What's Your Favorite Very Special Episode?

Family Ties "My Name is Alex"

bump

Saved by the Bell - Jessie’s Song, documenting her “caffeine” addiction

“I’m so excited! I’m so excited! I’m so....scared!”

Hahahaha, I fucking loved it.

Shit got real.

Dana Plato was the best! No one could play a bulimic like her. She was so good in her soft core porn films too. I saw her once in a parade.

DAna should have won an Emmy for that performance. AMAZING.

When Punky warned us about the deadly danger of refrigerators.

The Golden Girls, Phil's death. Sophia's devastation

When Diffrent Strokes made me afraid of all strangers forever.

R3 Yes yes a thousand times yes.

When Kimberly came out as a blackface minstrel

I'm hard-pressed to think of one I actually liked. Usually they were the worst episodes of a series.

When the bleedin kid got AIDS

When ALF dated a blind lady

Monroe's rape on Too Close For Comfort

When the dumb Christian from The View talked to a black man

Really? 16 replies and no mention of this?

Will and Carlton get stopped for driving while black and Carlton learns about racism. Heavy.

Not as heavy as the deadbeat dad episode, but...still.

My favorite is when from "Good Times," when JJ eloped with a girl (played by "Fame" actress Debbie Allen) who was addicted to heroin. The episode addressed the drug problem prevalent among young people at the time.

He dismissed her!

Diff'rent Strokes could really have it's own thread

I hated Diff'rent Strokes then and I hate it now. One of the all-time worst shows to ever air on television.

When Jessica Fletcher solved the murder of the unborn fetus!

Oh yeah, Good Times. Little Janet Jackson getting her ass ironed by Kim Field’s mom 😂😂😂

Any one where someone goes through with the abortion.

R17 Don't we all, Dorothy? Don't we all? Just typing this has exhausted me.

I just watched the two part episode of All in the Family when Beverly La Salle was killed and Edith loses her face in God. The first time a hate crime has ever been front and center in a tv show. I wept through the whole thing. THAT'S how you do a Very Special Episode.

Different Strokes probably does owe this thread. Arnold was always befriending someone with some very special issue. I wonder if Nancy Reagan got residuals for her episode.

Cheers actually did one on homophobia - not really a very special episode - but it did a good job of showing what idiots they were when they were afraid of too many gay men showing up and had some funny lines.

Different World used to do them, but due to the setting, a lot of the plots did fit a bit more organically into the show. Kimberly's pregnancy scare/safe sex episode was something that you could see the characters having to deal with.

The mid-80's had to be the peak for this - Different Strokes, Family Ties (alcoholic Uncle Tom Hanks etc), Growing Pains (boyfriend killed driving drunk) Kate and Allie (Jane Curtain somehow acting like she was homeless because she got lost about 5 miles from home).

Edith loses her *faith* I meant.

The one where Wesley gets his hole punched by the camp counseler.

The Boys in the Bar - Cheers

(Did you know that Sam's teammate/roommate that came out was played by an actor that became born-again and was the Mayor of Fresno, who was for Prop 8.)

Natalie losing her virginity on The Facts of Life

Jo coming out on Th Facts of Life. Oh, wait....

The Growing Pains cocaine episode and Kirk's sanctimonious PSA at the end.

R13, the actor, Ian Fried, that played young Wesley’s friend transitioned as is now successful author Ina Fried.

All in the Family - Edith is assaulted.

I always thought Edith’s attacker would be attractive in another situation.

All in the Family - Edith's Crisis of Faith. Family friend drag queen Beverly is murdered at Christmastime.

Gimme A Break's blackface very special episode was better than Diff'rent Strokes.

I have mixed feelings about the Edith assault episode. It was well acted, and violence against women is an important topic. On the other hand, they had already done a similar episode with Gloria and it seemed more like they just wanted to shock us by seeing Edith attacked. It seemed a bit exploitative to me.

It opened people's eyes that older women could be targets too, because it's not really about sex, it's about violence, control. Most people at the time did think rape was only about sex.

CBS actually aired Edith's Crisis of Faith on Christmas Day! Now networks don't air any new episodes the last three weeks in December.

Edith's attacker was played by character actor David Dukes.

I forgot how annoying Samantha was on Gimme a Break. I don't think I was watching it regularly during the Joey Lawrence episodes. Gimme a Break's special episodes could have more of an edge to them. Compared to other family sitcoms of the time, the show was a bit more realistic and gritty and not every ending was completely tidy.

Laverne and Shirley when the two of them travel to NYC to visit Laverne's family. It was special two part premiere episode in September 1978.

R22- Three's Company was a far worse show than Different Strokes.

[quote]What's Your Favorite Very Special Episode?

NONE OF THEM.

Happy Days. Fonzie Goes Blind (temporarily of course)

The Lucy Show where Joan Crawford turns in a stunning performance of a woman who is old and drunk. And also very short. (How much height did Crawford lose to play this part?)

[quote]I have mixed feelings about the Edith assault episode.

I don't. I LOATHE this episode through and through. I hate it so much that it took me decades to finally watch it again. (I'm feeling the bile gurgle in my throat even thinking about it). It was even worse the second time I saw it because I didn't notice how much the audience was giggling, and how many jokes the writers threw in there to "ease the tension." That the writers were so uncomfortable with having Edith get raped that they felt the need to add humor should've been a huge, gigantic red flag not to go through with the story in the first place.

