In my review of the last episode of Ugly Betty, I asked our lovely and intelligent readership if they noticed that a couple of key scenes in the "Previously on" teaser were not actually in previous episodes. Not only did they notice it, they also let me know that the episode that showed last Thursday, "Fey's Sleigh Ride", was the sixth episode produced, even though it was the fourth one that aired.Indeed, to make sure, I posed the question to one of my favorite TV critics, Alan Sepinwall, on his personal blog, figuring he had some inside info that I didn't. He directed me to TV.com's episode listing (duh... why didn't I think of doing that?), which indeed shows that this was the sixth episode made. The fifth will air this week, and the fourth, called "Swag", will air during November sweeps. So the order is: 6, 5, 7, 8, 4, 10.
Networks air shows out of order all the time; usually, it doesn't matter much because the episodes are self-contained. But because Betty is a telenovela and has continuting storylines, airing this particular series out of order doesn't make any sense to me.
I wonder why ABC is doing this. Isn't this going to confuse fans? And how will they deal with the inconsistencies such a mixed order will create (e.g. we already know Whilhelmina steals Fey's music box, so seeing it in "Swag" will no longer be a surprise). Let me know what you think about this in the comments.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-24-2006 @ 9:42AM
David said...
I think the better reason is why people watch the show in the first place.
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10-24-2006 @ 10:06AM
Fokk said...
I completely agree.
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10-24-2006 @ 10:55AM
Tim said...
Reminds me of Fox airing Firefly out of order...that didn't help the series at all.
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10-24-2006 @ 11:14AM
Radioscott said...
Tim, you beat me to the Firefly parallel. I think we should call this practice "being Fireflied." As in "Man, they're really Fireflying Ugly Betty!"
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10-24-2006 @ 12:17PM
Brian said...
Is it possible they are airing them in their intended order, and just produced them out of order, due to production/availability issues?
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10-25-2006 @ 4:14AM
SuperFreak said...
ABC has been known to do this. They air episodes which they think are best first. Problem is it screws up continuity, the integrity of the show and makes the whole thing look stupid where it may not normally. I explicitly avoid ABC programming if I can and this tampering with programming is one of the reasons why. I can't imagine being a show runner who is so seriously undermined like that, not to mention the implicit lack of trust to tell the story as is.
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10-24-2006 @ 12:13PM
Sam said...
Wow, thats two shows I never thought would be compared - Firefly and Ugly Betty.
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10-24-2006 @ 12:52PM
Ryan S. said...
I was wondering why this episode had had a more christmas theme, this would have made more sense later on in the season.
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10-24-2006 @ 4:03PM
Jennifer said...
They're probably doing it for the same reasons they aired Eureka out of order- "show the good episodes first."
It's still a stupid practice, though.
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10-24-2006 @ 3:35PM
J. Free said...
i thought it was a little strange. betty and Daniel being so bonded, the christmas theme. very strange, indeed.
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10-24-2006 @ 3:38PM
Joel Keller said...
The Christmas theme didn't bug me, since magazines like Mode are put together 2-3 months in advance. So it makes sense that they'd be working on the December issue in mid-October.
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10-24-2006 @ 5:54PM
hessian said...
Actually FOX pioneered the practice during SLIDERS. while the stories didn't really continue from episode to episode, it was obvious that characters would start the hour with clothing they were wearing when the 'slid' sverval episodes back.
FOX felt it was more important to throw the best episodes at the audience first, rather than let the natural growth of the characters be revealed.
Bad idea.
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10-24-2006 @ 9:44PM
Gene said...
Oh, man -- you want out of order? Try Fox's butchering of "Futurama." They screwed so much with that show that they managed to get 5 seasons out of only 4 seasons' worth of episodes, and broadcast 4th season shows during the 3rd season. Completely screwy, so much so that the DVD sets come in "Volumes" instead of "Seasons" to avoid confusion.
I suppose it remains to be seen how ABC's scheduling affects the storylines. I did feel a disconnect last week, not only with the music box stuff but also with the HMO storyline.
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10-31-2006 @ 9:22AM
Guillermo said...
I actually noticed in Episode 05 when She is Going to and Awards dinner to Give her a Lifetime Achievement Award....The one She already has in Episode 05 (The Gold Statue with the Boots) I do wonder what that’s all about
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12-09-2006 @ 8:54PM
Jessica said...
You are WRONG!!!!! Only one Eps. was moved!!!! Ep. 4, the order of the Ugly Betty is Ep.1,2,3,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 and then 4! the only way this is going to affect the series is that fact that Betty is going to be leaving her job. If you notice all TV shows have hoilday Ep. so ABC figured that they needed to remove one Ep. inorder to match the EP. up they did not want to show the Christmas Ep. AFTER christmas and so on. they only reason this change will affect betty is that it might not have anything to do or relevennt to Ep. 12 unless it is reedited and made to fit. You have to remember that if and when a DVD comes out it will follow the airing order. there for ABC will make it match.
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12-09-2006 @ 8:52PM
Jessica said...
You are WRONG!!!!! Only one Eps. was moved!!!! Ep. 4, the order of the Ugly Betty is Ep.1,2,3,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 and then 4! the only way this is going to affect the series is that fact that Betty is going to be leaving her job. If you notice all TV shows have hoilday Ep. so ABC figured that they needed to remove one Ep. inorder to match the EP. up they did not want to show the Christmas Ep. AFTER christmas and so on. they only reason this change will affect betty is that it might not have anything to do or relevennt to Ep. 12 unless it is reedited and made to fit. You have to remember that if and when a DVD comes out it will follow the airing order. there for ABC will make it match.
Reply