Mine
The episode where the cast sings the entire episode and nothing else.
The dream sequence episodes are usually bad
Those fantasy ones. Boring.
The one where the cast goes back and pretends to live in different time periods
Synopsis episodes, where most or all of what they do is flashbacks. Survivor does this every once in a while, and it’s well worth skipping.
The “Heavy-Handed Moral Lesson” episode.
Yes, clip shows, which are usually done to give breathing space in a tight production schedule. The usual sitcom pretense is that someone has amnesia or something, and they use five minutes of new footage to stitch together, “Remember when you did this?”
That, and “Very Special Episodes” where sitcoms tackle things like child abuse, incest, rape, abortion and drug use. Bleah!
Most episodes where they screw around with the format, like doing a “realtime” 30-60 minutes, are bad.
The ice fishing episode, in the little shack out on the lake.
- Retellings of “It’s a Wonderful Life”, using the cast
- Retellings of “A Christmas Carol”, using the cast
- Episodes where the cast plays baseball, often using baseball as a metaphor
- “Moving away” episodes - where someone in the cast is considering moving away, going to school, taking a job in another city, but then they never do and the status quo is restored by the end.
- The “fake wedding” episode - the main character fakes getting married to go undercover or somesuch.
- The Christmas/thanksgiving episode: An episode set on one of the holidays, usually “special” in that good will towards men occurs, and usually with a touching tree or hymn scene.
Usually, the worst episode of any series is the pilot episode. For one thing, they are too busy introducing the characters to have time for much of a story. And for another, they usually haven’t settled on their format, rhythm, timing, and style yet, and it all feels rather raw.
(I was going to say, the obligatory “It’s a Wonderful Life” pastiche, but that was already taken.)
The main and/or most incompetent character in the series, trapped in an elevator with a woman in labor.
Go back to Russia ya bastard!
Off the top of my head I can only think of DS9 and WKRP (which is actually softball I believe)
“Cause of the Week.” Similar to “Very Special Episode,” but the cause and the show aren’t a particularly good fit. Is Oscar Madison the guy to sell me on the importance of colon cancer screening? It really sounds like more of a Quincy M.E. thing, to me…
Also, when Quirky Neighbor shows up at Zany Place of Work, I feel vaguely disoriented. How the fuck to the people at WJM TV keep remembering who Rhoda is?
Also, LA Law and The West Wing. And wasn’t DS9 baseball?
The serial killer with a heart of gold episode.
The nice guy possessed by a sadistic demon episode.
The mauled by bears at a wedding episode.
“Guest Star’s Nudging Winks to His Previous Series or Movie” episode.
“Everyone Thinks I’m Gay or a Prostitute” episode.
“Guest-Starring Superman, John Wayne or Sammy Davis Jr.” episode.
“Good Citizen character bailed out of jail by Lovable Hoodlum character.”
Clip shows.
Endlessly boring, & a sign the series may be going over budget.
One very subtle reference can be a good thing.
I think the only reference to “Deadwood” made in the entire run of “Justified” was when a character asked Tim Olyphant if he liked westerns.
“Used to…” Raylan Givens drawled.
Related, and equally bad: The Halloween episode, replete with the cast in costumes so complex and fancy it just serves as a reminder that it’s a TV show with a highly-paid makeup and special effects crew.
The episode that begins just after some event and every character who was on the scene has to describe it to someone who wasn’t, and every one describes it in a different, self-aggrandizing way.
The episode where two or more characters get trapped in a basement or storeroom or elevator or something and have to spend the time interacting/communicating/arguing/reminiscing.
And of course the dreaded “backdoor pilot” episodes which are really just pimping a spinoff.
The one where the entire episode is about a fly.
Raylan also used the line, “A hell of a place to make your fortune” in one episode, which was the tag line for “Deadwood”.