Favorite Episodes

[David T. Cole]

A place to discuss particular episodes, arcs and moments from the show's first 16 seasons. Please remember this isn't a complete catch-all topic -- check out the forum for character topics and other places for show-related talk.

[FozzyBear]

I still love the "I'm Getting Married" episode. Sweet, but gold digging Brue, the gay couple that wanted a Versace themed wedding because that's classy, and of course the one and only Charlie and Sabrina. Those two were reality gold. It was like they spent their entire lives dedicated to becoming clueless drama queens just for my entertainment. Such a great episode.

Another one that has always stuck with me was called something like "I have broke parents". It was pretty standard tragic stuff, but there was this one girl who was for Michigan that I could never figure out. She was about 19 or 20 and a single mom living with her Dad who hadn't had steady work since the auto plant shut down. She was off somehow. She expected her Dad to support her and didn't even think about getting her own job until the very end of the episode even though her Dad could have taken care of her kid while she was at work. And the Dad was strange too. He had been a manger or something, but looked like a crazy homeless guy by the time of filming. Does anyone remeber this one? I kept feeling like there was this big piece missing. I got a serious scam-artist vibe from the girl and a big drug addict vibe from her dad.

[Bastet]

No, but that makes me think of an episode that is ... I can't say a favorite, but certainly a memorable one, the one about young people supporting their families.  There was Unique, working the stripper pole to support not just her son but her pack of younger siblings (their mom had died, and dad was out of the picture for reasons I can't remember) ... one of whom was pregnant and had moved her boyfriend into the house.  Neither one of those two had jobs or even seemed to lift a finger around the house, and somehow it was Unique's responsibility to support them and their baby. 

 

I don't remember the other girl's name, but her parents were both in poor health and not working, and she was on her way to a stress-induced health crisis of her own working to keep them all from being evicted, and all her parents could do was shrug and say, "If you don't work, we don't eat." 

[FozzyBear]

No, but that makes me think of an episode that is ... I can't say a favorite, but certainly a memorable one, the one about young people supporting their families. There was Unique, working the stripper pole to support not just her son but her pack of younger siblings (their mom had died, and dad was out of the picture for reasons I can't remember) ... one of whom was pregnant and had moved her boyfriend into the house. Neither one of those two had jobs or even seemed to lift a finger around the house, and somehow it was Unique's responsibility to support them and their baby.

I don't remember the other girl's name, but her parents were both in poor health and not working, and she was on her way to a stress-induced health crisis of her own working to keep them all from being evicted, and all her parents could do was shrug and say, "If you don't work, we don't eat."

I do remeber that one. I felt so bad for both those girls. Unique (poor thing was actually born with a stripper name) seamed nice and capable, but stuck in the white trash world she was born into. The other girl was trying to go to college and supporting 6 people? Poor kid, I just wanted someone to step in and stabilize her family so she could take a nap.

[RedKoolAide]

On a follow up special Unique was married and teaching pole dancing classes in her living room. I was relieved that she had a steady income. I'm not sure if she's still married, but I hope her life is still stable.

I remember the "I Have Broke Parents" episode because the mother of the three boys was so slovenly and lazy. She also seemed like an unstable basket case. The pregnant girl did seem like a scam artist. She had the pamper party because she couldn't afford to buy pampers for her baby. I remember thinking, "Then why did you have a baby?!" That girl and her dad got on my damn nerves.

[Maharincess]

My favorite is I've Got Baby Mama Drama. From the sweet dad trying to get his daughter to the crazy grandma kidnapping the baby from the teen mom, I loved it!

I have searched and searched for the longest time and I can not find the episode anywhere.

[KatM]

I still love the "I'm Getting Married" episode. Sweet, but gold digging Brue, the gay couple that wanted a Versace themed wedding because that's classy, and of course the one and only Charlie and Sabrina. Those two were reality gold. It was like they spent their entire lives dedicated to becoming clueless drama queens just for my entertainment. Such a great episode.

 

Forever and always the best True Life episode. My sisters and I spent YEARS screeching "CHAH-LIE CHAH-LIE. SHUT THE FUCK UP CHAH-LIE." I wish they would show that one every once in a while.

