Goof??


At the end of the episode, "The Plots Thicken", Laura is reading a newspaper. The name on the paper is "The Los Angeles Times". Hmmm...thought she'd be reading a New York paper 🤔😉

reply

Okay, but flip the coin and consider: Is there a really good reason why Laura wouldn't or shouldn't be reading the L.A. Times?

reply

Face it, it's a goof. They needed a newspaper as a prop and didn't stop to think that Laura would be reading a New York paper.

Similar goof in the Twizzle episode. At the end, Fred Blassie is introduced as the world wrestling champion, but Blassie was only recognized as such on the West Coast at the time. Buddy Rogers would have been recognized in the Northeast as champ.

reply

Who in New Rochelle would be reading a Los Angeles newspaper in the 1960s?

That's the reason why it's a flub.

About the only way you could try to make it seem realistic, would be to put in a story line about having a friend who just flew in from LA who gave her the paper because of some reason. But there's no way you could do this without seeming to really be stretching things.

On the other side of the argument, I imagine prop people in the early 60s didn't worry about something like a newspaper being held but not featured because the typical TV screen people had then would not let the paper be seen clearly enough to identify the paper.

Quite possibly, the idea of her reading a paper came up as they were doing the taping, or just before, and they just used what was handy because it didn't matter at all.

reply

tv sets were smaller in the 1960s... they didn't think the audience would notice what newspaper Laura was reading back then.




Smoke me a kipper. I'll be back for breakfast

reply

the Andy Griffith Show was a neighbor TV show, and behind Andy's desk was a map of Idaho. Mayberry was in North Carolina. I always recognized the same actors that both shows used (like Bernard Fox).

reply

I live in Oregon and I read the New York Times, so, why not someone in New York reading the LA Times?

reply

there is no reason but you would assume a person would read the local paper.

reply

They also probably never figured that people would still be watching the show 50-ish years later!

reply

Well you could also look at it like this. Maybe they got the L.A times because they are in show business and wanted to keep up with what was going on in Hollywood. I mean I would not think it be a stretch that the Allan Brady show would keep up to date on stuff going on. Maybe Rob would bring the paper home from the Office.
"Baby sister, I was born game and I intend to go out that way"î‚¡î‚£





reply

No, they would read Variety for that type of info.

reply

I am sure they would have read more than one thing.

"Baby sister, I was born game and I intend to go out that way"î‚¡î‚£





reply

exactly what I was thinking.

reply

Years ago I read a book about The Dick van Dyke Show that talked about the foresight that they all had, but particularly Carl Reiner, for syndication. Carl Reiner was supposedly very good at reading scripts and stripping them of modern references that he knew would "date" the show. Every once in a while, a line or reference slipped by, like in the episode where Rob inherits the desk and the Abe Lincoln photo and he says, "The real Raymond Massey," in reference to the fact that, at the time, Raymond Massey had the most recognized performance as Abe Lincoln. He had played Lincoln in a movie. That notion eventually faded, and it dated that moment of the episode. There were a few others like that, but mostly, the show is timeless. Ultimately, a lot of shows have followed suit. Not a lot of references to pop culture in long-running shows like Law & Order or Modern Family. Even though L&O is ripped from the headlines, you get, at the most, one throwaway line about real life. So, weirdly, I think they did expect the show to go on for years. In fact, at one point, it held the record (30 years) for never being off the air. (Even I Love Lucy went off the air for three years from 1957 to 1960 while they pushed their one-hour format.) But DVD actually held the distinction for 30+ years of "never being off the air."

reply

I think I have that book! Or something similar.

Carl Reiner was very wise to keep out current events or any references that would date the show. After I read that I would look for any little topical reference that I could find. 

There were a few tiny modern references. When Rob was the witness to the getaway of the jewel thieves (actually they were the real witnesses)he was trying to remember more details. He said that they drove a red Edsel with an "I like Ike" bumper sticker.

In the eavesdropping episode Laura was defending her reason for "experimenting" with her avocado and peanut butter dip by saying that if it wasn't for experimenting, "We wouldn't be on the moon today!" and Rob counters with, "We're NOT on the moon today."

In an office scene Sally limps out of the room saying, "I'm coming Mister Dillon." I think that was a reference to the character of Chester on Gunsmoke who walked with a limp. I remember asking my mom who she was talking about.

