# Most absolutely ridiculous sit-com episodes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 29, 2004, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885 "2004-10-29T17:33:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2004, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/41 "2004-10-30T23:13:51Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > Hell, I even finished what I was doing when she left in both circumstances. Now that takes balls. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2004, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/42 "2004-10-30T23:21:47Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > _Happy Days_- a stiff necked teacher allows Potsy to “sing” his essay about the circulation system, setting in play an incredibly annoying TV commercial more than 20 years later… Man, that show must have _really_ [jumped the shark](http://www.jumptheshark.com/h/happydays.htm) at some point ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2004, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/43 "2004-10-30T23:24:16Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > Now that takes balls. Well, yeah. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/44 "2004-10-31T01:49:03Z")
The whole “pregnant woman giving birth on a stuck elevator” was used in at least half a dozen shows, but I think it’s full flowering came on _Night Court_, when Markie Post had her baby as her labor coach(the female bailiff, the black one) had to holler her instructions down the elevator shaft. _“You’re at the royal wedding. Doesn’t Di look beautiful? And isn’t the Queen Mother wearing a butt-ugly hat?”_ ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/45 "2004-10-31T01:58:15Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > The whole “pregnant woman giving birth on a stuck elevator” was used in at least half a dozen shows, but I think it’s full flowering came on _Night Court_, when Markie Post had her baby as her labor coach(the female bailiff, the black one) had to holler her instructions down the elevator shaft. > > _“You’re at the royal wedding. Doesn’t Di look beautiful? And isn’t the Queen Mother wearing a butt-ugly hat?”_ I was a little disappointed when I discovered that a splendidly written show such as “Joan of Arcadia” felt the need to use this plot, but it turned out OK – it didn’t really overwhelm the episode, and nobody involved had any ridiculously maudlin revelations about the wonderfulness of the miracle of birth. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/46 "2004-10-31T02:16:51Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Alex Rieger asks out an operator who’s obese, etc… (Of these, only Rieger ever sees her again, and that’s in a special episode when she’s lost the weight.) Didn’t she end up turning him down when he came to his ‘well, she’s not really so bad’ revelation? ---
**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:** [October 31, 2004, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/47 "2004-10-31T03:29:03Z")
> [@Laughing Lagomorph](#): > > IIRC the aliens breathed (meaning exhaled) walnuts. Correction: the aliens breathed _water._ And I think the walnuts contained some substance that turned you into an alien. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/48 "2004-10-31T03:50:02Z")
> [@Snooooopy](#): > > That was the episode where the other kid saved Ricky from being killed by falling rocks in a cave, and guilted him into being his “date” as repayment? Or as they would call it in some circles, his bitch. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/49 "2004-10-31T03:57:45Z")
I know _Sex and the City_ was a fantasy (esp. the part about four working friends having time to lunch together more than once every five years!), but two episodes really got under my skin: Carrie’s computer crashes and she loses all her work, because _she’s never heard of backing up_. She’s a professional writer, and this is the first anyone has told her about putting her work on a disc? Jesus, I put mine on three discs and keep one at the office! Carrie–_who writes a sex column_–totally freaks out because she’s dating a bisexual and a girl tries to kiss her at a party. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/50 "2004-10-31T04:22:40Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > The whole “pregnant woman giving birth on a stuck elevator” was used in at least half a dozen shows, but I think it’s full flowering came on _Night Court_, when Markie Post had her baby as her labor coach(the female bailiff, the black one) had to holler her instructions down the elevator shaft. > > _“You’re at the royal wedding. Doesn’t Di look beautiful? And isn’t the Queen Mother wearing a butt-ugly hat?”_ And then they finally make it out of the elevator, where it turns out her long-lost babydaddy is waiting to propose to her. ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/51 "2004-10-31T13:25:47Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > The whole “pregnant woman giving birth on a stuck elevator” was used in at least half a dozen shows, but I think it’s full flowering came on _Night Court_, when Markie Post had her baby as her labor coach(the female bailiff, the black one) had to holler her instructions down the elevator shaft.\* It was used on “The Nanny”, too. The “twist” in this one is that Fran is stuck in the elevator with her long-time nemesis (forgot her name). ---
