# Terrible episodes of great shows. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 4, 2020, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-episodes-of-great-shows/848934 "2020-03-04T18:47:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![wanderer2575](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/2acd7d/32.png) [@wanderer2575](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wanderer2575)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2020, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-episodes-of-great-shows/848934/121 "2020-03-08T13:21:23Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > For me **Twilight Zone’s** worst episode was **The Bewitchin’ Pool** , followed closely by any that starred Jack Klugman. I agree that “The Bewitchin’ Pool” is high on the suckiness scale, but dissing Jack Klugman? Off with your head! The worst episode for me was “Black Leather Jackets.” By this point (last half of the last season), William Froug was producer and he had no clue of Rod Serling’s original vision or what made a good _Twilight Zone_ episode. There were still a few good ones under his watch, mostly written by Serling, but by this point even Serling was burnt out and was churning out some real crap. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2020, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-episodes-of-great-shows/848934/122 "2020-03-08T13:57:34Z")
The M_A_S\*H episode that I always skip over is the dreams episode. Yeah, I know folks love it. I hate it with the passion of a couple of suns. mmm ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2020, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-episodes-of-great-shows/848934/123 "2020-03-08T14:14:56Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > You’ve evidently forgotten [Major Fred C. Dobbs](https://mash.fandom.com/wiki/Major_Fred_C._Dobbs_(TV_series_episode)). Executive meddling at its worst. The one where Hawkeye and Trapper trick Frank into thinking there’s gold near the 4077? What was so bad about that? (Not that I’ve seen it so recently, but pranks on Frank are generally fun episodes.) ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2020, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-episodes-of-great-shows/848934/124 "2020-03-09T03:15:45Z")
I just finished my third run-through of **Person of Interest**. The episode with the 911 operator mentioned in[this post from the other thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21146560&postcount=74) came to my mind as well, but there was one that was even worse. It’s the one where John has to go live in the ‘burbs with a fake wife in order to get close to the regular-joe person of interest. This type of thing has been done successfully on numerous other shows\*, but an ongoing plot point (and running gag) on POI is that nobody really believes whatever cover identity he’s assumed for the moment because he’s so obviously not just a regular person. So, sending him to play Mr. Normal in the suburbs makes no sense. And to use the impossibly glamorous and sophisticated Zoe Morgan as the fake wife? Ridiculous. Maybe if the plot was really good it would have made up for it, but no such luck. - Mulder and Scully in the ultra-restrictive housing development is a favorite of mine. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2020, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-episodes-of-great-shows/848934/125 "2020-03-09T11:15:41Z")
> [@ekedolphin](#): > > Most of first-season Star Trek: The Next Generation was pretty awful, as were several season two episodes, like “The Outrageous Okona”. > > Deep Space Nine was my favorite Star Trek series, but the worst episode by far was “Let He Who Is Without Sin”. Worf joins an eco-terrorist group for… reasons? I’ve just watched that episode as I finally get to watch DS9, having missed half the series back when it showed. It just functions as another “Oh god, not another bloody Worf episode”, he’s a miserable, nasty a\*\*ehole, as are a lot of the Klingons, but it baffles me why he’s not just shunned by everyone. Sure, when he’s in with the rest of them he’s good at his job, but christ, he’s a drag and the episodes where he’s the main focus are terrible. Gotta kill your own brother? No problem. 40 minute whinge about being himself? Let’s go! I think it’s just a coincidence his reappearance happens as the same time the show gets good after three seasons of snores with Ferengi and Jake episodes. It wasn’t Worf which made the show good. It got good despite his towering depression cloud which he brings in… And yes, he, despite all his years of balance and training in Starfleet, decides to become a hellfire and damnation religious extremist because a few people are enjoying himself. I don’t see this as being out of character. He’s just being the same damn character he always has been… I think if they were going to do this, they should have went full hog and had Worf quietly dispatch some prisoners of Starfleet because he enjoyed the sound of a nice neck snap… ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2020, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-episodes-of-great-shows/848934/126 "2020-03-09T11:38:56Z")
For MASH… I agree on the Hawkeye episode and I also didn’t like the Dreams episode. I didn’t get the olympics one. And I think threre was another similar one. Most of the show was watching them do tug-of-war and similar games. Did other people like that one? ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2020, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-episodes-of-great-shows/848934/127 "2020-03-09T12:53:03Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Any _Magnum P.I._ episode that had anything to do with his ‘wife’ Michelle. What Dreck. I enjoyed those immensely. Plus episodes about her and Lily showed his character growth. Compare the Magnum of Did You See the Sunrise with the Magnum of Unfinished Business. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2020, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-episodes-of-great-shows/848934/128 "2020-03-09T13:07:01Z")
I think the episodes featuring the kid “Seven” in Married with Children were a real bust. He wasn’t funny at all, and it was a relief when he disappeared. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2020, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-episodes-of-great-shows/848934/129 "2020-03-09T14:08:49Z")
