# Embarrassingly bad "comic relief" in old TV drama **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [May 29, 2021, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassingly-bad-comic-relief-in-old-tv-drama/943187 "2021-05-29T21:14:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Eclipse\_Chaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Eclipse\_Chaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eclipse_Chaser)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2021, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassingly-bad-comic-relief-in-old-tv-drama/943187/61 "2021-06-01T20:52:16Z")
I hated the Star Trek TOS episodes that had a “comic” end scene when they were on their merry way away from whichever planet it was, the comedy usually at the expense of Spock, accompanied by a plinky plonky “comic” tune on an ascending scale. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2021, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassingly-bad-comic-relief-in-old-tv-drama/943187/62 "2021-06-01T21:39:58Z")
> [@Dropo](#): > > I watched an episode of the _Adam-12_ TV series from 1969 entitled “Log 172: The Things You Do for the Job.” I hated that one. The whoie episode smacks of “comic relief”. All if needed was sad trombone. WAAA whaa! Mac is mad at Pete because some psycho hose-beast is stalking Pete. How is that his fault? I guess “it’s funny when a man can’t control his woman”. In Jack Webb’s universe I guess. I figure all that happened is Pete took her to bed, she was happy, and then she dumped him. Since he wasn’t emotionally invested in the “relationship”, that he wasn’t dreaming of his new life married to a rich heiress, he didn’t care. But, that’s the game she loved to play. She thinks she “won”. And he’s happy to be rid of her. I wish he could have kept he car - it’s just a gift from his “girlfriend”, not a bribe. It sure would have been better than that POS Matador he had. (Thought, with the comic reliefness of the episode, it may have been meant that he actually DID murder her. WAAA whaa.) ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2021, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassingly-bad-comic-relief-in-old-tv-drama/943187/63 "2021-06-02T01:18:32Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > what I call “clown music”. It always let you know that it was a light hearted episode, in case you couldn’t tell. Thanks for such a good name! I’ve always wondered what to call that awful music. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassingly-bad-comic-relief-in-old-tv-drama/943187/64 "2021-06-03T06:54:05Z")
I’ve always called it the “Fuck you, Bozo!” music. (If you grew up in Chicago, you probably know what I’m talking about.) ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassingly-bad-comic-relief-in-old-tv-drama/943187/65 "2021-06-03T19:17:38Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > (If you grew up in Chicago, you probably know what I’m talking about.) But I think the whole country heard the story. It was the first meme in our grade school. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassingly-bad-comic-relief-in-old-tv-drama/943187/66 "2021-06-03T19:20:44Z")
I’m curious. Was it supposed to have happened in Chicago, or elsewhere? I remember watching the show on WGN when I was on summer vacation in Joliet. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassingly-bad-comic-relief-in-old-tv-drama/943187/67 "2021-06-03T19:26:50Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Was it supposed to have happened in Chicago, or elsewhere? Anywhere that had a live Bozo show. > **[Bozo the Clown Rumor](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/cram-it-clown/)** > > Did a youngster tell Bozo to 'Cram it, clown' on live TV? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassingly-bad-comic-relief-in-old-tv-drama/943187/68 "2021-06-03T19:33:11Z")
The ping-pong ball toss is the story I heard. I once knew a guy from Lake Geneva, WI, who claimed to have seen the incident happen on live TV when he was a kid. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassingly-bad-comic-relief-in-old-tv-drama/943187/69 "2021-06-03T19:46:54Z")
Lake Geneva would’ve gotten Chicago stations, so his story could be true (ask him which ending of _BIG_ he saw). The story we heard was set in Chicago, and had an undercurrent of “Oh, man, we never get to do cool stuff like big city kids!”… ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2021, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassingly-bad-comic-relief-in-old-tv-drama/943187/70 "2021-06-04T14:28:40Z")
In the seventh episode of the series, CHP Officer Jon Baker decided to write a novel about the misadventures of his partner – Officer Ponchariblo. No, that’s not a typo. The really bad part about this was the ending, with Jon realizing that he can only write clichés and Ponch desperately trying to keep Jon from ripping up everything he had written. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2021, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassingly-bad-comic-relief-in-old-tv-drama/943187/71 "2021-06-04T14:35:48Z")
My ridiculous memory tells me that Ponchariblo was how the Captain initially pronounced Ponch’s name on his first day. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2021, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassingly-bad-comic-relief-in-old-tv-drama/943187/72 "2021-06-04T18:34:17Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Ponchariblo was how the Captain initially pronounced Ponch’s name on his first day. See, that’s even worse. The whole idea behind using “Ponchariblo” in Jon’s novel was to obscure anything Ponch had done and their superiors did not know about. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2021, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassingly-bad-comic-relief-in-old-tv-drama/943187/73 "2021-06-04T21:24:12Z")
Yeah. If I recall correctly, there were a number of embarrassing comic relief things in CHIPS. Whenever there was a fad in the 1970s, CHIPS would have a scene or two featuring it - whether it was a Rubik’s Cube or a popout roller skate wheels ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2021, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassingly-bad-comic-relief-in-old-tv-drama/943187/74 "2021-06-04T21:47:49Z")
Speaking of CHiPs and roller skates, there’s the classic CHiPs “Roller Disco” episode. Looks cheesy now, but was pretty typical of 70’s shows: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/fh5GdUY00-k/maxresdefault.jpg "CHiPs "Roller Disco" – The most Seventies scene in 1970s TV") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh5GdUY00-k) ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2021, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassingly-bad-comic-relief-in-old-tv-drama/943187/75 "2021-06-04T23:22:07Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > > [@Dropo](#): > > > > Not sure this really belongs here, but…. > > > > I watched an episode of the _Adam-12_ TV series from 1969 entitled “Log 172: The Things You Do for the Job.” In this episode, Officer Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) is stalked by a rich 20-something woman (Ahna Capri, best known for _Enter the Dragon_) whom he ticketed for speeding. She insists on dating him despite Pete telling her repeatedly he is not interested (“You turn me off!”) Among other things, she makes several false reports to the police to lure him to her and even tries to give him a Porsche 911 Targa! > > > > After being told by his supervisor to settle the matter, Pete finally gives in and agrees to a date (despite the fact he has already claimed cops are forbidden from fraternizing with those they encounter on the job). We never see the date, but Pete tells his partner the next day that they had dinner, caught a show and went dancing. He then adds cryptically: “She’s not gonna be a problem anymore. Not at all.” His partner smirks. The end. > > I guess we’ll never know what he did with the body. Probably in an onion field somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2021, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassingly-bad-comic-relief-in-old-tv-drama/943187/76 "2021-06-05T00:32:28Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Probably in an onion field somewhere. If you watch the episode, it begins and ends on Silver Lake Blvd. in LA County with the reservoir in the background. > **[Silver Lake Reservoir](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Lake_Reservoir)** > > The Silver Lake Reservoir Complex comprises two concrete-lined basins, Ivanhoe Reservoir and Silver Lake, divided by a spillway, in the Silver Lake community of Los Angeles, California. > The lower body of water was named in 1906 for Water Board Commissioner Herman Silver, and in turn lends its name to the neighborhood. The upper body received its name after the 1819 Sir Walter Scott novel Ivanhoe. > The reservoirs are owned and maintained by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP), and... I interpret this as a (more or less) subtle clue as to what Malloy did with the body. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassingly-bad-comic-relief-in-old-tv-drama/943187.md?page=3)