# The Single WORST Episode Of Your Favourite TV Series **URL:** \ **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:** 9
**Author:** ![Justin\_Credible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a8b319/32.png) [@Justin\_Credible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Credible)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/161 "2009-11-23T05:07:24Z")
For Futurama, I nominate The Cryonic Woman. I’d have to see it again to be sure, but I can’t recall any funny moments from that one. ---
**Author:** ![independentminded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed8c4c/32.png) [@independentminded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/independentminded)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/162 "2009-11-23T08:38:41Z")
I’m going to go back to the mid-1980’s and say that _Cagney and Lacey_ was my favorite TV Series. So was _Life Goes On_, which went on from the late 1980’s to the early 1990’s. The worst episode in _Cagney and Lacey_ was the final episode, where Cagney develops a severe drinking problem, which totally hampers her relationship with everybody, as well as her job. After that episode, the show went off the air completely. The worst and most depressing episode in Life Goes On is when Becca, the youngest in the family, has broken her friendship off with the arrogant, snobbish Rona Lieberman after she has who has changed her name to Sonya, and then sort of spies around on her with Tyler, out of envy. After that, the show went off the air. ---
**Author:** ![Jolly\_Roger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@Jolly\_Roger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jolly_Roger)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/163 "2009-11-23T12:30:06Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > And by the time it was used in TNG, the idea of a mysterious prenancy for a character became a cliche. Even though I am a Trek fan, TNG had a lot of bad episodes, IMO. Troi giving birth to a star baby? Bad…but they tried to trump it with the episode where Troi wakes up to ind that she’s been surgically altered to look like a romulan and is aboard a romulan ship for some reason. I had an issue with that for the same reason I had a problem with the episode where Star Fleet sends Picard, Worf and Crusher on a secret commando mission against the cardassians.Oh, how I hated that episode. Working completely from memory, here’s why: [ol] [li]Picard is picked for this mission because he’s an expert on the radiation or whatever the cardassians are using for their weapon? Wow. What isn’t this guy an expert on? Thats thin enough, but he’s a starship captain, he’s no spring chicken and one would guess that Picard would be too valuable an assett to use on such a mission. [/li][li]You can crowbar Worf into that episode because he is a security officer, but Crusher? What, Star Fleet doesn’t have any special ops commandos? They have to send a medical doctor with little to no combat training? What a pussy universe. [/li][li]Ronny Cox as Captain Jellico is in temporary command of the Enterprise during this mission. He makes changes to staff rotations, etc. Riker then thinks he’s an asshole for it, and we, the audience, are supposed to feel that Jellico is a jerk. Again, what a bunch of pussies. Riker’s been working for the same boss too long. New CO’s almost always make changes to thier commands when they take over. I don’t recall Jellico doing anything so jerkish to deserve derision.[/li][/ol] You can throw in the entire first season of TNG in the bad category, especially since Wesely was prominent in a lot of 'em. ---
**Author:** ![Jolly\_Roger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@Jolly\_Roger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jolly_Roger)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/164 "2009-11-23T12:38:13Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > Oh, and about the Star Trek Hippie episode…didn’t the Space Hippies program the ship’s computer to find Eden for them? How was that supposed to work, exactly? Was that like Jet Jaguar programming himself to grow into a giant? Heh. You win the thread for that obscure Godzilla movie reference! I saw that movie in a theater as a kid! Hell, I named my cat “Jet Jaguar”. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/165 "2009-11-23T13:52:21Z")
> [@Jolly\_Roger](#): > > [li]Ronny Cox as Captain Jellico is in temporary command of the Enterprise during this mission. He makes changes to staff rotations, etc. Riker then thinks he’s an asshole for it, and we, the audience, are supposed to feel that Jellico is a jerk. Again, what a bunch of pussies. Riker’s been working for the same boss too long. New CO’s almost always make changes to thier commands when they take over. I don’t recall Jellico doing anything so jerkish to deserve derision.[/li] There was another episode from the Pulaski season where a tactical expert is aboard the Enterprise to give them some sort of evaluation/training in case they ever meet the Borg in the future. Picard and Riker are hostile towards this idea because Starfleet is supposed to be an exploratory organization and not an actual military. This episode pissed me off for a few reasons. #1. A few episodes back you faced the Borg for the first time and Guinan warned you that you might meet them sooner than expected because they were now aware of the Starfleet’s existence. Maybe training is a good idea. #2. Starfleet isn’t a true military organization? Excuse me, Captain, but when the Federation went to war against the Klingons, the Romulans, and, much later, the Dominion it wasn’t the Vulcan Science Academy that did the fighting. To not call Starfleet a true military organization is pretty lame. They still hold courts martial for Christ’s sake. Well, not for his sake on account of religion being almost non-existent unless it’s Native American or some exotic alien religion. #3. It was never really explained what value there was in a combat situation between an 80 year old obsolete ship and the flag ship of the Federation. I don’t even recall them saying the exercise was an attempt to figure out some tactics the Federation could use against the technologically superior Borg which would have made some sense. Damn, that episode pissed me off. Maybe it wasn’t as stupid as some of the TNG episodes but it was stupid in its own way. Could have a whole thread for my hatred of Star Trek I think. ---
