# Sad/poignant sitcom moments **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 14, 2010, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414 "2010-03-14T02:35:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/41 "2010-03-15T22:00:36Z")
> [@bathsheba](#): > > Becker’s tribute to 9/11. Becker spends the episode being irritated by an old lady he meets on the subway who needs assistance to find where she is going only to discover that she is looking for the World Trade Center stop for a reason. [Beautifully understated.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlsqByD99tM) Wow, yeah. I’ve never seen that show, but that was a powerful clip. Kind of reminded me of something House would do. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/42 "2010-03-15T23:36:34Z")
Married With Children, when they closed the nudie bar. Brought a tear to my eye. > [@bathsheba](#): > > Becker’s tribute to 9/11. Becker spends the episode being irritated by an old lady he meets on the subway who needs assistance to find where she is going only to discover that she is looking for the World Trade Center stop for a reason. [Beautifully understated.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlsqByD99tM) That’s Cliff Clavin’s mother! ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/43 "2010-03-16T00:42:50Z")
_WKRP in Cincinnati…_ The Who is going to play a big rock concert in Cincinnati, at Riverfront Stadium. WKRP is giving away tickets to callers. All the staff are going, even Mr. Carlson, who is taking his son. Johnny cannot find a date, so he tags along with Carlson. (I still remember the line, “Great, I’ll look like I’m there with a narc.”) The next day, most of the staff are quiet about the concert the night before; but Mr. Carlson tells everybody that he had a great time. When the news is broken to him–that 11 people died at the concert–Mr. Carlson is visibly moved. It’s a very poignant moment, contrasted with the silliness of the early parts of the episode involving Johnny’s efforts at finding a date and the call-in contest, and Gordon Jump as Mr. Carlson plays it perfectly. It borders on being a Very Special Episode, but IMHO, doesn’t cross the line. It takes a real-life event; and instead of trying to teach a lesson, simply deals with the event and how it affected people. ---
**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:** [March 16, 2010, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/44 "2010-03-16T01:49:17Z")
I’ll go on record as being completely unaffected by Jurassic Bark. Two other MASH ones. In the episode where they got a ridiculous number of tongue depressors, due to an error at supply, Hawk has a handful of them and is using them to display the futility of the whole thing. He’d pull one out, say it represents one of the old characters, then set it aside, and pull another out to represent that character’s replacement. Then he gets to Henry. He pulls one out, looks at it for a second, then snaps it in two, and sets it aside. ‘Henry Blake died, in comes Col. Potter.’ (Not the exact quote, but it gets the idea across.) He just stated it matter of factly, and went on. The whole thing is ‘none of us matter to this whole thing that’s going on, we’re just tools, like these tongue depressors.’ It’s not what Hawk believes, quite the opposite - which is why he’s talking about it - it’s a good summary of the situation they find themselves in, and he’s not happy with that. Then, on the other end of the emotional reaction scale, there’s an episode (I can’t remember which) where BJ receives a letter from home, and it ends up sending him off on a rant about how he should be home. His daughter doesn’t even know him. His wife has to work (hey, it’s set in the 50s, and made in the 70s). The bit that set him off, specifically, was his daughter mistaking Radar for him, after they met. So, the line that really got me was ‘And Radar! I haven’t even met him, and I HATE him!’ (Or something reasonably close.) That BJ - a good man, if ever there was one - can hate someone at all, let alone someone he’s never met, especially someone as goof natured as Later-Seasons-Radar… ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/45 "2010-03-16T02:00:55Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > Then, on the other end of the emotional reaction scale, there’s an episode (I can’t remember which) where BJ receives a letter from home, and it ends up sending him off on a rant about how he should be home. His daughter doesn’t even know him. His wife has to work (hey, it’s set in the 50s, and made in the 70s). The bit that set him off, specifically, was his daughter mistaking Radar for him, after they met. So, the line that really got me was ‘And Radar! I haven’t even met him, and I HATE him!’ (Or something reasonably close.) That BJ - a good man, if ever there was one - can hate someone at all, let alone someone he’s never met, especially someone as goof natured as Later-Seasons-Radar… On this episode, it’s right after Radar went home (I am sure you remember that BJ actually arranged for Radar to meet up with Peg and Erin in San Francisco—BJ and Radar were on the show together for at least two seasons, it was Trapper that BJ claimed to hate, even though he had never met him) and BJ gets drunk and actually beats up Hawkeye, and destroys the still, a tangible symbol of Hawkeye and trappers friendship, which BJ was jealous of… ---
**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:** [March 16, 2010, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/46 "2010-03-16T02:07:46Z")
:smack: Right you are. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/47 "2010-03-16T02:10:33Z")
Another MASH one. When that show was on, it was on. An ambulance crashes, taking men away(I think) from the MASH to another hospital. \*\*Potter(angry): Who the hell did this? Was O’Donnell drivin’? Radar: Yes, sir. Potter(ranting): That klutz! He isn’t makin’ any points for gettin’ them there fast. He’s gotta get 'em there in one piece!Tell O’Donnell I want to see him in my office. And this time he can shake his can! You got that? Radar(sadly): He’s dead, sir. \*\* The look on Potter’s face when he realizes he was yelling about a guy who died is priceless. He looks like he was punched in the stomach. Radar ends up drafting a wonderful letter, from Potter, to be sent home to O’Donnell’s parents. Potter gladly signs in. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/48 "2010-03-16T13:24:04Z")
> [@footballisplayedwithyourfeet](#): > > There is one episode in the otherwise very cheerful _Fresh Prince of Bel Air_ that always gets me. In this episoed Will’s dad shows up and they grow closer together (making plans for traveling during the summer) only for Will to be stood up at the last moment. The final scene with uncle Phil really hits home. Daddy was played by the great Ben Vereen. There’s also the episode where Wil is trying to do too much, a guy gives him some pep pills, he tells Carlton they are vitamins and Carlton takes a few before the prom. He gives the dance performance of his life, and then collapses and is rushed to the hospital. Wil tells Uncle Phil what happened, abd Phil makes him apologize to the family. That was the first moment I realized what a good actor Wil Smith is. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/49 "2010-03-16T13:45:14Z")
Many of my favorites were already mentioned, but I’ll throw in a few M_A_S\*H ones. Winchester was the guy you loved to hate, and when he revealed his compassionate side, it was always a good payoff: The letter from the girl from Hawkeye’s home town who sent a beech tree leaf. “I can play the notes, but I cannot _make music_.” “I have a father, you have a Dad.” ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/50 "2010-03-16T14:20:22Z")
Richie discovers Fonzie is alone on Christmas. [Guess Who’s Coming To Christmas](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZM9Va2iJIfg&NR=1) (about 2 minutes in) ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/51 "2010-03-16T14:48:34Z")
Two from MASH that always get me: The “a full year in one episode” episode, where at the end they create a time capsule. Margaret was sure that Hawkeye was going to screw it up, and he ends up providing extremely poignant items (such as Radar’s old teddy bear, to symbolize the soldiers who come over as boys, but leave as men). BJ’s wedding anniversary. Peg had sent over a film reel of her and Erin, which ended with Peg dancing to their wedding song. Margaret fills in with, “BJ, I know I’m not Peg. But will you do me the honor of this dance?” ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/52 "2010-03-16T15:58:28Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Two from MASH that always get me: > > The “a full year in one episode” episode, where at the end they create a time capsule. Margaret was sure that Hawkeye was going to screw it up, and he ends up providing extremely poignant items (such as Radar’s old teddy bear, to symbolize the soldiers who come over as boys, but leave as men). I think you might be mixing up episodes. The whole year in one episode was different. The time capsule one was the final regular episode of the show. The year-long one just shows various things happenign throughout the year, including baseball betting and crops growing. They end each year saying, “May the new year be less violent and may we all be home before the end of this one.” ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/53 "2010-03-16T16:06:34Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I think you might be mixing up episodes. The whole year in one episode was different. The time capsule one was the final regular episode of the show. > > The year-long one just shows various things happenign throughout the year, including baseball betting and crops growing. They end each year saying, “May the new year be less violent and may we all be home before the end of this one.” Didn’t the year-long episode also have the running gag about Charles (under Klinger’s advice) betting heavily on the Dodgers to win the pennant? ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/54 "2010-03-16T16:12:37Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Daddy was played by the great Ben Vereen. The interesting thing about casting him was that, since I’d always thought of Ben Vereen as sort of phony and not on the level as an actor (why, I don’t know), I was quite impressed by this performance as the wayward, promise-the-sky-deliver-a-turd father. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/55 "2010-03-16T16:42:19Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Didn’t the year-long episode also have the running gag about Charles (under Klinger’s advice) betting heavily on the Dodgers to win the pennant? Yup. And my favorite side story was Fr. Mulcahy growing the corn with the hopes of eating fresh corn-on-the-cob on the 4th of July, only to have Igor cream them. Fr. Mulcahy: You…you…CREAMED THEM! Igor: Hey - next year you can eat them straight off the cob for all I care! Fr. Mulcahy: You, you…ninny! Huh - the time capsule show was the penultimate episode. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/56 "2010-03-16T18:19:23Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > _WKRP in Cincinnati…_ > > The Who is going to play a big rock concert in Cincinnati, at Riverfront Stadium. WKRP is giving away tickets to callers. All the staff are going, even Mr. Carlson, who is taking his son. Johnny cannot find a date, so he tags along with Carlson. (I still remember the line, “Great, I’ll look like I’m there with a narc.”) > > The next day, most of the staff are quiet about the concert the night before; but Mr. Carlson tells everybody that he had a great time. When the news is broken to him–that 11 people died at the concert–Mr. Carlson is visibly moved. It’s a very poignant moment, contrasted with the silliness of the early parts of the episode involving Johnny’s efforts at finding a date and the call-in contest, and Gordon Jump as Mr. Carlson plays it perfectly. > > It borders on being a Very Special Episode, but IMHO, doesn’t cross the line. It takes a real-life event; and instead of trying to teach a lesson, simply deals with the event and how it affected people. This is the one I came in to mention! ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/57 "2010-03-16T18:22:21Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > I’ll go on record as being completely unaffected by Jurassic Bark. I’m sorry, what? I find this…_disturbing._ Can you say why? Did you feel it was too cheesy? Or maybe you’ve never been a pet owner? 😕 I might just have to go on thinking your some sort of robot…or a vampire. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/58 "2010-03-16T18:24:04Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > I’m sorry, what? I find this…_disturbing._ Can you say why? Did you feel it was too cheesy? Or maybe you’ve never been a pet owner? 😕 I don’t think that’s it. I’ve never owned a pet (except for guinea pigs, and that grudgingly) and frankly don’t even really like animals, and the final scene of _Jurassic Bark_ had me crying like a baby. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/59 "2010-03-16T18:26:39Z")
_Jurassic Bark_ didn’t move me, either. Too manipulative. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/60 "2010-03-16T18:40:10Z")
I’m a sap. The \*Friends \*episode where they are watching the old home movies, with Fat Monica and Big Nose Rachel, and Rachel’s prom date stood her up, so Ross’s dad gets him all tuxedo’ed up to step in and be the hero. Just as he snags the big ass bouquet of flowers from the planter, they pan down to see Rachel’s prom date show up. Ross is crushed and Rachel is oblivious. Killed me. Then the “she’s his lobster” moment ruined it for me, but up until then, my little lip was just a-quivering. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414.md?page=4)