If I recall correctly, Scully was highly skeptical of anything alien, but she was raised Catholic and still had religious faith, whereas Muldur believed in aliens but was a confirmed athiest. So there were a couple story lines that seemed to have a religious angle, and their roles would reverse so that Scully was the one who wanted to believe and Muldur was the skeptic.
In this vein, sit-com writers in the 80s and 90s felt obligated to include at least one Very Special Episode where the audience tuning in to see that week’s wacky hijinks would instead witness the show ham-handedly addressing some social issue or personal tragedy. And so you got Arnold and Dudley being targeted by a pedophile on Diff’rent Strokes, Natalie almost getting raped on The Facts of Life, and the infamous episode of Saved by the Bell where Jesse gets addicted to “caffeine pills.”
Some of these episodes could be effective, but they were almost always a tonal mess as the writers tried to address a serious subject while also meeting their joke quota. And events of the episode, no matter how traumatic, were never mentioned again or impacted the characters in any lasting way.
Yeah, but it wasn’t really a WTF episode, at least I didn’t think so. It was definitely more of a comic relief episode, but SG-1, Stargate Command and pretty much everybody involved was in character. However, the writers were clever and poked fun at science-fiction TV, their own show, and some of the characters through the meta-joke about “Wormhole Extreme”, a in-show TV show about the “real” SG-1 and Stargate Command. So a show about themselves… within a show.
I thought it was fantastic! And Willie Garson was also fabulous as usual as Martin.
The only Very Special Episode I remember liking was the WKRP episode dealing with the Who concert tragedy.
Don’t forget the Too Close For Comfort episode where Monroe gets kidnapped and raped by two fat women.
The real Santa Claus shows up on “I Love Lucy” in the episode that also invented the “clip show” format The "I Love Lucy" Christmas Show | I Love Lucy Wiki | Fandom
What about that one where Fonz jumps over the shark?
There are examples where taking on a topic made for a great TV comedy.
Titus did a special episode where Titus thought he might have HIV.
Buffalo Bill had at two-part “Jo-Jo’s Problem,” which frankly discussed abortion in Part 2. It was probably the last network TV show where someone actually got one.
Enterprise had an episode that occurred in the “Mirror, Mirror,” (from TOS) universe and it was totally insane. And fantastic! Different opening credits and the ending was unexpected (Hail! Empress Hoshi!).
The above reminded me of another WTF? episode of BtVS - “Superstar.” The opening credits were changed and suddenly Jonathan was a major cast member, among other things. Turns out he made a demonic deal for attention and fame. It didn’t last.
Made for a lot of confused viewers until we figured out what was going on.
There was also an episode of ER (Hindsight) that was done from finish to start.
Also an episode of China Beach called “Holly’s Choice”
I have no other memory of this series from 30 years ago. I had to google “tv show about nurses in Vietnam” to find out what it was called.
Leave It to Beaver* had a Very Special Episode before anyone even thought up the name.
An old friend of Ward’s shows up out of nowhere. He’s down on his luck, so Ward agrees to hire him to do some work around the house. Turns out the old friend was an alcoholic, and he tricks Beaver into raiding the family liquor cabinet for brandy (which the Cleaver’s used for fruitcake.) Naturally the old friend gets drunk, and when Ward finds out what happened, he tears Beaver a new one for giving liquor to an alcoholic.
Then it turns into a VERY Very Special Episode, because it turns out that no one had bothered to tell Beaver the friend couldn’t have alcohol, and Wally tells off Ward for a) concealing the news and b) getting mad at Beaver for trying to help Ward’s friend.
*For those of you unfamiliar with Leave It to Beaver, it was a sitcom that focused on the humorous foibles of a young boy and his slightly older brother. The idea that a kid-centered sitcom in 1960 would veer off into a discussion of how to deal with an alcoholic family friend makes this a truly WTF episode. (The next episode had Beaver not wanting to go to a fancy boy-girl dance.)
Fair enough, but witches at least fit the children stories theme.
It had another one, very close to the end of the run, where Beaver realizes he’s not a cute little kid anymore, and he’s becoming an awkward adolescent. He wonders how anyone could still like him.
It’s clearly meta-- it’s about whether the show has a future now that Jerry Mathers is hitting puberty.
His mother assures him that his parents love him no matter what. I don’t remember what all she says, whether it suggests that the show is one the chopping block, and pleads with the audience to continue watching, or rather, says goodbye, but what she says is meant for the audience as much as Beaver-- and in more than one way. It’s a straight-up message to tween viewers going through the same thing as Beaver, and also to the whole viewership. I wish I had a better memory, but it’s been a long time since I’ve seen it.
I remember that Barbara Billingsley knocked it out of the park, though.
This brings to mind the “George Jefferson gets stabbed in the guts” episode:
Bob’s Burger had the episode “Brunchsquatch” which had fairly mundane plot but had the novelty of each scene animated in a different style. It was very difficult to watch with the constant switching.
Home Movies has a WTF episode that is seriously downbeat, called “Brendon Gets Rabies.” Brendon does not get rabies, which in not a spoiler, because he’s the main character, and this is only about halfway through the first season of, IIRC, 4, so you know Brendon doesn’t get rabies. The title is quite puzzling.
What does happen is that a cat Brendon is cat-sitting gets out, and gets rabies, and naturally, does not make it. It’s really harsh for Home Movies, which is usually light-handed and very funny. There’s even an episode called “Identifying a Body” which involves a real cadaver, and is still hilariously screwball and upbeat. There’s one where Brendon has to fight the local bully, and it’s hilarious, and has a very happy ending.
It’s a cartoon where the main characters are kids, but adults are the target audience. A lot of the humor comes from Brendon and his friends having freedom and getting away with stuff you wish you could have done and gotten away with as a kid. This one episode, which has serious consequences and leaves you with a lump in your stomach, is way off-- and there’s not even a lesson learned, like, vaccinate your pets!
They see that Norman Lear could tackle serious subjects in All in the Family so why can’t they? Because he didn’t suck.
Funny or Die has a great series about very special episodes. My favorite might be when Mr Belvedere addressed the AIDS crisis.
Fairly certain there was an episode of Roseanne where they had to write a character out of the show, and they decided to just have him randomly get abducted by aliens. And the final shot of the episode is literally said guy happily hanging out with two aliens in their space ship, and the guy is never talked about again in the rest of the show.