Over ten years ago, in a incident that has famously gone done in Geek History as one of the greatest travesties to the science fiction genre, Fox aired ‘Firefly‘ out of order and then cancelled the show. While a lot of factors went into that cancellation, it’s widely agreed that the jumbling of the order was a large part in its demise.

Well, it seems they are at it again, but this time the science fiction show that is getting shuffled (at least for the first seven episodes) is ‘Almost Human’, which stars Karl Urban (‘Lord of the Rings’, ‘Star Trek’).

For those of you have been tuning in dutifully every week, you may have noticed some continuity issues, namely with how the relationships are progressing. One episode, Dorian and Kennex are cold and distant, and the next they are almost BFFs. Well if you’re wondering why that is the case, it’s because the second episode is actually the fifth.

  • 1.01 Pilot (Actual episode: #1.01)
  • 1.02 “Skin”- (Actual episode: #1.05)
  • 1.03 “Are You Receiving” – (Actual episode: #1.06)
  • 1.04 “The Bends” – (Actual episode: #1.07)
  • 1.05 “Blood Brothers” – (Actual episode: #1.08)
  • 1.06 “Arrhythmia” – (Actual episode: #1.03)

Where are the fourth and the second episode? Who knows.

On Twitter, showrunner, JH Wyman addressed this by saying: “It’s okay that they are out of order for the first 7 or so– then, they really should be in order”.

While ‘Almost Human’ is largely serialized, and the switched episodes are essentially standalones (a great deal of procedural cop shows actually do have their episode orders rearranged), there still exists an overarching episode plot line that seems not to matter. What seems especially strange about the episode rearrangement is that the entire story of the show in the trailers was hinged on the uneasy relationship between Kennex and the android, Dorian.

One wonders if Fox is at it again, and is making sure that ‘Almost Human’ goes off the air before its time, much like the beloved, ‘Firefly’ all those years ago.