# Shows that break reality/introduce supernatural elements but **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [April 12, 2020, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639 "2020-04-12T17:20:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/41 "2020-04-13T06:25:07Z")
Gob Bluth’s _illusions_. Brady girls freak out at [transient laundry](https://youtu.be/0Vzogg0RszA?t=48). And who could forget the haunted air conditioner in _The Odd Couple_. Well, just about everybody.☹ ---
**Author:** ![journeyman\_southpaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5e9695/32.png) [@journeyman\_southpaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/journeyman_southpaw)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/42 "2020-04-13T06:40:24Z")
The Dukes of Hazzard had an episode in its final season which was pretty much a ripoff of E.T., in which the Duke boys help out a space alien. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/43 "2020-04-13T09:26:59Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > I was just watching _Life of Brian_ with my son last night (great Easter movie!) and I had completely forgotten that at one point, in a totally pythonesque way, a random alien spaceship zooms by and accidentally saves Brian from falling off a tall building, before spending five minutes zooming through space in a wacky space gunfight > > (actually, maybe that wasn’t even left in the original theatrical release? I don’t know! It sure was weird though) I saw that in the original theatrical release. The fact that no one ever mentioned it I attributed to people’s internal mind censors editing out the memory of it because it was just too incongruous with the whole rest of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/44 "2020-04-13T09:35:49Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > I thought someone had cut off their own arm cause it became evil and that arm became the midget…or something. MIKE and BOB had been partners in supernatural crime. But MIKE said he saw the face of God and was changed. So the arm that had the sigil of evil tattooed on it, he cut that off and went to work as a shoe salesman. The Man from Another Place in the Red Room says to Dale: “Do you know who I am? I am the Arm.” In the reboot of the series, the Arm has evolved into a brain-tree. (Michael J. Anderson did not want to play that character in the reboot.) ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/45 "2020-04-13T09:48:41Z")
The Equalizer had an episode ( **Starfire** ) where the person in peril was a mental patient who was convinced he was an alien. They discover no, he’s a patient in a psychiatric hospital, not an alien but that object he’s carrying around? Not manufactured on earth. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/46 "2020-04-13T11:02:59Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Some of those can be interpreted as dreams (not all, I’ll admit) I would have to go through all of them to see but it seems like an awful lot of them had a “It was all a dream…or was it?” moment. ---
**Author:** ![mandala](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mandala/32/95_2.png) [@mandala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mandala)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/47 "2020-04-13T11:16:28Z")
Battlestar Galactica, a sci-fi show, had angels / supernatural beings who did not do anything supernatural at all, just adding a bit to the mystery at times. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/48 "2020-04-13T11:37:13Z")
M_A_S\*H, in addition to the ghost and Radar, had woo out the wazoo. Korean folk medicine triumphs where Winchester could not, the Jesus episode, a couple others I’m forgetting. The 70s was a very nurturing era for magical thinking. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/49 "2020-04-13T12:41:11Z")
_My So-Called Life’s_ Christmas episode, “So-Called Angels” has a – well, let’s call it a ghost – appearing. It is one of the most moving Christmas episodes ever. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/50 "2020-04-13T12:57:02Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > …And on _M_A_S_H\*, don’t forget that Radar was a precog. That was more played up in the early episodes-- I thought that was just Radar being good at his job, and Colonel Blake being a step behind in his requests. The movie may have been different- it’s been awhile since I’ve seen it. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/51 "2020-04-13T13:36:16Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > - > > _The Six Million Dollar Man_ was not exactly hard science fiction, but it did focus on science and technology. But there was one episode that had a ghost (which turned out to be fake), a pair of psychic twins (who seemed to be real), and a carny fortune-teller who, it was implied, might be a real ghost. And there were two episodes which had a group of aliens, and Bigfoot (who was actually the aliens’ robot, and who was played perfectly by Andre the Giant). ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/52 "2020-04-13T14:10:16Z")
> [@solost](#): > > I thought that was just Radar being good at his job, and Colonel Blake being a step behind in his requests. Wasn’t he able to hear that incoming helicoptor before everyone else? (Maybe he just had better hearing than everyone.) ---
**Author:** ![Jet\_Jaguar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jet_jaguar/32/3562_2.png) [@Jet\_Jaguar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jet_Jaguar)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/53 "2020-04-13T14:46:47Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > Wasn’t he able to hear that incoming helicoptor before everyone else? > > (Maybe he just had better hearing than everyone.) It’s been years since I’ve seen M_A_S\*H so I could be wrong, or maybe it was just my own head-canon, but that was my understanding. Radar had better hearing than anyone else and would be the first to hear the helicopters coming in, and could distinguish if they were loaded or empty from the sound. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/54 "2020-04-13T15:49:01Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > And there were two episodes which had a group of aliens, and Bigfoot (who was actually the aliens’ robot, and who was played perfectly by Andre the Giant). At the time, my ten year old brain said “Ohhhh Bigfoot is a robot because Steve fighting a real sasquatch would just be too silly.” …ignoring that there are aliens there. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/55 "2020-04-13T15:54:05Z")
Radar hearing helicopters before everyone else might be plausible, but not him hearing phones before they rang. Weren’t there a couple of times he told an officer “It’s for you”, and then the phone rings? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/56 "2020-04-13T15:55:33Z")
Radar hearing helicopters before everyone else might be plausible, but not him hearing phones before they rang. Weren’t there a couple of times he told an officer “It’s for you”, and then the phone rings? ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/57 "2020-04-13T16:39:31Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > Brady girls freak out at [transient laundry](https://youtu.be/0Vzogg0RszA?t=48). Don’t forget the cursed Tiki idol in Hawaii! ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/58 "2020-04-13T17:04:00Z")
We’ve been binging some of the old _Midsomer Murders_ episodes since we’ve been on lockdown. There were a surprisingly lot of them that had supernatural elements that were played rather straight. One, in particular, involved an old manor that had been a TB sanitarium, now abandoned. Mrs. Barnaby has a car accident when she sees someone on the road running by that building that she thinks she’s run over. Barnaby thinks she imagined the person. In the last scene, they’re driving home in separate cars on that same road, and, in the same place, Barnaby sees a figure on the road that disappears into a brick wall. Cue spooky music. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/59 "2020-04-13T17:11:28Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > And there were two episodes which had a group of aliens, and Bigfoot (who was actually the aliens’ robot, and who was played perfectly by Andre the Giant). Three, actually. Andre played him in the first. Ted Cassidy played him in the other two. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/60 "2020-04-13T17:39:09Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Radar hearing helicopters before everyone else might be plausible, but not him hearing phones before they rang. Weren’t there a couple of times he told an officer “It’s for you”, and then the phone rings? He would’ve heard the electricity moving in the wires. Electricity wires were the medium of travel for the Black Lodge spirits like BOB. This is shown explicitly in _Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me_. The Man from Another Place says “Electricity!” and then it shows power lines and telephone lines and electronic buzzes moving down them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639.md?page=4)