**Author:** ![Jolly\_Roger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@Jolly\_Roger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jolly_Roger)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/166 "2009-11-23T17:32:49Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > #2. Starfleet isn’t a true military organization? Excuse me, Captain, but when the Federation went to war against the Klingons, the Romulans, and, much later, the Dominion it wasn’t the Vulcan Science Academy that did the fighting. To not call Starfleet a true military organization is pretty lame. They still hold courts martial for Christ’s sake. Well, not for his sake on account of religion being almost non-existent unless it’s Native American or some exotic alien religion. Yeah, the entire Starfleet isn’t miltary is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard in Trekdom. I don’t know why or how that came about (since in TOS SF was definitely military) but would love your Trek hate thread for the fact that I could rail on about it. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/167 "2009-11-23T17:50:51Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > I’d throw Skin of Evil up there with the bad TNG eps mentioned. Basically after a year, Denise Crosby decides she wants out so they write an episode where she dies because an animated puddle of evil goo threw her across the set. Then the resolution at the end? Picard beams down and says “You’re evil, we’re leaving.” Good one. I’ve been watching TNG in order now. I knew they killed her off, but never had seen that episode before. I had always assumed she died in the last episode of the season doing something heroic. Heh, not quite. Has any show killed a major character on-screen so randomly? ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/168 "2009-11-23T17:57:04Z")
> [@typoink](#): > > People listing “The Simpsons” episodes from the heyday of that series really suggests to me that said folks haven’t watched an episode in, oh…five seaons, at least. There is the the “Jazzman” episode (whatever it is called) where Bleeding Gums Murphy dies. A horrible early episode. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/169 "2009-11-23T18:19:58Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Good one. I’ve been watching TNG in order now. I knew they killed her off, but never had seen that episode before. I had always assumed she died in the last episode of the season doing something heroic. Heh, not quite. Has any show killed a major character on-screen so randomly? Well, if we’re going to play “one degree of seperation”, Pulaski was killed on LA Law when she stepped into an open elevator shaft. So, yeah, kinda. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/170 "2009-11-23T20:29:06Z")
> [@Jolly\_Roger](#): > > Yeah, the entire Starfleet isn’t miltary is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard in Trekdom. I don’t know why or how that came about (since in TOS SF was definitely military) but would love your Trek hate thread for the fact that I could rail on about it. It seems from what others have said on the boards that good old Gene had influenced TNG with his raving Utopianism. But there were plenty of items in the later shows to counter the non-military insanity. Take the first new encounter with the Romulans. Picard _ **did** _ make himself as laid-back as possible and he didn’t go for a pre-emptive firing on the Neutral Zone-violators. He was only too happy that the reappearing \* Romulans were willing to engage in a fresh conversation. All the same, he did take the advice of Riker and raise shields. He was no doubt ready to defend the Enterprise, up to destroying the Romulans if it came to that. Everything says that SF is a military organization and that the Enterprise, along with other starships, has authorization to use military force when necessary. * * * One problem with a certain universal tenet in all the shows is that Star Fleet military vessels are armed to the teeth, but yet proclaim themselves to be on a peaceful general mission. :dubious: Someone pointed out to me the fundamental contradiction in this to me. I think it would be one thing to have some modest level of weaponry to defend the ship. But the starships, at least, have enough firepower to raze every city on a planet comparable to earth. :eek: That would not strike most new civilizations, if they could scan for weaponry, as very friendly. * * * - “reappearing” - Hmmm… ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/171 "2009-11-23T20:32:30Z")
> [@ryobserver](#): > > My Worst Episode of _The X-Files_ was “Eve” until the very last season managed to top it (bottom it?) with “Scary Monsters”. Not a great idea to start with and VERY badly executed, with everyone behaving in ways that made me want to kick them, and the established characters behaving badly in ways that were out of character. I rather like Eve. I, however, do not like Space, the one where Mulder is continually having to explain the space mission. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/172 "2009-11-23T20:48:36Z")
