Shows that have one WTF? Episode

Cafe Society
263

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…:grin:

264

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.

265

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.

266

I haven’t watched a lot of Sunny, but from what I have seen, WTF episodes are the default.

267

Yeah, that’s fair.

268

True, but there are still episodes that are extreme outliers.

269

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. :pleading_face:

270

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.

271

Brady Bunch did have a backdoor pilot that ironically starred Ken Berry. He and his wife (Brooke Bundy) adopted three multiracial kids.

272

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.

273

It was kinda tense when it looked like, after he was sedated, he was going to make a confession to Jesse.

274

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!”