[TD3000]

In the broke parents one, the girl was from my hometown of Flint (no I didn't know her). It was funny seeing Charlie screaming bloody murder at the limo guy in the wedding episode. I don't know if I have any real favorite episodes since were are so many, but there were a couple notable things I took away from a couple of them.

 

In one of those "perfect body" episodes, the football player (Ryan Harris) ended up making it to the NFL so that was pretty cool. Also, the bodybuilder on the same ep looked like a dead ringer for one of my old teammates. Another episode revolved around plastic surgery. You know how rampant injections and fake body parts are now? Well back in I dunno, early-mid 2000s, this ep had a dude get calf implants. Now that's jumping shark.

 

I'll say the one that had me going WTF the most involved this young, black couple. I don't remember the root issue (infidelity maybe?) but at the end of the episode we found out that the dude died from a hernia or some mess like that. That just threw me for a loop.

[WhitneyWhit]

I caught "I'm a Newlywed" the other day and while both couples annoyed me, and I couldn't relate to either one of them, I found Will and Erica to be the most annoying just for the WTF-ness of not knowing anything about each other's finances before they got married. My jaw was on the floor when it was revealed that they knew nothing about their debt and that she didn't that he apparently doesn't believe in making payments on his credit cards. I also got the impression that she didn't even know what he makes a year.

And aside from their finances, she didn't seem as though she was ready for marriage or ready to leave home. She seemed resigned to her life rather than happy or excited. It really was like watching two people realize they had made a mistake. I don't see them lasting.

 

Brett and Lauri Beth seemed like two naïve kids playing house.  Maybe it's because I've never had the desire to be a stay at home anything (that's not meant to be disrespectful to anyone who is) but I don't understand why Lauri Beth wasn't working. They had no children and her days seemed to consist of constant vacuuming. I just can't imagine sitting at home like that all day. Like I said, it would be different if there were children to take care of, or if she worked from home, but she appeared to do nothing all day. I'm glad she got a job, even if it was part time, and it had to be approved by him.

[CourtneyCourt]

My favorite is "I'm Going to Prom". It was on when I was a high school junior or senior so it was perfect and so accurate! I also will never forget the "Broke Parents" one with Unique and her siblings. That was truly a great one!

[FozzyBear]

I'm watching I Have a Family That Hates My Boyfriend. One girl is from NJ and it seems kind of standard: dumb girl, asshole boyfriend, family drama, yada, yada, yada.

The other girl is 18 and from MN and that one is weird. The girl acts really blank except for the idea of pissing off her mom, which makes her happy. The mom is sort of just...rude. To the BF, to her daughter, to everybody. Oh and the stepdad is 29! Mom is a cougar!

Oh gross! The NJ mom just said that the BF took something away from her by "ruining" her daughter too soon. Yeah she's talking about exactly what you think. Yuuuuuuuck.

[LemonSoda]

I'm probably showing my age with my favorites list. I have so many! Some, I can't remember the actual titles of,(or I get them mixed up with similar titles) some I saved on DVD to re-live when I need entertainment.

I remember someone working on the show or who used to once posted on TWOP that they've stopped showing older episodes because they're either out of date on an issue (some of the episodes coincided with things currently going on, heroin epidemic in a particular area, things like that) or too out of date looking like clothes amd such but I'd pay to see some of the original episodes again!

My favorites list is long. I'm sorry in advance.

The really early ones about Matthew Shepard, heroin in Texas were hard to watch. Scary and gritty. Isn't that what the show originally intended to be? I find myself still wondering about so many of the people profiled over the years, how their lives turned out.

I'm on Ecstasy - I felt so bad for the girl with holes in her brain. I hope her life got better. The other woman who took it as part of a healing process to connect with her boyfriend who died or something like that was weird to me.

I'm a clubber - This one cracked me up because the way the woman stalked the DJ.

I have baby mama drama - Mallory and David's story was crazy. David's Mom was scary! I felt really bad for Pito trying to get custody of his daughter. I hate there was never a follow up on him (TWOP sleuths said David spent some time in jail, then later died in a motorcycle accident)

Strange to think these children are probably in high school or close to it now.

I'm getting divorced - I'd give anything to see SlimJG again.

I'm getting married - The best part to me was that the gay couple was the most normal of the three profiled. Bru was over the top. Charlie and Sabrina stole the show. Just wow! I can watch that episode daily.

