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Grab a tissue, because these sitcom scenes just hit different now. Join us as we explore unforgettable moments from beloved comedies that became heartbreaking, eerie, or deeply uncomfortable years later because of real-life events, celebrity struggles, or tragic deaths. From off-hand jokes that took on new meaning to character arcs mirroring actor's personal battles, these instances reveal the dark side of hindsight. You'll never watch these shows the same way again.
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00:00This wasn't supposed to happen, Mom. Not now. When we were old and gray.
00:07Welcome to Miss Mojo, and today we're looking at sitcom scenes made tragic by real-life events.
00:13Oh, I feel sick.
00:14It's a lot to hear. Just, you know, take it slow.
00:20Princess Diana Joke, Saved by the Bell
00:22In this Season 2 episode of the teen sitcom,
00:25Kelly Kapowski's desperation to be Bayside High's homecoming queen is wearing on her friends a little bit.
00:32Lisa Turtle makes what, at the time, would have been a pretty harmless jab.
00:36How do I look?
00:37Full of cheer.
00:38I'm serious.
00:39I want to be queen.
00:40Well, we'll let you know if anything happens to Princess Di.
00:43Diana Spencer, who was at the time still Princess of Wales and theoretically next in line to be queen,
00:49was only a few years away from her tragic and untimely death.
00:52Given that she was still in her 20s when Saved by the Bell premiered,
00:56there was no reason to think that comment would age down so quickly.
01:00Do you think you'll ever be queen?
01:06No, I don't. No.
01:08Why do you think that?
01:12I'd like to be a queen of people's hearts in people's hearts.
01:16But I don't see myself being queen of this country.
01:20Chris Pratt's appearance, Mom.
01:22Acting out a real relationship on screen can be huge for viewership.
01:26Anna Faris and Chris Pratt were an it couple for nearly a decade.
01:31Their relationship was very public,
01:33made more so by Pratt's guest star spot on Faris' long-running sitcom, Mom,
01:38where he played her love interest.
01:56Pratt's character is only around for one episode,
01:59but their relationship wraps up with a touchingly funny scene
02:02where Faris' character, Christy, realizes their relationship could never work.
02:07Christy?
02:09Yeah?
02:12What am I supposed to do with this broken heart?
02:15In 2017, a few months after the episode aired,
02:18Faris and Pratt announced their real-life relationship was over as well.
02:22They later divorced.
02:24Well, this is awkward.
02:25Yeah, a little bit.
02:27When will this nightmare end?
02:29Last surviving monkey, the Monkees.
02:32Formed in L.A. to bring the feel of the British invasion to TV,
02:36the four-man band captured the youth of America.
02:39In this 1968 Halloween-themed episode,
02:42the band happens upon an old dark house full of monsters.
02:46Each member is attacked one by one.
03:09Mickey Dolan's one-liners are eerily prescient.
03:13He even sings their famous theme song Alone to demonstrate his sad point.
03:24In real life, the order they're captured in the episode would mirror the order
03:29in which the real-life members passed away.
03:31What's more, they continued performing.
03:34As the last remaining member,
03:36Dolan still keeps the memory of the band alive in live shows.
03:40Troy's Robin Williams joke, Community.
03:43A pop culture reference has a way of placing a show in a certain time and place,
03:47and that's not always for the better.
03:50In this extra meta episode,
03:51the study group joins a group therapy session
03:54when Abed begins demonstrating strange behavior.
03:57Troy pulls a pop culture reference to sum up his friend's frame of mind.
04:01You have to understand about Abed.
04:03He's usually, you know, adorable weird, like Mork for Mork.
04:06But since we got expelled, he's been creepy weird,
04:09like present-day Robin Williams.
04:10I'm not crazy.
04:11The implications were already bleakly funny at the time.
04:14However, the circumstances around Williams' death just a few years later
04:18makes Troy's observation a lot less funny than it might have been.
04:22I knew it.
04:24Stop letting him make you realize stuff.
04:27Fran's False Positive
04:28The Nanny
04:29After five seasons of Fran Fine and Mr. Sheffield
04:32playing a classic TV game of Will They, Won't They,
04:35the couple finally made it official.
04:37But it wasn't smooth sailing from there.
04:40The couple endured a heartbreak when a positive pregnancy test turned out to be false.
04:45What was all that stomach pain I was feeling?
04:47That was caused by something you ate.
04:51Fran, I can't tell you how sorry I am.
04:54Fran waits until she's alone to really feel the grief of the moment.
04:58Around the time the episode was aired,
05:00star Fran Drescher was diagnosed with uterine cancer,
05:03which necessitated a hysterectomy.
05:05I'm sorry.
05:07Oh, you must be feeling...
05:08I can't even imagine how you're feeling.
05:11Oh, it's okay.
