As Time Goes By

^{(1992 – 2005)}

Comedy, Romance

January 12th, 1992

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As Time Goes By Goofs

Anachronisms

In the opening sequence, Lionel writes the missing letter from Korea, dated January 14th 1953. Yet throughout the series, they say he was in London in August 1954, before going to Korea.

Character Error

In Season 3 Episode 2, Lionel tells Rocky a joke about a parrot with no feet: ("So the parrot said, 'No, I didn't see a thing. I got so excited I fell off my perch.'") Rocky replies, "I understand the joke, I just don't think it's funny." In Season 9 Episode 3, Rocky tells the same joke to Mrs. Bale, laughs, and says, "It's a very good joke, that!" (Note: "Season 5 Episode 6 has Lionel telling the joke to Steven, who doesn't get it.)
The first time Rocky is shown speaking to Mrs. Bale in Season 2 Episode 3, he calls her Mrs. Bales.

Continuity

In Season 2 Episode 5, the first time Lionel and Jean are shown in bed together, Lionel is on the left and Jean is on the right. Lionel says, "We're on the wrong side"; they change places and agree it is better. However, after Lionel moves in with Jean, he is always on the left.
The house's interior layout differs between Season 4 Episode 10 and Season 5 Episode 1. Previously, from inside the living room, a wall stood outside the living room door, which opened from the right. Now the door opens from the left, the wall is gone, and the living room offers a view of the house's front door. In Season 9, the door opens from the right again.
In Season 2 Episode 3 (1992), Lionel remarks about Rocky's lifestyle, saying, "the way he goes about life, he's only got two or three years at best." In Season 3 Episode 2 (1993), Lionel speaks on the phone with Rocky's doctor, Dr. Field, then tells Jean that "the old fool will be lucky if he lasts another year." In Season 3 Episode 10, Madge says she knows that "Rocky isn't supposed to have very much time." Nothing further is said about Rocky's health. Ironically, Joan Sims, who played Rocky's wife, Madge, died in 2001. She also did not appear in Season 8, which aired in 2000, despite being referenced.
In Season 4 Episode 5, Mike Barbosa sees Rocky's house, whose front, as shown in Season 2 Episode 3, is 2/3 covered with moss. By Season 4 Episode 10, when filming starts for "Just Two People", the moss has been removed, presumably for the "filming". It is back by the following episode, Season 5 Episode 1.
In Season 2 Episode 4, Lionel tells Jean that Alistair looks after him like a baby because he is "a favor"—Alistair's father borrowed £500 from Lionel's father in 1947 to establish a publishing firm. In Season 5 Episode 3, Alistair comes to Lionel with a book for him to adapt in to play or film, saying he "snapped up the rights" through his publishing company. Later, Lionel learns that Alistair's father bought the rights in 1932, although the publishing firm was not set up until 1947.
The letter in the opening credits is dated January 1953, but when Jean and Lionel discuss the situation, they say Lionel was in Korea in 1954.
In Season 3 Episode 6's park scene, 17:10 into the show, Jean's ice cream cone changes after Lionel tells her, "We sleep together". The ice cream is first just below the cone's lip, then rises above it. As the camera switches from left to right, the amount in the cone increases and decreases.
In Season 3 Episode 7, Alistair calls at 12:30 in the morning. Lionel tells Jean to have Judith answer, and Jean responds, "Judith would sleep through a brass band concert in her living room." But in Season 5 Episode 4, Jean says, "Don't switch on the light, you'll wake the girls" (meaning Judith & Sandy).

Factual Mistake

Throughout the entire 1995 series, the copyright date appears as MCMXV (1915). It should read MCMXCV.
In the opening sequence, Lionel writes the missing letter from Korea, dated January 14th 1953. Yet the series repeatedly says he was in London in August 1954, before going to Korea. The Korean War also ended in 1953.

Plot Holes

As Jean and the girls wonder why Alistair puts so much into Lionel's career, they learn that Lionel's father Rocky gave Alistair's father the funds to start his company. Yet Rocky and Alistair had met several times before this revelation, without any mention of an earlier relationship.

Revealing Mistake

Also in Season 4 Episode 10, Madge holds up a sign in the window reading, "Ban Blood Sports". The room she is in does not match the house's layout. When Mike Barbosa enters the house, he comes into the room from Madge's right, while the sign is held to the left of the house entrance. Also, the windows have two different styles when comparing the living room's exterior position with the view from inside.