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[[File:Discontinuity.jpg|link=Doctor Who|frame|"Will it stop, Doctor? The [[Fan Wank]], will it stop?" ]]
You've already watched the show, but there are just some things you wish you could have ''un''watched. [[Live-Action TV]] [[Fanon Discontinuity|fandom Discontinuity]] lies ahead. Proceed with caution.
'''Note:''' Do not post examples of personal discontinuity. Examples should only be of groups of fandoms.
== ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' ==
Many fans of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' are notorious for this, seeing as how many fan theories of future events were thrown out the window by the premiere of a new season, hence the term [[Jossed]], there are a few moments that just about everybody likes to forget.
* Most fanfic (particularly the slash) will ignore that Spike said (and was later confirmed) to have been sired by Drusilla and NOT Angelus. To be fair this theory seemed canon for several seasons until clarified and, as many point out, [[The Ophelia|Drusilla was hardly in a fit state of mind to raise a child herself]] so Angelus probally did a lot of it.
* Most fans say that Willow's romantic relationships ended after {{spoiler|Tara was murdered by Warren}}, so that Willow seeing Kennedy, the series [[Scrappy]], never happened. Kennedy was widely hated for her unlikeable personality, which was made up entirely of trying to get Willow into bed, her shallow character, and terrible acting.
** On a related note, many fans of Willow prefer to ignore {{spoiler|Tara's murder}} all together.
** Others ignore the fact that Oz and Willow ever broke up.
* A segment of fans zealous enough to call themselves "most" also prefer to ignore the majority of the events of Season 4. Which featured the [[The Scrappy|highly loathed initiative,]] [[Replacement Scrappy|a new boyfriend for Buffy, ill received by fans]] [[Boring Invincible Villain|and the equally loathed Frankenstein Monster, Adam.]] Even those who don't ignore the events of Season 4 tend to ignore the episode "Beer Bad," which is easy, since it has no bearing on the overarching plot, and is generaly regarded as the worst episode in the series.
** Strangely enough, Season 4 is also noted for [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|the episode "Hush," widely regarded as not just the best ''Buffy'' episode, but one of the greatest moments in TV history.]]
* Some viewers dismiss [[Seasonal Rot|all of seasons 6 and 7]], except for a few outstanding episodes. Debate rages as to whether it's worth junking stuff like the "Smashed"/"Wrecked"/"Gone" trilogy, "Hell's Bells," "Empty Places," "Doublemeat Palace," and the ridiculously polarizing "Lies My Parents Told Me" if it means losing "Tabula Rasa," "Conversations With Dead People," and the legendary "Once More With Feeling."
** This particular break in continuity is particularly easy to rationalize because the show switched networks between the fifth and sixth seasons {{spoiler|and, in-universe, Buffy died in the season 5 finale.}}
* Others ignore anything past Season 3.
* Some fans, especially since the begining of the penultimate arc, consider the Season 8 comic-book as non canon. Officially, even if it is a comic, it is canon because it is outlined, and in some parts written, by [[Joss Whedon]] himself.
* In a related instance, after {{spoiler|Angel was revealed to be Twilight,}} many fans concluded that any of IDW's Angel comics after ''After The Fall'' (which was outlined, but not written, by Whedon) were non-canon. IDW says it considers them canon cause they are approved by [[Mutant Enemy]] and Fox. Think of that what you will.
== Other works ==
* There are two things most fans of ''[[The Shield]]'' would like to forget: the second-season flashback episode "Co-Pilot" (which was made solely to pad the season while the makeup crew figured out how to do facial scarring for one of the characters) and a scene where Dutch Wagenbach strangles a cat to death after being told by a serial killer that he didn't know what it was like to see the life drain out of a living creature. The latter example was later officially disregarded in season three when Dutch adopts a stray cat, remarking that it's nice to have an animal companion for a change.
* The majority of [[Mr. Bean]] fans reject the animated series, due to half the episodes being utterly, ''utterly'' ridiculous (far more than the beloved live action version, which has [[Rowan Atkinson]] and his excellent physical comedy to make it work), as well as the reveal that Bean himself is in fact a member of a species of aliens who are all identical to him.