05:12You know, what are you going to do?
05:14I guess it just...
05:15It wasn't meant to be.
05:17Drescher has since expressed regret
05:19that she was unable to birth children of her own.
05:22However, her experience launched the cancer schmancer movement
05:25to raise awareness and funds for early detection of the disease.
05:29At cancer's earliest and most curable stages,
05:32it tends to mimic far more benign illnesses.
05:34So the woman with ovarian cancer
05:36is very often misdiagnosed for irritable bowel syndrome.
05:39You have to be your own best advocate.
05:41That's right.
05:42You have to take control of your body.
05:44Margaret Cho's Miniskirt, All-American Girl
05:47Comedian Margaret Cho's ABC sitcom only lasted one season.
05:52In the very first scene of the show,
05:53she comes down to join her family at dinner
05:56in a denim jacket and miniskirt.
05:58Margaret, do you know why I encourage your brother
06:02to become a cardiologist?
06:03No.
06:04Because I always knew that one day you'd give me a heart attack.
06:07What are you wearing?
06:08This relatively ordinary scene reads differently
06:10when you know Cho's experience on the show.
06:13Although groundbreaking for its portrayal
06:15of a Korean immigrant family on primetime TV,
06:18Cho was not treated well.
06:20There's a problem.
06:37Apparently, the network felt Cho was too overweight.
06:41Even her trademark miniskirt was a problem for them.
06:44The comedian documented her resulting struggle
06:46with disordered eating in her autobiography
06:49and one-woman show, I'm the one that I want.
06:52I lost weight.
06:53Through diet, through exercise,
06:55but mostly through fear.
06:58I was so scared and I lost a lot of weight.
07:02Mrs. McCluskey's Testimony, Desperate Housewives.
07:06When Wisteria Lane's most curmudgeonly neighbor
07:09takes the stand in a murder case,
07:11her testimony is a shocking and touching testament
07:14to the show's ideas about sisterhood.
07:16Karen McCluskey knows the murder was done in self-defense,
07:19but as she has terminal illness and limited time,
07:23she gamely takes responsibility to save her friends.
07:26There's no way that frail woman
07:27could have committed this crime.
07:30Adrenaline, fear.
07:32You'd be surprised what people can do.
07:35Actress Catherine Joosten's lung cancer diagnosis
07:38was actually worked into the show.
07:40During the first season,
07:41creator Mark Cherry promised Joosten
07:44he would never kill her character off.
07:46That changed, though,
07:47and her last act became one of the most emotional scenes
07:50of the Desperate Housewives series finale.
08:00Joosten passed away weeks after
08:02her character's own death scene aired.
08:16What started as a lovable family sitcom
08:19about a dad whose strict and often hilarious rules
08:22surrounding his daughter's social lives
08:24completely changed when star John Ritter passed away.
08:27His last time on screen,
08:29he shares a brief, sweet scene
08:31where he playfully argues with his on-screen daughter,
08:33Kaley Cuoco.
08:34But he ultimately ends his time on the show
08:37stuck in the bathroom with no toilet paper.
08:40How could we possibly go through a 20-pack in two days?
08:44Is anyone out there, please?
08:47Having died mid-season,
08:49there was no proper send-off.
08:51His last scenes are fairly ordinary.
08:53Then he's simply gone.
08:55This just makes the loss feel
08:57all the more sad and realistic.
08:59Katie, Katie, I'm so sorry, sweetheart.
09:02You're such a good man, a good husband,
09:05good father.
09:06Oh, he was.
09:07He was.
09:08Sam's Appetite.
09:09I, Carly, and Sam and Cat.
09:11Jeanette McCurdy first rose to fame
09:13as Carly Shay's plucky best friend, Sam Puckett.
09:16Throughout the series,
09:17Sam's irrepressible love of food
09:19is one of her primary character traits.
09:21But it's also a constant source of a lot of jokes.
09:26Weeds the sack until the fat cake.
09:34I'm gonna need another fat bag.
09:37McCurdy's best-selling 2022 memoir,
09:40I'm Glad My Mom Died,
09:41detailed her struggles with disordered eating.
09:44One episode of iCarly sees Sam gorging on quesadillas
09:47after checking herself into a mental health facility.
09:50The running joke continued on the sequel series Sam and Cat.
09:54McCurdy likened the experience of making these shows
09:57to being mocked.
09:58It made an already painful experience worse.
10:01You promise me you're eating a healthy breakfast?
10:05Super healthy, just eating some fresh fruit.
10:09I smell bacon.
10:11Oh, that's, uh, that's just my new shampoo.
10:15Chandler's Prediction
10:16Friends
10:17Are you okay, Mon?
10:19Uh-huh.
10:20All right, these things happen.
10:22I mean, it's just a plate.
