# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/101 "2004-11-02T13:40:29Z")
I guess so. I had never heard of Alton Brown or his show _Good Eats_ until just now. I checked the IMDb for a description of the show, but it doesn’t tell me much. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/102 "2004-11-02T13:46:39Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > As for the dating of the handicapped scenario, they did it right in _The Rockford Files_. Jim dated the blind lawyer, Beth Davenport, for a while and she remained as a recurring character. Not quite. Beth Davenport was Rockford’s lawyer, and considering his brushes with the law, she was a frequently recurring character. The blind woman Jim dated was Megan Dougherty (played by Kathryn Harrold). In one episode, she and Jim met, he helped her with a case and it ends with them still seeing each other. She came back in a later episode, with hints that their relationship had ended somewhat bitterly. ---
**Author:** ![MidnightRadio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@MidnightRadio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MidnightRadio)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/103 "2004-11-02T13:49:03Z")
> [@chula](#): > > This doesn’t sound like the Sex and the City I’ve been watching. For one thing, they don’t actually talk about sex that much; the talk is generally about dating and relationships. Charlotte is supposed to be the relative prude of the group, so I’m sure there are examples of her freaking out over the sexual requests of a boyfriend. I remember one episode in which Carrie freaked out that a guy wanted her to pee on him. In another, Miranda was put off by the idea of performing oral sex on a man’s anus. Is it really ridiculously unrealistic that there are sexually active women who aren’t interested in engaging in these sexual practices? But Miranda wasn’t just put off by the idea of performing analingus on a guy. Well, she was, but what freaked her out at first was _his_ doing it to _her_. Then, there was the episode where Charlotte was completely freaked out by her boyfriend-of-the-week’s uncircumcised penis. I mean, I can see finding it distasteful in some way or preferring a circumcised penis, but she acted like she thought he was deformed or something, and the other girls had to explain it to her. It really stretched my suspension of disbelief that a (relatively) sophisticated woman of her age would have no idea what circumcision was and that there were both circumcised and uncircumcised penises out there. I’m sure there are other examples of things like this on the show, but I can’t think of any right now. > [@Wendell Wagner](#): > > I guess so. I had never heard of Alton Brown or his show _Good Eats_ until just now. I checked the IMDb for a description of the show, but it doesn’t tell me much. Oh, I just love that show. If you get the Food Network, you should check it out. I made his guacamole for a potluck once and my friend, who refused to try it at first because she didn’t like avacados, tried it and loved it. ---
**Author:** ![shy\_guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@shy\_guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shy_guy)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/104 "2004-11-02T19:37:53Z")
> [@](#): > > Then, there was the episode where Charlotte was completely freaked out by her boyfriend-of-the-week’s uncircumcised penis. I mean, I can see finding it distasteful in some way or preferring a circumcised penis, but she acted like she thought he was deformed or something, and the other girls had to explain it to her. It really stretched my suspension of disbelief that a (relatively) sophisticated woman of her age would have no idea what circumcision was and that there were both circumcised and uncircumcised penises out there. That one was really weird. Even weirder was that neither Carrie nor Miranda, despite bedding a different man almost every week, had ever slept with a man who wasn’t circumcised. Samantha, whose tally of men isn’t even in the double-digits anymore, had only slept with, if I’m remembering correctly, five. It’s like they’re talking about sleeping with two-headed men or something. On the plus side, it does lead to a great line from Carrie: Miranda: (on finding out that 80% of American men are circumcised) Hey, that means that I’ve only slept with, at most, 80% of the population. Carrie: Wow! You’re practically a virgin! Something else I dislike about the episode is that Charlotte’s uncircumcised guy gets circumcised for her after he’s been dating her for, like, a week. Also, while it is nutty that Carrie didn’t back her work up at all, it does fit in with her otherwise established technological illiteracy. There’s that one episode where she emails Aiden and totally freaks out because she never, ever uses email (or instant messenger). ---
