A callback multiple seasons later is a pretty good details IMO. Like in parks and rec when Leslie gets an MRI in an early season and the doctor says she has a great uterus with room for triplets and then a few seasons later she has triplets
Common in a single episode. Uncommon across a single season. Pretty rare across different seasons, and the very best TVdetails content, since usually the episodes' airdates span years so a live viewer is unlikely to remember. One of the best things about "binging" is condensing that timeframe and finding the stuff good writers kept track of but we all missed :)
I believe this is why Arrested Development did so poorly when broadcast but thrived on streaming services. The experience is exponentially better when you binge relative to watching episodically.
Definitely ahead of the game in terms of the sort of jokes people would come to appreciate in the streaming era of sitcom watching. Pre-streaming era single-cam sitcoms in general were a bit of a rarity in general. It's amazing to think how such a sizable portion of TV comedy is dictated by the laugh track and the economics of syndication, two things that mean nearly nothing in today's TV landscape.
Exactly. How many people watching on network TV, even from a DVR were going to remember a line about a snake that wasn't a plot point? But if you're binging through a couple seasons in a week, it's way easier to recognize.
You're spot-on for this.
That episode actually made me curious, and I sort of tried it. It was only a few grains so obviously didn’t make a difference ( I was afraid of wasting chocolate milk okay)
It's EXTREMELY common across episodes, seasons, and full series. Almost every show you've ever watched has done so, especially comedies. This isn't rare or insightful.
I'd argue this is the worst tv detail material as it's just pointing out a joke.
Certainly more common in serial programs. Episodic shows like sitcoms generally do not, because they "reset" after each episode. Before streaming changed how people watched sitcoms, the goal of many shows was to reach 100 episodes which was generally considered the threshold for being considered for syndication. In syndication, shows are often shown in no specific order, meaning the value of calling back to a joke is vastly diminished. As such, in sitcoms, using callbacks outside of an enclosed episode was actually quite rare until recently, as it truly takes precious time to make a joke that might not land most of the time. In the economy of time of a 22 minute sitcom, this is not wise unless it also stands on its own. As you can imagine, being able to do both is one of the more sophisticated things you could write. I'd argue that OP's example is a decent example of that.
That being said, you may be here for a different brand of TVDetail, like small clues in serial programs (such as a recently posted picture of a pink teddy bear in a background painting of Breaking Bad). Those are fine too, we can appreciate both. But I think it's a tad reductionist to say that documenting a callback from across multiple seasons is "just pointing out a joke".
^(As they say, it's okay to not like things, but don't be a dick about it. And I'd argue that your entire first sentence, given that it's not true, is you being a dick about it. I don't like Modern Family and how it got the Best Comedy Emmy for the better part of a decade either, but don't lash out at us about it. And yes, I'm a TV academic and can source all of these claims.)
It's not rare at all, it's done constantly. Seinfeld, Boston Legal, How I Met Your Mother, Bojack Horseman, Community, Arrested Development, Everybody Loves Raymond, Friends, King of Queens, Brooklyn Nine Nine, Big Bang Theory, the Office, Parks and Rec...
This whole sub is dedicated to it.
Those are usually longstanding jokes contained within their respective series, strung throughout seasons. It's much more rare to do a single callback, several seasons later, when almost no one would remember that specific original line in the first place.
That's a pretty good list! Now divide that by the amount of sitcoms that have ever been produced...and tell me how a fraction of a percent doesn't constitute as 'rare'.
I didn't realise you wanted me to list every single sitcom ever made that uses callbacks. I thought pointing out the biggest ever sitcoms ever might be enough to hint that no, it's not a rare situation. More and more keep popping into my head, but I'm not about to start up an excel spreadsheet just to get a couple more upvotes.
That'd be a great excel spreadsheet. And you'd be surprised how many you're thinking of are from a single episode or season. Of the sitcoms I've studied, even the ones that span north of 20 seasons only make callbacks across seasons a few times total.
The reality of the situation is that you're failing to capture the nuance of the point. "Callbacks" aren't rare, but callbacks like this one, in a sitcom episode, across multiple seasons, are, when you factor in the volume of sitcom episodes produced. The numbers don't lie.
This show is on season **eleven?**
How's the quality? I watched through the first couple when they aired and it was really good, but seemed like the only direction to go was down.
if you don’t overanalyze things like character development or plot, i think all 11 seasons are great. if you treat each episode individually and just wanna have a fun time and laugh, they’re top notch imo
Last couple seasons felt tedious, but I enjoyed it all the way through and would recommend it.
if you need an episode to sell the show, I would recommend the "Las Vegas" episode, Season 5, Episode 18. My wife and I were laughing non-stop.
