# Disturbing/upsetting moments in TV shows **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 24, 2002, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-upsetting-moments-in-tv-shows/144761 "2002-12-24T20:30:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![markdiscordia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c6cbf5/32.png) [@markdiscordia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markdiscordia)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2002, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-upsetting-moments-in-tv-shows/144761/21 "2002-12-25T13:08:39Z")
The whole first-season \* Law & Order \* episode “Indifference” still compels/repulses me every time it’s on. That show has done many other episodes about abusive parents, but this one was by far the most hideously well-acted. ---
**Author:** ![Jervoise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jervoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jervoise)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2002, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-upsetting-moments-in-tv-shows/144761/22 "2002-12-25T14:08:05Z")
An episode of _The Sopranos_ where the good Dr Melfi is raped. I had to change channels. It’s an extremely graphic and brutal scene. Mega-ick. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2002, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-upsetting-moments-in-tv-shows/144761/23 "2002-12-25T14:40:50Z")
Do movies count? Mr. Ruby and I were watching Deliverance on TV one day and I fell asleep on the couch. I woke up to the “squeal like a pig” scene and was actually sick to my stomach. I’ve never had a movie/TV shop ever affect me that way. ::shudder:: ---
**Author:** ![Genseric](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Genseric](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Genseric)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2002, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-upsetting-moments-in-tv-shows/144761/24 "2002-12-26T20:27:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kyla \* > \*\*When Buffy’s mom died. The whole episode was pretty upsetting, but the worst part is when Buffy goes to her sister Dawn’s school. She pulls Dawn out of class, and the scene is shot through a window, so we can’t actually hear what is said, but we can see Dawn’s reaction. It’s very sad. > \*\* I’ve only seen a handful of Buffy episodes (my girlfriend is a major fan, and has explained the characters and stuff pretty well, so I’m not totally lost), and this was one of them. That was a very moving scene. The entire episode was intense. ---
**Author:** ![NailBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@NailBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NailBunny)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2002, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-upsetting-moments-in-tv-shows/144761/25 "2002-12-26T20:34:09Z")
There was an episode of CSI a few weeks back where they actually showed the medical examiner peel away a guy’s face during the autopsy. I love that show and I love its graphic content, but man, I just wasn’t expecting to see that on a television sitcom. Reminded me a little too much of the movie _Dagon_. _shudder_ ---
**Author:** ![metroshane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@metroshane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/metroshane)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2002, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-upsetting-moments-in-tv-shows/144761/26 "2002-12-26T20:43:12Z")
I was gonna say the Edith rape attempt scene…but since it’s been done I’m going to go with the MASH scene where Hawkeye and some Koreans are hiding in a bus and he keeps telling the Korean woman to hush her baby from crying (the N. Koreans were close). As it turns out through, the process of his psychiatry, she smothers the baby. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2002, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-upsetting-moments-in-tv-shows/144761/27 "2002-12-26T20:47:50Z")
An infamous scene in a recent BBC drama called _Spooks_ (about the security services) featured the young female character having her arm forced into a deep-fat fryer, and then her head. Despite the latter part being off-screen the thought of it still revolts me. It’s not entirely dissimilar to a very old episode of the Scottish detective drama _Taggart_ where a would-be witness and pastry chef has his hand held under a large machine used for punching pastry into moulds. Ugh. ---
**Author:** ![metroshane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@metroshane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/metroshane)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2002, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-upsetting-moments-in-tv-shows/144761/28 "2002-12-26T20:49:33Z")
Oh yeah, most of Jackass too. ---
**Author:** ![maralinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@maralinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maralinn)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2002, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-upsetting-moments-in-tv-shows/144761/29 "2002-12-26T20:50:44Z")
On The Sopranos, I think Melfi’s rape was one or two episodes before the one where Ralphie beats his girlfriend to death. I was sort of shaken by the two things being shown so close together, the two most brutal things I’ve ever seen on television. ---
**Author:** ![porcupine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac91a4/32.png) [@porcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/porcupine)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2002, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-upsetting-moments-in-tv-shows/144761/30 "2002-12-26T21:16:17Z")
The episode of _Homicide: Life on the Street_ where Vincent D’Onofrio is pushed in front of a train on the subway. He gets twisted and sandwiched between the platform and the train, and can’t be moved because it will kill him instantly. ---