> [@wanderer2575](#): > > I agree that “The Bewitchin’ Pool” is high on the suckiness scale, but dissing Jack Klugman? Off with your head! > > The worst episode for me was “Black Leather Jackets.” By this point (last half of the last season), William Froug was producer and he had no clue of Rod Serling’s original vision or what made a good _Twilight Zone_ episode. There were still a few good ones under his watch, mostly written by Serling, but by this point even Serling was burnt out and was churning out some real crap. Hee! I love(d)JK in other stuff. It just seems someone thought he was the perfect actor to star in the maudlin eps which contain endless soliloquies. The melodrama - it bores! ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2020, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-episodes-of-great-shows/848934/130 "2020-03-10T16:54:53Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > The one where Hawkeye and Trapper trick Frank into thinking there’s gold near the 4077? What was so bad about that? (Not that I’ve seen it so recently, but pranks on Frank are generally fun episodes.) They’re practically rid of Frank & Hot Lips but, completely out of character, come up with a plan to keep them so they don’t have to do extra work while waiting for replacements and satisfy the big reset button. Then there’s the big prank itself: they keep Frank around with a gold dental filling and some spray-painted rocks? Where’d they get enough gold paint to cover an entire Jeep, anyway? ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2020, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-episodes-of-great-shows/848934/131 "2020-03-10T18:15:20Z")
> [@wanderer2575](#): > > I agree that “The Bewitchin’ Pool” is high on the suckiness scale, but dissing Jack Klugman? Off with your head! The only Klugman episode I remember is “A Passage for Trumpet,” which i thought was okay. What else was he in? ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2020, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-episodes-of-great-shows/848934/132 "2020-03-10T18:56:17Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > The only Klugman episode I remember is “A Passage for Trumpet,” which i thought was okay. What else was he in? [A Game of Pool](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Game_of_Pool_(The_Twilight_Zone,_1959)) [Death Ship](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Ship_(The_Twilight_Zone)) [In Praise of Pip](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Praise_of_Pip) P.S. _ **NOT** _ the same “Pip” as in “A Nice Place To Visit”. ---
**Author:** ![AlTraina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/altraina/32/50_2.png) [@AlTraina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlTraina)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2020, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-episodes-of-great-shows/848934/133 "2020-03-10T19:08:22Z")
The episode of The Office where Michael comes up with an idea that causes a huge problem in the office. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2020, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-episodes-of-great-shows/848934/134 "2020-04-28T23:00:10Z")
Bumping to add an episode of one my favorite series, Castle. Season 2, episode 7, “Famous Last Words”, where the rock star is killed and they unravel the mystery of her troubled life and murder by interpreting her song lyrics. As if songwriter’s lyrics were that literal. They would have a field day with Phil Collins’ ‘In the Air Tonight’ I was watching in the living room and my wife said from the kitchen 'God, that dialog is awful!. She was not wrong. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2020, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-episodes-of-great-shows/848934/135 "2020-04-29T18:40:16Z")
**Golden Girls** had a lot of clip shows, mainly of the three sitting around the kitchen table eating cheesecake while reminiscing, and Sofia, for some strange reason, is perched on a stool over by the kitchen island. I know there’s a lot of fond nostalgia with this show, and my dad loved it when it was on originally. I’ve been rewatching it and I can only assume that our tastes in TV humor has matured since this was on back in the 80s. Continuity is more of an issue now too, since we can binge watch a season over a long weekend and wonder why Blanche’s daughter changed or what happened to Rose’s mother (she visited in one episode and then later it seems she has died, with no mention of Rose grieving her mother’s death.) I thought I’d rewatch **MASH** too, but the first episode was so cringe-worthy (they were auctioning off a nurse, for Christ’s sake) I gave it up. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2020, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-episodes-of-great-shows/848934/136 "2020-04-29T19:15:07Z")
ivylass, it’s true that the first episode of M_A_S\*H is cringeworthy, as is the treatment of women in that show in general - sexual harrassment was simply accepted as a fact of the workplace in the 1970’s. But it’s still worth a binge-watch. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2020, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-episodes-of-great-shows/848934/137 "2020-04-29T20:46:01Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Let’s be honest here and just admit that \*\*\*TNG \*\*\*was overall a sucky show that just happened to have a few outstanding episodes. > > The same can be said for _ **TOS** _. To paraphrase Fry in _ **Futurama** _, it had around 80 episodes, 30 of which were good. Actually, Trek Original Series had about a third pretty good episodes, with a half dozen or so standouts, a third mediocre episodes, and a third not so great episodes, with about a half dozen stinkers. For series TV, especially with the budget they had to work with, that’s pretty decent. Next Generation didn’t have anywhere near as many not so good episodes, but also nowhere near as many pretty good episodes. Out of over twice as many episodes, they only had three or so stinkers, and a similar number of standouts. It tended more to the mediocre middle. ---
**Author:** ![1958Fury](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/1958fury/32/210_2.png) [@1958Fury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1958Fury)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2020, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-episodes-of-great-shows/848934/138 "2020-04-29T22:24:43Z")
I love Futurama, but I can’t stand the “Naturama” episode. It’s done in the style of a nature documentary, except the animals look like Futurama characters. The episode is devoid of humor and feels pointless. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2020, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-episodes-of-great-shows/848934/139 "2020-04-30T00:11:03Z")
As far as _Star Trek: Deep Space Nine_ goes I always found the episode where Quark gets a sex change to investigate the GraNd Nagus of the Ferengi to be pretty horrible/ ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2020, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-episodes-of-great-shows/848934/140 "2020-05-02T13:40:33Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > As far as _Star Trek: Deep Space Nine_ goes I always found the episode where Quark gets a sex change to investigate the GraNd Nagus of the Ferengi to be pretty horrible/ In the DS9 documentary, Behr says they played it for laughs and he regrets that. **Come Along Home** is the worst DS9, I think. There’s one scene where Nana Visitor is hopscotching across the room and you can actually see her roll her eyes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-episodes-of-great-shows/848934.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-episodes-of-great-shows/848934.md?page=8)