# Individual Episodes of shows you like but most fans hate **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 18, 2011, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-episodes-of-shows-you-like-but-most-fans-hate/589391 "2011-07-18T00:02:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-episodes-of-shows-you-like-but-most-fans-hate/589391/41 "2011-07-19T10:07:23Z")
I’ve heard a lot of people say they hate “The Fly” from season three of Breaking Bad, but I love it. IMO it has some of the best dialogue in the series. The basic premise is Walt finding a fly in the lab, and refusing to do anything until its gone. Here’s an example of that great dialogue. Walt’s trying to tell Jesse about the “contamination,” and Jesse finds out it’s just a fly. Jesse: When you said contamination I thought we had an ebola leak or something, not a fly… Walt: Ebola? (Sarcastic tone) Jesse: Yeah, it’s a disease on the Discovery channel where your guts just sorta fall out of your butt ---
**Author:** ![footballisplayedwithyourfeet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9f8e36/32.png) [@footballisplayedwithyourfeet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/footballisplayedwithyourfeet)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-episodes-of-shows-you-like-but-most-fans-hate/589391/42 "2011-07-19T11:36:07Z")
I’m a big Buffy fan, but have no love at all for _The Zeppo_. I just didn’t like it. It bewilders me that people use this episode to introduce the show to people who don’t know it. So yeah, I’m one of those who hate it (don’t know if it’s the majority though). ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-episodes-of-shows-you-like-but-most-fans-hate/589391/43 "2011-07-19T20:06:14Z")
> [@footballisplayedwithyourfeet](#): > > I’m a big Buffy fan, but have no love at all for _The Zeppo_. I just didn’t like it. It bewilders me that people use this episode to introduce the show to people who don’t know it. So yeah, I’m one of those who hate it (don’t know if it’s the majority though). Right, I couldn’t imagine using it as an entry to the series, simply because it is so clearly designed to play off the established themes of the series. With that said, while not my favorite ep ever, I like it quite a lot, because it’s an interesting inversion of audience expectations and the convention of the loyal, permanent sidekick. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-episodes-of-shows-you-like-but-most-fans-hate/589391/44 "2011-07-19T20:17:57Z")
I love the space hippies episode of TOS. I could watch it over and over again, in a double feature with the punk rock episode of Quincy. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-episodes-of-shows-you-like-but-most-fans-hate/589391/45 "2011-07-19T20:38:39Z")
_The Twilight Zone_ episode with the two headed Martians. I laughed my ass off watching that recently. It was cheesy, but deliberately so and funny. The ending, with the two Venutians was perfect. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-episodes-of-shows-you-like-but-most-fans-hate/589391/46 "2011-07-20T00:40:02Z")
Speaking of Star Trek; I think I’m one of the few people who actually enjoyed the Ferengi episodes of DS9. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-episodes-of-shows-you-like-but-most-fans-hate/589391/47 "2011-07-20T01:28:53Z")
I’ve always been surprised to see people expressing dislike for “A View From the Gallery”, one of my favorite episodes of _Babylon 5_. I’m also a fan of “Spock’s Brain”, but that may be because I read the James Blish adaptation before I ever saw the episode, and the concept works better on paper than on film. I also love the final episodes of _Roseanne_ and _St. Elsewhere_, but sadly not the final episode of _Quantum Leap_. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-episodes-of-shows-you-like-but-most-fans-hate/589391/48 "2011-07-20T02:48:40Z")
> [@mac\_bolan00](#): > > original mission impossible - “the council” How do you figure this one is hated by most fans of the series? The ratings at [TV.com](http://TV.com) are quite good, and better than most of the episodes that season (and that was one of the classic Landau/Bain seasons, when they were racking up acting Emmys). Heck, isn’t it the one the producers later chose to show on the big screen overseas, figuring it was good enough to pass as a feature film? ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-episodes-of-shows-you-like-but-most-fans-hate/589391/49 "2011-07-20T03:20:41Z")
