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 a clairvoyant helped them solve the crime of the week.
*The Saint *once went up against a mad scientist who was breeding a race of gigantic ants.
The Bill, a long-running British police drama series had a Christmas episode, where one of Santa’s elves was arrested on a drunk and disorderly charge. No, I’m not kidding.
These are pretty dreadful examples but since I am on-line I will post them anyway:
Hard hitting British Cop Show The Sweeney once had an episode guest starring comedians Morecambe and Wise where the comedians played themselves but remained in their stage characters right the way through. It was inelegant.
There was an episode of Australian soap Neighbours seen entirely from the viewpoint of the character of Bouncer the Dog.
Famously US hospital drama St Elsewhere ended by revealing it was all a dream. Dallas used a similar idea to bring back a dead character. Now I think of it US comedy Roseanne did something similar as well.
US Comedy Scrubs had regular surreal comedy elements but also slipped in an almost entirely musical episode plus an episode where the show was portrayed as a studio filmed sit-com. Fantasy show Xena did a musical episode and Buffy the Vampire Slayer also went the musical route.
US SciFi show Stargate did a special episode (200th) where the “real” characters created fictional versions of themselves. Then again many Sci-Fi fantasy shows do special episodes.
I don’t recall seeing it but there is apparently an episode of the Dukes of Hazzard where the Duke boys meet an alien:
ALF (Alien Life Form) appeared in episodes of Matlock, Blossom, Love Boat… Believe they were only cameo roles.
In the world of literature, Walter Farley’s Black Stallion/Island Stallion series, there is one book (The Island Stallion Races)) in which aliens turn up. Very surprising…
BONES did one where Booth is drugged and maybe hallucinating, and either (a) gets guided to safety by the ghost of a soldier he’d served alongside, or (b) is drugged and hallucinating, like I just said. At the end of the episode, Booth visits the guy’s grave while Brennan hangs back at a respectful distance before exchanging pleasantries with a passing soldier – specifically, the guy we saw hanging out with Booth.
So if you ask Booth or Brennan, each can offer a perfectly mundane explanation for what happened that day – but if they ever compare notes, they’ll know what we do.
Decades ago I was home from school with a high fever or something, lying on the couch complaining while my mom watched her soap operas and did laundry or whatever. It was somewhat surreal to realize the plotline was that someone had a weather machine to shoot diamond dust into the atmosphere and freeze the world. General Hospital, I think. Not being familiar with the shows, I had no idea if that sort of stuff went on regularly or if it was all just a fever dream.
This eps. also happened in the season where Booth was diagnosed with brain cancer in the season finales. So it’s really toss up between magic or mundane.
South Park does this on a semi-regular basis. Jesus and Santa Claus are recurring characters, and a few outer space civilizations have been encountered. Oh, and Pat Robertson running telethons to upgrade his missionary starcruiser.
I remember, when I was a kid back in the eighties, there was some soap opera (Dinasty? Falcon Crest?) where one of the actresses was literally abducted by aliens, and then came back but played by another actress?
Buffy did the converse of the OP, having an ep. which seemed to indicate that she was living a fantasy in her mind while she was in a psych ward in a totally ordinary reality…
The Hardy Boys once caught a vampire (played by Lorne Greene) who turned out to be an ordinary mortal pretending to be a vampire. Then, in the last scene, the cops are hauling him away in handcuffs. They pass by a mirror. and the younger brother is the only one to notice that the killer has no reflection.
McCloud once investigated a serial killer. One of the suspects was an elderly man, who, in his youth, had been an actor famous for playing Dracula. (John Carradine played the role.) In the climax, the killer jumped off a bridge, leaving his cape hanging on the bridge. Just before the end credits, McCloud sees a bat fluttering around the cape.
There was a recent(?) Simpsons episode where they were abducted and taken to Kang and Kodo’s home planet. So…I guest the aliens are canon now and not just Treehouse of Horror special guests?
There was also the Futurama cross-over, and the “future” Simpsons episodes which I guess are also canon?
NewRadio has an episode where they were operating a news station in the Star Wars universe. (“Tragedy struck today in Sector 9 as rebel terrorists blew up the Death Star killing thousands. The Rebel Alliance, a fringe group of Anti-Empire fanatics, has claimed responsibility for the terrorist act.” ) Amusingly, they didn’t alter the set or the costuming at all for the episode, they just wrote the cast a bunch of space-related jokes.