The "real Raymond Massey" line was funny. Even though that was before my time, I was familiar with the film.

reply

Massey had played Lincoln about 25 years earlier so it was hardly a topical reference. There were a couple of JFK and LBJ references somewhaere in there but that's about it.

The one episode that broke the topical rule completely was the Redcoats episode, which I like a lot better than most on these boards, but I am a big Chad and Jeremy fan.

reply

Oh I forgot abot The Redcoats are Coming! One of the silliest episodes, but I love it! That was definitely topical, but it was so much fun.

But where was an LBJ reference? I am just asking because I have seen all the episodes multiple times. I can't recall offhand any LBJ references.

As far as JFK, I think it's kind of ironic. The show avoided political references. BUT...when Laura was dressed in some of her Channel type suits with her hair-do and pillbox hats, she seemed to be channeling Jackie! She looked beautiful. It was a definite Jackie "look". I think that would be lost on today's younger viewers though.

reply

You know pj, since you mention it, I think it’s a shame that Vaughn Meader was never a guest star on the show. Of course, he was a hot ticket at the time but still…

Unfamiliar? Watch this, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuOm_LTzx80 

reply

I remember Rob doing an LBJ impersonation during a writers brainstorming session.

reply

Massey had played Lincoln about 25 years earlier so it was hardly a topical reference.


Massey had recently taken another stab at portraying Lincoln, with his cameo in HOW THE WEST WAS WON (1962.)

Secret Message, HERE!--->CONGRATULATIONS!!! You've discovered the Secret Message!

reply

Carl Reiner was supposedly very good at reading scripts and stripping them of modern references that he knew would "date" the show.

Mostly I think they goofed with the "hip" episodes -- the one with The Redcoats (the show's answer to the Beatles) and the Twizzle (the show's answer to the Twist). I liked the first one (the photo session is hilarious!), and thought the second one was pretty feeble, but both must seem pretty dated and/or inexplicable to anyone who didn't live through those eras. "Hip" never lasts very long.

When Rob was the witness to the getaway of the jewel thieves (actually they were the real witnesses)he was trying to remember more details. He said that they drove a red Edsel with an "I like Ike" bumper sticker.

Those references were *meant* to be dated -- they were already dated back then! (Of course they're even more dated now.) It just occurred to me to wonder how an Edsel would have an "Ike" bumper sticker, considering that Eisenhower last ran for office in 1956, a year before the first Edsel. Maybe those folks had some stickers left over?

"We wouldn't be on the moon today!" and Rob counters with, "We're NOT on the moon today."

Well, we aren't, are we? (The final Apollo mission, #17, took place in December 1972, fifty years ago.)

reply

As someone familiar with history and popular culture, I like the "dated" references. They tie the show to the early and mid 1960s, a period I remember and still find interesting. The show remains timeless because of its modern style and humor, and the quality of the writing and performances.

reply

Several episodes of I Love Lucy had them reading a "Final Edition" of a certain paper (I forget the name). It is always interesting to see the little (and perhaps not so little) errors made. My personal favorite is Rob and Laura returning from the hospital with Ritchie to a different house than they left from.

And don't forget A Ghost of A. Chantz where Buddy forgets how long he has been working with Sally. I'm not sure exactly how long it would be, but based on all the flashbacks, it is probably at least twice the five years Buddy states it is.

reply

Yeah Buddy's memory must've been flawed! I think he was so scared about spending the night in a haunted cabin that he forgot how to add.

I wonder why Morey Amsterdam didn't say something. In the flashback episodes he and Sally were with Alan Brady for a while before Rob became head writer. And he became head writer at least a year before Ritchie was born.

reply

What's strange about reading a "Final Edition"? Back then, newspapers printed more than one edition of a daily newspaper and the last one was the "final" edition.

You live and learn. At any rate, you live.

reply

Looks like GreyWolf interpreted Final Edition as the last issue of that paper before closing down. Obviously, there can't be more than one,

reply

I guess only oldtimers like me remember final editions. 

You live and learn. At any rate, you live.

reply

[deleted]

There have always been news stands in big cities that carry papers from all over the U.S. and other countries. Rob goes to Manhattan every day to his office. It's perfectly plausible that he could have picked up a Los Angeles paper, especially since he's in television and a lot of tv production was going on in L.A. at the time.

reply