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* Some ''[[Seinfeld]]'' fans discredit the Season 2 episode 'The Jacket', in which Elaine's father appears. This is because the actor playing him was abusive to the cast members and stole a butcher's knife from the set which they took as a threat, especially as he returned to the set late at night a week after the episode had been finished. Thanks to the lack of story arcs in the series, avoiding this episode has no impact on continuity.
** Also some discredit the original version of 'The Handicap Spot', as Frank Costanza is played by John Randolph, not Jerry Stiller. Stiller plays him in the syndicated version of the episode and the rest of the show's run, so watching the syndicated version avoids the continuity error. The DVD features both versions.
* Many fans choose to completely ignore the third season of the original ''[[Land of the Lost (TV series)|Land of the Lost]]'' where Rick Marshall was ([[Put
* Many ''[[Forever Knight]]'' fans refuse to accept season 3 (the final season). The opening episode of the season eliminates two of the fanbase's favorite characters (Schanke is killed in a plane crash and Janette is [[Put on a Bus]]) and replaces them with two characters who are not as well liked. Add in some [[Plot Derailment]] and [[Character Derailment]] over the season and a [[Downer Ending]]....
* Most ''[[Criminal Minds]]'' fans ignore most of season six and pretend that [[Mary Sue|Ashley]] [[Replacement Scrappy|Seaver]] never existed.
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** In the name of the [[Fan-Preferred Couple]], [[Love At First Sight|Annie]] and [[Last-Minute Hookup|Wheeler]] never happened.
** Alternately, some fans will argue that the movie prequel ''Fire Walk With Me'' never happened and prefer to keep Laura's last days ambiguous. [[The Movie]] also changed {{spoiler|Leeland from a poor soul with demonic posession to a murderous incestuous paedophile. This appears to be [[David Lynch]]'s [[Take That]] at the [[Cop Out]] of Leeland's guilt that the series gave us.}}
* Many fans of [[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|the rebooted ''
** And the latter half of the ''BSG'' finale may be on its way to joining them.
*** The consensus among these fans is that the show ended with "Revelations," the last episode of the first half of Season 4. This means no {{spoiler|mutiny, no revelation of who the fifth Cylon is, what Starbuck is, what the Head characters are, the backhistory of the Final Five and the humanoid Cylons, that the Earth they find is not "our" Earth, the defeat of the Cylons, the resolution of Cally's murder, and the finding of Earth.}} That is a ''lot'' to toss out.
** Fans of [[Battlestar Galactica
*** Used in a con arc of ''[[Arcane Times]]'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20171118020241/http://arcanetimes.com/before-arcane/ Season 1] - one mention of "THE FORBIDDEN THING" was enough to form a lynch mob of cosplayers chasing our heroes.
** To the extent that they willfully forget that many of the proposed continuation (as opposed to reboot) ideas would have included 1980 in the backstory.
** Some include the final episode of ''that'' series, where it explains what happened to Starbuck, in canon. But they immediately toss out any and all window dressing that comes from ''1980''.
* Some fans of ''[[Doctor Who]]'' ignore everything after the classic series (the first 26 seasons). Others are fine with the 1996 [[Made for TV Movie]], but not the revival series. There are probably a few who insist the movie never happened and Christopher Eccleston is the Eighth Doctor as well, but more common is keeping the whole movie, except that Paul McGann never uttered the words "I'm half-human." These words are blasphemy, as the Emperor of the Daleks pointed out. {{spoiler|And as the series 4 finale appears to confirm -- there had never been half-human half-Time Lords before.}} An IDW comic explains away the whole "half-human" thing as being a trick he played on the Master with mind games and a half-working chameleon arch.
** One fanzine published an article explaining what ''really'' happened in Season 23 (The "Trial of a Time Lord" [[Story Arc|arc]]). The version we ''think'' we saw on screen, with the confusion as to what really happened in the [[Flash Back|Flashbacks]]; the gobbledegook explanation of what the Valeyard's up to; and the bizarre scenes in the Matrix all adding up to an unintentional [[Mind Screw]], was simply a mass hallucination caused by stress over the recent cancellation crisis.
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** Likewise, many a [[The Lone Gunmen]] fan will say the aptly named "[[Jump the Shark]]" never happened. [[Unreliable Narrator|Fletcher was lying through his teeth]], or the guys {{spoiler|faked their deaths}}.
