# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2021, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/41 "2021-04-11T13:05:01Z")
Earlier thread, with some interesting examples. > [@The single Sci-Fi episode](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-sci-fi-episode/715478): > > Looking for shows that are set in the real world, more or less, but which have a single or very occasional episode with science fiction/ fantasy/ supernatural elements. Examples: \*Happy Days \*had at least two. There was the Mork episode that made Robin Williams famous, and another episode where Fonzie challenges and beats the Devil. \*MASH \*had an episode where the spirit of a dead soldier wanders around the 4077 for a day before going to the next place. \*Starsky & Hutch \*had an episode where… ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2021, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/42 "2021-04-11T13:18:13Z")
Another, more recent thread on the same topic. > [@Shows that break reality/introduce supernatural elements but](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-break-reality-introduce-supernatural-elements-but/851639): > > …its not really part of the show. Or like only .001% part of the show. You know what I mean? 30 Rock: Kenneth is immortal. Night Court:Aliens exist and beam people out of court. That sort of thing, other examples? ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@salinqmind1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind1)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2021, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/43 "2021-04-11T13:59:06Z")
That episode was HYSTERICAL. Marcy playing a ‘cabin boy-girl’ trying to show Steve that she was a girl, holding open her shirt, screaming ‘I’m a girl! Look at these! LOOK!’ and him squinting at her chest, lol. And Peg looked just magnificent in that green gown, a takeoff on Maureen O’Hara in the old Technicolor pirate movie of the 40’s. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2021, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/44 "2021-04-11T14:47:16Z")
Was “Sub Rosa” the one with Beverly Crusher’s ghost lover? Yeah that one was definitely a WTF episode. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2021, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/45 "2021-04-11T15:13:45Z")
Most of the examples given here are outright fantasy or science fiction elements being added to a show and then dropped immediately. There are also ones where something is established about a character that’s reality-based, but it’s dropped in all future episodes. The one that I’m thinking of is the episode of _The Big Bang Theory_ (“The Solder Excursion Diversion”, Season 9, Episode 19) where Sheldon shows Amy the storage space he rents where he keeps every old thing he ever owned, since he didn’t want to throw away anything. No mention is made of this in any other episode. It doesn’t fit with any of Sheldon’s other mental problems. I think this has happened in other programs. Don’t expect even good programs to be very consistent. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2021, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/46 "2021-04-11T15:31:51Z")
If animated shows count as shows, Daria, which is normally set in an entirely realistic world, has the episode “Depth Takes a Holiday” where the characters discover randomly encounter the anthropomorphic personifications of holidays, who are people now. This is of course never mentioned again. ---
**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:** [April 11, 2021, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/47 "2021-04-11T15:47:40Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > There are also ones where something is established about a character that’s reality-based, but it’s dropped in all future episodes. Like “Amir Tamzarian” (Principal Skinner) on _The Simpsons_. In fact, at the end of that episode the judge declares that he is, from then on, “Seymour Skinner” and that his true identity is to remain unmentioned “under penalty of torture.” In several subsequent episodes, “Skinner” is then portrayed as Anges’ actual son. ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2021, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/48 "2021-04-11T16:24:43Z")
The Dick Van Dyke episode with the walnuts. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2021, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/49 "2021-04-11T17:39:29Z")
That was a [bottle episode](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottle_episode). They were probably having cash flow problems at the time. That episode makes the list of “examples of bottle episodes” on sites such as Wikipedia (linked above) or [TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/BottleEpisode/LiveActionTV). Admittedly, the TV Tropes list is huge, so it’s not surprising to show up on that one. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2021, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/50 "2021-04-11T18:26:20Z")
Cool! Cheers. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2021, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/51 "2021-04-11T18:38:08Z")
There was another episode of _The X Files_ where Mulder and Scully visit a vampire village. Scully finally witnesses an actual supernatural occurrence and at the end of the episode they stare at each other dazed by the implications. I never watched the show that often but I assume Scully was back to her usual sceptical self in the next episode, so what was even the point of this episode? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2021, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/52 "2021-04-11T20:29:11Z")
