# Worst episode of your favourite shows (open spoilers for anything more than a year old) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 1, 2014, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-episode-of-your-favourite-shows-open-spoilers-for-anything-more-than-a-year-old/685124 "2014-04-01T23:06:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2018, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-episode-of-your-favourite-shows-open-spoilers-for-anything-more-than-a-year-old/685124/81 "2018-08-14T23:47:38Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > I stopped watching “Friends” after I saw the episode where Rachel is trying to impress Brad Pitt’s character. She put on her old cheerleading costume then cartwheeled across the apartment. That just seemed so pathetic. Just FTR, that wasn’t Brad Pitt, it was Tate Donovan. But, as Jennifer Aniston was dating him at the time, we won’t take points off. Yeah, that sequence is unwatchable. > [@c\_carol](#): > > Really? You think _that’s_ the worst Doctor Who? I can see “Kinda” not being to everyone’s taste, but I can think of about a dozen worse episodes just off the top of my head. Just off the top of mine: “The Creature from the Pit” and “The Horns of Nimon” from Tom Baker’s penultimate season (which, on the other side of the coin, contains “City of Death” which should be enshrined in the annals of television history). Back to back pieces of crap, from a production team that had been there too long and were just phoning it in. > [@Cayuga](#): > > Star Trek TOS — Yes, “Spock’s Brain” is beyond absurd. “And the Children Shall Lead” is embarrassing. “The Omega Glory” beggars belief. BUT … the only episode I was never able to sit through a second time was “The Empath.” One more: “Plato’s Stepchildren.” If every print of this episode were to fall into an acid bath, I wouldn’t shed a tear. > [@HowSoonIsThen](#): > > I’ll second (five years later) **Normal Again** from **Buffy**. I can tolerate magic junkies, beer turning people into cavemen, the awkward sexism/homophobia of several early episodes, and even Dawn (who isn’t as bad as people say). But you can’t six years into a show just say “actually, even within the show’s universe they don’t exist”. At least not in a show like Buffy. I’m sure there are plenty of sci fi shows where that would work. Ah, now here’s where we diverge. I didn’t mind the storyline of Willow’s addiction (although I hated that they made it so literal – “Spellcaster’s Anonymous.” Oh, my eyes.) But killing Tara just to made her go Dark Willow and attempt to destroy the world? Unforgivable. ---
**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:** [August 15, 2018, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-episode-of-your-favourite-shows-open-spoilers-for-anything-more-than-a-year-old/685124/82 "2018-08-15T01:31:41Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > One more: “Plato’s Stepchildren.” If every print of this episode were to fall into an acid bath, I wouldn’t shed a tear. Toss in “Is There in Truth No Beauty?” while you’re at it. Actually, toss in most of the third season’s episodes. Yeccch! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-episode-of-your-favourite-shows-open-spoilers-for-anything-more-than-a-year-old/685124/83 "2018-08-15T02:35:19Z")
Three’s Company. The one where Mr Roper (or was Mr Furley) overhears the roommates talking about something innocent, but thinks they are talking about something salacious. ---
**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:** [August 15, 2018, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-episode-of-your-favourite-shows-open-spoilers-for-anything-more-than-a-year-old/685124/84 "2018-08-15T02:43:35Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > Three’s Company. > > The one where Mr Roper (or was Mr Furley) overhears the roommates talking about something innocent, but thinks they are talking about something salacious. Hey, that one was on just this afternoon! ---
**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:** [August 15, 2018, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-episode-of-your-favourite-shows-open-spoilers-for-anything-more-than-a-year-old/685124/85 "2018-08-15T04:36:26Z")
Start Trek TOS The Omega Glory. Most racist episode in the history of television, with the white civilization depicted as savage, monosyllabic animals. I Love Lucy “Lucy goes to Scotland” a dream episode a la Brigadoon. the writers have some 'splainin to do about this one. “Untouchables” “The Night they shot Santa Claus”. At least Eddie Munster had an uncredited cameo in it. ---