I'm having plastic surgery - Luke the calf implant guy, the two girls having a nose job, lipo together because they wanted to be in playboy, the girl having gastric bypass. I've always wondered why they stuck her in there. Her story wasn't about plastic surgery. Luke's attitude was ridiculous. I wanted to slap him when he called the waitress chubby. I think one of the two playboy wannabes ended up on another reality show.

I have a summer share - Tommy Cheeseballs is a classic episode. Another one I can watch daily.

I'm a jersey shore girl - It makes me laugh.

I'm getting breast implants - I remember being surprised they profiled a normal girl just wanting more of a bust instead of someone wanting a D cup.

I'm a little person - another one I'd love to see again.

I'm obsessed with my dog - The model with a pink poodle was funny. The guy who was obsessed with his dog to the point of making his girlfriend ride in the back was insane. The couple with the pug was cute.

I'm moving back in with my parents - The girl who's Dad was building her a room? I would've loved a whole show about her family! They seemed hilarious. The military wife's Mom seemed scary.

I'm dead broke - This episode haunts me. DeMarlon's family, seeing how they lived had me in tears. At the time I thought I had it hard working three jobs and I'm seeing them without running water? Absolutely heartbreaking. I hope he's okay now. The other ones profiled, Sandra, she didn't seem to have it so bad. Alexa the other woman, I think her roommates were stealing her money.

I'm moving to NY - the girl from Missouri annoyed me. I liked Frankie and Dana though. I hope they're okay and were able to create the lives they wanted for themselves.

I'm dating someone older - I liked that they profiled two age reversed couples instead of just a younger woman with an older man.

I'm a Staten Island girl - it cracked me up. Danielle the actress seemed to have a great family.

I have more favorites but I'll save them for another post because this one looks too long.

[Bastet]

LemonSoda, I remember a lot of those.

 

I don't like Charlie and Sabrina because I feel like they were trying to parlay their TL appearance into a reality TV career, and thus playing an exaggerated role, but I think Slim JG was just being her "Am I really watching someone do this?" self, so I, too, would pay to see her episode again.  Tommy Cheeseballs is somewhere in between, I think.

 

I remember the little person episode, with one young woman with an average-sized boyfriend who creeped me out big time by fetishizing her.  And another who was torn because she was offered good money to be entertainment - not for her singing voice, for her stature - at some celebrity's party (John Stamos, maybe?).

 

In the episode about moving back in with parents, is that the one where someone's dad is sitting on the toilet with the bathroom door open?  I vaguely remember the military wife and, yeah, that mother was a real piece of work.

 

The one about being broke was a terrific episode.  They've done several on various financial hardship themes, and I liked all of them (back in the day, anyway; other than a scattered episode or three I haven't watched this in a long time as it has drifted so far away from its original tone).

 

I also like two cheerleader episodes they did, even though I roll my eyes so hard at cheerleading I risk a sprain.  I'm an Urban Cheerleader is one of those I'd pay to see again.

 

Oh, and I'm Going to Fat Camp.  With that girl who wanted to lose weight in order to be more attractive to some jerk down the block, a woman who was older than the other campers and older than some of the counselors (I think she'd been before), and a guy who had a horribly awkward make-out scene captured on camera.

[killer.noona]

I just watched I'm Getting Married and it totally holds up 13 years (!) later. I was kind of shocked to see just how far the marriage equality fight has come in a time frame that seems really long and really short.

With some Google-fu and Facebook stalking, it looks like everyone is still married!

[Maharincess]

I knew Charlie and Sabrina were still together but I thought the gay couple had split up.

[killer.noona]

I knew Charlie and Sabrina were still together but I thought the gay couple had split up.

Their Facebook profiles still have them as married to each other. I was surprised that Bruria and Dan are still together, but only a little. They seemed to have the least amount of parental drama.

Edited April 15, 2015 by killer.noona

[beeblebrox]

I love True Life old episodes so much. I remember Bru's cake being lopsided from being so heavy, her dress, and tattooed eyebrows. The young newlywed ones annoyed me. By the time that aired, I had been married awhile to know that both couples were so naive about the whole marriage and finances thing. I liked the little person episode a lot. Terra, the performer from that True Life, now has the Little Women: LA show and her spin off with her pregnancy. I'll never forget her line about "just needing some extra stools around the house" when it came to talking about being a little person and how her brother was adopted because his bio parents couldn't handle him being a little person. I thought it was pretty profound from someone that young at the time. I'm sure that there's other episodes I can't remember offhand. I miss the old ones the most.