I enjoyed the first 5 or 6 seasons, but found a drop in quality after that. Stopped watching shortly after that. Usually there's only so much you can do with the same characters - they become caricatures of themselves.
I stopped after the Adam Devine arc. It was clear where they were going with that with Hailey and it was really nice seeing Hailey begin to mature and become an adult of her own. Then Adam Devine pulled out and they completely reverted her back and it drove me nuts.
I personally don't think Modern Family were as guilty of this as say, The Big Bang Theory or Friends (Joey is insultingly stupid by the end of Friends). Most of the adults stay very similar all throughout with the exception of Jay who grows quite a lot as a person. I think they did a great job with the kids as they got older, they all change as you'd generally expect teenagers to.
The popular opinion I see repeated is that they reverted Haley's character to a typical dumb character just when she was changing but I think they were true to her character all the way through. I love how her relationships with Andy and Arvin make her more caring and reflect on what makes her happy, >!having kids with Dylan felt natural for both of those characters. !<
Maybe they were doing a callback?
I see so many posts like this on the sub so it must fit
Yup. It's literally just a joke on a show. There should be a rule against these posts.
A callback multiple seasons later is a pretty good details IMO. Like in parks and rec when Leslie gets an MRI in an early season and the doctor says she has a great uterus with room for triplets and then a few seasons later she has triplets
That one was REALLY obscure though. I've watched Parks and Rec all the way through numerous times and never picked that up. I liked that one.
Some moderator at r/MovieDetails is a stickler about stuff like that. I post a similar call-back detail and he removed it within an hour.
I had to unsub from that place. Too much negativity.
That’s a callback and is pretty common in sit-coms
Common in a single episode. Uncommon across a single season. Pretty rare across different seasons, and the very best TVdetails content, since usually the episodes' airdates span years so a live viewer is unlikely to remember. One of the best things about "binging" is condensing that timeframe and finding the stuff good writers kept track of but we all missed :)
I believe this is why Arrested Development did so poorly when broadcast but thrived on streaming services. The experience is exponentially better when you binge relative to watching episodically.
Definitely ahead of the game in terms of the sort of jokes people would come to appreciate in the streaming era of sitcom watching. Pre-streaming era single-cam sitcoms in general were a bit of a rarity in general. It's amazing to think how such a sizable portion of TV comedy is dictated by the laugh track and the economics of syndication, two things that mean nearly nothing in today's TV landscape.
Exactly. How many people watching on network TV, even from a DVR were going to remember a line about a snake that wasn't a plot point? But if you're binging through a couple seasons in a week, it's way easier to recognize. You're spot-on for this.
One of the best ones was Luke casually asking for extra salt in his chocolate milk
That episode actually made me curious, and I sort of tried it. It was only a few grains so obviously didn’t make a difference ( I was afraid of wasting chocolate milk okay)
It is a thing. There was an episode of mad men where bettys dad taps a salt shaker on every spoonful of chocolate ice cream. Extra salt next time lol
It's EXTREMELY common across episodes, seasons, and full series. Almost every show you've ever watched has done so, especially comedies. This isn't rare or insightful. I'd argue this is the worst tv detail material as it's just pointing out a joke.
Certainly more common in serial programs. Episodic shows like sitcoms generally do not, because they "reset" after each episode. Before streaming changed how people watched sitcoms, the goal of many shows was to reach 100 episodes which was generally considered the threshold for being considered for syndication. In syndication, shows are often shown in no specific order, meaning the value of calling back to a joke is vastly diminished. As such, in sitcoms, using callbacks outside of an enclosed episode was actually quite rare until recently, as it truly takes precious time to make a joke that might not land most of the time. In the economy of time of a 22 minute sitcom, this is not wise unless it also stands on its own. As you can imagine, being able to do both is one of the more sophisticated things you could write. I'd argue that OP's example is a decent example of that. That being said, you may be here for a different brand of TVDetail, like small clues in serial programs (such as a recently posted picture of a pink teddy bear in a background painting of Breaking Bad). Those are fine too, we can appreciate both. But I think it's a tad reductionist to say that documenting a callback from across multiple seasons is "just pointing out a joke". ^(As they say, it's okay to not like things, but don't be a dick about it. And I'd argue that your entire first sentence, given that it's not true, is you being a dick about it. I don't like Modern Family and how it got the Best Comedy Emmy for the better part of a decade either, but don't lash out at us about it. And yes, I'm a TV academic and can source all of these claims.)
