# The Single WORST Episode Of Your Favourite TV Series

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [November 16, 2009, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717 "2009-11-16T01:01:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 6

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/101 "2009-11-18T03:54:39Z")

</div>

> [@madmonk28](#):
>
> **Arrested Development** is by far my favorite show, but the six episodes with Charlize Theron were dreadful. The series was falling apart because the network kept messing with it, so I understand what happened, but it was like watching a different show.

No, the winner for that series was the one with Martin Short. That was one of those really badly thought out stunt casting moments. Stuck out like a sore thumb.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/102 "2009-11-18T05:36:15Z")

</div>

Almost anytime a sitcom tried to deal realistically with a “serious issue” or was promoted as “A Very Special…Family Ties, Blossom, whatever.”

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Recliner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a88e57/32.png) [@Recliner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Recliner)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/103 "2009-11-18T13:36:02Z")

</div>

> [@Ponch8](#):
>
> I was going to say the exact same episode.
> 
> On _The Simpsons,_ the worst is the one where Bart and his friends form a boy band as a recruiting tool for the Navy. The second worst is probably the one where they adopt Duncan the racehorse.

Nah, although its a cheap shot, whats the episode type everyone hates? Right, clip shows. And what’s the worst clip show? Exactly. “All singing, all dancing” – ie, the one where Snake breaks in and they rehash all the music clips. Even though I usually love the Simpsons’ musical numbers, this episode is truly grating. As for real shows, well, I know the penalty (apologies to whomever first mentioned that). But beyond that one, hmm…some of the first couple seasons simply aren’t all that funny – pick one. Call me a philistine, but seriously – the first couple seasons bite. The show gets good in Season 3.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/104 "2009-11-18T14:25:36Z")

</div>

> [@Smeghead](#):
>
> No, the winner for that series was the one with Martin Short. That was one of those really badly thought out stunt casting moments. Stuck out like a sore thumb.

Absolutely agreed. I liked the Charlize Theron episodes, but the Martin Short character did not fit within the series at all, were painfully unfunny and frequently wince-worthy (and not in a good way).

I’m sorry but Martin Short is not funny. I will tolerate him in one thing, and one thing only, and that is The Three Amigos.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/105 "2009-11-18T14:36:09Z")

</div>

> [@Pulp\_Friction](#):
>
> The Office. I don’t know the episode - or even the season - but I speak of the one where there is a dinner party at Michael and Jan’s new condo. The entire episode was full of awkward anger. It was painful to watch.

Funny, that’s my favorite episode! There are so many incredibly funny things. I get that it’s awkward and uncomfortable, and usually that genre bothers me, but it was done masterfully.

So many amazing things, large and small:

[spoiler]- Jan’s giant Andy Warhol-style portrait of herself in the entry

- The “oops”, we left a camera in the bedroom moment
- Michael Scott’s little sleeping bench… I cried laughing.
- Jan’s increasingly full glass of wine.
- Michael flat screen TV (‘if I have some people over and need more space’… \<moves screen an inch toward the wall)
- Michael cheating terribly at the party game and Jim ruining it
- Jan playing Hunter’s song and Andy’s sad attempt to harmonize
- The story about Michael running through a plate glass window because he thought he heard the ice cream man
- Dwight showing up with a homeless woman and claiming that their relationship is “entirely carnal and that’s all you need to know”
- Jan’s defiant comment that “In Spain, they only start eating at midnight” when Pam asks when dinner will be, and then accusing Pam of wanting to sleep with Michael (and Angela agreeing)
- Michael dipping his meat in his wine because he has “soft teeth”
- The increasingly hostile screaming match where every sentence is concluded with “babe”
- “MY TV!!! GOOD LUCK PAYING ME BACK ON YOUR ZERO DOLLARS A YEAR PLUS BENEFITS, BABE!!”
- The police being called and Michael attempting to take the fall for Jan. “You don’t need to go to jail, you could just be more quiet.”

Most of all, it’s Pam and Jim’s responses. They just have this increasingly terrified expression. It’s the embodiment of Pam’s quote from another episode: “You know those trainwrecks where it’s bad but you can’t look away? This is like a trainwreck, but you want to look away, only you can’t, because your boss is making you.”[/spoiler]

Oh, so many more. It’s classic from beginning to end. I love that episode.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/106 "2009-11-19T03:50:37Z")

</div>

There was an episode of “The Untouchables” where Edward Asner was at a bar, drunk, talking about an argument about whether Hack Wilson was going to break Babe Ruth’s home run record. He was in four episodes, I think it was “The Night they shot Santa Clause.” I remember that as a pretty bad one.  
Lots of “Lost in Space” fans talk about “The Great Vegetable Rebellion” as the worst episode ever. Pretty bad, but I thought the one with the knight (played by the usually great Hans Conried) and a female dragon was terrible beyond belief.  
Star Trek TOS. Hippies was bad. But somehow the one with the supercomputer M5 going beserk was horrible. At the end everyone is all smiles because Kirk has outwitted a computer that has destroyed one starship, probably killed 1,000 people and a scientist has gone insane.  
Star Trek TNG: anything with Wesley Crusher. Besides the “American Indian” episode, there was one with The Space traveler saying he was a genius in the order of Mozart.  
The less said about Voyager’s “The 37ers”, the better. Aliens from the farside of the galaxy captured Amelia Earhart, her co pilot and other people and brought them back to put in suspended animation for 400 years.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![heavybuhbuh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@heavybuhbuh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heavybuhbuh)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/107 "2009-11-19T03:59:26Z")

</div>

I keel over and die everytime I see any episode from the last season of Roseanne after she had won the lottery.

