For all the appeal some programs have for the Teeming Millions, each of us probably remembers an episode they HATE!!!
The Emergency! episode “The Nuisance,” the last one of the '73-'74 season, is a case in point. John Gage was seriously injured by a hit-and-run driver. While he was recovering in the fracture ward at Rampart, he was put through severe emotional abuse by the ranking nurse there. (I titled the episode “Johnny vs. the Hospital Sow.”)
Let’s please hear about other episodes that were the rotten apple in the barrel.
Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Genesis”. The one where Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden, who also directed) injects Barclay with a cure for an allergy, but something goes wrong. HORRIBLY, HORRIBLY WRONG!! The crew begins to revert to primal creatures (depending on which planet they’re from). This was a good example of a good show gone bad. It really sucked.
Last episode of Quantum Leap. Ending the whole series with white text on black saying he never made it home… what the *&)!@$ kind of closure is that!
Max, I fully agree. Quantum Leap is such a great show (I watch the reruns on the Sci-Fi channel). I think that last episode was a writing cop-out. Couldn’t they come up with something better?
White Wolf
“Honesty is the best policy, but insanity is a better defense.”
“Half the world is composed of idiots, the other half of people clever enough to take indecent advantage of them.”
I was very disappointed with the * Seinfeld * finale.
That episode of The Prisoner which has the costume ball (I think it had an old woman as Number Two, though it’s hard to tell through the block I’ve tried to place in my memory around this particular episode). Gag.
I second PunditLisa’s opinion on the final Seinfeld…they did “one show too many,” to quote Jason Alexander. I’d also nominate the “backwards episode.”
The Simpsons’ episode where Bleeding Gums Murphy dies is disappointing, mostly because the viewer has to watch the show descend into the type of maudlin sentimentality it usually skewers.
Tim
“My hovercraft is full of eels.”
The original Star Trek had “Spock’s Brain” and the Next Generation had “Family” (the one after Picard was rescued from the Borg). “Spock’s Brain” was just plain stupid, while “Family” tried earnestly to deal with serious issues and did it in such a cliched and maudlin manner that it bordered on hilarity (especially the mud wrestling scene). “Family” got poor ratings, but the ST producers drew the wrong conclusion – that people didn’t want to see character-based drama. They may have, but the needed to see it done well.
I stopped watching ROSEANNE (which was very good in the beginning) after the bathroom episode.
The next to last episode of THE PRISONER is pretty poor – two people shouting at each other for an hour. The finale was no great shakes in many ways, but was a definite improvement.
Dr. Who had KINDA. Really bad, and for some reason they decided to do a sequel.
Star Trek wise, I’d say any TNG-episode that focusses on Beverly Crusher.
Friends is a show that can be either funny or VERY bad. I think that the magic has already worn off on your side of the ocean, from what I gather.
Coldfire
“You know how complex women are”
- Neil Peart, Rush (1993)
In my opinion, the worst Star Trek episode ever, in any series, was that Voyager episode where Harry Kim has a fling with that female alien, who happens to be a crewmember of a ship that is being eaten by little virus-like things, which Voyager winds up catching. “She’d been tested for diseases and came back clean, but I didn’t think to ask about her ship…” Anyway, the first 45 minutes or so is Harry Kim being a very bad boy and getting disciplined, with only 15 minutes for any, like, action or plot development. Also, they gave Mr. Kim a role and lines that would be better suited to Tom Paris. They were trying to show that he’s maturing from a yes-sir-no-sir space cadet type, but it just was not working. Anyway, it was one excruciating episode.
Highlander is ( was ) my favorite sci-fi/fantasy series. IMO, it was better than the movies most of the time. When it was bad, it was very, very bad.
I remember one episode in particular that really grated on my senses. Duncan is in a hospital or somewhere, and terrorists take everyone hostage. He gets shot and left for dead, but ressurects of course, and starts running around assasinating unwary terrorists patrolling the halls.
The reason this episode makes me mad is the little girl. Duncan is protecting this little girl for reasons I cannot recall, and she seems to have absolutely no idea of what’s going on. I mean, when Duncan tells her she has to hide someplace and not make a sound, she tells him to read her a story! That really ruined the whole suspension of disbelief for me.
There were others of course, but that one sticks in my mind.
A favorite moment from Highlander: The Raven
Sadistic Asshole: “A gentleman does not fight duels with a lady.”
Amanda: “Well, that shouldn’t be a problem for you.”
