Why don't they go back and fix that?
 

Did the thread title make you curious?


Burn Notice just started showing new episodes again, and they are still using the "I'm Michael Weston" intro.
If you watch the series you know that they include a clip of Fiona speaking with a thick Irish brogue that Gabrielle Anwar used only in the pilot.
I always wonder --since the show is going to exist forever in reruns and on DVD sets, why didn't they go back and re-dub all of Fiona's dialogue without the accent?
Wouldn't be worth the extra time and money to NOT have this HUGE continuity disconnect?

I also thought of this because I got Mad Men Season One on DVD and noticed a similar issue.
In an early episode Pete is holding a framed photograph of his wife Trudy.
This is before Alison Brie showed up on the show playing Trudy, so the picture is of a very different looking woman.
Why don't they go back and fix that?
All they need is one shot of Vincent Kartheiser holding a photo of Alison Brie.

Does this kind of stuff just not occur to the producers? Or do they just not care? Or is there too much to worry about the future of the show, to go back and worry about the past?

It's especially weird to me with Mad Men because it is such an easy fix and they are such sticklers for details.

I like it that Seinfeld went back and reshot all the scenes of Frank Costanza in an earlier episode [that had been played by a different actor] with Jerry Stiller, because they thought it would be odd when the show went into syndication.

Any other examples of these kind of continuity problems that you wish shows had gone back and fixed?

Re: Why don't they go back and fix that?
 

But Jerry still has 2 different fathers :confused:

Re: Why don't they go back and fix that?
 

Burn Notice explains the accent change in the 2nd episode.

Hey, he has two moms, that is more annoying

Re: Why don't they go back and fix that?
 

Yeah odd choice on singling out Burn Notice since they make mention of it in the 2nd episode ("New city, new accent" or something.) Plus it fits the general cheesiness (and simultaneous awesomeness) that is Burn Notice.

Re: Why don't they go back and fix that?
 

Some notes about Burn Notice:

1) The line, as heard in the intro each week, doesn't sound especially Irish. If someone had never seen the pilot, they probably wouldn't think that line is anything out of the ordinary.

2) As others have pointed out, episode 2 of the show explains away her accent. However, as recently as the last part of the first half of this season, when Fiona's brother showed up, they mentioned again that Fiona deliberately dropped her Irish accent.



As for all other continuity issues, it's no different than with movies: once it's released, it's done. It's at least partly due to budget and time: There's no money in an ongoing TV production to revisit old episodes that already aired, and there's too much to do to finish new episodes to worry about it.

There's also the idea that a creative work is never "finished," simply abandoned. If someone went back to "fix" a continuity issue, what's to stop them from "fixing" other issues. What would happen to the original version that aired? Would it never be seen again, relegated to a "bonus" on the DVD/BD set?

I think that some British TV shows, where the entire season is shot/edited before any episodes air, have had pickups and such to fix some issues like this. However, once it airs, it's done.


That said, one recent continuity issue that I'd like fixed: A 1st season episode of Fringe was held back from airing until the middle of the 2nd season, where it caused a major continuity issue. For the 2nd season DVD/BD release, I think they should move this episode to earlier in the 2nd season, where it won't cause this continuity issue.

Re: Why don't they go back and fix that?
 

There's no place in the 2nd season that that episode would fit.

Re: Why don't they go back and fix that?
 

I'd say it could fit between "Fracture" and "Momentum Deferred" with minimum continuity issues, or at least less than where it aired.

Re: Why don't they go back and fix that?
 

She had that annoying accent a lot longer than the pilot I thought. I seem to recall every time Fiona was on screen I was thinking "Fee Fi Fum, I hear the fake accent of an Irishwoman."

Re: Why don't they go back and fix that?
 

She had the Irish accent for part of the second episode, before changing to an American accent.

From Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiona_Glenanne#Overview

Re: Why don't they go back and fix that?
 