[Bastet]

The young newlywed ones annoyed me. By the time that aired, I had been married awhile to know that both couples were so naive about the whole marriage and finances thing.

 

I watched that one chanting, “Please don’t have kids” over and over.  Both couples were too immature to get married, and hadn't even spent enough time together to know each other well enough to get married.  I hope they had the chance to realize that, get divorced without having to deal with co-parenting, and start over.  (Not much chance of that happening with the fundamentalist couple, I realize.)

[Maharincess]

This isn't a favorite but I didn't want to start a whole thread for it.

Did anybody catch the new(to me anyway) episode with the "cougars"?

I wasn't surprised the first couple broke up. They seemed in it for the shock value of the age difference. I took a very strong dislike for the " showgirl".

[Pepper Mostly]

I love this show! I hardly ever catch it nowadays, but last night i saw one about two people who were on extreme diets. One was a body builder who was obsessed with lowering his body fat so his muscles would be more sharply defined, and a depressed teenage girl who was on some fad diet. (the chocolate diet? I never heard of such a thing). The bodybuilder was interesting and in the end saw reason and started eating more normally. He had a great girlfriend and good friends who helped him. The poor little teenager though! Dear lord I kept yelling at the TV "get this child a THERAPIST". She said early in the ep that she'd been diagnosed with depression but gained weight from the medication. Her mother, bless her heart, loves her but seems totally ineffectual. The kid needed help, badly.

 

When True Life is good, its really good. I still remember I have broke parents, and I'm getting out of prison. Heartbreaking.

[Bugfrey Von]

Maharincess, I saw the cougar episode and really really really dislike the showgirl. I don't know, her face was just hard and and she thought she was truly hot shit with her fake boobs. Oh, you are so damaged! So unique! That dude has no idea what kind of bullet he has dodged by not committing to this psycho.

I'm watching the black sheep episode right now, and the 26-year-old girl crying to mommy about her nose piercings and tattoos is insufferable. You're 26. Who the hell cares what you do at this point? It seems that her version of approval and attention comes through disapproval somehow, and it's really sad watching her "struggle" to try and tell her mom about the tattoos that she could easily hide if they were that big a deal. The other girl on the show with the daughter with hearing loss needs to get the hell away from her family. What a bunch of assholes. Dealing with a child with a cochlear implant and hearing loss is not easy and you need a good support network, something that her family is not willing to give her. Run! Run away quickly!

[GreatKazu]

Classic MTV is airing old TL episodes.

I was never a fan of the Jetsey Shore Tommy Cheeseballs guy. I watched part of it ,and it was as bad to me now as it was 13 years ago.

What an annoying jerk.

[Princess Sparkle]

On March 17, 2015 at 4:02 AM, LemonSoda said:

 

I'm having plastic surgery - Luke the calf implant guy, the two girls having a nose job, lipo together because they wanted to be in playboy, the girl having gastric bypass. I've always wondered why they stuck her in there. Her story wasn't about plastic surgery. Luke's attitude was ridiculous. I wanted to slap him when he called the waitress chubby. I think one of the two playboy wannabes ended up on another reality show.

 

The thing that is burned in my brain about that episode, even years later, are the two Playboy wannabes in the plastic surgeons office discussing their procedures, and the doctor turning to one of them and saying "So, where are you getting lipo?" when that wasn't what she had come in for, and seemed somewhat disappointed when she said she thought she could exercise that away. I also remember that they thought their photos weren't pretty enough to send in, which was incredibly sad to me. 

I can't remember what episode it was in - maybe one of the "I Want a Perfect Body" ones? - but I will always remember the episode where one featured story was with an Anna Nicole Smith impersonator. She had gained weight when ANS had gotten heavier in order to keep impersonating her, and then when ANS got thin very quickly, the impersonator had to lose weight in order to keep impersonating her and was struggling. I just remember her saying that she made good money being an impersonator, and that's why it was worth it to try and lose weight (I think it was between 50-60 pounds) instead of getting a new job. 

