# What shows have never had Very Special Episodes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 20, 2004, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-shows-have-never-had-very-special-episodes/255956 "2004-07-20T05:46:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-shows-have-never-had-very-special-episodes/255956/1 "2004-07-20T05:46:06Z")
First, let me define the term. I regard a Very Special Episode as one in which the characters have an object or moral lesson forced upon them, usually by tragedy, but perhaps by the presence of a one-shot character. I wouldn’t count, for instance, the bar on **Cheers** burning down as a VSE, because there was no moral. But if another sitcom had a fire that was started by a kid smoking or playing with matches, that’s a classic VSE episode. However, these things are not absolute. If, for instance, a fire/car accident/other tragedy episode was a jarring contrast to a show’s normally irreverent tone, that would qualify. So don’t feel obligated to stick to my criteria. Now, the reason I’m bringing this up is because I just now referenced **That '70s Show** , in another thread, as a show that’s never had a VSE. Stuff does happen to these people, but stuff like Kelso finding out that his one-night-stand is pregnant is not overdramatized or made the focus on one single episode. The storyline I spoiler-boxed has been playing out over the entire last season, not compressed into a problem/decision/group hug mini-drama. **Seinfeld** goes without saying, of course, because it was Larry David who first brought the VSE Syndrome into public scrutiny. Some might say that every episode of **My So-Called Life** was a VSE, but I say they only had one (the Christmas episode, blaughhh), because although they dealt with numerous Serious Issues, they were either not resolved, or resolved through decidedly unformulaic means. I don’t believe **Frasier** ever had a VSE, but I haven’t seen every episode. Well, that’s worn me out. Anybody? ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-shows-have-never-had-very-special-episodes/255956/2 "2004-07-20T05:56:41Z")
I think **Scrubs** gets around the very special episode bit by having every episode be one. It’s still a great show though! ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-shows-have-never-had-very-special-episodes/255956/3 "2004-07-20T06:01:42Z")
Uh, the original Star Trek? I love lucy? Crank Yankers? The Twilight Zone? Monster Garage? Iron Chef? Maybe I don’t understand the question. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-shows-have-never-had-very-special-episodes/255956/4 "2004-07-20T06:04:06Z")
**Seinfeld** never did it. It was part of the show’s credo that there could never be any learning or any hugging. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-shows-have-never-had-very-special-episodes/255956/5 "2004-07-20T07:09:10Z")
> [@Bill H.](#): > > Uh, the original Star Trek? I love lucy? Crank Yankers? The Twilight Zone? Monster Garage? Iron Chef? Maybe I don’t understand the question. It appears that you do. Keep going! ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-shows-have-never-had-very-special-episodes/255956/6 "2004-07-20T07:34:15Z")
**Rilchiam** wrote > [@](#): > > Keep going! I suppose with (im?)proper encouragement, there’s not much I couldn’t be coerced into. Insomniac Sanford & Son Sabado Gigante Two and a Half Men American Chopper The Apprentice Whose Line Is It Anyway? Antiques Roadshow SpongeBob SquarePants The Munsters Dr. Gene Scott (Ok, I guess all of those are very special episodes) ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-shows-have-never-had-very-special-episodes/255956/7 "2004-07-20T07:34:35Z")
The Shield Beavis & Butthead Profit Columbo ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-shows-have-never-had-very-special-episodes/255956/8 "2004-07-20T11:04:44Z")
Finding shows with family life and teenaged children and no VSE is hard. **Married… With Children.** **Absolutely Fabulous.** **Blackadder.** **Malcolm In The Middle.** ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-shows-have-never-had-very-special-episodes/255956/9 "2004-07-20T12:38:07Z")
The Simpsons? ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-shows-have-never-had-very-special-episodes/255956/10 "2004-07-20T13:02:56Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > … I don’t believe **Frasier** ever had a VSE, but I haven’t seen every episode. I’m sure Frasier did indeed have a VSE. Niles’ brush with death immediately comes to mind, ---
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-shows-have-never-had-very-special-episodes/255956/11 "2004-07-20T18:22:54Z")
