# 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:** 8
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/141 "2022-02-08T17:13:32Z")
One trope that annoys the fuck out of me- someone claims a supernatural element- ghosts, whatever. The investigator/s find out it is purely mundane, and case closed. But just at the very end, something spooky occurs which indicates supernatural elements anyway. Cheap-ass. ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/142 "2022-02-08T17:29:03Z")
Seinfeld and the episode with Mr Marbles. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/143 "2022-02-08T17:46:10Z")
Yeah. I’ve seen that a lot in TV shows and movies - and it gets really old. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/144 "2022-02-08T19:48:41Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > 30 Rock: Kenneth is immortal. And the very end of the “Leap Day” episode. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/145 "2022-02-08T20:06:09Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > You might have been on somewhat sold ground if you’d said this about the ghost in _Hamlet_ , but the witches in Macbeth are absolutely not MacGuffins. The plot requires that Macbeth encounter something at the beginning of the play that has genuine supernatural abilities to divine the future. That’s a significant attribute that fundamentally shapes - and continues shaping - Macbeth’s actions throughout the rest of the play. I said I’d let you have the last word, but I’ll do better than that: after further consideration, I’ll concede that you’re right. I was so focused on the human nature themes in _Macbeth_ that I was overly dismissive of how deeply the supernatural elements were woven into the fabric of the play. I was ultimately convinced by thinking about Joel Coen’s recent film adaptation, which I thought was superb. I have tremendous admiration for the Coen brothers, but “supernatural” is not the sort of thing one typically associates with their films. Yet Joel Coen’s adaptation is thoroughly spooky from start to finish, shrouded in fog and mystery, and the single character that represents the three witches in the film is the kind of thing that would give a small child nightmares. So I concede the point. ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2022, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/146 "2022-02-09T03:01:48Z")
FWIW some Macbeth productions have Malcolms son (Not sure if thats a real guy or someone added with no lines like the scene im describing) run into the witches at the very end. Implying they were manipulating events for their own purposes. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2022, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/147 "2022-02-09T04:17:39Z")
> [@Jet\_Jaguar](#): > > 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. My head canon? Radar would get twenty minutes advance notice via the radio that there were incoming helicopters full of patients. But instead of telling anyone else and giving them time to prepare, he’d just leave his office and go mingle in a crowd. And then at the last minute he’d announce “Choppers” and everyone would marvel at his special powers as they had to race to the operating room. Underneath that boyish exterior, Radar was a real dick. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2022, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/148 "2022-02-09T04:24:17Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Underneath that boyish exterior, Radar was a real dick. Everyone forgets the Radar of the first season, in which he steals an Army jeep by mailing the parts to his mother. ---
**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:** [February 9, 2022, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/149 "2022-02-09T05:53:55Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > I have tremendous admiration for the Coen brothers, but “supernatural” is not the sort of thing one typically associates with their films. Have you forgotten the _Hudsucker Proxy_? _O Brother Where Art Thou_, too, I suppose, although that one’s more magical realism. ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2022, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/150 "2022-02-09T07:06:29Z")
Its implied Hi can see the future in Raising Arizona. ---
**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:** [February 9, 2022, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/151 "2022-02-09T07:10:58Z")
And that he can sense Leonard Small’s activities before he ever encountered him in person. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2022, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/152 "2022-02-09T08:37:20Z")
Malcolm’s son, or his [brother](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donalbain_(Macbeth)#Role_in_the_play)? ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2022, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/153 "2022-02-09T13:38:57Z")
It’s also implied in **Barton Fink** that Charlie is the Devil and Barton is in Hell. ---