**Author:** ![badbadrubberpiggy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/57b2e6/32.png) [@badbadrubberpiggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badbadrubberpiggy)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/105 "2004-11-02T19:56:05Z")
> [@shy guy](#): > > Miranda: (on finding out that 80% of American men are circumcised) Hey, that means that I’ve only slept with, at most, 80% of the population. > Carrie: Wow! You’re practically a virgin! > > Something else I dislike about the episode is that Charlotte’s uncircumcised guy gets circumcised for her after he’s been dating her for, like, a week. > . Actually, it was the opposite of that - Miranda finds out that around 80% of the world’s population of men are NOT circumsized. So that means she’s only slept with 20% of the population, tops. Though I also find it hard to beleive that only Samantha has been with an uncircumsized man. In an episode where Miranda has to figure out how many guys she’s slept with, it ends up being something like 60. Can you honestly tell me, that with the variety of men in NYC, not ONE of those men was uncircumcized? I did find it really funny that Charlotte’s boyfriend broke up with her right after he got circumcised - serves her right for being so prudish about a perfectly natural part of the penis. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/106 "2004-11-02T20:04:59Z")
> [@Wendell Wagner](#): > > I guess so. I had never heard of Alton Brown or his show _Good Eats_ until just now. I checked the IMDb for a description of the show, but it doesn’t tell me much. Remember **3-2-1 Contact**? It’s like that, except about food, and for grownups. Terrific show. ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/107 "2004-11-02T20:55:25Z")
What about flashback/reminiscing episodes? With five minutes of new footage to tie together all the clips? Blech. I’ll give Barney Miller a pass after losing actor, but the rest are guilty! ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/108 "2004-11-02T21:25:14Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > My mother’s caught me twice and I would say that’s much worse than any of my three sisters catching me. Aside from some initial embarassment (and her knocking from then on out), there were no lasting side-effects. > > Hell, I even finished what I was doing when she left in both circumstances. My hat’s off to you, Aesiron. Bravo. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/109 "2004-11-02T21:37:59Z")
FWIW, I don’t think that Robert Reed missed the last episode of The Brady Bunch because he thought the plot was ridiculous, he was banned from the set because he was being a pain to the producers. Maybe because he thought the plot was ridiculous. With all of this shark jumping, I can’t believe no one has mentioned: Character, for some reason, needs to go to California or Hawaii or England or the Grand Canyon. For some reason every other cast member gets to go as well. And this lame device – There is a flashback, or a dream, or a fantasy, and all of the people in it are played by the main cast. Jesse James kills the Bradys, or Maryann is Eliza Doolittle, or Mallory is the Ghost of Christmas Future. Yuck. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/110 "2004-11-02T21:55:13Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > FWIW, I don’t think that Robert Reed missed the last episode of The Brady Bunch because he thought the plot was ridiculous, he was banned from the set because he was being a pain to the producers. Maybe because he thought the plot was ridiculous. One of the great burns was applied to Reed by Sherwood “Schlockmeister” Schwartz: > [@](#): > > If Bob laid an egg while playing Hamlet he’d blame it on lousy writing. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/111 "2004-11-02T21:57:39Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > FWIW, I don’t think that Robert Reed missed the last episode of The Brady Bunch because he thought the plot was ridiculous, he was banned from the set because he was being a pain to the producers. Maybe because he thought the plot was ridiculous. > > With all of this shark jumping, I can’t believe no one has mentioned: > > Character, for some reason, needs to go to California or Hawaii or England or the Grand Canyon. For some reason every other cast member gets to go as well. > > And this lame device – There is a flashback, or a dream, or a fantasy, and all of the people in it are played by the main cast. Jesse James kills the Bradys, or Maryann is Eliza Doolittle, or Mallory is the Ghost of Christmas Future. > > Yuck. :rolleyes: The dreaded “hit in the head” episode. Damn, you! I was suppressing those from memory. E.g./MacGyver gets hit in the head and finds himself in King Arthur’s court. ---
**Author:** ![MidnightRadio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@MidnightRadio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MidnightRadio)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/112 "2004-11-02T23:22:05Z")
> [@shy guy](#): > > Also, while it is nutty that Carrie didn’t back her work up at all, it does fit in with her otherwise established technological illiteracy. There’s that one episode where she emails Aiden and totally freaks out because she never, ever uses email (or instant messenger). Heh! “Can he see me!?” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2004, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/113 "2004-11-03T00:37:37Z")
Not necessarily sitcoms, but in the late 70s (I remember this because of a particular little boy I used to baby sit and his particular program preferences) way too many shows had the plot device involving the pilots on an airliner being incapacitated, and the star of the series would get into the cockpit and have to be “talked down” by air traffic control. The most memorable of these was when the Incredible Hulk took the yoke. ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2004, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/114 "2004-11-03T03:19:17Z")