> [@Askia](#): > > **Blackadder.** Would the last episode of \*\*Blackadder IV \*\* count as one? Because _damn_. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-shows-have-never-had-very-special-episodes/255956/12 "2004-07-20T18:31:50Z")
> [@Bill H.](#): > > Uh, the original Star Trek… “City on the Edge of Forever” might qualify. The good of the many outweigh the good of the few or the one. ---
**Author:** ![Kaspar\_Hauser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b3f665/32.png) [@Kaspar\_Hauser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaspar_Hauser)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-shows-have-never-had-very-special-episodes/255956/13 "2004-07-20T18:52:43Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > Beavis & Butthead On the contrary–they had a very special episode actually entitled “A Very Special Episode,” in which Beavis feeds a wounded baby bird by chewing up worms and spiitting them into its mouth. It was very touching. ---
**Author:** ![emekthian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecae2f/32.png) [@emekthian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emekthian)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-shows-have-never-had-very-special-episodes/255956/14 "2004-07-20T19:34:14Z")
> [@](#): > > original Star Trek? “Let that be your last battlefield”. > [@](#): > > Finding shows with family life and teenaged children and no VSE is hard. Family Guy has never had a VSE. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-shows-have-never-had-very-special-episodes/255956/15 "2004-07-20T19:56:37Z")
I was thinking through favorite TV shows- and when I thought of BUFFY, of course “The Body” stood out as a VSE, but was that the only one? ---
**Author:** ![Pashnish\_Ewing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8797f3/32.png) [@Pashnish\_Ewing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pashnish_Ewing)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-shows-have-never-had-very-special-episodes/255956/16 "2004-07-20T20:53:50Z")
> [@interface2x](#): > > The Simpsons? I think most of the Lisa-centric eps would count as VSE’s. Pash ---
**Author:** ![slinkydink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f8ce5/32.png) [@slinkydink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slinkydink)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-shows-have-never-had-very-special-episodes/255956/17 "2004-07-20T21:01:31Z")
While the \*\*The Body \*\* was indeed an extremely special episode, I don’t believe that it qualifies as a \*\*VSE \*\* as is outlined in the OP. A \*\*VSE \*\* isn’t a major plot point or a theme episode or a one-off, it’s an episode specifically designed to showcase a moral idea, like drugs, guns control, drunk driving, etc. Joyce’s death was the culmination of a plot that started early in season five and was also very important to the plot that followed. It may have even contributed heavily to Buffy’s decision to sacrifice herself in The Gift. When Joyce went in to the operation to have her tumor removed, she made Buffy promise to take care of Dawn and keep her safe. Not that Buffy wouldn’t have anyway, but I always felt that this direct specific promise and subsequent loss of her mother coupled with the potential loss of her sister was to much to bare, leading to Buffy’s decision to commit suicide/sacrifice herself to save Dawn. Someone even wrote and entire thesis on the concept of Buffy and the VSE: [There Will Never Be a ‘Very Special’ Buffy”: Buffy and the Monsters of Teen Life](http://www.slayage.tv/essays/slayage2/wilcox.htm) On another note: I finally managed to stop lurking… It only took me 4 years! ---
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-shows-have-never-had-very-special-episodes/255956/18 "2004-07-20T21:14:02Z")
The closest BtVS ever came to a VSE was “Wrecked”, which played like a ham-fisted 1980s after-school special. But it only \*played \* that way, I don’t think it was intended to teach viewers that visiting magic crackhouses was wrong. I can’t think of a VSE of _Babylon 5_ or _Moonlighting_, but soeone may be able to refresh my memory. ---
**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:** [July 20, 2004, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-shows-have-never-had-very-special-episodes/255956/19 "2004-07-20T21:29:11Z")
_Davey and Goliath_ Oh, wait… ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-shows-have-never-had-very-special-episodes/255956/20 "2004-07-20T22:01:02Z")
Since we’ve mentioned Buffy, I don’t think Angel has ever had a VSE. Maybe that first season episode about the demon Nazis but other than that, I can’t think of one… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-shows-have-never-had-very-special-episodes/255956.md?page=2)