# Television episodes that wouldn’t fly today

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-episodes-that-wouldn-t-fly-today/780312>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [February 20, 2017, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-episodes-that-wouldn-t-fly-today/780312 "2017-02-20T12:21:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 10

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**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\
**Post date:** [January 19, 2019, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-episodes-that-wouldn-t-fly-today/780312/181 "2019-01-19T10:26:41Z")

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> [@Sitnam](#):
>
> All of Seinfeld or any other sitcom that requires missed phone calls or the inability to get in touch with people as a plot device.

That reminds me: **Buffy the Vampire Slayer**. Why wouldn’t the Council of Watchers buy that poor girl a car or a cell phone?

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**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\
**Post date:** [January 19, 2019, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-episodes-that-wouldn-t-fly-today/780312/182 "2019-01-19T11:46:57Z")

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> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#):
>
> That reminds me: **Buffy the Vampire Slayer**. Why wouldn’t the Council of Watchers buy that poor girl a car or a cell phone?

The Watcher’s Council has some really peculiar features. Giles, the Watcher assigned to the only active Slayer in the world, is treated like a minor functionary, who doesn’t get invited to the big meetings or get the important memos in a timely fashion; he only gets attention from the Council when they think he’s violated one of their rules. My headcanon is that for a long time, supernatural threats have been a relatively minor problem, and the Council has therefore become a place where everyone’s focus has been on internal politics and squabbling - so they’re not really prepared when a Hellmouth opens (as opposed to an inactive Hellmouth just causing local weirdness) and genuine world-threatening stuff occurs every May.

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**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 29, 2019, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-episodes-that-wouldn-t-fly-today/780312/183 "2019-01-29T15:00:12Z")

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Flipping through a few of the old SDMB Staff Reports reminded me of one example of a whole show that wouldn’t fly very well today:

> [@](#):
>
> [Did one 60’s superhero get his power from … smoking?](https://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1386/did-one-60s-superhero-get-his-power-from-smoking/)
> 
> …Now about those cigarettes: While most doctors will tell you to _quit_ smoking if you want to be able to continue participating in any sort of strenuous activity such as beating up criminals, 8-Man/Brady/Tobor was advised the opposite: Feeling rundown? Light up!..  
> –SDStaff Scott

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