98th or 100th Episode?

yardgames

Retired Administrator
There's been some controversey in the past over Fox's advertising of Lois' Sister as the 100th episode when in fact it was only the 98th. A thought struck me tonight on this topic, however. Are Company Picnic and Baby counted as one episode or two? I always watch them as a single episode; in fact, I don't even know where the split technically is. They were filmed together, essentially share the same name, and are basically just a double episode. So I would probably generally count them as one ep a piece. But if Fox were to take it technically, they're each two separate episodes. If both were split in half, then that would increase the episode count by season five by two, and thus make Lois' Sister in fact by the 100th episode after all. Is there angy logic in this argument? Could it be that whoever figured out it was only the 98th episode was only counting Company Picnic and Baby as a single episode? Or am I going crazy?
 

NeCoHo

Retired Mod
yardgames said:
Or am I going crazy?

YES!!! :D

I think FOX, being the idiot company it is, probably counted them as 1 ep.

But does this imply 2 MITM "lost" episodes?
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
So you count them as two episodes? I said I counted them as one, so you're calling me an idiot for that!? I don't think there's two lost episodes, unless Baby and Company Picnic were both counted as two eps, and Fox still called Lois' Sister the 100th when it was actually the 98th. It's all very confusing.
 

Wildcat

Retired Moderator
I'm pretty sure they are counting them as separte episodes because over on in the episode guide Comany Picnic is listed as eps 3x11 and 3x12 and Baby is listed as eps 4x20 and 4x21. It would make more sense to only count them as one though. But that would also mean that they should count Reese Joins the Army/Reese Comes Home as one ep too.
 

Wemboy

New member
Well i'd say you have to count said episodes separately. They do form part of the same storyline, and you couldn't watch one without the other, but they were aired at different times as far as i know. Bear with me on this one, but if you take each episode to be a separate twenty minute "unit" of a greater MITM whole, then you have 100 "units" up to that point, see? So that's 100 episodes. Also, you have the issue of the Season 1 finale continuing into Season 2, and later the Reese Joins the Army eps. So better to count each episode separately. There's one problem here though, this all makes Fox right...damn!:mad:
 

Amigo22

Super Moderator
Water Park & Traffic Jam and Houseboat & Emancipation are also 2-part episodes. Reese Joins The Army/Reese Comes Home is a 3-part episode. I recall seeing that Lois's Sister was only ep #98, and I too am confused over this. I think that all 2-part episodes should be counted as two episodes, because they are. Houseboat & Emancipation for example, they are two totally different episodes. The first they are on holiday in the Houseboat, the second they are at home and the boys going back to school.
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
I agree, and I think that Reese Joins the Army is three separate eps. But I think Company Picnic at least demands special attention. It was aired all at once after the Super Bowl party, and the plot is entirely the same between the two. You can watch Emancipation and completely understand it without seeing Houseboat; you couldn't watch Company Picnic 2 without watching Company Picnic 1.

What we need is someone who has way too much time on their hands to count all the eps and get this figured out. :D
 

Wildcat

Retired Moderator
yardgames said:
What we need is someone who has way too much time on their hands to count all the eps and get this figured out. :D

Not necessary. I just remembered that on tv.com they have an episode list where the episodes are consecutively numbered from one season to the next. Company Picnic and Baby are counted as four separate episodes. Even counting them each as separate eps, Lois's Sister still comes out as episode 98. Reese's Apartment is episode 100. Problem solved. :)

I would post the link directly to the episode list, but I read somewhere that we aren't supposed to link to other MITM sites.
 

Wemboy

New member
Yeh you're right, i just counted on our own episode guide and Lois's Sister is the 98th episode if you count each episode separately, Reese's Apartment is the 100th. Fox is wrong!:D

@Yardgames: If you wanted to use your technique of counting Baby 1&2 and Picnic 1&2 together then Polly in the Middle is the 100th episode. However, if you just wanted to count Picnic 1&2 together, but not the Bady eps, then Malcolm Visits College is your 100th ep. If you count every episode which has a part 1&2 (ie: you include Waterpark & Traffic Jam (1 ep.), Houseboat & Emancipation (1ep.)) then Experiment is your 100th ep. Take your pick!

P.S. Now that is one good way to waste some time!:)
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
Well, that pretty much solves that problem, now doesn't it. I'll take it the standard way that they're all separate "units" of 22 minutes' length, as one person explained and keep it simple. :D Thanks everyone.
 
J

JonAnd85

Guest
OK! I think that this very confusing question, finally has a explanation.
But Fox seems to be a very funny company that not even can count their own episodes :rolleyes:.

Anyway! Here's a picture from the celebration of the 100th episode.
 

Wemboy

New member
That's a cool picture. Who cares if they got the episode right, what counts is they had an opportunity to celebrate their success, i think they (cast and crew) deserve it after all. It's weird because in the picture they look a lot like a real life family:) .
 

Niels

New member
Ok, here's what I think is right : "Lois' Sister" was the 100th episode to be produced, but FOX changed the order of broadcast so "Reese's Apartment" was the 100th to be aired.

Just like this season, Blackout was supposed to be aired before Secret Boyfriend but FOX changed mind.
 

Hendrix

New member
Niels said:
Ok, here's what I think is right : "Lois' Sister" was the 100th episode to be produced, but FOX changed the order of broadcast so "Reese's Apartment" was the 100th to be aired.

I think this was to put the Laurie Metcalf guest spot and 100th episode in February Sweeps.
 
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