Well, at least for an honorable mention, since it was a movie spinoff that only got shown on television and not a theatrical release as planned, I’ll say: _G.I. Joe: The Movie_. The 1987 animated version, not the 2009 live-action one. I don’t think I’ve met or read of a single other person who liked this one. Even the _screenwriters_ had problems with it. ☹ I always thought it was awesome. (Though, for the record, the only thing Lt. Falcon was good for was having an [action figure](http://www.yojoe.com/action/88/ltfalcon.shtml) that I could pencil a mustache on and use as Saddam Hussein when I was a kid, and being in that later Very Special Episode where he got hooked on cinnamon-flavored cocaine. ---
**Author:** ![Stowed\_Bob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stowed_bob/32/3312_2.png) [@Stowed\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stowed_Bob)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-episodes-of-shows-you-like-but-most-fans-hate/589391/50 "2011-07-20T05:42:37Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > The final episode of Battlestar Galactica was exactly what it was supposed to be. If you didn’t like the final episode, why were you watching the show in the first place? Humanity’s extinction. They had the population total in the opening credits, and it’d been ticking down. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-episodes-of-shows-you-like-but-most-fans-hate/589391/51 "2011-07-20T10:19:35Z")
There doesn’t seem to be a lot of respect for a TNG episode called “The Royale” but I thought it was clever in a way only a handful of _Trek_ episodes are, across all the shows. As with “A Piece of the Action” and “The Arsenal of Freedom”, the characters are stuck in some goofy seemingly-intractable situation, and the solution doesn’t call for moral arguments or bullshit sanctimony - but just _going_ with it and playing by the situation’s own rules until you reach the conclusion. Well, plus I first watched it with a bunch of Ottawa Trek fans, and when Riker, Data and Worf tried to leave through the revolving door and simply kept coming back into the lobby, somebody in the back said “A wise guy, huh? nyuk-nyuk-nyuk-nyuk…” ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-episodes-of-shows-you-like-but-most-fans-hate/589391/52 "2011-07-20T11:14:09Z")
I’d also like to go on the record as liking _The Principal and the Pauper_, _That '90s Show_, _Saddlesore Galactica_ and _Threshold_. The Doctor Who episode _Love and Monsters_ is widely regarded as the worst post-revival episode, but I enjoyed it for what it was - a comedy piece about the Doctor as seen from an ordinary Joe, which doesn’t take itself seriously and has a monster-of-the-week as designed by an elementary school kid. If I may draw from the world of music, _It’s Hard_ is considered to be the worst of the Who’s albums, but I personally love it - the musicianship isn’t very Who-ish, but the songwriting is sublime. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-episodes-of-shows-you-like-but-most-fans-hate/589391/53 "2011-07-20T17:29:00Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I’d also like to go on the record as liking _The Principal and the Pauper_, _That '90s Show_, _Saddlesore Galactica_ and _Threshold_. > > The Doctor Who episode _Love and Monsters_ is widely regarded as the worst post-revival episode, but I enjoyed it for what it was - a comedy piece about the Doctor as seen from an ordinary Joe, which doesn’t take itself seriously and has a monster-of-the-week as designed by an elementary school kid. > > If I may draw from the world of music, _It’s Hard_ is considered to be the worst of the Who’s albums, but I personally love it - the musicianship isn’t very Who-ish, but the songwriting is sublime. _Love and Monsters_ is what I thought of when I saw the thread title. Like a lot of the episodes mentioned here, I think it’s more polarizing than simply unpopular. I think it’s one of the best Who episodes ever, and I remember other people saying the same thing when it came out (at the same time that others were hating on it). I also liked _The Principal and the Pauper_, though I agree that the idea is better than the execution. I was surprised to learn years after it aired that some people, including Harry Shearer, apparently, hated it. I’d mostly stopped watching the Simpsons by the time of _That 90s Show_ and I didn’t see the episode, but I also didn’t understand the hatred of that one. The rolling timeline had been an ongoing gag for the Simpsons for over a decade at that point! For some reason, no one had a problem with Homer being in high school from the moon landing through to the “clear foods” fad, but as soon as they crossed into the 90s people couldn’t take it. I wonder what the average age of viewers of the Simpsons is. It blows my mind that the vast majority of its viewers probably weren’t alive when it premiered! ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-episodes-of-shows-you-like-but-most-fans-hate/589391/54 "2011-07-20T18:04:15Z")
