Broadcast vs production, does episode order matter?

[Ray Hardgrit]

Well, nobody tells you in which order to watch it for the story, so how should I now?

I usually assume that broadcast order will put the story in the right order, though there have been a few exceptions. Shows like Babylon 5 and Crusade don't quite work in production or broadcast order, and you need a list to know how the ideal order to watch them.

 

[Frontis]

Oh ok, I thought production order and broadcast order are the same.

 

[mb22]

Oh ok, I thought production order and broadcast order are the same.

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series#Episode_list

 

[Nerys Myk]

Oh ok, I thought production order and broadcast order are the same.

Sometimes they are. But not in TOS's case. Some episode were not ready for broadcast because of post production delays. Other were shifted around for arcane Network reason. IIRC, "The Man Trap" was shown first because the Network felt it would grab audiences more.

 

[mb22]

From Inside Star Trek: The Real Story:

 

[Ssosmcin]

Nope not really. I mean if you care about uniforms, Shatner's weight and makeup changes, sure it makes a difference at the start. Spock also develops as Nimoy and the writers got a handle on him. From The Managerie on? Nope.

In fact, for the most part, it wasn't really supposed to be seen in production order. The Cage and Where No Man Has Gone Before weren't intended to be seen at all, but production delays made it necessary to use them. From what I've read, The Corbomite Maneuver was the preferred episode to start, followed by The Man Trap and then episodes would be dropped where most effective. As others have said, it wasn't a serial, so nobody really cared where an episode landed.

For example, Catspaw was the first episode shot for the second season, but they fully intended to hold it back for Halloween and kick off the season with a strong Spock episode: Amok Time. Production order is based as much upon scheduling and necessity as airdate. Grouping episodes with similar sets and locations, guest star scheduling, or simply having the script ready. City on the Edge of Forever was so late, it was dropped at the end of the season - which back then was a graveyard for weaker episodes because audiences had fallen off by then. This was well before big Season Finales drew audiences in. A top class episode like this should have been seen in sweeps periods.

So no, for episodic TV like the original Star Trek, it only makes a superficial difference. How you prefer it is all personal. I don't care either way, since I rarely watch the series from start to finish. I usually cherry pick.

 

[1001001]

Everyone knows the correct order is Alphabetical.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

Someone did a podcast watching TOS in that order. All Our Yesterdays and Where No Man Has Gone Before practically switch places and it all ends with Jack the Ripper.

 

[Admiral Jean-Luc Picard]

If we are talking specifically TOS then production order. It's weird to me to see episodes out of order as they were in broadcast order. My opinion is that the broadcast order is mostly posterity and those who perhaps viewed it on original broadcast. When I did my first full watch through of TOS (on VHS) it was all in production order and it made for satisfying viewing, not only to see the true evolution of the show but also for the tiniest hints of continuity based on the production order. From a TV broadcast standpoint I think it matters less, especially to casual fans and viewers but now with the advent of streaming it does take on more significance. Today's generation who didn't grow up with television aren't going to watch episodes out of order. To be honest, they'll probably view the show as clips on Tik Toc first and then decide to watch it on a streaming service at X3 speed while they play some game on their phone.

Yes, this is the TOS forum, so my OP was only asking about that one specific show, even denoted in my OP. Just in case there was confusion. For me personally, I've only ever seen the show two ways: random reruns and broadcast order (DVD's and Bl-ray).

Honestly, most teens and 20-somethings don't even really watch TV anymore. It's all about video games and social media. At least, this is the impression I get from a friend's kid and young people at the grocery store such as the deli or cashiers. I try to talk about X show I am watching, ask if they've seen it, and the answer I always get it is, "I don't watch TV." When I ask what they do instead the answer is always, "social media."

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

Everyone knows the correct order is Alphabetical.

It's an equally valid approach, but following BY ANY OTHER NAME with the vast majority is essentially following your main meal with inferior appetizers. (And, once again, no Uhura in the final episode.)

 

[Poltargyst]

There's a point in the series where Doohan's hairstyle changes. Watching the show in production order, and you see him with one style and then another. Watching it in broadcast order and you see his hairstyle go back and forth.

 

[Nerys Myk]

There's a point in the series where Doohan's hairstyle changes. Watching the show in production order, and you see him with one style and then another. Watching it in broadcast order and you see his hairstyle go back and forth.

Better than a Wild Wild West I saw, where Conrad was tossed through a saloon window and some how his hair style change once he hit the street.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Better than a Wild Wild West I saw, where Conrad was tossed through a saloon window and some how his hair style change once he hit the street.

That's like Kirk's uniform changing during his ride to the bridge in Charlie X.

 

[Ssosmcin]

There's a point in the series where Doohan's hairstyle changes. Watching the show in production order, and you see him with one style and then another. Watching it in broadcast order and you see his hairstyle go back and forth.

I have people on my staff at work who change their hair almost daily. Like Shatner's weight and Kelley's helmet hairdo, that's all superficial and really doesn't impact anything.

So, airdate order puts "Charlie X" and "Where No Man Has Gone Before" back to back. To similar storylines that would work better spaces further apart. Fine.

Production order puts "The Trouble with Tribbles" and "I, Mudd" back to back, two comedies that had a a month and a half between them on NBC to balance out the chuckles.

Neither is perfect and sometimes I wonder what "The Roddenberry Order" would have been if he had the freedom to program the schedule.

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

There's a point in the series where Doohan's hairstyle changes. Watching the show in production order, and you see him with one style and then another. Watching it in broadcast order and you see his hairstyle go back and forth.

I read in a Doohan interview he preferred the older-looking, spikier hairdo. I wish I did.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

I read in a Doohan interview he preferred the older-looking, spikier hairdo. I wish I did.

When Jimmy returned for Season 3, they combed his hair straight back, and he said "it looked like hell." That lasted up through "The Empath."

Then the show sent him to a famous Hollywood stylist, and he got the sleek, modern haircut you see starting in "The Tholian Web."

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

When Jimmy returned for Season 3, they combed his hair straight back, and he said "it looked like hell." That lasted up through "The Empath."

Then the show sent him to a famous Hollywood stylist, and he got the sleek, modern haircut you see starting in "The Tholian Web."

I was wrong about his preference, then. (Happens often.) Is this third haircut substantially different from his first?

If I may digress, in Season Three of LOST IN SPACE, Irwin Allen inexplicably made Angela Cartwright wear a short wig after she refused to cut her long hair...........on the ridiculous grounds that longer black hairdos looked too much like shawls. Chekov's wig looked arguably, slightly better in retrospect.

 

[Ssosmcin]

When Jimmy returned for Season 3, they combed his hair straight back, and he said "it looked like hell." That lasted up through "The Empath."

Then the show sent him to a famous Hollywood stylist, and he got the sleek, modern haircut you see starting in "The Tholian Web."

Which was funny because he combed back style was how he wore it normally in that era - just not on Star Trek.

 

[mb22]

Evidentially he got tired of it. In the circa 1973 World of Star Trek interview ZapBrannigan is alluding to, Doohan mentions that neither he nor the show's fans like the slicked back look, and concludes that after the mid third season makeover, his haircut "hasn't changed much since then, now it's just a little longer".

1970s, pre-beard:

 

[Ssosmcin]

Well sure and by the early 70's, hair was longer and looser anyway. Just saying the hair he felt "looked like hell" was his standard look for quite some time.