This sort of thing usually happens in long running comedies where they’re running out of story ideas and throw in melodramatic scenes for good measure.
It doesn’t have to be limited to comedies though, any other TV show’ll do.
My nomination is the Frasier episode **Rooms With a View ** (had to look that one up) I’ve seen this episode a few times. Niles has to have a heart bypass, it’s probably my least favourite of all what with the plot. Actually that one is more of an entire episode rather an just a moment.
That burns me up when we are supposed to laugh at someone and treat everything lightly and then all of the sudden I’m supposed to care about them?? Will Truman’s dad dying on Will & Grace? The whole show is a shrill cartoon and then I’m supposed to really feel for him. Huh?
That’s why I love Seinfeld. Yes, I was secretly pulling for them to declare their love when the plane was going down, but ultimately I’m happy they never asked us to really care whether the characters were happy.
The first (I think) Stefan Urquelle episode of “Family Matters” - Urkel figures out how to isolate his “cool” genes, and then creates a formula from them (or something) that turns him into “Stefan Urquelle”. Laura falls in love with him (knowing full well who he is), but the potion eventually wears off and he turns back into Urkel. The episode ends with Laura turning towards the camera, teary-eyed, and saying something along the lines of “every time I find someone I care about, he always leaves me”.