I was watching E. R. the other day, and some of the comic relief scenes are cringe-worthy. For example: A birdwatcher with minor injuries tells Doctor Greene that she studies the similarities between bird courting behavior and human courting behavior, leading to Greene surreptitiously watching Susan Lewis - and he decides she’s seeing Morgenstern.
Any other examples of heavy-handed cringeworthy comic scenes in what would otherwise be a drama?
The birdwatcher takes pictures of various people in the ER, then tells Mark she’s actually an anthropologist doing a comparative study on the mating rituals of humans and birds. For example, Chuny and the paramedic she’s flirting with are doing the same courtship dance some grouses do. She also thinks Jerry and Wendy are flirting, and that Wendy’s just seconds away from shaking her tailfeathers in Jerry’s face
Not quite the same thing - hard as it may be to believe, there were episodes in which the Ferengi were not comic relief (now the ones where the Ferengi were comic relief were especially dire).
On St. Elsewhere Dr. Craig is getting ready for a party at his house, trying to decide where to put the bouquets of flowers they just picked. He turns to his wife and says, “I’ll put the roses on your piano; put your tulips on my organ.” What a groaner.
On Bonanza, a “funny” Hoss episode was always accompanied by what I call “clown music”. It always let you know that it was a light hearted episode, in case you couldn’t tell.
have anything to do with the Ferengi (this is one of the least embarrassing episodes of the first season)
I didn’t mind that. Worf, being an alien, has unusual reactions to things, so another such unusual reaction doesn’t mess up his characterization. Dr. Greene acting like an idiot, or Scotty like a boastful klutz, does wreak havoc with their previous characterization for a cheap laugh.
Monk is another character that is handled very inconsistently for humor’s sake. Sometimes he’s horribly naive - like when he thinks that a necktie on the doorknob of a college room means that the his roommate and his girlfriend are “organizing his closet.” But when it’s mystery-solving time, he has no trouble understanding motives.