# WTF moments from your favorite tv programs. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 9, 2006, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-from-your-favorite-tv-programs/339175 "2006-01-09T17:21:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-from-your-favorite-tv-programs/339175/41 "2006-01-10T20:33:48Z")
I contributed to the WTFness of this one but if you were there you would have agreed. To begin with I had a super-bad cold. That can make your mind fuzzy at the best of times. Secondly I had done some Nyquil, which has the ability to f up your mind just a bit and finally a woman friend of mine had given me a joint to help deal with the cold (What is the old saying? “Starve a fever and smoke a doobie for a cold?”). So I am lying in bed looking up at my television (I had it mounted on the top shelf of my bookcase) and I notice Paul Simon doing some sort of stand-up. Then he is joined by basketball great Bill Russell. Then I notice that Simon (5-5 maybe) challenges Russell (almost 7 feet tall) to a game of one-on-one basketball. They begin playing and Russell gets the first couple of points, but Simon starts winning. He ends up winning. The program then breaks for a commercial and the commercial starts talking about rock based breakfast cereal. I looked at the joint I was holding at the time and put it out (something I had never done before). I knew that I was screwed up in some major way. It turns out I had turned on a brand-new unheralded television show called Saturday Night Live. There had been no announcement about this program where I was living and know that there was nothing like it anywhere prior to that show. That was truly a WTF moment if you weren’t prepared. ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-from-your-favorite-tv-programs/339175/42 "2006-01-10T20:50:43Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > Well, isn’t it possible for him to be both? I’m pretty sure participating in WWII didn’t bar you from participating in the Korean War, which was about 5 years later. Unless they said somewhere that his birthday was in 1934 or something, in which case, serving in WWII _would_ be problematic. Red was in both wars, it’s been mentioned more than once in the series. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-from-your-favorite-tv-programs/339175/43 "2006-01-10T21:03:06Z")
> [@LiveOnAPlane](#): > > …Johnny Weismuller was slogging through the jungle and they had this sound from a KOOKABURRA to make it even more “jungle-ey.” Off on a tangent…I’ve noticed all my life that it’s a Jungle Movie cliche to have that bird sound (oo-oo-o-o-o-AH-AH-AH). And I’ve know all my life what a kookaburra looks like, and that they live in Australia, in the old gum tree, merry merry king of the bush is he…but I only recently found out that the two factoids were related. And I said…WTF? ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-from-your-favorite-tv-programs/339175/44 "2006-01-10T21:05:08Z")
[QUOTEjsc1953] merry merry king of the \*\*bush is \*\* he [/QUOTE] (bolding mine) good grief. I always thought it was > [@](#): > > merry merry king of the \*\*gypsies \*\* he ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-from-your-favorite-tv-programs/339175/45 "2006-01-10T21:09:58Z")
> [@anyrose](#): > > (bolding mine) > good grief. I always thought it was Yeah, that makes sense. :rolleyes: 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![priapus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@priapus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/priapus)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-from-your-favorite-tv-programs/339175/46 "2006-01-10T21:16:29Z")
> [@Laughing Lagomorph](#): > > They didn’t try very hard with continuity with this series, maybe that was part of it. Many of the main characters just acted stranger and stranger as the show went on. > > In addition some of the storylines were quite surreal, involving demonic possesion, alien abductions and the like. just like a “real” soap opera ---
**Author:** ![priapus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@priapus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/priapus)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-from-your-favorite-tv-programs/339175/47 "2006-01-10T21:20:30Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > _Soap_! Don’t you get it? _Soap_! Folks, it was a parody of soap operas, that’s why it was called _Soap_! > > Therefore, characters did extremely unlikely things in increasingly outlandish situations. Personalities established quite firmly would suddenly change. > > In other words, the whole series was _intended_ to be one WTF moment after another. > > The funniest part of a lot of it was that long after the show ended, actual soap operas started to include plots not dissimilar to what appeared on _Soap_. sorry,I didn’t read far enough to see you already answered ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-from-your-favorite-tv-programs/339175/48 "2006-01-10T21:23:08Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Yeah, that makes sense. :rolleyes: > > 🙂 whaddaya want. I was 5 when I learned it. aurally. never saw a swet of printed lyrics. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-from-your-favorite-tv-programs/339175/49 "2006-01-10T22:31:15Z")
> [@pizzabrat](#): > > How about finding out Alicia and Goliath were dating on “Gargoyles”. At the end of one episode, she just started making out with the giant, gray-skinned, bat-winged monster. I don’t think I’ve seen anything top that yet. It took me a moment to parse that–her name is “Elisa”, I believe. As for it being unexpected…well, it didn’t surprise me. The development of their relationship was one of the running themes of the show. I think the episode “The Mirror” settled where things were going for them pretty conclusively. The only real WTF in the series for me was the last skiff episode (“Future Tense”, I think). It didn’t click until near the reveal. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-from-your-favorite-tv-programs/339175/50 "2006-01-11T00:31:41Z")
