Episodes you just can't stand to watch

[Stanislav]

It's one of your favorite classic TV shows. You watch reruns of it every chance you get.

BUT.....there's that one episode. Maybe it has an annoying guest star. Perhaps it's a very poor concept, or has your favorite character(s) acting horribly OUT of character. Or there's something that just rubs you the wrong way -- sticks in your craw. As much as you love the series as a whole, whenever THAT episode comes on, you groan and quickly flip the channel.

And that episode is.............?

I couldn't stand Married with Children when they added that smart ass little kid.

That would be Seven, the show's "Cousin Oliver" character. Never popular with the fans (and it made no sense to the dynamic of the show to have Peg be so motherly towards him when the only thing she'd ever been motherly towards was her bon-bons), and summarily dropped from the show. (Though later perversely lampshaded when in a later episode, Seven's face appears on a "Have you seen me?" milk carton.) Knowing the way the writers worked on that show, I sometimes wonder if the whole point of the introduction of the character was to subvert the whole "Cousin Oliver" phenomenon to begin with...

Hmm...wonder if Seven was related to Six on Blossom? Or Thirteen on House, M.D.? (Though the latter is just a nickname...) Back in the 60's, Charles Schulz had a one-shot character in the "Peanuts" strip whose name was "5." (And had sisters named "3" and "4.") Maybe there's a whole lineage of numbered characters out there. (This is the sort of free association one's mind does at 4 a.m. after a night of insomnia...) ;D

 

[onairb]

I know who's responsible...Number One!
But WHICH Number One...the guy who ran 'The Village'('The Prisoner'), or the one from 'Star Trek: The Next Generation'?
I think I watched 'Blossom' once, so if there was a 'story' behind Six's name, I don't know it...but it was probably lame!
Actually, the name 'Seven' on 'M...WC' could very well have been inspired by the Blossom character.

 

[WMC2006]

I know who's responsible...Number One!
.

I think the whole numbering thing started with Lawrence Welk: A-one-and-a-two-a ;D

 

[OldNumber7]

The Star Trek Original Series Episode "Gem" about the deaf mute from girl that some big headed aliens were trying to develop unselfishness in. I HATE this episoe, and even thoufgh I'll watch anything and everything Trek several(hundred) times, I just won't watch this episode.

Yes, that one was one of several forgettable episodes of a classic series. Others I am happy to not see: "Spock's Brain" (when his brain got hijacked), "Plato's Stepchildren" (where the aliens manipulated the crew like fools for their entertainment), and "Cat's Paw" (the Halloween episode). Worst original series Star Trek episodes ever.

 

[Mark Giardina]

Steve Urkel (Family Matters)
Smallville ( After the first season)
Lois & Clark (After the first season)
Life with Jim

 

[mleach]

Digging up an old thread since I've been away for a month...

Any Simpsons episode from Season 1, and from after Season 13. And the God-awful clip shows, especially that one where they're singing and Snake breaks in. The Simpsons long-ago jumped the shark and I only want to see the classics, sans those really corny ones from Season 1 which were never funny.

I agree about The Simpsons.

Interesting thing about that show I heard today thanks to my brother. He has a bunch of Simpsons on DVD and from what he was telling me according to the comments made by one of the writers on the DVD, the djs on the Simpsons, FM 102.5 KBBL's Bill & Marty..the idea for those characters was based on a real life radio morning show. Of course, I assume for legal reasons they didn't say exactly who or whom was the inspiration for Bill & Marty.

If this is true about "Bill & Marty", that is very similar to the John Waters 2004 flick "A Dirty Shame". Story goes from many who had appeared in that movie ( I knew a few who was in that..LOL ) that Waters got the whole idea to do that movie thanks to "local Baltimore talk radio". Of course John Waters has never said in public exactly who from Baltimore radio had gave him the idea to do that movie but I think its a safe bet to say the stations in question was Baltimore's WCBM-AM 680. I never did listen to WCBM on a regular basis but I do remember some years back hearing one of their ( WCBM ) local hosts going on sex..well lets just say for someone who was against sex..he sure knew a little too much about it. And if this same person did this sort of thing everyday...I can see John Waters where he got the idea for "A Dirty Shame".

