# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![kath94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/67e7ee/32.png) [@kath94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kath94)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/61 "2010-03-16T19:29:53Z")
Nearly every episode of The Wonder Years got me. I particularly remember Kevin & Winnie’s first kiss, Kevin goes to work with Dad & realizes what crap Dad puts up with, etc. ---
**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 16, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/62 "2010-03-16T19:41:21Z")
> [@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 might just have to go on thinking your some sort of robot…or a vampire. 😛 I’m not Tengu, but I feel the same way as him. I’ve owned pets, but I don’t like/trust dogs. And besides, a dog dumb enough to wait for _Fry_ deserves whatever he gets. Or maybe I was still “distracted” from the Leela/Amy wrestling & torn clothing scene. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/63 "2010-03-16T19:47:17Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Ah, the “Very Special Episode.” Not really a fan. Very special episodes are pretty much history, as the current vogue is for sitcoms to have continuity. The Scrubs episode alluded to upthread, when Cox’s friend dies, is a good example. It builds from prior events and has future consequences. Poignancy fails in such things as that episode of Family Ties when Alex’s never-before-seen “best friend” dies and he feels guilty, goes through therapy, and resolves his issues in an hour, and there is no further reference to the events. The good acting seen in the episode is wasted. Answering the thread question, I’ll throw in another Scrubs: the death of JD’s father and Cox’s incompetent but genuine compassion. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/64 "2010-03-16T19:51:30Z")
> [@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. I pretty much despise that show, but that episode works. It provides subtext for Will that explains why he is often such a jackass. Not EXCUSING it, mind you. It’s not even trying to excuse his folly. But he’s a jerk just for the sake of being a jerk, and he’s more self-aware of his failings than he usually seems. ---
**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, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/65 "2010-03-16T19:53:41Z")
> [@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’m a pet owner (two dogs), and the ending of _Jurassic Bark_ doesn’t do a thing for me - and I’m usually crying like a baby when I watch animal rescue shows. It’s the song, I think. It’s so absolutely horrible. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/66 "2010-03-16T20:15:47Z")
All you _Jurassic Bark_ non-weepers need to get your Tyrell replicant emotion chip BIOS flashed. There’s an upgrade out that’ll make you seem more human. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/67 "2010-03-16T20:33:46Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > I’m a pet owner (two dogs), and the ending of _Jurassic Bark_ doesn’t do a thing for me - and I’m usually crying like a baby when I watch animal rescue shows. It’s the song, I think. It’s so absolutely horrible. This. I’m not a \*Futurama \*fan, which I think had a lot to do with it. That said, reaquainting myself with the story of Greyfriars Bobbie and re-reading George Graham Vest’s eulogy for Old Drum had me literally in tears. Quite embarassing as I’m at work. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/68 "2010-03-16T21:02:59Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > I’m a pet owner (two dogs), and the ending of _Jurassic Bark_ doesn’t do a thing for me - and I’m usually crying like a baby when I watch animal rescue shows. It’s the song, I think. It’s so absolutely horrible. Odd. I hate dogs, and yet that episode moves me. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/69 "2010-03-17T00:09:26Z")
A couple of the shows mentioned aren’t really sit-coms, but dramadies. In that case, could Desperate Housewives be included? Another one from MASH, and I was horrified when I originally watched it at a young and tender age. Some korean woman had a baby girl by an American. No one wanted the baby and they ended up taking her to a Korean monastery to be raised by monks. They rang a bell on a rope, and I think left her in a basket on the doorstep? I realize there was a war on but - no orphanages who would take her? Sad. ---
**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 17, 2010, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/70 "2010-03-17T00:38:29Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > Another one from MASH, and I was horrified when I originally watched it at a young and tender age. Some korean woman had a baby girl by an American. No one wanted the baby and they ended up taking her to a Korean monastery to be raised by monks. They rang a bell on a rope, and I think left her in a basket on the doorstep? I realize there was a war on but - no orphanages who would take her? Sad. Right. I believe it was stated that the US was the only country that had no real plan for these kind of kids. Not sure if that is true or not, but it is sad. ---
**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 17, 2010, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/71 "2010-03-17T00:53:34Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > _Jurassic Bark_ didn’t move me, either. Too manipulative. Pretty much. Seymour spending the rest of his days doing nothing but waiting for Fry was just eyerollingly over the top. The episode where he found out that Yancy had named his son after him did the ‘his loved ones in the 21st century miss him’ thing a LOT better than Jurassic Bark did. Because his family moved on…they missed him, but they moved on. It was real emotion, not ‘and it’s SAD, see?’ knife twisting. ---
**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 17, 2010, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/72 "2010-03-17T13:21:13Z")
> [@descamisado](#): > > 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. HERETIC! Vereen is one of my favorite performers. He has still got it. A little oddity in that episode: It was established that Wil’s last name is Smith, and his mother and her three sisters were also Smiths. But Daddy’s name was Lou Smith! ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/73 "2010-03-17T14:28:45Z")
Most of the Eunice skits on the Carol Burnett show seemed ultimately more sad than funny to me. One that always stood out to me featured Eunice trying to leave her husband (and him kind of in favor of this), but the Mama character talked them out of it with a rather horrid speech about how neither of them is capable of getting anyone else, so they should stay married. ---
**Author:** ![Brandus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@Brandus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brandus)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/74 "2010-03-17T14:43:32Z")
in _Saved by the Bell_ when Jesse starts using caffeine pills. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljtuGoIIKGs](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljtuGoIIKGs) . Pretty haunting to watch as a young kid. And when Glenn Close was trying photograph _Will and Grace_ for the cover a magazine, but they kept goofing off. Trying to get a real photo out of them, she says, “why don’t you guys just have a baby already”? The look on their faces as their laughter dissolves into a very painful realization was very well done. ---
**Author:** ![No\_Me\_Ayudes\_Compadre](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/no_me_ayudes_compadre/32/5224_2.png) [@No\_Me\_Ayudes\_Compadre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_Me_Ayudes_Compadre)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/75 "2010-03-17T20:26:34Z")
I felt like I aged 20 years when I saw the Wonder Years finale. Also, the episode of Taxi when Jim’s estranged father dies, leaving a bunch of money, a suit and a [cassette tape](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cR4Wb5w-A3Q&feature=related). ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/76 "2010-03-17T21:44:22Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > Pretty much. Seymour spending the rest of his days doing nothing but waiting for Fry was just eyerollingly over the top. My thoughts during that- “Stupid effing dog.” It probably didn’t help that there’s folktales about dogs doing that (waiting at some location for an owner that will never return) all over the world so it seemed hackneyed to me. > [@Brandus](#): > > in _Saved by the Bell_ when Jesse starts using caffeine pills. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljtuGoIIKGs](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljtuGoIIKGs) . Pretty haunting to watch as a young kid. As an adult it just gets hilarious when Jessie collapses, sobbing into Zach’s arms singing “I’m so excited and I just can’t hide it.” ---
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/77 "2010-03-18T00:07:31Z")
There was that episode of Seinfeld where… okay, that one never happened. I thought Luck of the Fryrish was more sad than Jurassic Bark. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/78 "2010-03-18T21:02:19Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > My thoughts during that- “Stupid effing dog.” > It probably didn’t help that there’s folktales about dogs doing that (waiting at some location for an owner that will never return) all over the world so it seemed hackneyed to me. [Those](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greyfriars_Bobby) [aren’t](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hachik%C5%8D) [folktales](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shep_(American_dog)). ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/79 "2010-03-18T21:16:46Z")
I almost never watched **Fresh Prince** , but I believe there was also an episode where one of the characters gets shot. ---
**Author:** ![kingbighair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/13edae/32.png) [@kingbighair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingbighair)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414/80 "2010-03-18T21:28:18Z")
I came here to say the Fresh Prince episode where Will meets his father. I still remember “I learned how to shave without you dad!” Great stuff. > [@Cyberhwk](#): > > I almost never watched **Fresh Prince** , but I believe there was also an episode where one of the characters gets shot. Yep. I believe Carlton takes a bullet for Will. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-poignant-sitcom-moments/532414.md?page=5)