> [@Alan\_Smithee](#): > > I wonder what the average age of viewers of the Simpsons is. It blows my mind that the vast majority of its viewers probably weren’t alive when it premiered! I’d be quite surprised if a majority (let alone a vast majority) of _Simpsons_ viewers were under 22. I’ve tried to check this, but current demographic info is hard to find. ---
**Author:** ![MegaBee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f0a364/32.png) [@MegaBee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MegaBee)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-episodes-of-shows-you-like-but-most-fans-hate/589391/55 "2011-07-20T18:30:43Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > Well, at least for an honorable mention, since it was a movie spinoff that only got shown on television and not a theatrical release as planned, I’ll say: _G.I. Joe: The Movie_. > > The 1987 animated version, not the 2009 live-action one. > > I don’t think I’ve met or read of a single other person who liked this one. Even the _screenwriters_ had problems with it. ☹ I always thought it was awesome. The opening alone makes that movie worth seeing. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-episodes-of-shows-you-like-but-most-fans-hate/589391/56 "2011-07-20T19:14:16Z")
Well put me down for loving the last episode of **The Sopranos**. Then I started hearing from my friends that hated it, thought their cable went out, didn’t think it proved that he died, etc etc. I don’t want to rehash it here, but I thought it was flawless. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-episodes-of-shows-you-like-but-most-fans-hate/589391/57 "2011-07-21T06:44:21Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > 1. “The Zeppo” from Buffy. This one isn’t as universally hated as the previous one but most fans don’t like it. I liked it a lot. I find it hilarious how it made fun of the cliches the show was obviously completely aware of and how the “real” episode takes place mostly off screen and we just watch a Xander story that takes place around the edges. > [@Andy\_L](#): > > I didn’t know that people hated “The Zeppo” - it’s one of my favorite episodes. > [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > 😕 Bwuh? After “The Body” and “Hush”, isn’t “The Zeppo” held up as the best episode of Buffy ever by pretty much everyone? > [@Mahaloth](#): > > Yeah, I thought it bordered on being a popular episode. I love it. Yeah the Zeppo episode of Buffy definitely doesn’t count. It’s one of my favorite episodes. Everyone I know who likes Buffy likes the episode. It’s consistently considered one of the best episodes of Buffy. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-episodes-of-shows-you-like-but-most-fans-hate/589391/58 "2011-07-21T07:03:25Z")
> [@Alan\_Smithee](#): > > I also liked _The Principal and the Pauper_, though I agree that the idea is better than the execution. I was surprised to learn years after it aired that some people, including Harry Shearer, apparently, hated it. Fans of a show have a lot invested in the canon. So when writers mess with that canon in ways that fundamentally alter what has been established it tends to upset the fans. One of the reasons Harry Shearer dislikes the episode is because he feels as though it was an insult to fans. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-episodes-of-shows-you-like-but-most-fans-hate/589391/59 "2011-07-21T12:37:28Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > Fans of a show have a lot invested in the canon. So when writers mess with that canon in ways that fundamentally alter what has been established it tends to upset the fans. One of the reasons Harry Shearer dislikes the episode is because he feels as though it was an insult to fans. Even the current writers seem to hate it. A 2010 episode where The Simpsons go curling (“Boy Meets Curl”) includes multiple references to Skinner being Agnes’ biological son. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-episodes-of-shows-you-like-but-most-fans-hate/589391/60 "2011-07-21T12:48:35Z")
> [@Stowed\_Bob](#): > > Humanity’s extinction. They had the population total in the opening credits, and it’d been ticking down. Wait, you honestly really expected the series finale to be the final triumph of the Cylons as they exterminate the last human beings? That’s what the show should have been about? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-episodes-of-shows-you-like-but-most-fans-hate/589391.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-episodes-of-shows-you-like-but-most-fans-hate/589391.md?page=4)