 

[Corky Marlowe]

IMDB has a few more recent recent shots of Ms. Baldwin. Not too shabby for a gal who turned 63 last month!

She kinda looks like Nancy Pelosi would look if she wasn't the devil.

Just looked through the entire thread and didn't see...The Army flashback eps of "The Dick Van Dyke Show".

 

[onairb]

Or any episode of the 'DVDS' with Jerry Van Dyke...or that 'banjo-playing deputy' episode of 'The Andy Griffith Show' with Jerry Van Dyke...or anything else with Jerry Van Dyke... ;D

 

[nightfly61]

Beavis & Butthead after they started running whole videos for them to watch & criticize. It was more fun watching them change it when something sucked. At first I didn't like King of the Hill, any episodes because he has the same voice as Mr. Anderson but it grew on me a bit. Not nearly as filthy as the other cartoons out now.

Any I Love Lucy where she cried :
Any White Shadow episode having to do with race.
Any Eight Is Enough where Tommy was the focus.

 

[anotherguyTN]

Or any episode of the 'DVDS' with Jerry Van Dyke...or that 'banjo-playing deputy' episode of 'The Andy Griffith Show' with Jerry Van Dyke...or anything else with Jerry Van Dyke... ;D

One exception: Jerry Van Dyke in Coach.

I see they must have fixed the problem with his last name being blocked. :

 

[cspotrun]

somebody mentioned "Happy Days"... after seeing 'American Graffitti' (which the show was based on) the show was a BIG let down.. the problem.."Sanitized" "Characters".. (if you wanted a FEEL for the late 50's early 60's you would be better off watching a re-run of Dwayne Hickman as Dobie GILLIS) i think IF the show had taken the approach MASH did to a "Comedy" series it would have been much better.

 

[onairb]

Or any episode of the 'DVDS' with Jerry Van Dyke...or that 'banjo-playing deputy' episode of 'The Andy Griffith Show' with Jerry Van Dyke...or anything else with Jerry Van Dyke... ;D

One exception: Jerry Van Dyke in Coach.

I see they must have fixed the problem with his last name being blocked. :

Indeed!

 

[kirkiefan]

ANY television program whether its tabloid exploitation or entertainment news that promotes (and pushes to overkill proportions) the exploits of the ever talentless and overhyped Paris Hilton....who is about as talented,famous and legendary as Pia Zadora.

 

[mleach]

somebody mentioned "Happy Days"... after seeing 'American Graffitti' (which the show was based on) the show was a BIG let down.. the problem.."Sanitized" "Characters".. (if you wanted a FEEL for the late 50's early 60's you would be better off watching a re-run of Dwayne Hickman as Dobie GILLIS) i think IF the show had taken the approach MASH did to a "Comedy" series it would have been much better.

I have a feeling that was the goal with Happy Days..at first ( taking that MASH approach ). Reason being, even though I was never really that much of a fan of Happy Days, the first batch of Happy Days ( the ones with Chuck ) seemed to me they were more like a drama than a comedy. I seem to remember there was one very early episode of Happy Days where Mr. C. ( Tom Boskey ) made it clear...that he did not approve or nor did he like..The Fonz !!! No laughter in the background, no laughtrack...Mr. C. was serious plus The Fonz gave him that mean look back..almost like he really wanted to punch Mr. Cunningham.

Then of course soon after that The Fonz became the "star" of the show and became as much part of the Cunningham family as Richie & Joanie were.

 

[radioman148]

Or any episode of the 'DVDS' with Jerry Van Dyke...or that 'banjo-playing deputy' episode of 'The Andy Griffith Show' with Jerry Van Dyke...or anything else with Jerry Van Dyke... ;D

One exception: Jerry Van Dyke in Coach.

I see they must have fixed the problem with his last name being blocked. :

Indeed!

Wasn't the banjo playing episodes from the Dick Van Dyke Show?

 

[Kurt Toy]

Any episode of any show in which female characters refer to their male counterparts as "sexist pigs"-or words to that effect. Heaven forbid a male character would call, even in response, a female character a "feminazi".

