# Shows that have one WTF? Episode **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [April 10, 2021, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754 "2021-04-10T15:31:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**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:** [October 24, 2021, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/242 "2021-10-24T07:19:03Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Come to think of it, only a couple of Sitcom Dads had a life outside the nuclear family. I remember watching Darrin on Bewitched get yelled at by his boss and thinking “You never see this happen to the dads on Dennis the Menace or Ozzie ‘n’ Harriet or Father Knows Best or My Three Sons…” Steve Douglas (Fred MacMurray) was an aerospace engineer. (Hey, it was the early '60s!) He traveled all over the US, not just to the office and back. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2021, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/243 "2021-10-25T17:04:25Z")
_Farscape_, which practically ran on WTF, went to new heights with the episode “Scratch ‘n’ Sniff.” The episode (a more comedic “breather” episode) is told via flashback, by the main character, John Chrichton (who, at this point in the series, probably qualifies as “Not Technically Sane,” and in this episode specifically, is also “Not Particularly Sober”). It’s many smash cuts, rewinds, and blatant absurdities confuse more than explain. One of my favorite episodes. ---
**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:** [October 25, 2021, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/244 "2021-10-25T17:52:44Z")
There was an early episode of _ **Hawaii Five-O** _ (the original, not the pale imitation) in which Ricardo Montalban played a suicidal Formula One driver. I’ve blocked most of the story from my memory, but so far as I recall McGarrett spent most of it trying to keep him from driving off a mountain top. I do remember thinking they must have really been desperate to get some film in the can that week. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2021, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/245 "2021-10-25T20:17:08Z")
WKRP in Cincinnati had one of these. The conservative manager of the station ate some special brownies, and had a Christmas Carol dream. ---
**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:** [October 29, 2021, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/246 "2021-10-29T07:49:58Z")
There’s an episode of _ **Combat!** _ titled “The Sniper,” in which (oddly enough) a sniper (played by Eric Braeden, aka, “Hand Gudegast,” who was perennially cast as a Nazi) is loose in a French village and killing GIs. Pretty standard WWII fare, right? Except the townspeople are protecting him because he happens to be the lover of the woman who owns the local bistro. Yeah, right. IRL, they would have handed him over to the Americans (or lynched him themselves) and then (if she was lucky) shaved the head of the woman and paraded her through the streets as a collaborator. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2021, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/247 "2021-10-29T23:00:37Z")
A more WTF episode of that series might be the flashback episode giving the backstory of the immortal character whose name I’m too lazy to look up, ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2021, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/248 "2021-10-30T01:18:12Z")
Has anyone mentioned “The Timeless Child” episode of _Doctor Who_? Because that episode completely destroyed a half century of television history. ---
**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:** [October 31, 2021, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/250 "2021-10-31T00:38:27Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Eric Braeden, aka, “Hand Gudegast” That’s _Hans_ Gudegast! 😠 ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2021, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/251 "2021-10-31T14:21:33Z")
That’s _Hedley_. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2021, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/252 "2021-11-01T10:11:12Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](#): > > Has anyone mentioned “The Timeless Child” episode of _Doctor Who_ ? Because that episode completely destroyed a half century of television history. Weirdly, that’s one of the very, very few Doctor Who retcons I’m fine with, in part because it shuts up all the “but they’re only allowed X number of regenerations!” whining. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2021, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/253 "2021-11-01T10:40:47Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > YMMV, but I thought all the shitting-down on Larry’s world just came across as heaped on for the sake of heaping on. My mileage definitely varies. The Larry Sanders finale was one of the best sitcom finales ever written. Not only did it fit in perfectly with the show, it was one of the best written and performed episodes of the entire series, perhaps THE best. And that’s notable given how poor series finales generally are. It sealed the show’s reputation as one of the absolute best American series ever. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2021, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/254 "2021-11-01T10:48:29Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > In that inst Yep. It’s a sitcom, folks, not scripture. There’s no “canon.” ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2021, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/255 "2021-11-01T13:15:12Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > > [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](#): > > > > Has anyone mentioned “The Timeless Child” episode of _Doctor Who_ ? Because that episode completely destroyed a half century of television history. > > Weirdly, that’s one of the very, very few Doctor Who retcons I’m fine with, in part because it shuts up all the “but they’re only allowed X number of regenerations!” whining. Plus a lot of that could have been the Master simply messing with her head. ---
**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:** [November 1, 2021, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/256 "2021-11-01T15:05:06Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](#): > > Has anyone mentioned “The Timeless Child” episode of _Doctor Who_? Because that episode completely destroyed a half century of television history. It doesn’t affect anything other than the number of regenerations (and they gave the doctor infinite regenerations several years ago). I find it a potentially terrible change – or a very good one. Depends on how it’s handled. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2021, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/257 "2021-11-01T15:56:57Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > It doesn’t affect anything other than the number of regenerations (and they gave the doctor infinite regenerations several years ago). Oh come on, they didn’t have to rewrite the entire history of the Time Lords to do that. Why didn’t they just have the newly regenerated 14th Doctor explain that the gender change altered her chromosomes from XY to XX, and that extra chromosomal arm means another 13 regenerations? That would’ve explained the Master’s extended life too. And I hate the idea of infinite regenerations. Who needs an immortal Doctor? Takes all the danger out of the suspense. ---
**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:** [November 1, 2021, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/258 "2021-11-01T16:02:21Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](#): > > And I hate the idea of infinite regenerations. And from a TV show standpoint, they’re never going to get anywhere close to “infinite” episodes, so why make such a silly pronouncement? ---
**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:** [November 1, 2021, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/259 "2021-11-01T16:31:27Z")
The Benson “Halley’s Comet” episode. Benson and Mrs. Kraus end up locked in the basement when Halley’s Comet passes overhead. They escape and discover that everyone else has been turned to dust (very Night of the Comet)… I remember the visual of the regular cast’s costumes with dust for bodies was really freaky as a kid. We then see flashes forward to the two them having had children together–Benson dresses like a Revolutionary War general and Mrs. Kraus, I think, dresses like a queen. IIRC, it’s a dream one of them had while locked in the basement. I thought it was pretty wild for that show. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2021, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/260 "2021-11-01T17:01:07Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > And from a TV show standpoint, they’re never going to get anywhere close to “infinite” episodes, so why make such a silly pronouncement? I’m not talking about from a TV show standpoint, I’m talking about the standpoint of the story itself. ---
**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:** [November 1, 2021, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/261 "2021-11-01T23:23:50Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > The Benson “Halley’s Comet” episode. > > Benson and Mrs. Kraus end up locked in the basement when Halley’s Comet passes overhead. They escape and discover that everyone else has been turned to dust (very Night of the Comet)… > I remember the visual of the regular cast’s costumes with dust for bodies was really freaky as a kid. > We then see flashes forward to the two them having had children together–Benson dresses like a Revolutionary War general and Mrs. Kraus, I think, dresses like a queen. > > IIRC, it’s a dream one of them had while locked in the basement. > > I thought it was pretty wild for that show. I vaguely remembered that. I was surprised to see that Inga Swenson is alive and possibly well. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2021, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/262 "2021-11-01T23:30:21Z")
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