The very end of the series [_Cold Squad_](http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/show/CTVShows/1063403295219_5/) (progenitor of _Cold Case_.) [spoiler]The episode revolves around an obssessive delusional who worships Ali as an avenging angel, and who has been going around murdering sex offenders. At the climax, Ali finds him in his hidey-hole, where he’s holding a serial rapist captive. The rapist is bound and gagged, and the nutter wants Ali to deliver the _coup de grace_. They go through a set-piece routine where Ali protests about how vigilante justice is wrong, and the guy is confused/needs help/etc. Of course the guy’s fantasy about her is shattered, and now _she’s_ in mortal danger, put in the position of having to uphold the law and protect the rapist. Things play out pretty much as you’d expect, and soon the psycho is dead and the (previously-smug) bound rapist is weeping with gratitude and apparent contrition. And then Ali kills him in cold blood. BLAM! She drops her gun and starts sobbing. Credits roll.[/spoiler] Definite HOLY CRAP! reaction from me. How they _hell_ are they going to develop this next season? Answer: There is no next season. That’s just the end of her arc. Seven years of character development negated in an instant. WTF? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-from-your-favorite-tv-programs/339175/51 "2006-01-11T00:35:03Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > For a real WTF moment on ST:TOS, see “Bread and Circuses,” where Enterprise encounters a world which is just like Earth only the Roman Empire never fell. Even worse . . . What about _The Omega Glory_? An alien planet parallells Earth history down to the development of two tribes, the Yangs and Komms (Yanks and Commies), a flag identical to the American flag, a document absolutely identivcal to the Declaration Of Independence, right down to the handwriting, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-from-your-favorite-tv-programs/339175/52 "2006-01-11T01:46:28Z")
That time Emeril cooked a puppy was pretty freaky. Ok maybe not, but there were plenty of WTF moments on the original Iron Chef. They’re eating WHAT!? ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-from-your-favorite-tv-programs/339175/53 "2006-01-11T03:27:40Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > _Soap_! Don’t you get it? _Soap_! Folks, it was a parody of soap operas, that’s why it was called _Soap_! > > Therefore, characters did extremely unlikely things in increasingly outlandish situations. Personalities established quite firmly would suddenly change. > > In other words, the whole series was _intended_ to be one WTF moment after another. > > The funniest part of a lot of it was that long after the show ended, actual soap operas started to include plots not dissimilar to what appeared on _Soap_. Well, yeah. I figured that out in 1979 or so but thanks anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-from-your-favorite-tv-programs/339175/54 "2006-01-11T03:36:32Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > I was never a fan of LA Law but one of the few moments I remember while changing channels was, mean lady talking to some guy and then turns and falls down an elevator shaft. I figured after I had seen that I had seen it all. Sorry, that wasn’t a WTF moment. That was a moment for cheering and celebrating. I hated that character and that actress. Would that she had fallen down a turbolift as well! ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-from-your-favorite-tv-programs/339175/55 "2006-01-11T03:50:56Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > I was never a fan of LA Law but one of the few moments I remember while changing channels was, mean lady talking to some guy and then turns and falls down an elevator shaft. I figured after I had seen that I had seen it all. Haha. Didn’t the actress die the same way on ST:TNG, or did a lot of people just make that joke because she vanished? -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Albert\_Rose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Albert\_Rose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Albert_Rose)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-from-your-favorite-tv-programs/339175/56 "2006-01-11T03:56:38Z")
The end of ‘24’ season one. WTF? They just killed off the hero’s pregnant reconciled wife!!! ---
**Author:** ![AFAIKnow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a6a055/32.png) [@AFAIKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AFAIKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-from-your-favorite-tv-programs/339175/57 "2006-01-11T04:07:29Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > That time Emeril cooked a puppy was pretty freaky. > > Ok maybe not, but there were plenty of WTF moments on the original Iron Chef. > > They’re eating WHAT!? I think they should take away that damn icecream maker. ---
**Author:** ![Emeria](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3be4f8/32.png) [@Emeria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emeria)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-from-your-favorite-tv-programs/339175/58 "2006-01-11T04:36:36Z")
I had a big WTF moment when Romano got his arm chopped off by the helicopter in ER. Everything seemed normal leading up to it and -bam!- the arm was on the ground. I remember just being open-mouthed for the entire commercial break following, trying to figure out where they were going to take having sliced off their best surgeon’s right arm. That scene truly blindsided me. ---
**Author:** ![Reepicheep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@Reepicheep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reepicheep)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-from-your-favorite-tv-programs/339175/59 "2006-01-11T05:32:18Z")
In **Last Night** the last episode of _Forever Knight_ Nick has just killed Natalie by draining her instead of making her a vampire. He asks his sire, LaCroix, to kill him. LaCroix holds the stake above Nick, preparing to stake him. Credits roll. Natalie is dead (at Nick’s hand), Nick does NOT become human, and did LaCroix really just kill Nick?!?! Major WTF moment. ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-from-your-favorite-tv-programs/339175/60 "2006-01-11T08:28:05Z")
> [@Turek](#): > > Sorry, that wasn’t a WTF moment. That was a moment for cheering and celebrating. I hated that character and that actress. Would that she had fallen down a turbolift as well! ditto ditto ditto ditto ditto ditto ditto ditto ditto [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-from-your-favorite-tv-programs/339175.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-from-your-favorite-tv-programs/339175.md?page=4)