I know television and movies are make believe, but to feel affinity for a show, there must be some kind of continuity between episodes. It annoys me to no end to see a character with a broken arm in one episode and no reference to the broken arm in the next episode. It's even worse when continuity goes in waves. Although, this happens more in sitcoms than hour-long dramas. For example: a character cheats on her boyfriend in one story, and it's not mentioned again until 3 episodes later, when suddenly her boyfriend is angry about it again for no reason - out of left field, and you're like, huh? I thought they were past this. (This example comes from That 70's Show.) Another example could be Lois and Lex dating, not dating - just friends, okay maybe dating, popping the question? Huh? Who hit me with that 2x4? Where did that come from?
In LnC, I must say that continuity happened better in S2-4, than in S1, although characters tended to forget that they had already frozen the love of their life once and did it again for no apparent reason. (Really, Clark, did you forget about the super speed aspect of your powers?)
In Smallville, it seems that they've worked a little harder with this. I saw in the S5 DVDs a documentary about the making of the show from the scriptwriters' POV (very interesting, I recommend it for anyone who ever wanted to be a scriptwriter.
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The old George Reeves Adventures of Superman, didn't seem to have any continuity at all. Once, I didn't ever recognize Lois Lane as the same actress because she wasn't in the previous episode and I had forgotten what she looked like (or they styled her hair differently or something). Sometimes Lois is there. Sometimes she is not. Sometimes Jimmy is there. Sometimes he's not. Sometimes Perry is represented. Sometimes not. It was all over the place (and I've only watch some of S1).
There was continuity between Superman:The Movie and S-II, but not much between II and III, and, frankly, I really don't recall ever seeing IV, so I couldn't tell you. We all know that
Superman Returns doesn't really fit in where it's supposed to, either. (Click the link to discuss SR in length.)
I haven't seen enough of the animated shows to comment.
So, what do you think? Which canon did continuity the best?