I also like "I live in the projects", if only to see how different "the projects" looked in Chicago and LA versus Minneapolis. I remember when they did a follow up years later (I think during the 100th episode retrospective) where the girl from the Chicago project said she was so disappointed someone shot the producer with paintballs, because while they were shooting that segment, she was trying to show the producer all the good things they had in the neighborhood (I'm pretty sure they were coming back from the library) and then all of a sudden, the producer got pelted with paintballs. 

[Tatum]

On 9/23/2016 at 10:11 AM, Princess Sparkle said:

 

I can't remember what episode it was in - maybe one of the "I Want a Perfect Body" ones? - but I will always remember the episode where one featured story was with an Anna Nicole Smith impersonator. She had gained weight when ANS had gotten heavier in order to keep impersonating her, and then when ANS got thin very quickly, the impersonator had to lose weight in order to keep impersonating her and was struggling. I just remember her saying that she made good money being an impersonator, and that's why it was worth it to try and lose weight (I think it was between 50-60 pounds) instead of getting a new job. 

 

Anna Nicole Smith impersonator was "I live a double life"- the other two stories were two guys. The first was a gay man who believed he had fooled everyone around him into thinking he was straight, and came out on camera. It was a little funny, but also kind of heartbreaking when he tells his closest female friend that he was gay, and then gets angry at her non reaction. He says something like, aren't you shocked, to which she just kind of helplessly shrugs and says, "honey, I mean, come on. We've all known all along". The second guy was this total douche who was an online pornography photographer who was dating two girls at the same time, and had the nerve to get mad at one of the girls when he found out she may have been dating another guy as well.

[DeeReynolds]

Is anyone still watching this show? I have caught a few episodes On Demand and they have been interesting. I Am A Financial Dom really made me question my career choice. Can I sell my soul for people to give me their credit cards to max out?? Talk about easy money.

I didn't really understand the I'm an Adult Baby. It just seemed like all of them had been sexually abused or lost a parent at an early age. It was interesting though because I am currently at home with my 5 month old and having an actual baby is a lot different than an idealized version of being a "little" much later in life.

[Tatum]

MTV Classic is airing a bunch of my favorite episodes. I love the original I Want a Perfect Body- so happy to see that the Notre Dame player trying to gain weight still has a career in the NFL.

I also liked I'm Moving Back In With My Parents- god the blonde mom is a bitch.

[Pepper Mostly]

I saw the adult baby episode. I know its their kink and hurts no one and I'm all about live and let live, but watching a grown man cavort around in a diaper and a onesie, playing with stuffed animals and talking like a toddler just gave me the creeps. The married guy whose wife is also "mommy" who puts his stuff on youtube? Wow. Props to them, can't be easy to put it all out there like that.

[Maharincess]

Every time I make lasagna I hear the bitchy blonde mom screeching "noodles sauce cheeses" at her daughter.  Then the way the mom said the  daughter's husband who was in Iraq at the time was "on vacation" made me want to punch her. 

Edited November 1, 2016 by Maharincess

[aulait]

I am still watching. The Financial Dom ep was the first I'd ever heard of that particular kink. Takes all kinds I guess :)

Adult Baby ended up recording something else for me so I missed it. I can guess at what it was like though as I've seen other shows about it. Kink that involves fetishizing children/children's things seems danger zone to me. Also, it feels like it feeds off wounds (abuse, loss) more than other kink. I'm usually fine with people doing whatever but that treads a very uncomfortable line for me.

[hoosier80]

MTV2 or Classic had a couple of episodes on today that I'd not seen before - I can't leave my boyfriend, and I'm obsessed with my ex.   Good lord what hot messes these folks were - all of them!

The I can't leave my boyfriend, I saw parts of it before.  One blonde (aspiring model?) from PA was threatening to leave her 41 year old boy friend Hangman.  She was sort of cute, but annoying.  He wasn't a catch.  I guess he's an artist, but he acted like he could care less about her.  She moved back to PA, then went back to NYC for his birthday.   The other couple was living together in CA I think, originally from Vegas.  He caught or thought she was cheating, so he moved back to Vegas, then went back to their apartment on the sly, and took everything, including the dog.  He basically said he took the dog because otherwise, she wouldn't have called him.  The ending notes said they'd been back together, then off, then sort of together since filming ended.  He left her with virtually nothing in the apartment.  That would have been it for me.  Done.

