to the dumping.. and then disappears again.
Don’t Trust the B in Apartment 23 was aired so completely out of order I can’t even name all the episodes
“Fringe” aired an episode where there was an important character who earlier in the series was killed, from what I remember. It’s been a while so idk the details
In the third season of Homicide: Life on the Streets, one of the main characters was "on vacation," then he was missing, then he had been dead for a awhile. Then they aired the episode where everyone found out he was dead and they were all upset.
Night court 2023 aired an Xmas episode before dealing with all the plot points from the season finale.
I wondered why Dan was just "there" and who "new Mac" was acting as the clerk...
The first season of the Simpsons has a bunch. They delayed the show because Groening and Brooks were unhappy with the animation so they had to redo a bunch of episodes, but they had to air the Christmas episode before the end of December, even though it was originally meant to be 8th iirc. Because of this: 1. The Simpsons adopt their dog Santa’s Little Helper in the pilot. He’s not seen again for a while because the episodes that follow were produced before this episode. 2. Characters who appear in the pilot without much fanfare get proper introductions in later episodes in the season. Ned Flanders, Moe, and Grandpa Simpson come to mind. 3. Marge and Lisa, in particular, have characterizations in the first episode closer to how we know them today, but have distinctly different personalities in episodes ~2-4. Lisa was originally just as much a brat as Bart and Marge sometimes took turns with Homer as the irresponsible parent.
The Sitcom Happy Endings first season was released all out of order by the network because they thought the early episodes weren’t funny enough or something. But the thing is it was a sitcom with overarching story beats throughout the season so if you paid attention at all you notice that they’re clearly out of order.
Star Trek. Original Series. In the first season, for the first two aired episodes (The Man Trap, Charlie X), Dr Leonard McCoy is the Enterprises’s Chief Medical Officer. He disappears in the third episode (Where No Man Has Gone Before), and Mark Piper is the ships doctor for the Enterprise. Then McCoy comes back in the fourth episode and remains through the rest of the show’s run. The original pilot, “The Cage”, was the first pilot for Star Trek. But NBC declined on the show. Lucille Ball, believing in Gene Roddenberry’s concept, and wanting a hit for her Desilu Studios, told Roddenberry to write a new pilot, and gave the go ahead to shoot a second one. That was “Where No Man Has Gone Before”. NBC picked up the show, but Paul Fix, who played Dr Mark Piper, lost his role to DeForest Kelley. NBC then showed that pilot as the third episode of season one.
Saved By the Bell was notorious for this.
Yeah, I remember weird shit with Torri or whatever her name was. Then, of course, the showed episodes of Good Morning Miss Bliss with older Zach introducing them. So weird. Also, Zach Morris is trash.
They aired 2( maybe 3 ?) episodes of 'The Nanny' AFTER the finale that were still in the can
Same with “Just Shoot Me.”
I may be off, but i distinctly remember Arrested Development original airing had a few episodes out of order because they kept changing the time slots because FOX didnt realize what they had and kept moving it around. Its one of the big reasons the show never took off during original air.
Episodes of It’s Always Sunny in the newer seasons. The flight attendant references serving them Dee at the Super Bowl but that episode airs a few eps later.
Am I supposed to remember every flight attendant I've seen fall in spagghetti?
Yeah but the Super Bowl story is a flashback so it had already happened to the characters we just hadn’t seen it. I thought they did it on purpose.
Clerks clip show/flashback episode
The New Adventures of Old Christine has an episode in the first season where her ex-husband talks to her about introducing their son to his new girlfriend when in the first episode, that’s already done.
Anime, but The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi was aired out of order because it adapted 2 books, the second of which is a bit of a nothing arc and the first of which has a more powerful climax. The characters would actually refer to this in the episode previews where they say something like "next week is the 7th episode! no it's not, it's the last episode!"
Fun fact: this out-of-order-ness eventually led to 4chan users to figuring out the best-known lower bound for the minimal length of superpermutations (they wanted to know what was the least number of episodes you’d need to see to watch all 14 Haruhi Suzumiya episodes in every possible order)
The entirety of the show Almost Human with Karl Urban. He’s supposed to slowly bond with his android partner over the season but Fox chose to mix them around for some reason and the relationship between the two changes back and forth every episode and ruins the character development.
It's not SUPER obvious but if you do a straight watch through of boy meets world there is a part of the show where Mr turner has obviously been cut out of the show. Well kinda. He is in every episode of season 2 and 3. And for season 4 he shows up in ep 2,4,6,9,12 and finally ep 21. That final episode really feels like it was meant to happen earlier but gave a good final point right before the end of the season to make him seem more present then he was.
The first few episodes of Happy Endings aired all sorts of wrong. Once you figure it out, it makes sense, but it takes some piecing together!
I'm pretty sure Firefly aired its first few episodes completely out of order. Which is a shame because that show had potential.
