MovieChat Forums > The Unit (2006) Discussion > 'Previously on The Unit...'

'Previously on The Unit...'

posted 12 years ago by warren_houghton
5 replies | jump to latest

I don't watch a lot of current TV, so pardon my ignorance. Is it common/does it seem weird that the... what do we call them?... teasers?... recaps? show fairly random clips from previous shows, sometimes from LONG past shows that are completely irrelevant to the current "state" of the show? Why are they even necessary when there is no current ongoing plot that needs setting up for a viewer that didn't see the episodes in question?

Also I find it interesting that these previous clips are sometimes different takes or different camera angles than the ones that made it into the final show. I think I've even seen clips of scenes that didn't even make it into the final show. I don't have a problem with this as I do with their randomness or occasional pointlessness; I just find it a bit weird that they wouldn't just use the actual final product to make the summaries. I suppose they just saved clips that they thought would be important as they were editing each finished episode, then threw them together later into recap montages, so that some stuff was preserved in the montages that was edited out of the final product.

[–] existence-2 12 years ago

Some shows do that, others not. It's not that uncommon, though yeah... it's weird often enough. Judging only from these recaps I'd say it is meant almost entirely for people who never saw any previews episode at all, first-time viewers.

For my taste it could be left out completely for any series. Too random, as you already said.

[–] wilderfox 11 years ago

Well they didn't do it in the 1st season I know that. Im at the beginning of the second and they just started doing it. So far its been fine, except, this is the first time they showed something that wasn't even in the show, It had Ryan talking to some Latino man with a beard talking about protecting the country. Have NO idea where that came from!!!! hope that's not a recurring thing.

[–] Phidippides 9 years ago

I found it odd as well to see recaps involving scenes that were not in the actual show. This is the first time I think I've ever seen something like that in a series.

As for the "randomness" of the clips from previous episodes that actually aired, I think that they all related to the present-episode storyline, but sometimes in a tangential way.

~After enjoying that movie, I figured I would drop by IMDB to read about its problems.

[–] geoh777 9 years ago

It's comparable to adulteration of milk.

Moneyed people (the producers) just can't resist watering down new content with old so as to not have to pay for as much new content per episode. And the consumer, in this case the viewer, ends up wasting time watching the old content in order to view the new.
.

[–] Anthoney999 9 years ago

If you watched season 2 in the order they are listed here or almost anywhere else some of the recaps will show things that have not happened. For what ever reason they were aired out of order but the recaps still reflect the production order.

For instance, when you watch 2x6 you will see things in the recap that don't happen until 2x7. This happens several times in season 2.

Season 2 should be watched in the following order.

1, 3, 2, 4, 5, 9, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 14, 13, 11, 15 - 23.