* Fans of ''[[Roswell]]'' were so distressed that Max slept with Tess that they often pretend it didn't happen or say he was mind warped into having sex with her as a form of rape, this is due to character derailment brought on by plot driven writing to continue a third season of the show. As a result this is often seen as a Jump The Shark moment of the series.
* Some particularly cranky ''[[Star Trek]]'' fans disown the later shows, ''[[Star Trek:
* In a reversal of the trope, quite a few fans did consider the [[Star Trek: The Animated Series|1970s animated series]] [[Canon]] when it [[Canon Discontinuity|officially wasn't]] (except for certain details, verified later in-canon). It was declared canon after a poll on the official ''[[Star Trek]]'' website in the late noughties, except now you have fans declaring Discontinuity on it as well. There's nothing resembling a consensus on any of these.
** Many (if not all) fans of ''Voyager'' throw out the episode "Threshold." Even the writer admits it was bad. More important, the ship could have returned to Earth right after the credits with the technology introduced. (Sure, it [[Evolutionary Levels|turns you into a newt]], but you'll get better!<ref>Since the Doctor figured out how to reverse the change.</ref>) While not officially removed from canon, the events of the episode are ignored by fans and writers alike, and it did receive a [[Discontinuity Nod]].
** Most ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]'' fans, particularly those fond of Trip, dismiss the events of the last episode, a decision made easier by the fact it was presented as a holodeck reconstruction many centuries later. The novel ''The Good That Men Do'' is [[Author's Saving Throw|devoted to doing just that]] by claiming the events we saw were a revisionist history. It's not just the fans, however. Even ''actors'' (primarily Connor "Trip" Trinneer) from the series prefer to pretend that episode never happened. But then, it ''was'' their own hard work over the last four years that was being insulted by such a terrible finale, so it's no wonder they'd hate it. Even many of those who didn't particularly like Trip consider the two-parter "Terra Prime" (arguably the series' best episodes) the series' true final episodes. (Except ''possibly'' for Archer's speech and the narration that combines Archer's, Kirk's, and Picard's versions of the famous "Space... the final frontier" opening. Maybe. If they are feeling particularly generous.)
** Even the [[Star Trek: The Original Series|original series]] had several episodes (mostly in the third season) that fans consider non-canon. "[[Star Trek/Recap/S3/E01
** ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' fans sometimes throw out Season Seven, as so much of what happens (magic books? Dukat posing as a Bajoran to get in Winn's robes?) is considered [[Seasonal Rot|significantly lower in quality]] than the previous six seasons. Other fans might be okay with most of season 7, but would like to pretend that pretty much every Ferengi episode in the series besides [[
* The seventh season of ''[[Red Dwarf]]'', the first one written entirely without the influence of both Rob Grant and Doug Naylor. For instance, ''Ouroboros'', which reintroduced {{spoiler|a Kochanski from a parallel universe, who has a baby by Lister, who then convinces her to leave it in a box under the pool table where he was abandoned, as per his [[Backstory]], making Lister into his own father}}. Worst of all, it wasn't ''funny''.
** Others refuse to acknowledge anything after the fifth season. They're willing to discard "Gunmen of the Apocalypse," almost universally loved, as the unfortunate cost of abandoning the last three seasons.
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* Chris Barrie's other major sitcom, ''[[The Brittas Empire]]'', also comes into this category, with many fans choosing to ignore the last two series, made after the departure of the original writers, Richard Fegen and Andrew Norriss.
** And despite the painstaking care that had gone into their last series - season 5 - with every character preparing for a new venture in their lives. And despite the Christmas reunion finale which showed how things worked out subsequently. All of which had to be dismissed when the BBC decided they just couldn't bury this champion horse, so dragged nearly everybody back to their original existence and retconned the whole show...[[All Just a Dream|twice]].
* ''[[Andromeda]]'' fans, in ascending order of radicalism, dismiss the final season, the final ''two'' seasons, everything after season 2's "Ouroboros" (the last episode before the show's creator was fired), everything after Season 2's "Into the Labyrinth", or ''everything except the pilot and "An Affirming Flame"''. Most will tell you there was a [[Jumping the Shark|Shark Jump]] somewhere in Season 2 or 3, even if they can't decide where. Definitely before the lackluster Season 4 and putrescent Season 5.