Not quite as extreme as some of the shows mentioned here, but I recently discovered an episode of _The Bionic Woman_ that is an homage (or ripoff, if you prefer) of Stanley Kubrick movies. Jamie matches wits with an intelligent computer, and when a B-52 crew is preparing to drop a bomb the dialog is taken directly from _Dr. Strangelove_. > [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > What I first thought of from the thread title is the various shows with backdoor pilot episodes. Especially the ones that have very little screen-time for the main cast. The _Top of the Heap_ pilot in _Married With Children_ and the _Mayberry RFD_ pilot in _Andy Griffith_ , for example. There’s was a backdoor pilot episode of _The Brady Bunch_ about friends of the Bradys who adopted three kids. That one also had Ken Berry. ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2021, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/53 "2021-04-11T21:23:36Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > There’s was a backdoor pilot episode of _The Brady Bunch_ about friends of the Bradys who adopted three kids. That one also had Ken Berry. I remember that one. It was brutal. Way too cloying. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2021, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/54 "2021-04-12T06:29:44Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Was “Sub Rosa” the one with Beverly Crusher’s ghost lover? Yeah that one was definitely a WTF episode. Yes, and yes. There’s actually a bit of controversy in that episode and how close it was to the plot of an Anne Rice romance novel. I know that SFDebris, a fairly lauded Trek and SF reviewer, gave it a score of 0 because the former teacher in him identifies it as clear plagiarism. The plot, for any who don’t know, is that Dr. Crusher (the main doctor on the Enterprise) goes to the funeral of her grandmother at this Scottish colony that basically lives like it’s the 1800s. She reads about this younger lover in her grandmother’s diary, and then encounters him. He turns out to be a ghost who basically brainwashes her with pleasure, leading to her deciding to leave her entire life as a doctor to live on the colony with him. The people on the Enterprise get suspicious, both for what is happening to Crusher and a bunch of storms which shouldn’t be possible due to the colony’s whether control systems. They find some weird energy in the grandmother’s grave and exhume it, only for her corpse to reanimate (!). They wind up having to disintegrate her to stop it, as well as destroy this candle the ghost has been using as a receptacle. It’s explained as this parasitic lifeform who uses the candle to stay alive between hosts. It’s just so utterly bizarre when you watch it. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2021, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/55 "2021-04-12T07:10:03Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > Grimm had an episode where the monster of the week instead of being the standard human animal hybrid from folk tales like every single other episode was a golem created by jew magic. Even the friendly werewolf that was usually the Grimm’s source of knowledge about all the other creatures was like “I dunno wtf that is”. That show was inconsistent anyway. They had the witch creatures that could make potions and cast spells. How is that a CREATURE? I mean, a werewolf is a creature, but creatures don’t evolve a magic-potion-making ability. ---
**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:** [April 12, 2021, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/56 "2021-04-12T07:15:14Z")
Eh, they also looked like decaying corpse-people in their true form, so definitely creatures. The magic potions are just their culture, man. (IIRC, other Wessen are also shown making potions, like Rosalee) ---
**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:** [April 12, 2021, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/57 "2021-04-12T10:51:20Z")
> [@Icerigger](#): > > If anyone remembers Knots Landing a spinoff of Dallas there was an episode where the female cast spent the night in a real haunted house. It featured some ghost girl children who wanted Val to stay and be a mother to them. I was going to ask if that was the one with the alien abduction in the finale but on Googling that was **Dynasty** spinoff **The Colbys** I was thinking of. IIRC the writers basically went “Fuck it, the show’s cancelled anyway - let’s go out big.” ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2021, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/58 "2021-04-12T11:26:51Z")
**Perfect Strangers** was a situation comedy where two cousins were living together, but one was an immigrant from the old country. They did a few episodes where they recreated other things: One episode had the actors recreate an episode of “The Honeymooners”, another had the actors recreate a Laurel and Hardy short. Not WTF - but certainly unusual. And a lot of fun. ---
**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:** [April 12, 2021, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/59 "2021-04-12T12:59:02Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > I never watched the show that often but I assume Scully was back to her usual sceptical self in the next episode, so what was even the point of this episode? A few things at work here. Once every season of the _X-Files_ has a “comedy” episode, of which this was one. Also, every now and then, about once a season also, there is an episode where Scully’s skepticism/faith is tested. Sometimes she’s actually the one who witnesses a supernatural event but almost never discloses it to Mulder. That particular season, it all happened in the same episode. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2021, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754/60 "2021-04-12T13:35:51Z")
The Seinfeld episode that was done from finish to start… so backwards. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-have-one-wtf-episode/939754.md?page=4)