The Simpsons peak years were 1990 to (approximately) 1994. IMHO, anyway.

And I think many tv shows have little or no continuity to begin with. The blatant use of an Imaginary Tale on a show that DOES (West Wing, Hill St Blues, St Elsewhere) was what caught my attention specifically as a comics afficianado.

Again, my only point was a wistful thought (in a fanboyish kind of way) that it was too bad we don't have a world in which the only necessarily introduction would have been "This is an Imaginary Tale", or a little "Elseworlds" logo at the bottom of the screen. [img]/resources/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

- Larry H

There was an episode of M*A*S*H during the later, unfunny years that took place over an entire year, from Christmas to Christmas.

The episode never really explained whether it took place over the previous year (no references were made to any past event), or whether it took place over the "upcoming" year, or whether the next episode began from that point on.

It just sort of existed, floated in "continuity" whereever one wanted to put it I suppose...

md

I must be thinking of a different episode, but there was one which began and ended on NEW YEARS day. It began in Dec 1950/Jan 1951 and ended the next year.

The year was absolutely essential to the plot because they followed the 1951 baseball season ending with "The Giants win the pennant!" in the very last game.

Problem was, this was an episode with Colonel Potter and Charles Winchester, which relegated the entire Colonel Blake era to the first few months of the war.

In modern sensibilities, though, it works better as an "elseworlds" special graphic novel. [img]/resources/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

- Larry H

'94? The last season I remember as 'great' began, I believe, with Who Shot Mr. Burns Pt. II and ended with two episodes on one night, one of which was Homer joining Lollapallooza and the other was Lisa becoming cool when the family went to the beach for the summer. '94 seems a little early, but anywho... In my opinion, 'Sideshow Bob and Cecil (Niles)' is the only episode they've had since that truly recaptured those peak years.

And if we're still on continuity, the critically-acclaimed-yet-seldom-watched Duckman series showed Duckman and Cornfed becoming partners at quite a few different times, none of which had any relation to the others.

>>I must be thinking of a different episode, but there was one which began and ended on NEW YEARS day. It began in Dec 1950/Jan 1951 and ended the next year.<<

Nope, that was the one...

>>The year was absolutely essential to the plot because they followed the 1951 baseball season ending with "The Giants win the pennant!" in the very last game.<<

Right, I meant what year in relative terms of the show..? The previous, just completed year, or did we witness an entire year go by from that point on.

I didn't consider the year in terms of historical accuracy...

>>In modern sensibilities, though, it works better as an "elseworlds" special graphic novel. [img]/resources/ubb/smile.gif[/img]<<

Indeed..:-)

md