** Even the zaniest of fans is willing to admit that ''The Unconquerable Man''—a Season 3 episode showing what would have transpired with Gaheris Rhade at the helm instead of Dylan Hunt—happened. Then again, the two-episode group in that sliding scale is probably dead serious.
** Thank Holy Hosannah that the original creator's vision has been published as "Coda". The awesome of ''Andromeda'', it clings to life.
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*** Explained quite easily in later episodes where the Alliance [[Genre Savvy|were smart enough to have a mole]] who fed them specs on her big guns. Making them next to useless on their improved shields. Hard to curb stomp someone who already knows your specs..
** There was an infamous-almost-to-the-point-of-unspeakable animated series called Stargate: Infinity. Even fans with SG-1 and Atlantis action figures have ignored its existence. It was that bad.
* ''[[Only Fools and Horses]]'': Many people ignore the [[Post Script Season|2001-03 Christmas trilogy]] because it completely ruined the perfect ending of the original finale; the 1996 Christmas trilogy, where the Trotters at last achieve their dream of becoming millionaires... apparently only for Del to lose it all on the Far East stock market. (Though they did gain a sizeable portion of it back through Uncle Albert's will in the final, final episode.)
** One particular detail that needs highlighting is that the end line of the first 'last episode' was, "This time next year, we could be billionaires," a very nice twist on Del's defining catchphrase. And was spoken as he, Rodney and Albert walked into a gleaming sunset. After 2003, the end line would always be, "D'you know Rodney? That's a bloody good idea." Which doesn't quite have that same ring to it.
** Perhaps a real-world case of [[Be Careful What You Wish For]]. Its status as Britain's most popular sitcom meant that writer John Sullivan had been asked about a return almost constantly. And to give him some credit, he was trying to keep a sense of perspective. The wider context of the original sunset ending was Del enthusiastically trying to persuade the other two to invest in the market that was said to have crashed - and which had done so not long after the episode originally aired.
*** Interestingly, Sullivan originally wrote for the 1996 sunset ending to be done as a cartoon, indicating that the characters were no longer in the real world and would not be coming back, but this was rejected. (Though the sequence was eventually done with chromakey special effects.)
* A number of ''[[Smallville]]'' fans hold that the series ended with season five, since afterwards the show became more like "Metropolis" than "Smallville".
** And some fans pretend the series ended with Season Three, so that Season Four and "Lana is a reincarnated French witch with kung fu powers" never happens - even if that means giving up eps like "Run", "Justice" and "Absolute Justice".
* Some people disregard ''[[Veronica Mars]]''' second and third seasons.
* ''[[Gilmore Girls]]'' is generally treated as ending with Season 6, as the creator, Amy Sherman-Palladino, left at the end of that season.
* ''[[Airwolf]]'' is generally treated as ending with Season 3, a decision made much easier by the budget getting slashed to the point where the titular [[Black Helicopter]] appeared only as a set, [[Stock Footage]] from previous series and a badly-[[Chroma Key]]ed model. Most of the main cast being [[McLeaned]] in the season pilot was the final nail in the coffin.
* ''[[24]]'' fans usually try to forget about Season 6. Although the first four episodes were awesome, the entire plot with Jack Bauers father Phillip and being chased by the Chinese was a mistake.
** Some fans do state ''24'' season one was the only canon season.
* ''[[CSI]]'' fans generally have three break off points with continuity.
** Season 6 is usually the last season many fans consider canon. Season 7 introduced the concept of season long story arcs - generally revolving around a serial killer - and brought more attention to the interpersonal relationships of the characters.
** Others will except season 7 and the first half of season 8 up though Sara's departure. Many refuse to accept Warrick's out-of-character downward spiral and eventual death.
** Finally, fans will watch the show up to Grissom's departure in season 9 and then stop. To some, anything after is almost like a completely different show.
* There's some disagreement as to where the discontinuity begins on ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'', with fans devided between the departure of House's original team in season 3, Kutner's suicide in season 5, House and Cuddy's get-together in season 6, and {{spoiler|House driving his car through Cuddy's dining room}} in season 7. Many fans also refuse to acknowledge the episode, Teamwork, in which {{spoiler|Cameron professes her love to House and then leaves the show.}} Which of these factors is the reason for the discontinuity varies from fan to fan.
