1. Malcolm in the Middle - Francis seems to defy the logic of space and time.
For the first few seasons of Malcolm in the Middle, the oldest brother, Francis, has been sent to a military school in Alabama. Malcolm's family lives in California. Malcolm loves Francis, and resents his parents for sending him away.
I didn't notice while watching the show back when it was actually on, but I binged it at some point during quarantine, and I was like, dude ... Francis is home in practically every episode. How? It's established that Malcolm's family is poor, and they for the most part stick to that premise, so they could not afford to fly him from Alabama to California and back every single weekend. And there's not enough time in a weekend for him to take a bus ride that long.
It also makes the conflict with his family not make much sense. In one episode, Malcolm says something like, "I can't believe the one weekend Francis is home and we have to ____!" And I'm thinking, you saw him last week.
Francis eventually leaves military school and moves to Alaska, but is still home all the time. He then moves to a dude ranch where I don't think it's established where it is but they mention it's an eight hour drive, and he's still home all the time. I can only assume that Francis has the ability to teleport.
Why I'll give it a pass: Francis is a fun character, and seeing him interact with the family is usually funnier than the military school, Alaska, or dude ranch storylines.
2. Bob's Burgers - Is this restaurant ever, ever open, and how do they support three kids?
I feel like in every episode I've seen of this show, all five of the family members are away from the restaurant. Like at some point, Bob will inevitably give in and say, "Okay, I guess we can close the restaurant to do [random caper]." Bob and Linda are the restaurant's only employees, so if neither of them is there, the restaurant's got to be closed. There's just no way that a restaurant that sells really cheap food and is constantly, randomly closing could continue to be open, let alone make Bob and Linda enough money to support their three children.
Why I'll give it a pass: Let's face it, it's more fun watching a show about a family going on random capers than a show about people working in a burger restaurant.
3. Family Guy - They disregard that in the first season, everyone, including Lois, could understand Stewie.
I'd forgotten the earlier seasons of Family Guy for the most part, but went back and watched some episodes from season 1 and was surprised that everyone was talking to and answering Stewie, including Lois.
For the rest of the show, though, no one in the family can understand Stewie other than Brian and Chris. It's established that Chris can understand Stewie, as Stewie coaches him through asking out two girls and running for class president. But Peter, Lois, and Meg apparently cannot.
There's a recent episode "Stewie's First Word" that centers on, well, Stewie's first word, and the family is scandalized by what it is. Why wouldn't Chris or Brian ever have told Lois that Stewie can talk, and has been talking not only to the two of them but pretty much everyone outside of the family they ever meet?
Why I'll give it a pass: I don't think you can apply any kind of logic to Family Guy, so I just called this out because it's a pretty major continuity error compared to the first season. But, hey, who actually thinks when they watch this show.
4. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - It takes 15 seasons for Charlie to figure out who his real father is.
So, nothing about this makes sense. A lot of people probably checked out of this season after episode 3, so let me explain.
Charlie Kelly was raised by his mother, Mrs. Kelly, and never knew who his father was. For quite some time he thought it might be Frank, but in season 15 it's revealed that Charlie's been writing back and forth his whole life with a man named Shelly Kelly who he refers to as his pen pal. When he meets Shelly, he finds out that he's actually his father.
Why it doesn't make sense:
Mrs. Kelly allowed Charlie to believe Frank was his father. She must have known that Shelly Kelly was actually his father, and had some connection to this man, since she gave Charlie his last name and calls herself Mrs. Kelly.
Weirdly, Charlie's uncle Jack is named Jack Kelly, so that's got to be his mother's side's last name as well, but why did no one ever question where the "Mrs." comes from? The only explanation for that would be a mystery ex-husband you'd think people would assume would have to be a candidate for Charlie's dad, or some weird relationship with her own brother. Maybe that's why no one ever asked about it. (I guess it's possible Shelly is also related to her, which would explain the name thing and why she let Charlie believe Frank was his dad.) But her character is usually open to a fault with Charlie.
Why I'll give it a pass: Charlie's not very bright. While him finding out who his father was didn't carry the emotional weight I think the writers meant for it to because it made a lot of things from the past 15 years make no sense, I guess you can't really poke holes in anything regarding a character who believes in ghouls and drinks paint.
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