**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:** [February 9, 2022, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/154 "2022-02-09T13:48:02Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > _O Brother Where Art Thou_ , too, I suppose, although that one’s more magical realism. That movie is suppoedly based on Homer’s ‘The Odyssey’, though the Coen brothers claim not to have read it before they made the movie. But, like Fargo’s “based on a true story” claim, they like to obfuscate their inspirations and references. ---
**Author:** ![bleach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bleach/32/3106_2.png) [@bleach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bleach)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2022, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/155 "2022-02-09T14:07:49Z")
There was at least one episode of _The Greatest American Hero_ that had a ghost and possession. It was called **The Beast in Black** and was notable because Ralph could be injured in his super suit by the supernatural entity inside the haunted house. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2022, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/156 "2022-02-09T16:34:38Z")
> [@veryfrank](#): > > I’ve never even seen the original show, but I did read that Baywatch had a spinoff called Baywatch Nights that took the setting and dropped the supernatural into it. Slo-mo buxom running during the day, chasing vampires around the Santa Monica Pier at night. I’m somewhat embarrassed that I know this, but… There were two seasons of _Baywatch Nights_. The first season it was an ordinary private eye show. Mitch Buchanan, lifeguard by day, decides for reasons to become a private detective in his off hours. Angie Harmon, a few years before she was on _Law & Order_, was his partner. The cases they solved were perfectly ordinary crimes. In the second season, to help boost ratings, the show became a supernatural investigation series. They started encountering sea monsters, vampires, Satanic cults, and demonic possession. And of course, evil D&D players. Remember this was the era when _The X-Files_ was huge, and they were trying to piggyback on the whole “Investigators With Sexual Tension Meet Monsters” thing. ---
**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:** [February 10, 2022, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/157 "2022-02-10T18:57:15Z")
Here’s one I just saw on the Canadian show “Murdoch Mysteries”. I don’t know how unusual paranormal stuff may actually be overall on the show, being just 5 episodes into season 1 of a show that’s like 14 seasons long. But in general it seems to be very heavy on science and rationalism. The title character Murdoch, a detective in Toronto in the late 19th century, relies on hard science of the time (and sometimes ahead of the time to the point of creative anachronism) to solve crimes, often with the help of historical characters that drop by, like Nikola Tesla. So I was disappointed to see, in an episode featuring a fictionalized Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a medium seems to be actually channeling Murdoch’s dead fiancee in a seance. I thought, in keeping with the hard science aspect of the show, it would be revealed that she was a fraud, but at the end Murdoch has to admit to Doyle that maybe the medium was on the level, and he should keep a more open mind. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2022, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/158 "2022-02-10T22:39:42Z")
The one episode of _ **Houdini and Doyle** _ I watched had a supernatural element. Something to do with a ghost subway train, as I recall. > **[Houdini and Doyle (TV Mini Series 2016) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4539954/?ref_=tt_ql)** > > Houdini and Doyle: Created by David Hoselton, David N. Titcher. With Michael Weston, Stephen Mangan, Rebecca Liddiard, Emily Carey. At the turn of the 20th century the Metropolitan Police were overwhelmed with bizarre cases so they turned to... ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2022, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/159 "2022-02-11T16:01:22Z")
Phoebe on **Friends** was into the metaphysical and often claimed to be psychic. In one episode, a client died on her massage table and the deceased woman’s spirit went into Phoebe. According to the dead woman’s husband, she always wanted to “see everything”. After Phoebe “takes her” all around NYC, her spirit is finally freed at a lesbian wedding (“_Now_ I’ve seen _everything_!”). ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639/160 "2022-03-09T15:50:24Z")
> [@solost](#): > > that it was actual poltergeist activity, which had been thought at one time to be caused by girls entering puberty. I know it’s been a month since this comment, but I was just thinking about this today. In the 70s, I was a teenager, and the idea that poltergeists could be “solved” by science was quite intriguing to me. Like we were on the verge of a new understanding. It would have been fascinating to have a new scientific understanding of telekinesis. Maybe it was In Search Of the led me to think people could actually understand “these mysteries we will examine.” Instead, they just bullshitted us,. Of course, 45 years later, we’re still where we were. Older, sadder, but wiser. And 45 years later were just beginning to duplicate what the $6M Man had. The Future is taking longer than we thought! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639.md?page=9)