It's like the showrunners are saying "we're too tired this week, so we just threw a bunch of stuff you've seen before and put them into one boring episode."
shareClip-shows are a mixed bag for me. Sometimes I like them, other times they are almost always a waste of time. Some productions do this due to cost-saving budgetary reasons.
shareIt's definitely cost cutting, but they usually still have written portions and acting in between the clips.
shareShould it matter if they have written portions and acting in between if they suck?
However, I just finished watching CSI TOS, and found their clip shows pretty well done, with added scenes, written portions, etc… and thought they did amazing jobs in those episodes.
I'm saying that if they're paying actors and writers for all the stuff in between the clips, I don't see how much money they're really saving.
shareI have to say that back in the day we could sometimes appreciate a clip show episode of our favourite sitcoms in order to see the highlights of previous seasons because we were less likely to see those again.
shareThe first clip show I ever saw was on Family Ties in the mid '80s when I was about 10 or 11. I'd never seen any of the early episodes before, so I thought it was awesome seeing the cast looking so much younger, and Michael Gross without his beard and mustache (season 1).
If you've already seen all the previous episodes then clip shows suck, unless the interspersed bits of new material they usually frame them with are particularly good (unlikely). Backdoor pilots are worse than any clip show ever thought of being though IMO, because those are effectively not even the show you tuned in to watch.
I had never heard of "backdoor pilot" before.
A backdoor pilot is a film or miniseries that serves as a proof of concept for a full series, but may be broadcast on its own even if the full series is not picked up. The term may also be used for an episode of an existing television show that serves to introduce a spin-off. Such backdoor pilots commonly focus on an existing character or characters from the parent series who are to be given their own show.
Yeah, this is the sense of the term that I was using:
"The term may also be used for an episode of an existing television show that serves to introduce a spin-off."
An example is:
Two Birds of a Feather
Magnum, P.I.: Season 3, Episode 20
I always skip that episode when I watch the whole series on DVD. It only has a few brief scenes with the actual cast of MPI and the rest of it takes place in Texas with some guy and his family that the audience has never even seen or heard of before this episode (and never seen or mentioned again after this episode either).
But even if I haven't seen all the previous episodes, I still find clip shows boring because the clips are all out of context.
shareClip shows had their time in the sun. Used to be after a season aired you'd never see those episodes ever again. It was the only way to relive those magical moments.
shareThe episodes where they use a bunch of scenes from older episodes is usually to keep the budget down.
share