* ''[[Highlander the Series]]'': The death of Richie Ryan at the end of season 5 was so poorly handled that many fans decided to exclude that arc. A season or so before, Duncan's reaming Richie out for coming back to Paris after publicly "dying" in a fiery motorcycle accident. Now, Mac's cheerfully hoisting his former student on the barge like it's no problem. [[They Just Didn't Care]]. It didn't help that Richie's death was a result of not just [[Character Derailment]] and an [[Idiot Plot]], but also a completely new creature, a demon, added to the Highlander universe [[Ass Pull|despite there being no hints at its existence in any prior episodes]]. It's no wonder a great many fans instantly chose to deny the whole thing ever happened.
** Many fans banded together and formed an actual group called "Clan Denial." Deniers, as they were called, refused to accept that the Ahriman Arc (and thus the death of Richie) had ever occurred. The episode in which Richie died ("Archangel") was referred to as "The Nonexistent Episode."
** There were also fans who could swallow the death of Richie but who strongly disliked the sixth season, which was widely seen by fans as a rather poor season-long audition for the female lead of ''Highlander: The Raven''. It is still often referred to by its nickname of "Season Sux."
* Many fans of ''[[Profiler]]'' prefer to believe that the series concluded with "Reunion," the first episode of season 4, in which the Jack of All Trades storyline (the show's narrative backbone) was finally resolved and lead character Sam Waters (Ally Walker) retired from the VCTF. She was replaced for the remainder of S4 by Rachel Burke (Jamie Luner), who was [[The Scrappy|widely disliked by fans]], and the show died a quick death shortly thereafter, though not quick enough.
* Most fans of ''[[SeaQuest DSV]]'' can only stand the first season. It's curious that the last episode of the first season also acts as a fairly good finale, {{spoiler|1=with the original SeaQuest vessel being destroyed and its crew waiting for a new one to be built}}. For those who choose to carry on, the second season is [[retool]]ed to focus on teen hearthrob [[Creator's Pet|Lucas Wolenczak]]. The spin-off/third season ''SeaQuest 2032'' realizes its mistake and banks hard in the opposite direction.
* For some, ''[[Sesame Street]]'' ceased to exist after 2002, when the show went through a revamping to make it more suitable for younger audiences. For others, it was 1998, when ''Elmo's World'' debuted.
* This is common with [[Spin-Off|SpinOffs]], including ''[[AfterMASH]]'', ''[[Team Knight Rider]]'', ''[[The Love Boat|Love Boat: the Next Wave]]'', and ''[[Highlander the Raven]]''.
** Same could be said about ''[[The New Monkees]]''
* The existence of seasons of ''[[Mission: Impossible (TV series)||Mission Impossible]]'' after [[Real Life Relative|Barbara Bain and Martin Landau]] left is in serious question. None about the execrable 1980s revival.
* Many fans of ''[[Family Ties]]'' will disregard the last three seasons, after Andy [[Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome|was aged a few years]] - which, quite naturally, contradicts the continuity of the earlier four seasons. Furthermore, much of the fandom had mixed feelings of Season Four. That season introduces Mallory's new boyfriend, Nick - who many find to be annoying. However, that season also introduces Ellen - Alex's girlfriend, who is played by the actress who will later become [[Michael J. Fox]]'s [[Real Life Relative|real life wife]].
* Depending on who you ask, ''[[Millennium (TV series)|Millennium]]'' ran for one, two or three seasons before getting run into the ground and not finished in an episode of ''[[The X-Files]]''.
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* Most fans of ''[[That '70s Show]]'' will testify that the 8th season did not happen. Eric never went to Africa, Hyde never married a stripper or grew a porn 'stache, and [[Replacement Scrappy|Randy]] never joined the gang in Point Place. Oh, and Jackie definitely never dated Fez.
* The feelings most of the ''[[Quantum Leap]]'' fandom towards the [[Executive Meddling|finale]] can be summed up in six words: Sam. Beckett. Made. It. Home. Dammit! (In other words, they accept everything except the last 5 seconds.)