**Author:** ![ShockingAlberto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ea924/32.png) [@ShockingAlberto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShockingAlberto)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/52 "2004-10-31T13:45:06Z")
Ooh, ooh, I have one. The tough authority figure with a heart of gold asks his subordinantes to do him a personal favor. They totally foul it up and try to cover their tracks with a reasonable facsimile of what it was supposed to be. The authority figure is fooled, but when he tries to use it, he ends up embarassing himself in front of someone important (Superintended Chalmers’ Law). See: Mr. Belding, Mr. Kotter, Arnold, etc. ---
**Author:** ![ShockingAlberto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ea924/32.png) [@ShockingAlberto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShockingAlberto)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/53 "2004-10-31T13:46:35Z")
Grr, I mean Superintendent. It’s easier just to call him Super Nintendo Chalmers. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/54 "2004-10-31T13:47:22Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > I know _Sex and the City_ was a fantasy (esp. the part about four working friends having time to lunch together more than once every five years!), but two episodes really got under my skin: > > Carrie’s computer crashes and she loses all her work, because _she’s never heard of backing up_. She’s a professional writer, and this is the first anyone has told her about putting her work on a disc? Jesus, I put mine on three discs and keep one at the office! > > \ One of my software deveopers called me from home to tell me that his hard drive crashed and he lost all of his home information and side projects. When I asked him if he had it all backed up, he said that the back up requirements weren’t as strict at his home as they were for my team… He should know better. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/55 "2004-10-31T14:33:58Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Or the fact that there were about 8 Christmas episodes in a war that only lasted three years and had not just begun when the series started. Or Margaret’s complete transformation from Frank’s hose-beast girlfriend to a totally cool and alright comrade of the other soldiers in what would have been, in real time, a matter of months or even weeks rather than the course of a couple years as on the sitcom. And I’m still working on how a Lebanese guy got the name “Max Klinger”. (None of this is to imply I didn’t really like the show, btw.) How about the fact that Colonel Potter was born around 1900 (based on his WWI recollections), but was in his early 60’s? ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/56 "2004-10-31T14:54:29Z")
> [@Governor Quinn](#): > > How about the fact that Colonel Potter was born around 1900 (based on his WWI recollections), but was in his early 60’s? Wellll…it was 1952 or thereabouts in the show. So what’s the problem? Perhaps he was born in 1896 or so. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/57 "2004-10-31T15:04:08Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > Wellll…it was 1952 or thereabouts in the show. So what’s the problem? . 1. He states (in quite a few episodes) that he was 17 or 18 when he fought in France in WWI. 2. That gives him a birthdate of 1900 or so, with a varient of only a year or so. 3. The Korean War took place between 1950 and 1953. 4. He also states that he’s in his early 60’s (62, in at least one episode). 5. However, he can only be in his early 50’s, based on the evidence in 1) and 3). 6. See the problem now? ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/58 "2004-10-31T15:15:57Z")
> [@Governor Quinn](#): > > 1. He states (in quite a few episodes) that he was 17 or 18 when he fought in France in WWI. > 2. That gives him a birthdate of 1900 or so, with a varient of only a year or so. > 3. The Korean War took place between 1950 and 1953. > 4. He also states that he’s in his early 60’s (62, in at least one episode). > 5. However, he can only be in his early 50’s, based on the evidence in 1) and 3). > 6. See the problem now? Maybe he volunteered to fight for the British or French before the US got involved? That could push him back in age at least 4 years. I know, it’s a reach, but given the really ridiculous things in that series, I guess this one is a minor point. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/59 "2004-10-31T18:39:39Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > _Happy Days_- Hank Aaron comes to do commercials for mom & pop hardware stores at what would have been the height of his success.) Not to mention that Aaron somehow has aged 20 years, looking like he might in, oh, 1980. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/60 "2004-10-31T18:43:24Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Invariably the cool guy comes to the conclusion that “You know what? Obese people/people in wheelchairs/people with extra digits/whatever ain’t so bad, they’re just like everybody else and it was a really fun date…”, but then the person they dated is never seen again. (The unaired question of these episodes is “So cool guy- you say she was a cool girl- you gonna go out with her again?” Cool guy: What, are ya drunk?) There was a Walker: TR episode in which he got on very well with a woman in a wheelchair (it must be about the only episode I saw more than half of). I thought it would be cool for the producers and writers to work her in as the communications and computer expert (or anything you can do expertly from a wheelchair), but IIRC, she disapeared. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885.md?page=4)