On Friends, the first time Carol (Ross's lesbian ex-wife) appeared, she was played by a different actress than in the rest of the series.

Of course there's the whole Marta situation on Arrested Development. That one's more forgivable though because they make a joke about it later in the series. The first Marta was stupid-hot though. Second one, not so much.

Re: Why don't they go back and fix that?
 

Same thing happend with Bland (Ann) didn't it? Though I think that was part of the joke that she was too bland to notice.

Re: Why don't they go back and fix that?
 

Her? (Yeah, the same thing happened with Egg)

Re: Why don't they go back and fix that?
 

Burn Notice should have never addressed Fiona's change of accent, rather than create the completely insane explanation that everything she says subsequently in the show is being done with a put-on accent.

It wouldn't be anything at all to think about except they include a reminder of the original accent in EVERY GODDAMN EPISODE.

Re: Why don't they go back and fix that?
 

They'd have to include two versions of each fixed up episode, otherwise the completists that buy the set will be upset. I would think it would be a lot of work for minimal gain (how many people would refuse to buy the set if it wasn't fixed up? very few), and time they could use for other extras.

I always wondered, though, how much of the budget goes into shooting an intro, and why more shows don't change the intro around more often. I know the OP is talking about the opening voice over, but I mean the general intro. For instance, in the post-Superbowl Office, they had an opening that featured the full cast, that was never really used again, even though they slightly changed the opening this past season.

Re: Why don't they go back and fix that?
 

Wow. Brilliantly answered, gents! I'd say this thread is done!

Re: Why don't they go back and fix that?
 

I wish they would go back and re-do all the Klingons in Star Trek:TOS.

Re: Why don't they go back and fix that?
 

I don't believe that would be necessary.
They only have to put out what they want to put out.

My point with Burn Notice was that they should have gone back and fixed it as soon as the they decided Fiona was dropping the accent.
Instead of writing an explanation into the second episode, spend a day in a studio with Gabrielle Anwar redubbing all her lines.

The gain? It's called taking pride in your work!!

Re: Why don't they go back and fix that?
 

It still makes me mad that they tried to explain what happened to the Klingons on Enterprise. It just raised more questions that can never be satisfactorily answered.

Sometimes the best answer is: "It's a TV show."

Re: Why don't they go back and fix that?
 

In all fairness, DS9 first rocked that boat when Worf had that dream (or whatever) where he met some TOS Klingons.

Re: Why don't they go back and fix that?
 

That was the episode where they went back in time to "The Trouble with Tribbles" episode.

And what they did was perfect.
When confronted with the difference in Klingon appearance, Worf sternly explained that it was not something anyone talked about.

Re: Why don't they go back and fix that?
 

Well he actually said "we don't speak of it with outsiders" but yeah.

I know Enterprise took it further but I never knew what explanation they ultimately used.

Re: Why don't they go back and fix that?
 

I think it's funny that Fiona's accent appearing in a 1 minute opening that most people won't notice is something requiring major editing to go back and "fix", but the major change in Klingons -- something everyone will notice -- gets the "it's a TV show" treatment.

Re: Why don't they go back and fix that?
 

Because it can be fixed --or could have been fixed, by a handful of people working less than a day, for relatively little expense.

Re: Why don't they go back and fix that?
 

Wouldn't you have to "fix" the entire mid-season finale episode if you canned her accent?

If something makes no sense based on show continuity and can be relatively cheaply fixed, do it. If you explain it on the show, you have to keep it the way it is.

ETA: The accent change helps explain and therefore helps the audience accept when Michael slips into and out of accents (of varying quality and believability). They're in the deception business, and they have some skills.

Re: Why don't they go back and fix that?
 

I hear you on Burn Notice, Count. They should go back and change Michael's Westen's name. Having Michael Weston as a guest star completely shattered the veil of reality for this show. Which one is real? The character on Burn Notice or the actor who's playing the dude dating Cuddy on House? Fix that!

And while they're at it, cut it with the yogurt shit.