**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:** [August 15, 2018, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-episode-of-your-favourite-shows-open-spoilers-for-anything-more-than-a-year-old/685124/86 "2018-08-15T04:50:58Z")
I’m confused here. Which is more racist—a planet populated by an advanced black civilization, or one where whites are savage monosyllabic animals? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![LLCoolL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/llcooll/32/3596_2.png) [@LLCoolL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LLCoolL)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-episode-of-your-favourite-shows-open-spoilers-for-anything-more-than-a-year-old/685124/87 "2018-08-15T11:22:11Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > She is _fantastic_. Back when you had to search for movies, I looked forever for a copy of\* The Walking Stick \*(based on a novel by Winston Graham, the same guy who wrote the _Poldark_ books). She was so great in that. Samantha Eggar has a memorable turn in “The Brood” by David Cronenberg. Weird, wild stuff… ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-episode-of-your-favourite-shows-open-spoilers-for-anything-more-than-a-year-old/685124/88 "2018-08-15T18:19:10Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > One more: “Plato’s Stepchildren.” If every print of this episode were to fall into an acid bath, I wouldn’t shed a tear. At least it had Michael Dunn (Dr. Loveless) as a good guy. Not to mention the fact that was the episode where Kirk and Uhuru kiss. Another one I hated: The original Twilight Zone: Steel. The only episode of this series I disliked. The twist was pointless and stupid. Strangely the recent movie that was supposedly based on this episode wasn’t that bad. Honestly if I hadn’t heard it was based on that episode I would have never guessed. You’ve got to wonder why they even bothered securing the rights. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-episode-of-your-favourite-shows-open-spoilers-for-anything-more-than-a-year-old/685124/89 "2018-08-15T19:26:59Z")
Agree with The Empath as the worst ST:TOS episode. Not only is it shabbily and cheaply produced, but the material is really ugly. My vote for the worst classic Doctor Who is Planet of the Spiders, which starts out ok, but then just drags on and on for two and a half hours. ---
**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:** [August 15, 2018, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-episode-of-your-favourite-shows-open-spoilers-for-anything-more-than-a-year-old/685124/90 "2018-08-15T20:27:42Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > At least it had Michael Dunn (Dr. Loveless) as a good guy. Not to mention the fact that was the episode where Kirk and Uhuru kiss. … And Kirk and Spock were Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dee, perhaps the most ludicrous moment of the entire series.\* Yeccch! :mad: \*Ever wonder how the Platonians, who had left Earth thousands of years ago, knew about English nursery rhymes and/or the works of Lewis Carroll? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-episode-of-your-favourite-shows-open-spoilers-for-anything-more-than-a-year-old/685124/91 "2018-08-15T20:54:45Z")
**Game of Thrones** - The early seasons episode where Littlefinger monologues about his dastardly mustache-twirling ruthlessness while also instructing two of his brothel girls how to get it on. I’m not one to complain about silly superfluous titillation, but man was it silly and superfluous. ---
**Author:** ![bmasters1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@bmasters1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmasters1)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2018, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-episode-of-your-favourite-shows-open-spoilers-for-anything-more-than-a-year-old/685124/92 "2018-08-17T09:58:21Z")
_Hart to Hart_– a first-season episode (“You Made Me Kill You”) and a fourth-season episode (“Hartstruck”), both about a woman’s obsession w/Jonathan Hart (OAD on the first, 10/23/79, and on the second, 4/12/83, both on ABC). The way each of them plays lately to me, they seem to be very much like very special episodes designed to beat one over the head with a specific narrowly defined message, and that is why, whenever I have had a hankering for the Harts (I finished that entire 1979-84 ABC mystery/romance series a long time ago, first from Sony’s DVD releases, then from Shout!'s), those have not been among the episodes I have gone back to. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2018, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-episode-of-your-favourite-shows-open-spoilers-for-anything-more-than-a-year-old/685124/93 "2018-08-17T15:43:37Z")
Breaking Bad - The Fly House - Don’t remember the episode title, but a woman was dying and wanted House to say something personal about himself so he made up some crap about his grandmother making him sit in a cold tub. The whole hour dragged on in pointless dialogue. ---