* ''[[War of the Worlds (TV series)|War of the Worlds]]'': the fandom of this series almost universally dis-acknowledges the second season. New producers were brought in due to low ratings and proceeded to kill off two out of four main characters, change the villains from body-snatching aliens from Mor-Tax to human cloning aliens from Morthrai, and changed the setting from contemporary to cyberpunk with minimal in-continuity explanation.
* A fair number of ''[[Torchwood]]'' fans refuse to accept the last episode of series 2, Exit Wounds, which ended with {{spoiler|Tosh and Owen dead}}; others reject the series 3 miniseries ''Children of Earth'', or at least the two episodes in which {{spoiler|Ianto dies}} and Jack Harkness {{spoiler|kills his own grandson}} to save the children who would otherwise be given to the 456.
** Some fans just refuse to accept the end of Day Five because it seemed so out of character for Jack to do what he did.
* A lot of fans of ''[[Dollhouse]]'' are closing their eyes tight and ignoring the last three episodes of Season two. Because if they never happened {{spoiler|then Boyd is still out there. Boyd is still the great guy he is and one day , one day will return to Whiskey whose still alive and still waiting for him.}}
* Many fans of ''[[The Man from U.N.C.L.E.]]'', especially but definitely not exclusively slashers, do not acknowledge the 1983 reunion TV movie.
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* There is a large portion of ''[[CSI: NY]]'' fans who pretend that the season 5 finale never happened and {{spoiler|Angell is alive and well, Flack didn't murder anyone and Danny didn't get shot in the back.}} Earlier than that in season 5, there's fans who deny that former coroner Marty Pino was {{spoiler|murdering drug users and making heroin from their internal organs}}, citing [[Character Derailment]] in that case. Season 6 has disillusioned a lot of fans who were disappointed in the season 5 finale but decided to stick with the show.
* Ask a ''[[Gossip Girl]]'' fan about the ''Eyes Wide Shut'' storyline for Chuck in late season two, and they will most likely pretend not to know what you're talking about. The storyline is universally loathed for being outright stupid, and for having Chuck apparently fall for a hooker named Elle. Since nearly every single fan of the show is a Chuck and Blair shipper, that last part did not sit well.
* At least 90% of the fanfiction spawned by the 1980s TV show ''[[Beauty and the Beast (TV series)|Beauty and The Beast]]'' either ignores Catherine's death at the end of season 2 or explains it away as quickly as possible, preferably as a nightmare. There's even a acronym for this: SND = She's Not Dead.
* ''[[News Radio]]'': The death of Phil Hartman, whose character Bill McNeal was an integral part of the show, and the perceived deficiencies of the [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute]] character played by Jon Lovitz (and the eventual [[Downer Ending]] of the 5th season) causes a great number of fans of the show to acknowledge only the first four seasons, ending with the wacky Titanic parody (or, if they prefer a [[Bittersweet Ending]], the first episode of the 5th season, which serves as a tribute to Hartman.)
* Almost all of the original ''[[Dark Angel]]'' fandom ignores season 2 or rewrites that season's first episode to remove its most offensive plot device - the virus that makes Max deadly to Logan. New fans [[Just Here for Godzilla|watching the show for]] the actor [[Jensen Ackles]] usually do the exact opposite, not bothering with the first season except for Jensen's episode "Pollo Loco"; they get a [[Alternate Character Interpretation|very different interpretation]] of the show and its characters.
* ''[[The West Wing]]'' fandom will frequently ignore anything that happened after the season four finale, when Aaron Sorkin, the show's creator and the man who wrote most of the episodes, left. This means "ending" the show on a cliffhanger, but it's either that or a major shift in the [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]].
** Out of those who do acknowledge post-Sorkinism, a large portion refuse to acknowledge Toby's wildly [[Out-of-Character Moment|OOC]] {{spoiler|leaking of classified military information, or his subsequent firing.}} Richard Schiff himself said that Toby would never do something like that. The ignoring rate for this event is ''very'' high even compared to widely reviled events in other shows. Very few post-Administration fanfictions are entirely compatible with canon because of this event.