> [@Peter Morris](#): > > Hey, it’s XXXX’s birthday/ wedding aniversary … lets organize a surprise party for them And apparently planning a surprise party involves excluding and ignoring the future guest of honor to the point that said guest becomes miserable and depressed. But never fear, once the surprise breaks, all is forgiven just in time for next week. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2004, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/115 "2004-11-03T05:20:27Z")
> [@Eats\_Crayons](#): > > :rolleyes: The dreaded “hit in the head” episode. Damn, you! I was suppressing those from memory. > > E.g./MacGyver gets hit in the head and finds himself in King Arthur’s court. Is THAT what happened in that MacGuyver episode?? I ran into that when it was halfway over a while back and was mightily confused. ---
**Author:** ![Darkhold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@Darkhold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darkhold)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2004, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/116 "2004-11-03T05:28:14Z")
Handcuffs… Any sitcom I see handcuffs in it’s only a matter of time before 1. Someone gets handcuffed to someone that they don’t want to be. 2. They can’t find the key leading to a zany search. 3. They end up having to do something important (get married, go on a date, etc) while concealing they’re handcuffed to another person. Double points if the person with the handcuffs is a stripper and the character is getting married the next day. ---
**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:** [November 3, 2004, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/117 "2004-11-03T05:46:53Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > And this lame device – There is a flashback, or a dream, or a fantasy, and all of the people in it are played by the main cast. Jesse James kills the Bradys, or Maryann is Eliza Doolittle, or Mallory is the Ghost of Christmas Future. I began to find this severely annoying in various episodes of _Star Trek: Deep Space Nine_ when one of the characters spends some time in the wormhole with the “Prophets” and gets a series of cryptic observations from the regular cast members. Similarly, when they dabbled in the so-called “evil” parallel universe (which I always thought had an advantage over the regular shows for reduced sanctimony and increased interesting ruthlessness), recently-added members of the cast (i.e. Worf) would have a previously unknown counterpart suddenly appear, even if it stretched credibility beyond the breaking point. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2004, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/118 "2004-11-03T13:33:05Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Is THAT what happened in that MacGuyver episode?? I ran into that when it was halfway over a while back and was mightily confused. Actually, I tuned in about halfway through also. “Er, why is MacGyver being chased by a knight?” But at the end (oh, please, as if we need a spoiler here), he wakes up lying in the street with “Merlin” as the ambulance medic who’s bandaging up his head. And there’s the requisite schtick about a then confused Mac saying to the medic and Pete (Merlin and King Arthur respectively) “Merlin?.. Your Magesty?..” followed by _chuckle, chuckle_ “Wow, Mac. You must really have gotten a bump on the head.” :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: Help, I can’t stop my eyes from rolling! Oh, look! My tonsils! ---
**Author:** ![cowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2004, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/119 "2004-11-03T14:24:30Z")
On the subject of dating people with disabilities, who disappear in the next episode: remember in _Night Court_, Bull’s blind girlfriend? She was cool. Roz: “It’s the blind … leading the blank.” Good times. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2004, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885/120 "2004-11-03T14:34:55Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > …I did some Googling and came up with several sites about **a robotic woman** built by the Air Force [snip]… Bob Cummings played the doctor, Julie Newmar played **AF709** , the doll. Something just clicked here for me…does anyone else think this might be the origin of the name of Star Trek’s Seven of Nine? Anyway. Stupidest sitcom plot I ever saw was on Golden Girls, where the terrible trio develop a roll of old forgotten film and discover one that shows Blanche in bed with Rose’s now-dead husband Charlie. Name calling, accusations, hurt feelings, and finally reconciliation ensue, until the end of the episode when Dorothy looks at the rest of the photos and finds pictures of Blanche in bed with sundry other objects as well. “Girls! Don’t you see? These are **double exposures**! Blanche never slept with Charlie! She just took pictures of herself in bed with a used roll of film, and we’re so stupid, we mistook a shadowy, transparent image of a fully clothed man superimposed over her bed for a man who was _actually in bed with her!_ You’d think the fact that he appears to be standing up and floating above the sheets might have tipped us off. I mean, look here, you can see the wallpaper through his forehead and everything! Gosh, are we dumb or what?” Dammit, I liked this show, and still do, but this was one of the LAMEST plot devices ever. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-absolutely-ridiculous-sit-com-episodes/271885.md?page=7)