Clip Show - Variations

Variations

One variant of the modern clip show is the compilation episode, using clips from the most popular episodes, assembled together in one episode, sometimes without a frame story as such.

Another format is to have a host who describes various characters and characteristics of the show to introduce various clips from past episodes. For example, a special one hour clip show episode of All in the Family featured actor Henry Fonda discussing the main characters on the show followed by relevant clips from previous episodes; a similar two-part clip show appeared on Three's Company, hosted by Lucille Ball. This format was parodied in a clip show for The Simpsons ("The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular"), in which fictional actor Troy McClure — a recurring Simpsons character — introduced the clips. This was also done in an episode of the Naruto anime. Here, Iruka told the audience about various characters through the use of flashbacks.

A third variation, used in a two-part clip show episode of Cheers featured the entire cast of the show, including former cast members, sitting on a stage while being interviewed by talk host John McLaughlin about their characters on the show, with clips of previous episodes mixed in.

In the Avatar: The Last Airbender episode "The Ember Island Players," the show's main characters watch a play about themselves based upon the events of the series thus far. Although the episode contains no actual footage from previous episodes, the actors recount many scenes from the series and show all the significant plot events. "The Ember Island Players" was the last episode before the four-part series finale.

The NBC sitcom Community (TV series) presented a new take on the clip show with the episode ("Paradigms of Human Memory.") Rather than using clips from previous episodes, the cut-away scenes in that episode were all newly shot. In some cases the clips were simply drop-ins to previous episodes, and in other cases the clips showed events that had never before occurred on the show (i.e. visiting an Old West ghost town or taking over for a glee club killed in a bus crash.)

In the clip episode "Shades of Gray" of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the framing story involved the character William T. Riker in a coma. The clips were dreams of his induced by the medical team treating him.

The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode Trials and Tribble-ations could be considered a clip show. The characters travel in time to the setting of the original series Star Trek episode The Trouble with Tribbles; extensive footage from that original episode was used, and special effects inserted the DS9 characters into those scenes. Unlike most clip shows, this one was far more expensive than a typical episode.