TV Tuesday: Deja Vu

[yourlibrarian]

In the past, shows used to create “clip episodes” which were made up of segments of other episodes with a brief wraparound story. This was usually done to save money, extend writing time, or cover for the absence of a lead character.

Is this something you miss? Is there one you've particularly liked? Given currently shorter seasons, are these still being used in any shows you’ve seen?

Comments

[jo]

I can't say I miss clip episodes, as often, as you point out, they were done for reasons that had nothing to do with creativity or advancing the show in any way. However, some shows did manage to use the format fairly effectively.

One of the best, I think, was the M*A*S*H* episode "The Interview". It was presented as a black and white documentary/50s TV news special with the characters were being interviewed by Clete Roberts. In the 2023 special, MASH: The Comedy That Changed Television, if I'm remembering things correctly, the actors answered the questions as their characters, without a script. Then you have Community, which flipped the script on clip episodes by doing clip episodes that contained all new content. Friends did a few clip episodes that didn't feel like fillers.

One of the absolute worse, however, is "Shades of Gray", the last episode of season 2 of Star Trek: The Next Generation. It was done as a cost-saving measure because a few other episodes that season ran over-budget. The head writer referred to the episode as a "piece of shit". The "plot" was Riker gets infected by a deadly virus during an away mission, and the only way to save his life is to put him in a coma and hook him up to a machine that will artificially stimulate his brain neurons, keeping them active and resisting the virus. This causes Riker to dream of his past adventures aboard the Enterprise. Most of seasons 1 and 2 of TNG were pretty bad, but this one takes the cake.

I can't think of any current/recent shows that have done clip episodes, and given 1) the shorter seasons you mentioned and also 2) streaming, I don't know if they make sense now. We tend to forget the past when there was no streaming, no DVDs, some shows didn't have reruns everywhere. If you were watching season 7 of a show and they had a clip episode with clips from earlier seasons, it might have been years since you'd seen those clips -- and maybe you'd never seen them. That just isn't the case anymore when you can binge 10 seasons of a show in a matter of days/weeks.

[yourlibrarian]

I do miss Community. Though I don't remember TNG episode specifically, it's a good description of the typical clip show.

You also make a good point of why clip shows were tolerated by the audience originally, because very often the clips were new-ish to them or a reminder of past seasons.

[rogueslayer452]

Honestly, I was never really a fan of them. While some could make it interesting, most times it was just pointless filler for the reasons stated (saving money, an actor being absent during the time, etc). I usually just skip those episodes.

And with the shows today, that's not really common (and I think stopped being used as much a while ago), and I would be pissed if it happened now considered the shorter seasons we're currently getting and they wasted it all on a clip episode.

[yourlibrarian]

Yes, the idea of doing a kind of recap episode for a show with 6 episode seasons would be ludicrous.

[starfleetbrat]

I don't miss them at all. I think because it was a rare episode when one was done well, but mostly because I just never saw the point in them.

I hope shows today aren't doing them. I can't think of any of the top of my head anyway.

[yourlibrarian]

I can't recall the last time I saw one. I'd guess it was pre-2000?

[shadowkat]

Rarely seen now, but I admittedly only watch streaming, with the exception of my soap opera and PBS.

Grey's did it recently - but I've begun to drift away from Grey's. It's been on for 21 years...I've gotten tired of it, finally. Seriously - it may be the longest running medical drama. It beat ER.
Speaking of medical drama's? The Pitt is the best I've seen - if you like hyper-realism and emphasis on medical procedure.

I can't say I like it? It took me out of the story and show - and I felt like it was more an advertisement than an episode?

They kind of stopped doing it after Netflix took off with streaming. Because - it doesn't work well in that format, and Netflix acquires a lot of network series for rebroadcast distribution. We don't need DVD's or DVR's for that matter - with streaming. (Well except when the series disappear completely from streaming like Veronica Mars (S1-3) did.)

[yourlibrarian]

I know you're a long time soap watcher and one would think that this format of all of them could most benefit from the time afforded by a clip episode. Do you recall one ever being done?

[shadowkat]

Yeah, they've had them - usually on a special night, and not during the series. Although there were times in which they did.

Soaps do clip episodes better than anyone else - because they have the footage. But they have to clear the music rights and cast rights prior to showing the footage. Cast is paid per appearance in an episode. So every time Luke Spencer is shown - the actor is paid. Current cast - not paid as much for previous episodes, because they can lower the amount per contract. It's why you don't tend to get reruns with soaps.

GH had an anniversary special recently which was basically a clip show - it showed clips from various arcs and episodes, it was I think back in January. Aired on a Friday. On ABC.

And like I said - these are fancentric clip episodes and work rather well - because most people who watch soaps have been watching for a VERY long time. You don't just start, you've usually been watching for years.

[yourlibrarian]

This past year then! I can see doing it as a celebration of the show's longevity and a shout out to the fans.

[shadowkat]

They did it as part of their 63rd anniversary special. They also had a special for their 60th anniversary - that was bigger, and an hour. And they did a huge celebration for their 50th anniversary.

Keep in mind - it's the longest running scripted television drama (US). Doctor Who is also 63 years old, but I don't think they did a clip special? Also Doctor Who isn't quite the same - in that it may have been around for 63 years, but it wasn't steadily on during that whole period and doesn't have over 15,000 episodes. I mean GH is on about 200 days a year or thereabouts, and multiple that by 63...while Doctor Who has about 6-20 episodes each year, and was on infrequently, it skipped a good ten years in there before RT Davies rebooted it.