Watch . . . and Learn!
Issue #12, August 1991

It's time once again to ponder the strange inconsistencies which crop up from time to time in our favorite series!

Sometimes inconsistencies happen when a joke is written around Balki's ignorance of a certain subject yet Balki himself has made some kind of reference to the same subject in an earlier episode!

For instance, when Larry's father came to visit they found out he loved to play golf and to everyone's surprise it was revealed that Larry is actually a very good golfer!  Balki, on the other hand, did not know a thing about golf.  But in an earlier episode entitled High Society, someone asked Balki if he'd like to play a little golf and Balki replied by saying he loved little golf, especially the windmill hole, so obviously Balki had some encounter with some kind of golf before!

In a similar incident, after Larry had won Balki's money back in Gorpley's poker game Balki was concerned about being easily fooled.  Larry assured him he was not, then proceeded to pull the old "what's that on your shirt?" routine where he gets Balki to look down and then touches the end of his nose as a joke.  Balki simply does not get the joke and Larry is left feeling foolish.

However, you might (or might not) recall when the cousins were racing around the apartment playing boochi tag Balki made several attempts at trying to "tag" Larry and when Larry continued to dodge him Balki motioned to Larry's shirt, saying "What's that?" and when Larry looked down he did the exact same joke to Larry to tag him!

Are we being picky here?  Let's continue . . .

If we want to get really fussy, how did Jennifer's father trip over Larry's bike on the stairs when Larry gave his bike to Eddie three seasons before?  Okay, okay, I guess we can assume Larry got another bike after selling his car (and by the way, how many times has he sold his car now?).

In the fourth season episode Prose and Cons, Balki is all excited because Harriet is going to let him drive the elevator for the first time.  He proceeds to accelerate too fast, leaving Harriet and Lydia sprawled across the elevator floor.  But say . . . wasn't that Balki driving the elevator in the third season episode The Break In, and doing a fairly decent job of it, too?

One thing I have to wonder about . . . when the cousins went to interview Uncle Shaggy after a taping of his show the scene was introduced with a shot of a theater marquee announcing "Taping Today."  However, once in the studio we find there is no audience for the Uncle Shaggy Show!  It's highly unlikely a closed studio set would be advertised outside so blatantly.

And finally we must mention an inconsistency which several confused members have brought to my attention concerning last season's Safe at Home episode.  When Larry is trying to come up with a four digit security code he first punches in his own birthday . . . the number 1960.  Later he punches in the number 1945, which Balki correctly guesses is the date of Larry's mother's birthday.

Okay, let's get this straight . . . Larry's mother was only fifteen when she had Larry?

Remember, if you spot something while rewatching your favorite episodes that just doesn't gel be sure to let us know about it!

Continue on to the next Watch . . . and Learn!