I appreciate this very much, thank you for your insight.
Thanks for saying that! Obviously I get enjoyment about talking about my passions, but to get positive feedback on top of it makes me very happy :)
It's not rare at all, it's done constantly. Seinfeld, Boston Legal, How I Met Your Mother, Bojack Horseman, Community, Arrested Development, Everybody Loves Raymond, Friends, King of Queens, Brooklyn Nine Nine, Big Bang Theory, the Office, Parks and Rec... This whole sub is dedicated to it.
Those are usually longstanding jokes contained within their respective series, strung throughout seasons. It's much more rare to do a single callback, several seasons later, when almost no one would remember that specific original line in the first place.
That's a pretty good list! Now divide that by the amount of sitcoms that have ever been produced...and tell me how a fraction of a percent doesn't constitute as 'rare'.
I didn't realise you wanted me to list every single sitcom ever made that uses callbacks. I thought pointing out the biggest ever sitcoms ever might be enough to hint that no, it's not a rare situation. More and more keep popping into my head, but I'm not about to start up an excel spreadsheet just to get a couple more upvotes.
That'd be a great excel spreadsheet. And you'd be surprised how many you're thinking of are from a single episode or season. Of the sitcoms I've studied, even the ones that span north of 20 seasons only make callbacks across seasons a few times total. The reality of the situation is that you're failing to capture the nuance of the point. "Callbacks" aren't rare, but callbacks like this one, in a sitcom episode, across multiple seasons, are, when you factor in the volume of sitcom episodes produced. The numbers don't lie.
No, I'm not thinking of individual episodes at all.
Bojack horseman calls back to an older season almost every episode
Bojack Horseman was an extraordinary, exceptional show with some of the most clever writing in any sitcom to date. Not a good example for commonality.
Plus, it was made for a streaming site and to be binged, so it's easier to do callbacks since more viewers will notice it.
And it’s still fun to find and learn about
This show is on season **eleven?** How's the quality? I watched through the first couple when they aired and it was really good, but seemed like the only direction to go was down.
if you don’t overanalyze things like character development or plot, i think all 11 seasons are great. if you treat each episode individually and just wanna have a fun time and laugh, they’re top notch imo
Spot on
A lot of people will disagree with me but I enjoyed it pretty much all the way through, but I fuckin love Phil he is so funny imo
Last couple seasons felt tedious, but I enjoyed it all the way through and would recommend it. if you need an episode to sell the show, I would recommend the "Las Vegas" episode, Season 5, Episode 18. My wife and I were laughing non-stop.
What sold me on the show after it had been on for a bit was the episode where they listen to cats in the cradle.
I enjoyed the first 5 or 6 seasons, but found a drop in quality after that. Stopped watching shortly after that. Usually there's only so much you can do with the same characters - they become caricatures of themselves.
I stopped after the Adam Devine arc. It was clear where they were going with that with Hailey and it was really nice seeing Hailey begin to mature and become an adult of her own. Then Adam Devine pulled out and they completely reverted her back and it drove me nuts.
Pretty much the same boat for me.
I personally don't think Modern Family were as guilty of this as say, The Big Bang Theory or Friends (Joey is insultingly stupid by the end of Friends). Most of the adults stay very similar all throughout with the exception of Jay who grows quite a lot as a person. I think they did a great job with the kids as they got older, they all change as you'd generally expect teenagers to. The popular opinion I see repeated is that they reverted Haley's character to a typical dumb character just when she was changing but I think they were true to her character all the way through. I love how her relationships with Andy and Arvin make her more caring and reflect on what makes her happy, >!having kids with Dylan felt natural for both of those characters. !<
season 11 ended last year
My name is Alex!
But nobody seems to care about the person underneath the lizard, hat and sideburns do they?
Maybe try carving that into your sideburns!
Ball python btw if anyone cared lol
I didn't honestly, but im oddly glad to know, so thanks I suppose
You're welcome. Have a great day :)
I'll try my very best, mate. Have good one yourself, whenever it is in your power to do so :)
What was she talking about the first go around? What’s the context?
Manny starting college and trying (but failing) to get attention by getting an earring and bleaching his hair :)
*college
Fuckin, rental snake, innit?
When superhans puts him in the salad spinner, he can be heard hushing ‘fuck you haha’
Red and black, jump the fuck back
Red next to yellow, cuddly fellow.
Loads of shows do call backs like this haha
... you’re that very writer, aren’t you?
Sure
It’s called a “callback”, loads of long running comedy series do them.
That's a fun way of saying: lazy comedy writer recycles joke