Gimmick Episodes of Sitcoms

[KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!]

I had a few ideas for things to discuss, but figured it might get more of a response in this kind of catch all thread.

What made me think of it is the fairly recent trend of showing characters tripping balls. It’s not just characters doing drugs, but specifically targets all or most of the episode trying to show you how the characters are experiencing whacky drug effects. I’m not sure how many series have done them. I’m sure some variation of it appeared in sitcoms from way back. More recently though some I can think of to do the tripping balls episode are Broad City, Working Moms, and not a sitcom, but even This is Us kind of did it.

20+ years back an old one I can think of is The Simpsons kind of doing it via ghost chili.

[chrom]

Drew Carey had spot the difference episodes

[Paul]

Both ABC and Fox have done nights where all the sitcom episodes were in 3-D. Which of course makes the episodes almost unwatchable when they're re-run or shown on DVD in 2-D...

[Futureraven: Beelzebruv]

Nov 29, 2021 11:15:19 GMT -5 Paul said:

Both ABC and Fox have done nights where all the sitcom episodes were in 3-D. Which of course makes the episodes almost unwatchable when they're re-run or shown on DVD in 2-D...

I remember Third Rock From the Sun being part of one of those, if I remember right they only used the 3D in a dream/hallucination sequence, which worked since even without the glasses it looked surreal as f***.

[James Fabiano]

Not always the case, but the musical episode = series killer or at least dampener.

Raising Hope and American Housewife, to name two.

(I can say that with the latter, it helped kill my interest in the show. That and they had mini-musical episodes as the girl who played the older daughter did have a CD out)

[DoubleDare]

Nov 29, 2021 12:11:09 GMT -5 James Fabiano said:

Not always the case, but the musical episode = series killer or at least dampener.

Raising Hope and American Housewife, to name two.

(I can say that with the latter, it helped kill my interest in the show. That and they had mini-musical episodes as the girl who played the older daughter did have a CD out)

Funny you mentioned that since the first thing that popped in my head was the musical episode of Daria (animated sitcom) lmao.

[CMWaters]

I don't know if they kept them for subsequent airings of episodes, but I remember around the time "The Mask" came out in the 90s, Fox had its sitcoms at the time on one night have visual toon effects happen.

[karl100589]

Every episode of Community.

[peaches1]

Nov 29, 2021 11:08:59 GMT -5 KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! said:

The had a few ideas for things to discuss, but figured it might get more of a response in this kind of catch all thread.

What made me think of it is the fairly recent trend of showing characters tripping balls. It’s not just characters doing drugs, but specifically targets all or most of the episode trying to show you how the characters are experiencing whacky drug effects. I’m not sure how many series have done them. I’m sure some variation of it appeared in sitcoms from way back. More recently though some I can think of to do the tripping balls episode are Broad City, Working Moms, and not a sitcom, but even This is Us kind of did it.

20+ years back an old one I can think of is The Simpsons kind of doing it via ghost chili.

"Barney Miller" did an episode where most of the squad room ate hash-laced brownies. Not the most realistic depiction of a bunch of middle-aged men high on pot, but funny nonetheless.

'Newradio' did 'What-If?' type episodes where the show was set on the Titanic and on a spaceship.

'MASH' did a bunch of these. There was a 'ticking clock' episode where they had a certain amount of time to complete a surgical procedure, a POV episode told through the eyes of a wounded soldier who couldn't speak due to injury, and at least two clip shows that used the framing device of the 4077th staff being interviewed by a reporter.

[ltcproductions]

In the 90s and 2000s it was common for NBC sitcoms to have longer than normal "supersized" episodes.

[carp (SPC, Itoh Respect Army)]

Drew Carey Show did a lot of these. Live episodes, spot-the-mistake episodes, emmy-bait episodes.

Friends had some alternate timeline episodes, too.

Seinfeld had its backward episode. And Frasier had some, too... I remember one was divided up into three little one-act plays, and one was a door-slamming sex farce.


Oh, and Bojack Horseman pretty much perfected this. The entire episode happening in the mind of a person with dementia, the 30-minute monologue episode, the episode where we hear Bojack's thoughts to himself. Or my favorite: the one where the framestory is two therapists talking to one another about the characters, so they have to change-up details to keep them from being identifiable, so Bojack is a Zebra the whole time.

[Push R Truth]

I liked the Behind the Music Simpsons episode. Random fact: I once started a fight at a college bar by saying I loved it.


Is "Butters Very Own Show" a gimmick episode? I'd argue it is because it totally shifts who the main character is. It's one of the best South Park episodes, period.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

NBC did a blackout theme across all it's shows one Thursday night, since all the shows were set in New York, they'd all be experiencing the same blackout, except Seinfeld who just said no, and it never happened on Seinfeld.

[Ron Woodsman aka Shempaholic]

Nov 29, 2021 15:35:45 GMT -5 Cranjis McBasketball said:

NBC did a blackout theme across all it's shows one Thursday night, since all the shows were set in New York, they'd all be experiencing the same blackout, except Seinfeld who just said no, and it never happened on Seinfeld.

Similarly, back in 1991, The Golden Girls, Empty Nest, and Nurses (all set in Miami and airing back to-back on Saturday night) had an event where a hurricane hit Miami and affected all three shows. 30 years later Family Guy, The Cleveland Show, and American Dad had a similar hurricane event.

[salz4life]

Nov 29, 2021 11:08:59 GMT -5 KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! said:

The had a few ideas for things to discuss, but figured it might get more of a response in this kind of catch all thread.

What made me think of it is the fairly recent trend of showing characters tripping balls. It’s not just characters doing drugs, but specifically targets all or most of the episode trying to show you how the characters are experiencing whacky drug effects. I’m not sure how many series have done them. I’m sure some variation of it appeared in sitcoms from way back. More recently though some I can think of to do the tripping balls episode are Broad City, Working Moms, and not a sitcom, but even This is Us kind of did it.

20+ years back an old one I can think of is The Simpsons kind of doing it via ghost chili.

The Workaholics episode where they all drop acid with their boss is tremendous!

[Bang Bang Bart]

I think NBC also did the 3D gimmick with a Virtual Boy tie-in.

[Gravedigger's Biscuits]

Scrubs had a few I'd consider "gimmick" episodes.

My Life in Four Cameras, My Butterfly, My Way Home, My Musical.

[FinalGwen]

Wasn't there once a night where there was a power outage across multiple sitcoms set in New York? (Whoops, missed that this has been mentioned already.)

[BorneAgain]

Nov 29, 2021 16:23:17 GMT -5 Gravedigger's Biscuits said:

Scrubs had a few I'd consider "gimmick" episodes.

My Life in Four Cameras, My Butterfly, My Way Home, My Musical.

With the exception of My Princess (which was part of a mixed season 7 climbing up from the depths of season 6) I'd say Scrubs was pretty strong with its novelty episodes. Even the His/Her/Their story episodes that shifted the narration to characters besides JD typically worked pretty well.

[El Pollo Guerrera]

Not a sitcom... when I'm at a loss for what to watch, I've been going through the old 70s series "UFO". There's an episode where Straker halucinates that his 'reality' is a TV show and everyone around him are actors and crew.