** There are also Sorkin-era episodes that get this treatment: the post-9/11 [[Very Special Episode]] "Isaac and Ishmael" (which is very easy to ignore because we're told at the outset that it's a one-shot and doesn't fit into the series's timeline), and "The Long Goodbye," which is about C.J. going home for a class reunion and confronting the fact that her father's dying of Alzheimer's, wasn't written by Sorkin, has nothing to do with anything and was blatantly conceived as [[Oscar Bait|Emmy Bait]] for [[Allison Janney]] (who, while she delivered her usual spectacular performance, certainly didn't need a sappy, teary family episode to display her awesome talent any more than the male cast members did, especially since she was doing just fine cleaning up at the Emmys on her own).
*** Several throwaway comments, such as Leo's claim that he has known Bartlet for 32 years but was only friends with him for 11, are blatantly and unanimously ignored, especially if they contradict earlier information.
** ''[[The West Wing]]'''s discontinuity break between seasons 4 and 5 has such broad consensus that fanfics taking place after season 4 are much more likely to be AU than canon, and frequently written in the same style as fanfics set in the future of ''uncompleted'' shows, suggesting that in the minds of many fans, the post-Sorkin era was no more authoritative than fanfic.
* Most fans of Guy of Gisbourne on the BBC's ''[[Robin Hood (TV series)|Robin Hood]]'' would prefer to forget about the early episode that has him abandon his infant son in the woods, lie to the mother about its whereabouts, and then beat the shit out of her when she confronts him with the truth.
** Most fans disowned the show after the S2 finale in which {{spoiler|Marian was murdered by Gisbourne}}, and never even bothered to watch S3 which introduced new love interest [[Mary Sue|Kate]], had Robin begin a relationship with Gisbourne's (married) sister, revealed that Robin and Guy {{spoiler|share a half-brother called Archer}} and turned Allan-a-Dale's character arc into a {{spoiler|[[Shoot the Shaggy Dog]]}} story.
* There are those in the fandom who loathe ''[[Power Rangers RPM]]'' because of its premise: ''Power Rangers'' on a [[The End of the World as We Know It|post-apocalyptic Earth]]. They see the idea as pissing on every previous series, especially the Zordon Era. To them, no amount of improvement in writing can excuse having a post-apocalyptic Earth in ''Power Rangers''. It's understandable: It causes serious [[Fridge Logic]] given the presence of, you know, so many superhero teams and all, and just callously destroys everything the past Ranger teams fought to protect.
* Do '''''not''''' mention the ''[[Power Rangers Wild Force]]'' episode "Forever Red" on a Rangers board. Seriously, don't; enough blood's been shed over that turf war already. It may be [[Canon Discontinuity|ignored by the writers]] as well: Tommy never mentioned those events during ''[[Power Rangers Dino Thunder]]'', and didn't still have his [[Power Rangers Zeo|Zeo Ranger Five]] powers.
** It's notable that the reason "Forever Red" is such a taboo subject is not due to a lack of quality (some consider it to be a fan's wet-dream come true), but due to numerous continuity issues raised. How did Jason and T.J. get their powers back? How was the Wild Force Rider able to destroy the previously invincible Serpentara all by itself? Why in the ten levels of Hell would the [[Ascended Fanboy]] writer throw the episode to the wolves by directly acknowledging the events of his old fanfiction? Does that mean the fanfiction is canon now, despite not being an official product? Quite simply, "Forever Red" raised way so many questions and caused so many debates that it's best just not to think about it.
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** There's a specific episode in ''Zeo'' a lot of fans try to forget. The [[Christmas Episode]] is set in the future and shown as flashbacks. The scenes in between show an elderly Tommy telling the story to a little boy. The very end shows that Tommy and Katherine are married and he's been telling the story to his grandson. Since a lot of people still engage in [[Die for Our Ship]] for Kimberly and Tommy, and since he didn't mention Katherine in "Forever Red" or ''[[Power Rangers Dino Thunder|Dino Thunder]]'', fans tend to forget that scene ever happened. The other [[Christmas Episode]] in season 3 likes to be ignored by many fans too for simply being silly.
*** The ''Zeo'' [[Christmas Episode]] was also hilarious for "You see, you don't understand holidays, Mondo blasts you, and this is how the Holocaust happens" [[Fantastic Aesop]].
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