60 Minutes I'll Never Get Back: Episodes We Could Have Done Without

[kassygreene]

Except for Mandy Patinkin, who explained to Adam Arkin's character that the reason he was using his own voice instead of lip-syncing was because he actually could sing....

[CoderLady]

3 hours ago, kassygreene said:

Except for Mandy Patinkin, who explained to Adam Arkin's character that the reason he was using his own voice instead of lip-syncing was because he actually could sing....

I've heard him. Oh yes, he can.

[Blergh]

St. Elsewhere "Cheers". Yes, I'm sorry I watched it to the end but that doesn't mean that I didn't originally like it and enjoyed most episodes until the about the 3rd season when things started going sour. The WORST episode (beside the Snowglobe Finale) had to be when Drs. Auschlander, Craig and Westphall talked over some serious problems in the Cheers bar where they had lame banter with Norm and Cliff- and, worst of all, Carla was needlessly hostile. I understand it was in Carla's character to be mean to the regulars and her female colleagues. However; she was also sympathetic as a working mother sole breadwinner to a large family so it seemed preposterous to me that she'd be mean to the docs who hadn't even ordered straight off the bat. I mean, I think it's quite likely that she gave Norm and Cliff chances to get comfortable and dependent on her company BEFORE she started dissing them.  Everyone seemed completely uncomfortable and out of place here (even the Cheers folks in their own bar) and it just didn't gel.

[roamyn]

On Sunday, September 04, 2016 at 8:27 AM, Sweet Tee said:

Yes.  I'll go one further and say the entire 4th season was awful except the Targets without a Badge three parter.  Other than that the whole season is full of tension and general unpleasantness.  It's clear that the actors did not want to be there anymore and resented the whole thing.

Actually, the reason they are so much apart, is because David Soul started drinking too much and was constantly late.  Yes, PMG did not want to be there, and in fact sued to get out of the contract.

But you're right, there are very few good episodes in S4.  'The Game' - which has the loveliest tag (how DS's crotch made it past sensors I'll never know, but always be thankful for), 'Black & Blue' - Hutch finally gets shot, 'Moonshine' - for its silliness & DS's singing/guitar playing, and the aforementioned 'TWAB'.

[GreekGeek]

This may belong in the "Unpopular Opinions" thread, but I don't mind musical episodes, episodes with dream sequences, or "what if" episodes. Backdoor pilots are another story, like the Frasier episode with the Greek family. "Very special episodes" are another pet peeve, although I associate them more with the 70's and 80's than today.

Sometimes a show tries to introduce new characters that just don't work. I'm thinking of The Mary Tyler Moore Show when it tried to make Mary's parents regular characters and when it gave her two new nurse neighbors (Penny Marshall and Mary Kay Place, I think).

I hated the death of Susan on Seinfeld. I know the story is that the actress didn't mesh with the rest of the cast, but she could have just broken up with George. I don't normally rant about how television is making us horrible people, but I think treating death as a joke is worse than the sex and violence that people usually worry about.

[Blergh]

3 hours ago, GreekGeek said:

This may belong in the "Unpopular Opinions" thread, but I don't mind musical episodes, episodes with dream sequences, or "what if" episodes. Backdoor pilots are another story, like the Frasier episode with the Greek family. "Very special episodes" are another pet peeve, although I associate them more with the 70's and 80's than today.

Sometimes a show tries to introduce new characters that just don't work. I'm thinking of The Mary Tyler Moore Show when it tried to make Mary's parents regular characters and when it gave her two new nurse neighbors (Penny Marshall and Mary Kay Place, I think).

I hated the death of Susan on Seinfeld. I know the story is that the actress didn't mesh with the rest of the cast, but she could have just broken up with George. I don't normally rant about how television is making us horrible people, but I think treating death as a joke is worse than the sex and violence that people usually worry about.

  I believe that,  with both Rhoda and Phyllis getting spun off to their own ultimately disappointing shows, the writers thought that Mary needed new neighbors to bounce off her but somehow the 'odd couple' of Miss Marshall and Miss Place just didn't work here, though they might have worked as an entirely different show had the PTB and the performers worked together to focus on them. Also, even though the Nanette Fabray and the late Bernard Hughes were very talented but even they couldn't make Mary's parents into anything but bores so I think that was a writing fail. Ultimately, the WJM crew proved sufficient for Mare .