**Author:** ![CelticKnot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/celticknot/32/3392_2.png) [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2018, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-episode-of-your-favourite-shows-open-spoilers-for-anything-more-than-a-year-old/685124/94 "2018-08-17T18:43:15Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > _Remington Steele_: “Illustrated Steele,” the one with the daily comic strip artist. > _Quantum Leap_: “A Portrait for Troian,” the one where Donald Bellisario’s entire frickin’ family gets their SAG cards. I loved _Quantum Leap,_ but season 5 jumped the shark. Marilyn Monroe, Lee Harvey Oswald, Elvis Presley, Dr. Ruth, UFOs, Bigfoot, evil leapers, Civil War, and Dr. Sam Beckett never returned home. ---
**Author:** ![Rough\_Draft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@Rough\_Draft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rough_Draft)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2018, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-episode-of-your-favourite-shows-open-spoilers-for-anything-more-than-a-year-old/685124/95 "2018-08-17T20:36:58Z")
Any episode of _Big Bang Theory_ with Leonard’s mother. Christine Baranski may be a beloved actress and a fine person, but that character is completely intolerable to me. ---
**Author:** ![Lorne\_Armstrong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@Lorne\_Armstrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorne_Armstrong)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2018, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-episode-of-your-favourite-shows-open-spoilers-for-anything-more-than-a-year-old/685124/96 "2018-08-18T07:06:07Z")
> [@c\_carol](#): > > Really? You think _that’s_ the worst Doctor Who? I can see “Kinda” not being to everyone’s taste, but I can think of about a dozen worse episodes just off the top of my head. Pretty much the entire JNT era was a low point, with a few exceptions. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2018, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-episode-of-your-favourite-shows-open-spoilers-for-anything-more-than-a-year-old/685124/97 "2018-08-18T07:39:07Z")
> [@LLCoolL](#): > > Law & Order: “Aftershock”. Abandons the standard L&O format of the police-procedural followed by legal proceedings. Instead, follows each of the characters in the aftermath of an execution. Both dull and depressing (and not in a good way for the latter). I understand and appreciate the effort to try something different, but it just didn’t work for me. I’d have to look through the whole _L&O_ canon to pick out a worst episode. Generally, the bad ones are when they departed from the classic formula; _Aftershock_ and _Rubber Room_ suffered for it. On the other hand, _Couples_ is all over the map and may be the best episode. (Seriously, read the IMDb [quotes page] (["Law & Order" Couples (TV Episode 2003) - Quotes - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0629219/quotes)); every one a gem.) I think I might go with _Burn Card_ as the worst. That’s Jesse Martin’s last episode where he’s suspected of murder and withholds evidence to protect a woman he knows. It’s been a while since I’ve seen it. > [@ekedolphin](#): > > **Star Trek: The Next Generation:** Dear Lord, where do I start with the first season. “Angel One” and “Code of Honor” were both dreadful. _Angel One_ gets derided for its sexism, but I think it’s kinda the point of the episode. There’s an episode of TOS called _Let That Be Your Last Battlefield_. The Enterprise gets embroiled in a racial dispute that’s thousands of years old; a man who’s black on the right and white on the left has been chasing his opposite and blames him for the destruction of their society. It’s easy to watch that and feel superior; we don’t identify with either of them so we can see how stupid the conflict is. _Angel One_ is the opposite. The characters look like (some of) us, so you can identify with them and feel the sexism, but not on the side you’re used to. If you’re a guy, do you resent Riker being told to put on something slinky and wait in Ariel’s bedroom? If you’re a woman, do you bristle at seeing other women acting only to preserve the status quo that keeps them at the top of the pecking order? I’m not calling it a good episode. There are still a lot of problems with it. And maybe an episode whose goal was to make viewers uncomfortable was just never gonna fly. But even for an episode that fails I try to see what they were going for. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-episode-of-your-favourite-shows-open-spoilers-for-anything-more-than-a-year-old/685124.md?page=4)