I get excited when I see Roseanne on the program guide, then roll my eyes when I find out its from “the lottery years”. UGG. Waste of a good tv series.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/108 "2009-11-19T04:07:19Z")

</div>

> [@Smeghead](#):
>
> No, the winner for that series was the one with Martin Short. That was one of those really badly thought out stunt casting moments. Stuck out like a sore thumb.

Was that season 3 as well? The show just kind of took on this desperate edge which was heartbreaking because the first and most of the second season were so well crafted.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/109 "2009-11-19T04:09:06Z")

</div>

In _The Dick Van Dyke Show_, the episode where Buddy stays with Rob and Laura for a few days while Pickles is out of town. It was just uncomfortable.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/110 "2009-11-19T04:21:23Z")

</div>

> [@fluiddruid](#):
>
> Funny, that’s my favorite episode! There are so many incredibly funny things. I get that it’s awkward and uncomfortable, and usually that genre bothers me, but it was done masterfully.
> 
> Oh, so many more. It’s classic from beginning to end. I love that episode.

I agree. That’s probably my favorite episode as well.

As for **Arrested Development** , I honestly can’t think of a bad episode. The Charlize Theron ones I thought were hilarious, especially the Little England (or whatever it was called) bits. I can’t remember the Martin Short episode (or is it more than one) offhand, though. What character was he?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/111 "2009-11-19T12:29:52Z")

</div>

> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> I agree. That’s probably my favorite episode as well.
> 
> As for **Arrested Development** , I honestly can’t think of a bad episode. The Charlize Theron ones I thought were hilarious, especially the Little England (or whatever it was called) bits. I can’t remember the Martin Short episode (or is it more than one) offhand, though. What character was he?

They called him Uncle something. He was the old film star that had to be carried around by his helper. He played “The Bullet” or something like that, and occasionally had his helper throw him at people.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [November 19, 2009, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/112 "2009-11-19T14:10:17Z")

</div>

In my area they play back to back episodes of “Everybody Loves Raymond” and last night they happened to play my favorite episode (Robert’s mother-in-law is revealed to be a smoker)and the worst, where Raymond has to get his adenoids removed and there’s some medical complication and everyone turns into a giant pussy and it is utterly unfunny and doesn’t even seem as though it’s part of the series. Actually, I think it was the series finale which makes it even suckier.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/113 "2009-11-19T14:50:18Z")

</div>

The Seinfeld finale was pretty bad. I’ve only seen it three times, even though I’ve seen the rest of the episodes numerous times. On both repeats, I was surprised that I didn’t remember the episode until it’s almost half way over.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/114 "2009-11-19T14:57:38Z")

</div>

No one is going to know what I’m talking about, but though there are several bad episodes of Lexx, two stand out, from the final season. 1) Stan is offered a job as a ‘fluffer’ for a porn movie (not understanding what a ‘fluffer’ does) and 2) CGI alien life forms that resemble carrots invade Earth, and yes, take over/destroy people by, yes, shooting themselves into people’s butts! :eek: Too much talk of butts in that episode.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speak_to_me_Maddie)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/115 "2009-11-19T14:59:03Z")

</div>

> [@Smeghead](#):
>
> They called him Uncle something. He was the old film star that had to be carried around by his helper. He played “The Bullet” or something like that, and occasionally had his helper throw him at people.

Uncle Jack, who was part of the radio comedy Red McGibbon and Bullit _shoot me_. And it was season 2.

I agree that the character didn’t fit well with the show, but \*Ready, Aim, Marry Me \*is a great episode, especially the last third that takes place at the spa.

I also loved the _Wee Britian_ episodes. Heck, I loved the whole show. The only thread I didn’t like was the Maybe-as-studio-executive stuff. It was too over the top and it was boring. The episodes that feature that story line are my least favorite.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/116 "2009-11-19T15:11:55Z")

</div>

> [@salinqmind](#):
>
> No one is going to know what I’m talking about, but though there are several bad episodes of Lexx, two stand out, from the final season.

I know what you’re talking about, although I’d say that EVERY episode of _Lexx_ was bad.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/117 "2009-11-19T15:19:17Z")

</div>

Angel- [She](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/She_%28Angel_episode%29) and [Judgment](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judgment_%28Angel%29) were both pointless stinkers.

Buffy - [Hell’s Bells](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell%27s_Bells_%28Buffy_the_Vampire_Slayer%29) aka Xander & Anya’s wedding crash and burn. Despite some funny moments - Buffy’s juggling act - this is just a terribly depressing episode.

The Rockford Files - any episode where Rita Moreno guest starred. Gawd, was her character ever annoying. I don’t know why Jimmy put up with her.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Annie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/858c86/32.png) [@Annie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/118 "2009-11-19T15:21:18Z")

</div>

But “Judgment” had jousting! Real horsies!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/119 "2009-11-19T15:25:10Z")

</div>

> [@Annie](#):
>
> But “Judgment” had jousting! Real horsies!

Sorry, but horsies don’t do anything for me unless they’re in the Kentucky Derby. 😃

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/120 "2009-11-19T15:36:21Z")

</div>

> [@Erdosain](#):
>
> As a Simpsons fan, there are (unfortunately) a limitless number of options from seasons 12-21. As bad as Yvan Eht Nioj and Duncan the Race Horse were, there were still some redeeming moments. Lately, it’s been like panning for gold.

People usually pan for gold with hope of actually finding some gold.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717.md?page=5)

[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717.md?page=7)