The Saved by the Bell episode where a celebrity plans to film an anti-drug psa at Bayside High, then smokes a joint at a party.

All in the Family's anti-Semitism episode is very good too especially for the shock ending.

Those Funny or Die Very Special Episode recaps are gold.

Alex on Speed

When Donna Martin graduates with the rest of the class.

How about drunken Tom Hanks pimp-slapping Michael J. Fox?

Or Matthew Perry's death on Growing Pains?

Wesley gets a rub down.

Oh dear Lord R58!! I never saw this one!

Grady Fletcher, how could you ...? While not from an issue-driven episode, this moment has to count.

Poor Mallory

I actually think the Dorothy gambling episode is pretty good. Plus she got to live with The Temptations.

R46 and NO. And give TC props for never having put us thru any of that very special crap.

The molesting counselor on Mr. Belvedere

I love DL! Where else do people talk about/refer to TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT? !

My dad was involved with TCFC, so I went to many of their tapings when I was 14-15 years old ......including eating dinner with the cast beforehand. So, I knew all those people.....Ted, Nancy, Jm J, Debbie, Lydia, Deena. They were ALL very friendly to me....but Nancy Dussault was my fave. So funny & natural. (She did funny accents!) Followed by Jm. J & Debbie.

Ahem, R63 see R58

Wow R57. Gripping. Wow.

Mary goes blind?

Fonzie regains his eyesight only to have Richie lapse in a coma due to a motorcycle accident in "Fonzie's Prayer".

R64 - Please start a TCFC thread!

R55 since 90210 was a serialized/soap show , it wasn't reall a very special EPISODE as the Donna Martin gets drunk at the prom and can't graduate storyline was told over 5 or 6 episodes, intermingled with other storylines

The child molestation episode of Diff'rent Strokes

R9 that episode scared the shit out of me as a kid!

A Very Special Episode of the Emmy-winning "Family" on ABC:

Will Buddy (Kristy McNichol) "become a woman" (meaning, will she lose her virginity) at 17? Tiger Beat hottie and would-be pop star Leif Garrett guest stars!

Parental discretion advised.

The Facts of Life started early on with very special episodes like Sue Anne's dieting from season one.

I should not have made fun of Fonzie's Prayer. I watched it. It brought tears to my eyes.

Then Gordon Jump was a good actor R72. He brought the message home to millions of children.

Did Kimberly Drummond get over her bulimia in 30 minutes? Or was it a long, arduous journey with her father and two adoptive brothers promising to love and support her through her recovery? Were there any mentions of bulimia statistics?

I'M SO EXCITED....AND I JUST CAN'T HIDE IT....(sob sob sob sob). God Elizabeth Berkley is terrible.

R77, in the episode, she mentioned she had been doing it since she was modeling in Paris. I'm a little hazy on the last few seasons of the show but I'm guessing she was written off to Paris when she got knocked up in '84. No statistics but Maggie mentions the dangerous damage it could do. She promised to try but this was Dana Plato's last episode so we don't know how successful she was.

R79 that was the season they moved it to ABC right and had the synth mid 80s version of the theme song? And Todd Bridges has gerry curls?

R79 OMG! No wonder Dana Plato was so messed! They never treated her eating disorder!

Yes, R80. The penthouse was redone and got hosed down in pesto bismol pink and the theme song got electric drums and alan thicke's vocals weren't layered to make it sound like 3 people were singing it. And Todd had gerry curls.

Ahem, R65, see R30.

Remember the Diff'rent Strokes episode where Arnold crashed the Knight Rider set?

He hid out in a car that was rigged to explode. He was literally about to explode into a million pieces bit he just kept laughing.

It was weird.

I LOVED that episode. When Drummond flies the family to Hollywood win back Maggie and proposes. I remember as a kid thinking the show was gonna end cause Arnold was gonna get blown to smithereens

If only...

The especially special episode of "Strangers With Candy" called "Blank Stare" in which poor Jerri gets lured into a cult! A two-parter! That fucking song about the welcome table!

The 2 part abortion episode of Maude. Not allowed to watch as a kid.

BTW, I don't think GG had very special episodes. That was pretty much a late 70s, early 80s Phenom.

Tonight on Diff'rent Strokes, Arnold and Sam befriend someone with epilepsy.

The longest-running Very Special story arc in TV history.

Oops spoke too soon

Does this one count?

No, it doesn't

Logo re-aired the ‘Very Special Episode’ of The Facts of Life in which Blair’s mother discovers she’s pregnant (at 42!!!!) and considered having an abortion. Very scandalous for 1895/86 and considering Lisa Welchel is a big-time Christian.

Mr Belvedere did the best with Wesley and his counselor.

I caught some Mr. Belevedere repeats on Antenna TV a couple of years ago. Compared to the other family sitcoms of the time, it was not as sanitized and I could see it pulling off the special episode a little better than say Growing Pains. The show actually aged a little better and was funnier than I expected it to be as well.

Tonight on Antenna TV, Coach discovers his best player is gay.

He handles this with his usual charm.

Punky Brewster gets boobs

The Golden Girls - Brother, Can You Spare a Jacket

R88, think again...Rose's AIDS test, the aforementioned jacket, Sophia's suicidal friend, Chronic Fatigue...

Chip's condom episode from Kate & Allie