> [@typoink](#): > > People listing “The Simpsons” episodes from the heyday of that series really suggests to me that said folks haven’t watched an episode in, oh…five seaons, at least. I am going to nominate Panda Love. Nauseates me ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/173 "2009-11-23T21:51:03Z")
The CSI:LV one that was written by those guys that write “Two And A Half Men.” Long story short, they tried to make CSI into a comedy. It was excruciating. I was surprised that Grissom (William Petersen) even agreed to that crap. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/174 "2009-11-23T22:17:22Z")
> [@](#): > > Riker’s been working for the same boss too long. As also evidenced by the episode where he’s offered a promotion and his own independent command. He spends the whole episode agonizing about it, and then decides that he’d rather continue being the second in command on the flagship than the boss of any lesser ship. Real militaries do, in fact, allow officers to turn down the chance at independent command. Any officer who does so, however, is from then on given the absolute most insignificant jobs possible for their rank. In a real organization, Riker’s choice would not have been “Become captain of an insignificant ship, or stay XO of the flagship”. His choice would have been “Become captain of an insignificant ship, or XO of an even more insignificant ship”. If he judges himself unworthy of independent command, then the top brass is going to conclude that he’s likewise unworthy of anything else important. This was one of the things I liked about _Babylon 5_: The cast stayed mostly consistent, but people did rotate in and out as they got orders to other assignments. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/175 "2009-11-23T22:22:05Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > As also evidenced by the episode where he’s offered a promotion and his own independent command. He spends the whole episode agonizing about it, and then decides that he’d rather continue being the second in command on the flagship than the boss of any lesser ship. > > Real militaries do, in fact, allow officers to turn down the chance at independent command. Any officer who does so, however, is from then on given the absolute most insignificant jobs possible for their rank. In a real organization, Riker’s choice would not have been “Become captain of an insignificant ship, or stay XO of the flagship”. His choice would have been “Become captain of an insignificant ship, or XO of an even more insignificant ship”. If he judges himself unworthy of independent command, then the top brass is going to conclude that he’s likewise unworthy of anything else important. > > This was one of the things I liked about _Babylon 5_: The cast stayed mostly consistent, but people did rotate in and out as they got orders to other assignments. I could see maybe turning down a command once, but Riker was offered several ships, as I recall. Career suicide. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/176 "2009-11-23T22:25:45Z")
I’ll take the “Dreams” episode of _M_A_S_H\*. They were going for profound; the result was jumbled and redundant. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/177 "2009-11-23T23:16:01Z")
> [@typoink](#): > > People listing “The Simpsons” episodes from the heyday of that series really suggests to me that said folks haven’t watched an episode in, oh…five seaons, at least. I’m talking an episode that had a specifically negative impression on me (i.e. me thinking Lisa was being a self-righteous mini-bitch and Homer was a coward for not telling her so) while many recent episodes have been simply neutral in their forgetability. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/178 "2009-11-23T23:22:29Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I’m talking an episode that had a specifically negative impression on me (i.e. me thinking Lisa was being a self-righteous mini-bitch and Homer was a coward for not telling her so) while many recent episodes have been simply neutral in their forgetability. Yeah, Lisa admitted at the end of the episode that she had been wrong. Not about the vegetarianism thing but about her disruption of Homer’s BBQ and the destruction of the main course. ---
**Author:** ![Carmady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f04885/32.png) [@Carmady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carmady)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/179 "2009-11-23T23:22:36Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I rather like Eve. > > I, however, do not like Space, the one where Mulder is continually having to explain the space mission. The X-Files has a lot of candidates for this thread, having gone from my favorite show of all time in the early seasons to a terrible show in the later ones. I’ll go with First Person Shooter as the worst. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/180 "2009-11-23T23:30:26Z")
> [@Jolly\_Roger](#): > > Ronny Cox as Captain Jellico is in temporary command of the Enterprise during this mission. He makes changes to staff rotations, etc. Riker then thinks he’s an asshole for it, and we, the audience, are supposed to feel that Jellico is a jerk. Again, what a bunch of pussies. Riker’s been working for the same boss too long. New CO’s almost always make changes to thier commands when they take over. I don’t recall Jellico doing anything so jerkish to deserve derision. Actually, I watched that episode with some army buddies and the consensus was that this one of the very few moments that TNG’s Starfleet resembled an actual military system, in that everybody goes whining to the second-in-command when the new chief starts imposing his new rules. I liked Jellico. He was the only part of the episode that wasn’t inherently ludicrous. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717.md?page=10)