   I agree with you re George's fiancee's death played for laughs. Yes, if the character and the performer wasn't meshing with the rest of the case, then why not just have them break up instead of killing her off? 

[proserpina65]

On ‎09‎/‎03‎/‎2016 at 4:03 PM, GaT said:

I'll have to go with Buffy again & disagree with you. Once More With Feeling is brilliant.

I know this is an unpopular opinion amongst Buffy fans, but I hated that episode.  Absolutely loathed it.  It wasn't the worst late-ish Buffy episode, but for me, it was the tipping point into no longer watching.

[Gudzilla]

30 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

I know this is an unpopular opinion amongst Buffy fans, but I hated that episode.  Absolutely loathed it.  It wasn't the worst late-ish Buffy episode, but for me, it was the tipping point into no longer watching.

I thought it was just me.

[proserpina65]

4 hours ago, nosleepforme said:

Why though? What about it did you hate? The singing? The plot hole? 

The singing, the writing, the acting, the plot hole.  Basically there was nothing about that episode which I enjoyed in any way.  I'll admit part of it is my dislike of musical episodes of tv shows in general.

[Chaos Theory]

On September 7, 2016 at 9:07 AM, proserpina65 said:

The singing, the writing, the acting, the plot hole.  Basically there was nothing about that episode which I enjoyed in any way.  I'll admit part of it is my dislike of musical episodes of tv shows in general.

I hate them too but Buffy and Xena were two of the only show that did them well.

[afterbite]

On 1/7/2015 at 8:48 PM, Jipijapa said:

The episode of Star Trek Voyager where they evolve into lizards.  (I honestly would have preferred monkeys.)

I actually kind of love this one, if only because of how utterly unconcerned Janeway and Paris were that they'd made salamander babies. IIRC, they just kind of shrug it off with an 'ehh...', like it was just one of those things that happens, you know.

[vibeology]

On ‎9‎/‎8‎/‎2016 at 1:42 PM, Chaos Theory said:

I hate them too but Buffy and Xena were two of the only show that did them well.

The Scrubs episode worked for me. That was already a pretty zany show so they could get away with it. Plus, I thought their framing device worked. But of the dozens of shows I watch that have done musicals, three have worked for me to various degrees.

And I will say, while I love Once More With Feeling on one level (it's fun seeing a cast I like doing something different and it stands out as something different in what I find a very monotonous season), I also think it's a deeply flawed episode and the songs aren't very good. And when I say that I mean, when I watch it now, I'm blown away at how pedestrian and basic the songs are and how little of the wit and charm of the dialogue of the show comes through. (Joss should have hired someone to collaborate with rather than doing it all on his own because you can tell it's a beginners effort.) Xander's bit in I've Got a Theory is strong. I like Standing and it's reprise because that's a moment where those characters wouldn't be punny. I also love Sweet's Song but I think that's because Hinton Battle just uses his sheer talents to take something okay and make it sing. But Spike's song, Xander & Anya's song, Tara's treacley number, Buffy's songs etc. just don't hold up very well. 

[DisneyBoy]

So many episodes of the 5th season of Ally McBeal come to mind right now: the one with the vibrating massage chair that gives women orgasms... the one where Ally finds out she has a long lost daughter... but I'm really going to have to say the hundredth episode of the series, which featured a man who was ill and building himself fake bird wings so he could fly off the roof of his cottage across a lake, was the last straw. And this was supposed to be really beautiful and magical and emotional and serious...but when the man actually jumped off his roof and started flying over the lake in what I imagined was a very expensive shot to pull off, all I could do was sit there agape at how monumentally stupid the whole thing was. The visual itself was hilarious and dumb but then on top of that he, of course, ended up dying as soon as he accomplished his task, forcing Calista Flockhart to reenact her shrieking over the body of a dying loved one schtick from the episode where Billy died in season 3, which was one of the most emotional episodes of the entire series. So in addition to being a completely stupid and cheesy stunt, I felt like they diminished one of the best moments acting-wise in the entire series by having Ally repeat it with a virtual stranger.