The I'm obsessed with my ex was kind of scary.  First person, Jade had been with her ex since high school, had a son together.  They'd been off/on, finally he moved out and seemingly moved on with his life.  Didn't seem that interested in their child, unfortunately, or it could be he didn't want to deal with Jade.  Anyhow, she spied on him via social media, getting into his accounts, to see how many new followers he had, how many likes he had - very creepy.  They went to couples counseling and he told the counselor he'd been dating.  Cue Jade crying (and shocked) on the couch.  Then she told her friend that he basically clammed up and didn't say a thing.  Well he said enough, he was done with her.  He then served her with custody papers.  I think she finally got the message, although follow up notes (plus I looked for online updates) said she'd not really dated anyone else since.  I wouldn't be surprised if she's still stalking him online.  

The other obsessed person had 4 dates with some high school girl.  He actually lived not too far from me.  Four dates and he's obsessed?  He said he didn't understand why she didn't text him back or call him.  He also paged her pretending to be someone else.  His friend somehow arranged for them to meet.  Turns out the friend (girl) was in a relationship with the other girl.  That's one reason why she didn't text him back, plus she said, duh anyone would get the clue after no response - I don't want to be with you!    I had to look this guy up, and he had pictures from True Life on his social media, like it made him a star.  Sorry, kid, it made  you look like a chump, and a bit creepy.  

The all time ones that I still remember - I'm an alcoholic.  The blonde girl who drank nonstop, whose roommate finally threw her out.  She went to one AA meeting I think, then it said in the notes she'd not gone back. The other one where the kids supported the parents.  The one girl whose parents were sick or sort of sick, she was trying to work, go to school, and keep her family from being on the street.  If I recall, she had at least one teenaged brother - who I kept yelling at while watching.  He just played video games all the time, and he could've helped her out.  Just to clean or get a part time job.  They were in deep shit.  I think she got some sort of grant or got their landlord to back off the rent (about to be evicted).  She wanted to be a doctor, but I think realized it was going to be a longshot at best.  

[Bastet]

41 minutes ago, hoosier80 said:

The other one where the kids supported the parents.  The one girl whose parents were sick or sort of sick, she was trying to work, go to school, and keep her family from being on the street. 

I can't remember her name (contrasted with Unique, whose name I can't forget), but I remember her story.  Especially the moment when she sat there recounting how stressed out she was by all she needed to do, and the parents shrugged that if she didn't work, they didn't eat, so ...  It was sad, because I felt for their situation, they were probably embarrassed by not being able to be the breadwinners, and who knows how being on camera affected them, but they came off as so blasé about how their daughter was actually getting ill from the stress of trying to take over their responsibilities.

Unique was the one whose siblings really pissed me off; one sister had gotten knocked up and moved the boyfriend in, and neither one of them had jobs or did much around the house, and when the kid was born it was just assumed by all that Unique was responsible for that baby, too. 

[LemonSoda]

On 10/12/2017 at 11:03 PM, Bastet said:

I can't remember her name (contrasted with Unique, whose name I can't forget), but I remember her story.  Especially the moment when she sat there recounting how stressed out she was by all she needed to do, and the parents shrugged that if she didn't work, they didn't eat, so ...  It was sad, because I felt for their situation, they were probably embarrassed by not being able to be the breadwinners, and who knows how being on camera affected them, but they came off as so blasé about how their daughter was actually getting ill from the stress of trying to take over their responsibilities.

Unique was the one whose siblings really pissed me off; one sister had gotten knocked up and moved the boyfriend in, and neither one of them had jobs or did much around the house, and when the kid was born it was just assumed by all that Unique was responsible for that baby, too. 

Gina? That episode still makes me cringe. She was mentally, physically and emotionally exhausted and her Mom was harsh. I've always wondered what happened to her. The last update wasn't much. The family moved to a new, cheaper apartment after the episode aired. With how much NY rents have skyrocketed in the last decade, I imagine they've had to move again. She had so much on her shoulders. Her Mom was awful. 

 

Unique's siblings all seemed to be repeating that sad cycle.