# TV Show ID **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 15, 2014, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-id/701428 "2014-10-15T19:15:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-id/701428/1 "2014-10-15T19:15:07Z")
My sister is trying to ID a show from very little information she remembers from one episode: This specific episode took place in France, the show wasn’t set there, the family was on vacation. The scene she remembers is the family having their picture taken in front of the Eiffel Tower. They handed someone (a stranger) their camera, they all posed for the picture, the guy took the picture and then ran off with the camera. Still posed, one of the family members said “Did he just take our camera?” It’s a 90’s era Sitcom. That’s all she has. She’s usually very good with this kind of stuff, but she just has the image in her head. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-id/701428/2 "2014-10-15T19:21:25Z")
The Facts of Life had a tv movie (later shown as a 4 part episode in syndication) called “The Facts of Life Goes to Paris” and “Growing Pains” had a series of episodes in Europe, including Paris. Either one could have done the old “camera stolen by the guy you asked to take a picture” bit (that kind of thing also shows up in “European Vacation” as I recall). ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-id/701428/3 "2014-10-16T02:54:01Z")
If \*\*\*Facts of Life \*\*\*did it, they probably stole it from _ **National Lampoon’s European Vacation** _: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lQ6rw32kU4) (Or maybe vice versa…) ---
**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:** [October 16, 2014, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-id/701428/4 "2014-10-16T03:16:14Z")
Other examples include a 1992 _Cheers_ episode in which Norm, Cliff and Cliff’s mom take a vacation in Los Angeles and end up attending a _Tonight Show_ taping. During their montage of visiting various L.A. landmarks, someone runs off with their camera. Similarly, a 1997 episode of _Simpsons_ features Homer remembering a visit to New York City in his youth when someone ran off with his camera. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-id/701428/5 "2014-10-16T03:27:41Z")
They did the same thing in ST:TOS, except it was Spock’s Brain. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-id/701428/6 "2014-10-16T03:40:49Z")
Keep’em coming, I’ll run all these ideas past her when I see her in the morning. > [@AncientHumanoid](#): > > They did the same thing in ST:TOS, except it was Spock’s Brain. It’s for sure not Star Trek, I can tell you she doesn’t watch that. When I mentioned the shows in the first post to her she said it might have been Family Ties, but I didn’t like the way she said it. It’ll ring a much louder bell for her when it’s the right show. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-id/701428/7 "2014-10-16T13:35:29Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > If \*\*\*Facts of Life \*\*\*did it, they probably stole it from _ **National Lampoon’s European Vacation** _: > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lQ6rw32kU4](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lQ6rw32kU4) > > (Or maybe vice versa…) As I mentioned in my post… ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-id/701428/8 "2014-10-16T13:36:51Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Keep’em coming, I’ll run all these ideas past her when I see her in the morning. > > It’s for sure not Star Trek, I can tell you she doesn’t watch that. > > When I mentioned the shows in the first post to her she said it might have been Family Ties, but I didn’t like the way she said it. It’ll ring a much louder bell for her when it’s the right show. How about Growing Pains? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-id/701428/9 "2014-10-16T16:52:06Z")
90s era…perhaps some episode of “Step By Step”? ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-id/701428/10 "2014-10-17T00:27:38Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Keep’em coming, I’ll run all these ideas past her when I see her in the morning. > > It’s for sure not Star Trek, I can tell you she doesn’t watch that. > > When I mentioned the shows in the first post to her she said it might have been Family Ties, but I didn’t like the way she said it. It’ll ring a much louder bell for her when it’s the right show. There was a Family Ties tv movie where they go to europe, but I don’t remember if they went to france or just england (the reason they were there was alex got in some exchange program with either oxford or a thinly veiled knockoff of oxford). In syndication it’s broken up into half hour episodes, just like the aforementioned Facts of Life one. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-id/701428/11 "2014-10-17T01:26:53Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > There was a Family Ties tv movie where they go to europe, but I don’t remember if they went to france or just england (the reason they were there was alex got in some exchange program with either oxford or a thinly veiled knockoff of oxford). In syndication it’s broken up into half hour episodes, just like the aforementioned Facts of Life one. _ **Family Ties** _ went to England, _ **Facts of Life** _ went to France. Mallory fell in love with an English guy, Jo fell in love with a French guy. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-id/701428/12 "2014-10-17T01:30:54Z")
**Blossom** went to Paris for several episodes. I don’t think any cameras were stolen, though. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-id/701428/13 "2014-10-17T01:52:24Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > **Blossom** went to Paris for several episodes. I don’t think any cameras were stolen, though. She thought it might have been Blossom, it was actually her first thought, but coincidentally she just marathoned the entire series so she knows it’s not that. My suggestion was Friends, but I couldn’t remember it happening, specifically, and I know that show pretty well. For how well I know it, she knows it twice as well and said it wasn’t that show either. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-id/701428/14 "2014-10-17T04:19:49Z")
I sorta kinda almost remember something like that from _Married with Children_, but I don’t think Al “It is wrong to be French” Bundy would go to Paris. Could the camera theft have happened in England, instead? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-id/701428/15 "2014-10-17T10:35:49Z")
If it was _ **Facts of Life** _, it most likely would have happened to Tootie and Natalie. They were the ones who really set out to explore Paris, and (IIRC) ended up befriending a starving artist. Blair was hoping for a summer romance but never managed to hook up with anyone, so she learned to “enjoy [her] own company.” (The mind boggles… :rolleyes: ) Jo left Paris to go to LeMans (I think) and met her cool Frenchman-with-a-motorcycle while on the road. I don’t remember what Mrs Garrett was doing while all this was going on. Something responsible, domestic, and didactic, no doubt. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-id/701428/16 "2014-10-17T11:13:41Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > If it was _ **Facts of Life** _, it most likely would have happened to Tootie and Natalie. They were the ones who really set out to explore Paris, and (IIRC) ended up befriending a starving artist. The more I think about this, the more sense it makes. The starving artist steals their camera. Being feisty American teenagers, they track him down and make him give it back. He tells them his sob story, and they take pity on him and give him the encouragement he needs to carry on with his art. By the final commercial break, he’s become a success. Either it’s all coming back to me, or I have a hyperactive imagination!