**Author:** ![Marconi\_Schmeese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@Marconi\_Schmeese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marconi_Schmeese)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2002, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-upsetting-moments-in-tv-shows/144761/31 "2002-12-26T21:19:25Z")
What about the “almost” sexual abuse at the bike shop on Diff’rent Strokes? That still creeps me out TWENTY YEARS later. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![porcupine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac91a4/32.png) [@porcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/porcupine)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2002, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-upsetting-moments-in-tv-shows/144761/32 "2002-12-26T21:21:33Z")
And also, the episode of ER where Mark Green does an emergency C-Section in the ER and the mom dies. I think she had pre-eclampsia. ---
**Author:** ![bristlesage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@bristlesage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bristlesage)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2002, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-upsetting-moments-in-tv-shows/144761/33 "2002-12-26T21:41:11Z")
Yep, the episode “The Body” when Joyce Summers dies on _Buffy_ a good one from that show. That show has many disturbing/upsetting moments, but I think another biggie was pretty much every minute of “Conversations with Dead People”. Also, _The West Wing_ episode “Noel”, where Josh meets with the therapist due to his reactions to the shooting in Virginia, when he realizes it wasn’t a glass he smashed… ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2002, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-upsetting-moments-in-tv-shows/144761/34 "2002-12-26T21:43:29Z")
Oh, the very last scene in _Blackadder Goes Forth_ (I was reminded by another thread) where the comedy suddenly isn’t very funny. ---
**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2002, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-upsetting-moments-in-tv-shows/144761/35 "2002-12-26T21:58:28Z")
Off hand some other nominations: Disturbing: _St. Elsewhere_ Dr. Morse being raped in a Prison riot or the episode his kid gets snatched. Upsetting: - Good Times\* when someone busted a cap in JJ or the epsiode when James died - come in somewhere after the epsiode in which Henry Blake dies _MASH_ Real-life upsetting: _Cheers_ knowing the Coach had died & watching the episode where they deal with it ---
**Author:** ![HelloKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecccb3/32.png) [@HelloKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelloKitty)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2002, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-upsetting-moments-in-tv-shows/144761/36 "2002-12-26T22:14:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by porcupine \* > \*\*And also, the episode of ER where Mark Green does an emergency C-Section in the ER and the mom dies. I think she had pre-eclampsia. \*\* Right, and the dad was played by Bradley Whitford from _West Wing_. That was an excellent episode, top notch performances, but I just can’t watch it in reruns. I second the nomination of Romero losing his arm this season on **ER**. For me, that one came out of nowhere and shocked the &\*^% out of me!! One not mentioned that really bothered me was when George’s fiance Susan died on **Seinfeld**. You don’t see character’s die on sitcoms, and having one die on that particular sitcom was bizarre and jarring. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2002, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-upsetting-moments-in-tv-shows/144761/37 "2002-12-27T03:33:05Z")
TWIN PEAKS- the unwrapping of Laura Palmer, and later when Dale Cooper probes under her fingernail for the bit of newsprint “Bob” put under it. SYBIL- the abuse memories, esp when Mom ties her legs to the board & hoists them up for a bit of home surgery- I STILL TURN MY HEAD! Btw, I watch ERASERHEAD for fun! _L_ ---
**Author:** ![raisinbread](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8491ac/32.png) [@raisinbread](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raisinbread)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2002, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-upsetting-moments-in-tv-shows/144761/38 "2002-12-27T04:00:54Z")
The bicycle salesman episode of Diff’rent Strokes. What the hell were they thinking? Oh my God I can’t watch WKRP anymore! ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2002, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-upsetting-moments-in-tv-shows/144761/39 "2002-12-27T04:19:53Z")
On ER, the moment when Carter and the blonde girl (Lucy?) are both stabbed by the crazy guy, and they are both lying helpless and dying on the floor and looking at each other under the bed while the Christmas party goes on outside the room. Holy flurkin’ snit! That scene on the Buffy show previously mentioned (when Buffy takes Dawn out of class and we can see her giving her the news, but not hear them) was an incredible moment, too. My heart broke with theirs when Dawn sank to her knees crying. (Actually, that whole episode put me through the wringer - from Buffy sleepwalking around in shock after she discovers the body to the end.) ---
**Author:** ![NotWithoutRage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NotWithoutRage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NotWithoutRage)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2002, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-upsetting-moments-in-tv-shows/144761/40 "2002-12-27T04:32:45Z")
Here’s a third to that “Diff’rent Strokes” episode. I still remember that as well. Also, how about the “Mad About You” where Jamie and Paul are almost broken up, and have that amazingly intense conversation in the park? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-upsetting-moments-in-tv-shows/144761.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-upsetting-moments-in-tv-shows/144761.md?page=3)