And on top of that, the whole trying to fly idea had been done I think in the first season, with an old man who was trying to escape from prison by making a trampoline out of small elastic bands.

What can I say? I really cared about this show. The 100th episode just felt like a mocking parody.

Of course they also did a thinly-veiled tribute to 9/11 episode way too soon in which a town lost a bunch of firefighters and wanted to hold a parade to honor them at Christmas time, except the city officials thought it would be too morbid or something. The episode also featured the return of Josh Groban's character Malcolm, who we suddenly learned had a pastor for a father (even though the previous season he had been singing for a choir with a completely different pastor) and who also apparently had a mother who got murdered. The collision of those two plots was super heavy-handed and schmaltzy. That fifth season was such torture.

On another note, Justice League Unlimited did an entire episode in its last season where a bunch of heroes participated in a parade only to then require the help of a random young boy who operated a construction crane to save the day. It was so stupid, like the Power Rangers movie or something. I really hate it when shows make it seem like random kids can work all sorts of technology and save the day and "be heroes too!" Tacky and corny. JLU was supposed to be a better show than that.

Oh wait - Smallville! Smallville always wins in the WTH category. How about the season 9 episode where Clark blows up twin towers in the middle of Metropolis with his heat vision? Or the season eight 8 episode where Lana burns off her skin to have synthetic skin that will give her superpowers? Or the following episode where she becomes a kryptonite-powered martyr, and pulls a floating Jesus move?

That show...

Edited April 13, 2017 by DisneyBoy

[roamyn]

17 hours ago, DisneyBoy said:

 

Smallville! Smallville always wins in the WTH category. How about the season 9 episode where Clark blows up twin towers in the middle of Metropolis with his heat vision? Or the season eight 8 episode where Lana burns off her skin to have synthetic skin that will give her superpowers? Or the following episode where she becomes a kryptonite-powered martyr, and pulls a floating Jesus move?

That show...

Seriously, they did this?!!

Was it after 9/11?

[kiddo82]

On April 11, 2017 at 3:49 PM, vibeology said:

And I will say, while I love Once More With Feeling on one level (it's fun seeing a cast I like doing something different and it stands out as something different in what I find a very monotonous season), I also think it's a deeply flawed episode and the songs aren't very good. And when I say that I mean, when I watch it now, I'm blown away at how pedestrian and basic the songs are and how little of the wit and charm of the dialogue of the show comes through. (Joss should have hired someone to collaborate with rather than doing it all on his own because you can tell it's a beginners effort.) Xander's bit in I've Got a Theory is strong. I like Standing and it's reprise because that's a moment where those characters wouldn't be punny. I also love Sweet's Song but I think that's because Hinton Battle just uses his sheer talents to take something okay and make it sing. But Spike's song, Xander & Anya's song, Tara's treacley number, Buffy's songs etc. just don't hold up very well. 

I generally agree with your assessment about the episode as a whole and the music not being particularly strong but I just want to say that "Bunnies!  Bunnies!  It must be BUNNIES!" will never not be funny to me.  I haven't watched that episode in years and I'm smiling while thinking about that part right now.

[ParadoxLost]

On ‎9‎/‎6‎/‎2016 at 6:35 AM, GreekGeek said:

This may belong in the "Unpopular Opinions" thread, but I don't mind musical episodes, episodes with dream sequences, or "what if" episodes.

Just out of curiosity because I didn't watch the show but anyone know what the general reaction to the OZ musical was?

Its the only episode of OZ I've seen and I've only seen it because I saw the show on a list of shows with musical episodes and I knew enough about OZ to say WTF.  My reaction to the episode was WTF.

[Anela]

Anything with Negan in it (Walking Dead). 

[GaT]

On 4/11/2017 at 0:49 PM, vibeology said:

I also think it's a deeply flawed episode and the songs aren't very good.

But what about The Mustard & The Parking Ticket? They're classics! :-)

[DisneyBoy]

4 hours ago, roamyn said:

Seriously, they did this?!!

Was it after 9/11?

Oh yes. Not immediately after, mind you, but still waaaay too soon. And they played it up as this heroic moment for Clark to finally be taking action against the villain of the season, General Zod...but the thing was Zod started building those freaking towers like nine episodes earlier and Clark for no reason just waited until they were fully built and probably inhabited to blow them the f up.