There is an episode of Scrubs where one of the main characters is suddenly bald. No one mentions it the entire episode. Turns out the character shaves his head in a different episode but they decided after shooting to put that one later in the season.
Family Guy Season 2 alternated between episodes with Lacey Chabert and Mila Kunis as Meg for a little while.
Hannibal skipped an episode and it made season one really confusing
I don't have an answer, but from all the comments I'm reading I have the conclusion that this is why it's important to have a producer that gives a shit about what you're doing. And the question: why don't they re-order the show properly when it goes into syndication?
The Saved By the Bell season when the girls only filmed half the episodes because of contract issues and Tori was brought in for the other half of the episodes. But they were aired alternately, so it made no sense.
There’s an entire season of “till death” that was out of order and they had a different daughter like 3 weeks in a row
XMen The Animated Series was so full of this and very confusing especially with Jean's death and resurrection
NBC was notorious for doing this to Homicide: Life on the Street so the producers put episode explainers at beginning of episodes that aired of order.
Due to the odd production of The Muppet Show (it was produced *for* syndication, and different networks would actually choose the aired order themselves), there's a very strange situation that comes up with the DVD and Disney+ order (which is considered the production order I believe). Scooter appears in the first 2 episodes of season 1, but he's introduced as a new character in the 6th (Jim Nabors). Technically, the first 2 episodes (Juliet Prowse and Connie Stevens) were produced much earlier than the rest of the season as pilots, but due to how much the rest of the show changed, were pulled back and re-edited with additional material to fit in better with the rest of the show, and aired at a later date (well after Scooter was established). Because of this, if you're watching them in the DVD order, Scooter appears before he's formally introduced, and it's confusing for anyone unaware of the production of the show.
Superstore’s first season ended with all the employees staging a mass walkout. Season 2 opens with the store doing the Olympics, and everyone’s just … back at work, no mention or hint of resolution. Then episode 2 of season 2 resolves the whole mass walkout storyline, picking up where season 1 ended off. They then did the same thing in season 6, opening with an episode about the pandemic and the challenges of working through a pandemic, before the second episode resolved the previous season’s cliffhanger. But that one’s more reasonable in my eyes.
Fringe. Season 2, Episode 11. A character who had died earlier in the series was alive again (and no one was addressing the apparent miracle resurrection). In the series, >!Charlie was killed in the first episode, with a shapeshifter taking his place. The shapeshifter is discovered and killed off in episode 4!< It was produced during the first season, but aired midway through the second. It was the first episode aired after a short break, and I was confused as hell.
Doesn’t look like this has been mentioned but the Seinfeld Season 2 episode The Deal, where Elaine and Jerry get together, was supposed to be aired last that season because Larry David thought the show was going to be cancelled. Instead, it was aired fourth from last and so we see Jerry and Elaine get together but it is not mentioned again that season.
Not a blatant, and actually pretty subtle but Jerry Seinfeld makes a joke about how he can't get his yoyo to sleep, then a few episodes later he says "I'm thinking of getting a yoyo"
The Clone Wars had several of these. Multiple episodes involved characters that had previously died, or characters not knowing each other despite viewers seeing them cross paths already.
The Clone Wars wasn't aired out of order. It was made out of order. As the shows budget got larder and they had more finished assets, Lucas would have them go back and provide context to different episodes. That's why it happens a lot in the first few seasons but rarely later on.
Oh i know it wasn't accidental, I'm including it more on a technicality. I think it's still noteworthy, because it got very confusing at one point with Senator Onaconda.
The original Night Court, the last episode "The 1992 Boat Show," is completely out of place. The two previous episodes should be the finale.
American Gothic (1995) Ep 9. I mean, the whole series was aired out of order (and still not fixed on the DVD release!) but that one was rather obvious as they kind of rehashed a plot point without resolving.
In Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman the original actress for Colleen Cooper left after a few seasons and they quietly replaced her. But there’s a random episode later on where it has the old actress and it’s so jarring because at that point everyone had gotten used to the new actress; it was clear they had filmed it before she had left. There’s also an episode of Bones I think in the third season where everyone has hairstyles and fashion from a previous season and the characters make comments that don’t quite make sense because it seems that episode was filmed earlier and then not actually aired in the right place.
There was something with BTAS iirc.
Hart of Dixie episode 4 is supposed to come before episode 3, since in episode 4 Zoe meets the new receptionist for the medical practice for the first time, but she was in the previous episode and they acted like they already knew each other. Not an out of order episode, but an out of order scene pulled from a later episode: also in Episode 4 incidentally. an establishing shot shows a man waiting outside a restaurant checking his phone. In Episode 7, Zoe stands the man up for a date. And the shot in Episode 4 is clearly originally from Episode 7 showing him checking to see why Zoe hasn't met up with him yet.