# TV episodes where events repeat over and over **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 14, 2013, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-events-repeat-over-and-over/650242 "2013-02-14T00:59:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-events-repeat-over-and-over/650242/1 "2013-02-14T00:59:10Z")
Of the groundhog day type, where, as Mr Worf puts it, time becomes a loop. Star Trek TNG had two, Time Squared and Cause and Effect and I believe the original Twilight Zone had one involving a spaceship approaching a wreck of a similar looking ship. Any other series have a take on such things? ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-events-repeat-over-and-over/650242/2 "2013-02-14T01:17:01Z")
There was a Doctor Who episode where the Doctor (Jon Pertwee) and Jo land on an ocean liner which was stuck in a time loop. Ah, [here it is](http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Carnival_of_Monsters). Actually, it looks like Dr Who did it [a number of times](http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Time_loop) (no pun intended). ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-events-repeat-over-and-over/650242/3 "2013-02-14T01:31:54Z")
[Groundhog Day Loop](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GroundhogDayLoop). Click on the “Live Action TV” button under Examples to see examples of TV shows using this trope. [SIZE=“1”]Warning: TV Tropes Link. May cause prolonged internet use and consequent tardiness or sleep deprivation.[/SIZE] ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-events-repeat-over-and-over/650242/4 "2013-02-14T01:36:29Z")
This was the premise of the show “Day Break.” The entire season was the character looping through the same day over and over, gradually working out how to get through a few hours each episode without getting killed, kidnapped, or arrested. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Accident](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Mr.Accident](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Accident)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-events-repeat-over-and-over/650242/5 "2013-02-14T01:36:46Z")
Supernatural did it once. Dean kept dying over and over.X-Files had one where someone robbed a bank everyday. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-events-repeat-over-and-over/650242/6 "2013-02-14T01:40:38Z")
The shortlived show Daybreak had this as the central plot of the entire series, not just one episode. edit: > [@epbrown01](#): > > This was the premise of the show “Day Break.” The entire season was the character looping through the same day over and over, gradually working out how to get through a few hours each episode without getting killed, kidnapped, or arrested. Crud. should’ve hit refresh before I posted… ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-events-repeat-over-and-over/650242/7 "2013-02-14T01:55:23Z")
The looping episode “Window of Opportunity” from _Stargate: SG-1_ is probably my favorite. Their no-consequences shenanigans are top-notch, and they go through a lot of them really quickly. Poor Teal’c, though–what a way to start the day, every day, for a very long time. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-events-repeat-over-and-over/650242/8 "2013-02-14T02:09:41Z")
Couch Gag? ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-events-repeat-over-and-over/650242/9 "2013-02-14T02:11:34Z")
The second season of the Haruhi Suzumiya anime was one big Groundhog Day loop. (Well, not the whole season, just 8/14 episodes.) The fandom was less than pleased. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-events-repeat-over-and-over/650242/10 "2013-02-14T02:13:04Z")
I loved the Stargate version as well. _Xena: Warrior Princess_ had a pretty good one. I rather liked the scene where after endless cycles of Joxer showing up in the morning and waking her up in his typically irritating style, she just killed him with a thrown chakram and went back to sleep with a smile on her face. And: _\_ Xena: “So you prayed for _me_?” Guy: “Well, _no_. I was actually hoping for Hercules. Or at least Sinbad!” ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-events-repeat-over-and-over/650242/11 "2013-02-14T02:33:49Z")
> [@Pushkin](#): > > Of the groundhog day type, where, as Mr Worf puts it, time becomes a loop. > > Star Trek TNG had two, Time Squared and Cause and Effect and I believe the original Twilight Zone had one involving a spaceship approaching a wreck of a similar looking ship. > > Any other series have a take on such things? X-Files had a GroundhogDayLoop episode, so did Tru Calling. I’m sure there’ve been quite a few others, those are just ones I remember watching. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-events-repeat-over-and-over/650242/12 "2013-02-14T18:15:14Z")
Buffy had it occur as part of a larger episode. Bonus: the Nerds who made happen mentioned both the X files and TNG episodes. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-events-repeat-over-and-over/650242/13 "2013-02-14T18:23:28Z")
> [@epbrown01](#): > > This was the premise of the show “Day Break.” The entire season was the character looping through the same day over and over, gradually working out how to get through a few hours each episode without getting killed, kidnapped, or arrested. Also, Tru Calling had a similar premise. Eliza Dushku would jump back in time to prevent something bad. The series got better when Jason Priestly also jumped back in time to make sure the bad thing happened. Brian ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-events-repeat-over-and-over/650242/14 "2013-02-14T18:33:18Z")
The one I immediately thought of was a Weird Science (the TV Show) episode where they get a remote control they can use to control time. It gets out of their control for a bit and rewinds, so they keep looping the same 15 minutes until they can figure out how to stop it. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-events-repeat-over-and-over/650242/15 "2013-02-14T18:46:53Z")
Monty Python: [It’s the Mind](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2eUopy9sd8). ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-events-repeat-over-and-over/650242/16 "2013-02-14T19:01:05Z")
**Quantum Leap** had an episode, “A Leap for Lisa,” where Sam’s actions caused an alternate history where Al was executed for murder and a different person (Edward St. John V, played by Roddy McDowell) takes his place as Sam’s guide until things straighten out. ---
**Author:** ![Levolor\_the\_Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bc8723/32.png) [@Levolor\_the\_Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Levolor_the_Blind)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-events-repeat-over-and-over/650242/17 "2013-02-14T19:12:23Z")
I remember an episode of ‘7 Days’ that had this plot, though it was more of ‘Run, Lola, Run’ than ‘Groundhog Day’. ETA: Actually, I guess that was the premise of the entire series. The episode I’m thinking of had him returning in a time loop per Lola. ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_Urquhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-events-repeat-over-and-over/650242/18 "2013-02-14T19:43:52Z")
Because it’s from the original _Twilight Zone_, although not the one referenced in the OP, I’ll spoiler the name and synopsis of the episode: _Judgment Night_ (in which a Nazi U-boat officer constantly relives the sinking of a British ship). ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-events-repeat-over-and-over/650242/19 "2013-02-14T20:43:38Z")
**Coupling** did it in the episode “The Girl with Two Breasts,” but no time travel was involved; at a certain point the events were rewound and then shown from the point of view of another character. “Nine and a Half Minutes” was another episode that rewound time, so we saw it from different characters point of view. One person’s inexplicable action in the first run-through would be explained when you saw it again, and things that were mysterious or even seemingly normal turned out to be extremely funny when shown in later contexts. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-events-repeat-over-and-over/650242/20 "2013-02-14T21:42:34Z")
There was the excellent episode of Community where the group was gathered in someones apartment and the pizza man comes. They have some sort of contest to see who has to go get it, rolling a die perhaps? Then they show what would happen if each character was the one chosen to go. And Abed was somehow aware of the multiple time/reality streams. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-events-repeat-over-and-over/650242.md?page=2)