Eva's been watching the new Duck Tales

[conuly]

Which, tangent, reminds me that the other Disney Afternoon shows, especially Darkwing Duck as it's in the same universe, are all ripe for reboots as well. But I digress.

We were talking about Duck Tales and about how that sort of show had no continuity in the 90s at all, and how in general arc based shows and real continuity only started going mainstream around that time. Previously, most shows assumed that viewers wouldn't watch every episode, and if they did they couldn't be trusted to remember what had happened before and whether or not it was important.

And this put a thought in my head but I don't have the data to know if I'm right or not. Is it the case that a. when a show starts off with a recap, "previously on whatever", it's shorter than it used to be and b. less likely to talk about events of the exact previous episode instead of stuff from half a season ago or more? Or am I completely wrong? Has anybody been keeping track of this?

Comments

[silveradept]

You're correct - arc-based shows these days tend to "previously on" relevant parts of the arc that are going to be expounded on in this episode, rather than "what happened on the exact last episode," with the exceptions generally being two-parters, whether as season openers, season-closers, or two-parters split across an opening and a closing.

The relevant comparison might be My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, which has no real continuity outside of the two-part openers and closers, hutch are the only ones that get a "previously on," and they are directly related to the previous episode (although I think even then, they might slip in a little bit of the relevant parts during the season that produced the situation about to happen).

[conuly]

Is that your feeling as well, or your data? I'm worried that we might all feel the same way but all be equally wrong.

[silveradept]

It is memory more than feeling, so you can trust that exactly as far as you want to. I'm thinking of Star Trek and other shows made specifically for syndication when I'm thinking about the "only for two-parters" as well as My Little Pony, while what little I've seen of Supernatural almost always started with a "previously on" that was arc-based rather than episode-based, for much the same reason, I think, for getting someone who might be watching it on syndication up to speed. I think Grimm did it that way as well.

Reality shows, on the other hand, almost always do their recap with what happened in the last episode only, but that's usually because they then do an As You Know, Bob, to explain the concept of the show to anyone who might be joining mid-season. Even for Netflix exclusive shows.

[conuly]

Worried is a much stronger word than is appropriate.