# 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:** 12\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![bradyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ec9cab/32.png) [@bradyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bradyguy)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2023, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/263 "2023-01-14T07:30:39Z")
Hmmm…I was trying to reply to “Chronos” here…but I don’t think it will let me… Mork’s appearance on Happy Days was NOT a backdoor pilot. It was intended as a one-off ep…but the ratings were so big that ABC was smart enough to immediately green-light a series about the Orkan alien. Mork and MIndy was a straight-up spinoff of HD. Top of the Heap has been debated fiercely over the years…hard to believe that TV execs thought that would be a good idea for a back-door pilot… Some believe it was also simply a spin-off… Mayberry R.F.D. is really the all-time hybrid BP/SO, isn’t it??? By all accounts, they added Ken Berry to the Andy Griffith cast with the intent of spinning them off into their own series…but it’s the same town…with many of the same characters…all in the same situation…more like an Archie Bunker’s Place or a Three’s A Crowd than a TRUE spinoff… Tomato, Tomahto…😁 ---
**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:** [January 14, 2023, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/264 "2023-01-14T13:46:55Z")
The episode of _Brady Bunch_ that devolved into a whipped cream pie fight and then just ended. The episode of _Little House on the Prairie_ that turned out to be about incestual rape. The episode of _Diffrent Strokes_ in which Gordon Jump molested Arnold and his friend. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2023, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/265 "2023-01-14T14:31:15Z")
_It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia_ has at least a couple of these. The Liberty Bell episode, and that one where they all turn Black. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2023, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/266 "2023-01-14T16:18:08Z")
I haven’t watched a lot of _Sunny_, but from what I have seen, WTF episodes are the default. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2023, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/267 "2023-01-14T16:23:42Z")
Yeah, that’s fair. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2023, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/268 "2023-01-14T17:21:00Z")
True, but there are still episodes that are extreme outliers. ---
**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:** [January 14, 2023, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/269 "2023-01-14T19:33:16Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > There was that episode of Lawrence Welk. > > [https://www.youtube.com/results?search\_query=one+toke+over+the+line](https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=one+toke+over+the+line) My favorite LW moment was when he introduced tap-dancer Arthur Duncan as “A fine gentleman and a credit to his race.” Right, Larry. And some of your best Negroes are friends. 🥺 ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2023, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/270 "2023-01-14T19:47:56Z")
One episode of _Batman: The Animated Series_ (“Showdown”) is mostly a Jonah Hex Wild West story, framed by the device of the main story being recounted to Batman and Robin via a tape left behind by agents of Ra’s al Ghul. ---
**Author:** ![Jay\_Z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Jay\_Z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jay_Z)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2023, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/271 "2023-01-14T22:25:19Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > The episode of _Brady Bunch_ that devolved into a whipped cream pie fight and then just ended. Brady Bunch did have a backdoor pilot that ironically starred Ken Berry. He and his wife (Brooke Bundy) adopted three multiracial kids. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2023, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/272 "2023-01-14T22:40:15Z")
I remember watching that episode of The Brady Bunch as a kid in the 1970s. I don’t think we knew what a “backdoor pilot” was back then, but it did seem an odd episode. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2023, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/273 "2023-01-14T23:01:52Z")
It was kinda tense when it looked like, after he was sedated, he was going to make a confession to Jesse. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2023, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/274 "2023-01-14T23:18:02Z")
Seems like I’m in the minority, but I liked _The Farm_ episode of _The Office_. It was supposed to be the pilot of the spinoff about Shrute farms, but NBC passed on it, so it was shown during the original series instead. Dwight’s brother and sister were certainly unique and both have had pretty good careers regardless; they seemed to have good rapport amongst themselves. “Who’s taking the farm?” Brother: “Not it.” Sister: “Not it.” Dwight: “It!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754.md?page=13)