 

[LKellerIII]

somebody mentioned "Happy Days"... after seeing 'American Graffitti' (which the show was based on) the show was a BIG let down.. the problem.."Sanitized" "Characters".. (if you wanted a FEEL for the late 50's early 60's you would be better off watching a re-run of Dwayne Hickman as Dobie GILLIS) i think IF the show had taken the approach MASH did to a "Comedy" series it would have been much better.

I have a feeling that was the goal with Happy Days..at first ( taking that MASH approach ). Reason being, even though I was never really that much of a fan of Happy Days, the first batch of Happy Days ( the ones with Chuck ) seemed to me they were more like a drama than a comedy. I seem to remember there was one very early episode of Happy Days where Mr. C. ( Tom Boskey ) made it clear...that he did not approve or nor did he like..The Fonz !!! No laughter in the background, no laughtrack...Mr. C. was serious plus The Fonz gave him that mean look back..almost like he really wanted to punch Mr. Cunningham.

Then of course soon after that The Fonz became the "star" of the show and became as much part of the Cunningham family as Richie & Joanie were.

I wouldn't compare Happy Days with M*A*S*H.. Happy Days was not "based" on American Graffiti or any one specific late 50s-early 60s nostalgia movie. I think people assumed this at first due to the similarity in subject matter, and because Ron Howard appeared in both. But the TV and the Graffiti movie had different characters, different fictional location, and so on.

Though the TV version of M*A*S*H was very different than the film of the same name, it was directly based on the film, with the same characters, and same basic premise.

In a general sense, you can say that American Graffiti begat Happy Days, because the movie was one of the first in a wave of media nostalgia for the 50s and early 60s that happened in the early and mid 70s. That wave included a lot of other films, books, and the growing popularity of Oldies radio.

I agree with cpostrun who preferred the first few episodes of Happy Days. Though I would consider the first few episodes to be comedy (not drama) - if I remember correctly, the writing was much more subtle on those first shows, and they were filmed with a single camera (more like a filmed drama), and without a laugh track. For some reason, the producer (Gary Marshall) decided to switch to the typical sit-com 3 camera format with studio audience reactions - and an added laugh track, I'm sure. Along with that, the acting became much more broad and the situations more farcical.

I personally agree that the change was a bad move, but its probably what made the show the big mainstream success that it became.

 

[radioman148]

Any episode of any show in which female characters refer to their male counterparts as "sexist pigs"-or words to that effect. Heaven forbid a male character would call, even in response, a female character a "feminazi".

Don't ever watch the Lifetime channel.

 

[nightfly61]

Any Laverne & Shirley where Shirl does that high pitch whine like the annoying noise Dr. Laura makes.
It would've been funnier if they would've kept their tough Milwaukee accents & additudes like they had when Fonzie introduced them on Happy Days before the spinoff began.

Any episode of All in the Family after Stephanie came along.

Any Cosby Show where I had to see more than 2 minutes of the diva wife throwing her weight around being bossy & power hungry shouting out commands & punishments to the kids & Bill.

Soap episodes where Corinne was pregnant w/ the posessed baby.
Any show where they're "fake eating or drinking". I know it messes up makeup but it drives you nuts watching people around a dinner table getting teady to take a sip of their cup & then they put it down & continue talking.
Any show that has someone buy food, get in an argument w/ someone & then throw their food out without toughing a bite. :
Any show that has overused cleches, like:
We need to ask you a few questions
They're gaining on us!
this one especially on soap operas: "hold me!" :

 

[onairb]

Or any episode of the 'DVDS' with Jerry Van Dyke...or that 'banjo-playing deputy' episode of 'The Andy Griffith Show' with Jerry Van Dyke...or anything else with Jerry Van Dyke... ;D

One exception: Jerry Van Dyke in Coach.

I see they must have fixed the problem with his last name being blocked. :

Indeed!

Wasn't the banjo playing episodes from the Dick Van Dyke Show?

JVD played(still plays?) banjo in real life, so I believe it was incorporated into both shows.
'The Banjo-Playing Deputy' is a 1965 episode of 'TAGS', which was supposed to introduce Van Dyke's character as Barney's replacement. But he turned down Griffith and did 'My Mother, the Car' instead. Oops!
As Rob Petrie's brother, Stacy, on 'TDVDS', there was one episode where he was playing musical instruments while 'sleepwalking'. I seem to remember him playing drums, but am not sure where the banjo came in.