Some television series thrive in continuity, driven by well-planned storylines that take viewers through a linear narrative. Other television series, however, exempt themselves from the rules of time with negative continuity or no continuity at all. A world without continuity is a world without many of the constraints that continuity-bound shows must adhere to, such as carrying storylines through multiple episodes or dealing with the consequences of events in an ongoing manner.
Negative continuity or zero continuity shows can be watched out of context and out of order, which makes it easy for viewers to get into these kinds of shows. Plus, there's the element of hopefulness: no matter how poorly things turn out during the course of an episode, everything will be okay by the start of the next one.
10 Courage's Owners Survive It All (Courage The Cowardly Dog)
Cartoon Network's Courage The Cowardly Dog often features Courage's human owners, Eustace and Muriel, being subjected to various kinds of torture at the hands of the series' cast of villains. Whether they are turned to stone or decapitated, the lovable couple is always good as new in the next episode.
The same is true of Courage himself, who often changes into random objects out of fear or due to the actions of certain villains. This strange little family in the middle of Nowhere beat the odds time and again, all thanks to negative continuity.
9 The Gang Emerges Unscathed (It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia)
It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia is known for its off-color comedy and the zany antics of its characters. This is especially true for the three co-owners of the bar, who are always plotting some failure-bound enterprise.
The gang get themselves into seemingly impossible situations in each episode through their harebrained schemes and impulsive behavior, but they always come out on top. By the start of the next episode, all is forgiven. The gang begin each episode in their usual place: crowded around the bar in Paddy's Pub, planning their next wild adventure.
8 Dexter's Lab Is Indestructible (Dexter's Laboratory)
In Dexter's Laboratory, the titular lab is perpetually subjected to catastrophic scientific mishaps. Even worse, Dexter's careless sister, Dee Dee, wreaks havoc in the lab on a regular basis. Yet somehow, the lab is always in pristine condition by the next episode.
There are occasional scenes of Dexter cleaning up a mess, but the fully restored lab is usually a case of negative continuity magic. The lab is central to the plot of the series, so it makes sense to sacrifice continuity for the sake of Dexter's workspace.
7 Friends Has Continuity When It's Convenient (Friends)
The classic sitcom Friends goes both ways on the continuity spectrum: some aspects of the storylines have continuity but for the most part, the show operates outside a set timeframe. The main storylines of the characters' lives move along in a somewhat reliably linear way, but this is abandoned at will when it suits a particular episode.
A lot of the hilarious events in Friends are resolved in just one episode and never spoken of again, despite the consequences they would've had in a continuity-reliant show. Friends gives viewers the best of both worlds: a followable plot that can be picked up at any point along the journey without missing a beat.
6 The Lab Is Always Like-New (Sealab 2021)
The running joke in Adult Swim's Sealab 2021 is the lab repeatedly blowing up, only to be back to normal again in the next episode. The series also goes out of its way to poke fun at its own lack of continuity, which is evidenced when characters tell each other that they've said something before.
This would obviously make no sense in a world that resets itself because neither character would recall this information, but it's a nice nod to the viewers of the show. Sealab 2021 gets its greatness from being a fully committed animated parody, and negative continuity is an excellent tool in its arsenal.
5 The Bundy Family Always Comes Out On Top (Married With Children)
The Bundys from Married With Children prove that the dysfunctional family that stays together also gets in trouble together. The family is known for getting thrown in jail, racking up debt, destroying property, and othre misguided adventures.
No matter what they get themselves into, the family always manages to escape their fate right at the last minute. Thanks to the series' complete disregard for continuity - similar to most '90s sitcoms - everything is squared away by the time fans see Al Bundy drinking beer on the family sofa again in the next episode.
4 Aqua Teen Plays With Immortality And Time Travel (Aqua Teen Hunger Force)
Aqua Teen Hunger Force rarely conforms to expectations, and the same is true of how the show approaches continuity - it disregards it at its own convenience. Shake and Carl are repeatedly maimed and/or killed, yet return unscathed one episode later.
The incidents are never addressed, and life goes on as usual. Aqua Teen also plays around with its own timeline, skipping forward and backward in time at a whim. The only time continuity that really applies to the series is when the writers use well-placed callbacks to get an extra laugh out of audiences.
3 Disregards Continuity For The Sake Of The Status Quo (Saved By The Bell)
While the original Saved By The Bell occasionally employs continuity, the series mostly operates by returning all the characters to the status quo by the end of each episode. The kids go through relatable high school experiences that threaten to wreck their grades, their social standing, or their futures.
However, all is well by the next time they walk down the halls of Bayside High again thanks to the neatly buttoned-up storylines viewers have come to expect from sitcoms like it. The best example of Saved By The Bell's refusal to rely on continuity is its final season, which includes a collection of episodes interspersed between other episodes, completely out of order. It was a perfectly watchable season, regardless.
2 Kenny McCormick Never Truly Dies (South Park)
One of the funniest animated examples of negative continuity is South Park's Kenny McCormick and his constant resurrections. The fourth-grader isn't immortal - his repeated deaths just don't matter in the grander scheme of things, plot-wise.
Kenny has died in every conceivable way throughout South Park, but he pops back up whenever the plot of an episode needs him. Every time, it's as if nothing happened. His friends, his parents, and Kenny himself just go about their business as though he had been there all along.
1 The Gang Goes Right Back To Normal (Seinfeld)
For "a show about nothing," Seinfeld certainly puts its characters face to face with a number of hilarious quotidian mishaps. It is considered a revolutionary part of the sitcom genre. The characters are all lovable misanthropes just trying to eke out a life for themselves, and face conflicts related to random parts of their daily lives.
However, Seinfeld has little to no continuity - every day is any day in terms of the importance of events. The episodes are just as funny with or without any context from the rest of the show.