Quote

But Spike's song, Xander & Anya's song, Tara's treacley number...

Whoa, whoa, whoa - I love Under Your Spell. And treacle is delicious.

And thank God I'll Never Tell is wonderful.

The Spike song I hardly remember. It's Rest In Peace isn't it? Yeah, I could live without that one.

Edited April 14, 2017 by DisneyBoy

[ABay]

My very favorite line in "Once More with Feeling" is when Giles says "the police are taking witness arias." It's just a throw-away line but it still makes me laugh.

[catlover79]

What? No one has mentioned that L&O episode that had the most infamous six words in franchise history?

"Is this because I'm a lesbian?"

Pointless and utterly stupid. 

[Bort]

The internet shit storm that ensued afterwards made it one of the greatest train wrecks ever on an episode of a tv show. So no, I don't consider it a waste of my time.

[biakbiak]

7 hours ago, kariyaki said:

The internet shit storm that ensued afterwards made it one of the greatest train wrecks ever on an episode of a tv show. So no, I don't consider it a waste of my time.

Also, it was literally 10 seconds at the end of the episode so didn’t waste 60 minutes of anyone’s time. I had actually given up watching L&O because of my hatred of Fred Thompson but randomly watched that episode when it first aired and laughed and laughed and laughed. 

It also makes watching reruns fun to see all the times it would have been relevant to the story for it to be mentioned.

Edited November 12, 2019 by biakbiak

[Bort]

1 hour ago, biakbiak said:

Also, it was literally 10 seconds at the end of the episode so didn’t waste 60 minutes of anyone’s time. I had actually given up watching L&O because of my hatred of Fred Thompson but randomly watched that episode when it first aired and laughed and laughed and laughed. 

Ha, I almost never watched L&O but for some reason, I happened to watch that one when it aired and had the same reaction: ten minutes of hysterical laughter after the initial “WTF was that?!”

[DeadThings]

I'm trying to figure out the name of a show I saw years ago. The episode I believe is called the writer.  There's a guy whose got a miserable life and decides to go find his writer to make some changes. Thanks J

[Danielg342]

The less said about CSI: Cyber, the better...

I'd also go with almost any episode of Criminal Minds after Season Ten, though it had produced some pretty bad television before then (especially in S6-S9). If I had to single out one, I'd pick "All You Can Eat" from S13. There's probably no character on CM that has regressed more than Penelope Garcia has, as she's gone from "quirky but professional" to becoming a downright, insufferable child, and nothing highlighted that more than "All You Can Eat", where Garcia's emotional neediness got so bad she had to metaphorically stab her own brother in the back. Can't get any lower than that.

I would also like to go back in time and pretend that nothing but the first half of Season One of Designated Survivor exists. I've seen shows go off the rails, but usually it's a slow burn- this one hurtled itself off a cliff once Episode 11 (or thereabouts) happened. DS had all the potential to be a bellwether show- a great lead, an intriguing premise, can't miss early episodes- but I guess Kiefer Sutherland really wanted to have his own, sanctimonious version of The West Wing so the show wiped away everything that was interesting about it and became a rote presidential procedural. Sigh.

ETA- Speaking of "missed chances", the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Comic Perversion" (S15E15). I get that the idea of a comic who jokes about rape isn't going to sit well with a lot of people, and by no means would I suggest making that kind of character sympathetic. However, the show had a great opportunity to really discuss free speech and its limits and show that vile isn't always criminal...and they whiffed. Badly.

Edited January 19, 2020 by Danielg342

[proserpina65]

On 9/3/2016 at 4:03 PM, GaT said:

I'll have to go with Buffy again & disagree with you. Once More With Feeling is brilliant.

I hated it.

[JustHereForFood]

If I could get rid of just one episode of Buffy, it would probably be The Body.

Yes, come at me!

[Spartan Girl]

The Buffy episode I’d happily erase from existence is “The Zeppo.” 

But come to think of it, “Bewitched, Bewildered, and Bothered” deserves to be erased too. I hate Xander.

Edited April 5, 2023 by Spartan Girl