[She beats him soundly in the ensuing swordfight. ]
I’ll admit it–I’m an Ally McBeal fan. But last season, they nearly lost me–there was the strong insinuation that Ally was going to have an affair with the her now-married high school sweetheart Billy. One thing I had come to love about the show is that it made all the characters a little more real and a little less plastic–and Billy truly loved his wife (a rare thing on TV these days, it seems).
That entire plot line (which lasted 3 episodes) had me seething. It was just such a cheap ratings ploy (yep, it all aired during sweeps) that was really out of character for the show. Came a little too close to the edge, there, for me–it almost became a Melrose/Dallas/etc. who’s-sleeping-with-who sucky show.
So, yeah, I hated those episodes.
Hi, Fool, from a fellow Highlander lover. I think the ep you’re thinking of is “Bad Day in Building A.” That’s the one with the little girl, and a stinker it is. It’s also one of the 11 or 12 episodes wherein Tessa is held hostage. The other really bad one is probably “The Zone,” which is the one where Duncan gets locked in the freezer with the Asian girl. Dreadful.
Other bad eps of good shows: The season closer of NYPD Blue this year. Geeze! They’ve now killed off Andy’s son, best friend and wife in two seasons. Franz is a fabulous actor, and the writers love to put him through horrors, but enough! More than enough!
Catrandom
This is a pretty good thread, suprised its not longer.
Some of my suggestions:
The Seinfeld finale, was a letdown, just a conveint way to make it a clips show. They did however set the bar pretty high to begin with.
The backwards episode sucked except for the FDR/Kramer parts, but as with most good shows a bad show has enough one-liners to make it worth seeing.
This is huge in the Simpsons. The Marge and Lisa episodes all suck, but these usually have some of the best Bart/Homer lines. Example, the episode where Lisa is going dumb because of the Simpson gene. This episode drags on, but the parts with Bart and Homer putting pots on their heads and crashing into on another is riotous. Seeing all the men Simpsons at the end are flawless.
The episode of the Simpsons when Marge is having an affair with the Bowling guy is pretty bad.
Friends is very hit-or-miss. I enjoy alot of them, but the season when Phoebe is pregnant is all pretty bad.
The X-Files is a good place to look for bad episodes. I’m at a loss to name any off the top of my head, but there is no doubt for all the great things about this show, some of the experiments they try don’t work.
One exception, Law and Order, can’t think of a single bad episode of this show.
Moonlighting. When it was good it was very, very good, but when it was bad, Katie, bar the door! I thought their finale was a real slap in the face to their loyal viewers–it ended on a bitter, sour note (no doubt everyone on the set hated each other by that time).
Of course, I hate all “very special episodes” of sitcoms. I don’t want to see how the Designing Women feel about homelessness, thank you.
Oh, yeah, and is anyone old enough to remember when The Nanny was funny? Like, the first season or two, before everyone collectively lost their minds and their senses of humor?
[list][li]Star Trek: “The Alternative Factor”[/li]It was poorly plotted. Even after the sane Lazurus explains his situation, I still go “huh?”
[li]Start Trek TNG: the clip show at the end of the 2nd season[/li]I recorded all the TNG episodes. For this one, I paused out all the flashbacks. It’s kinda funny this way, as they keep panning in and out to Riker’s face in sickbay.
[li]Star Trek DS9: tough call. None of them really sucked to my recollection. But I know there are a few non-memorably ones.[/li][li]Star Trek Voyager: title unknown. The one where Chakotay is boxing in a dream to communicate with aliens.[/li]
And to prove I’m not a total ST geek:
Brady Bunch: any one where they promote the kids’ singing careers
torq, that PRISONER episode was “Dance of the Dead.”
Good call…easily the worst episode of a fine series, or should I say, 17-part miniseries. I can’t remember anything about “Dance” (other than the title) myself.
Uke
TwinPeaks: I loved it when it first started, but it drraaagggeddddd onnnnn. By the time we finally found out who killed Laura Palmer, I didn’t really care anymore. Unfortunately however, I still watched it. (I guess I wanted closure.) It was SUCH a letdown.
Second MaxTorque and White Wolf on Quantum Leap Finale. I chose to add ‘yet’ to their lame-o cop out closer. I also have to add any episode that hed the ‘evil leaper’ in it. What a cheap addition she was.
Star Trek (original) the episode with Frank Gorshin as a harliquin faced alien battling another harliquin faced alien - Stupid and boring.
Any episode of MASH without Frank Burns in it.
I agree with Flora. I hate any “very special” episode. Even though I don’t watch the show, I remember seeing ads for Home Improvement where the kid had cancer or something. I’m watching a sitcom because I want to laugh and escape reality, not because I want to see a family in pain.
It’s such a fine line between stupid and clever.