10:24It's not like somebody died.
10:26Mortality is a through line in this Season 9 episode.
10:29The issue of custody is brought up
10:31when Rachel's sister Amy visits
10:32and finds out that Chandler and Monica
10:34will raise Ross and Rachel's daughter Emma
10:37in the event of their death.
10:38When Emma starts crying,
10:40Chandler's eagerness to help leads to an accident
10:43and becomes an eerily prophetic moment.
10:46I'll be right there, Emma.
10:47Just let me get my trusty diaper bag here.
10:56Well, what do you know?
10:56I guess I'll be the one who dies first.
10:59Although it's all played for laughs,
11:01it turned out to be a prescient observation.
11:03The moment received renewed attention
11:05upon actor Matthew Perry's untimely death in 2023.
11:09Hey, dude, you okay?
11:11Sorry about before.
11:12Oh, no, that's okay.
11:13You're totally right.
11:14I don't know anything about disquietting a child.
11:16But it did hurt my feelings,
11:18and I want you to know that if I die,
11:21you don't get Joey.
11:24Ginger Foxx, iCarly.
11:26These are the people who made that video you liked?
11:29Hamster in my pasta.
11:32No, the Wade Collins music video.
11:34And they're gonna help you
11:36do an amazing performance on the PMAs.
11:39We haven't agreed to that yet.
11:40Yes, we have.
11:42Carly Shay and her friends
11:43got into quite a few antics
11:45in search of internet fame.
11:46The episode, I Fix a Pop Star,
11:48puts the gang in proximity to Ginger Foxx,
11:51a washed-up singer
11:52who has just had a very public mental breakdown
11:55and is in the middle of a dirty custody battle.
11:58Excuse me.
11:59Ginger, your ex-husband dropped off your baby.
12:02Oh.
12:03Hi, baby.
12:06Hi, baby.
12:07Someone take this.
12:09Considering when this episode was made,
12:11it's pretty clear the character
12:13is a thinly-veiled parody of Britney Spears.
12:15It even seems to lampoon
12:17her widely-criticized performance
12:19at the 2007 VMAs.
12:21Why is the audience cheering her?
12:24She's just marching around the stage
12:25like an idiot.
12:27It's yet another instance
12:28of casual cruelty towards Spears' struggle,
12:31and it looks pretty bad
12:33now that we have more information
12:34on the star's conservatorship battle.
12:36A name less associated with murder.
12:39Seinfeld.
12:40Elaine Bennis dated some duds in her time.
12:43When the right guy finally does come along,
12:45it turns out he has one big red flag.
12:48What's his name?
12:50Joel.
12:50Joel what?
12:52Uh, Rifkin.
12:54Rifkin?
12:55Joel Rifkin?
12:56Yeah, it's just a coincidence, obviously.
12:59Guess you better keep on his good side, eh?
13:02He shares his name,
13:03Joel Rifkin,
13:04with a real-life serial killer.
13:06But Elaine doesn't give up.
13:08She decides he needs a new name,
13:09and she's going to figure out what it is.
13:12Thumbing through a magazine,
13:13looking for ideas,
13:14she decides Joel should take the name O.J.,
13:17presumably inspired by a very famous
13:19football player turned actor.
13:21O.J.
13:22O.J. Rifkin!
13:24Oh, you don't even use the name,
13:25it's just initials.
13:26Oh, please, please, please,
13:27change your name to O.J.,
13:28please, it would be so great!
13:30Of course, in a few short months,
13:31that name would also become infamous
13:33when O.J. Simpson is arrested
13:35for a double murder.
13:37It's a turn of events
13:38that would have made
13:38a great Seinfeld episode in itself.
13:41Why? Is that weird?
13:42No, it's normal.
13:44You're very normal.
13:46Introducing it.
13:47You're totally normal.
13:49Carol's Weight
13:50Growing Pains
13:51Things stayed relatively lighthearted
13:53on the ABC sitcom
13:55that launched Kirk Cameron to stardom,
13:57but in retrospect,
13:58its many, many jokes
13:59aimed at co-star Tracy Gold's weight
14:01are even more upsetting
14:03than they were when they first aired.
14:05I hope that's a girl
14:06with every ounce of my being.
14:08Well, I don't stand a chance.
14:11Gold has been public
14:12about her experiences
14:13with disordered eating.
14:14These struggles were at their height
14:16while she was on Growing Pains.
14:18The producers would say,
14:19no, it's, you know,
14:19it's brother-sister banter.
14:21This is the way that they interact.
14:22You just don't know that.
14:24But then it became,
14:24well, now you need to lose weight.
14:26So I'm like, well, no,
14:27what you were really saying
14:28was that this is a problem
14:29and I need to change.
14:30All at once,
14:31she was having to endure jokes
14:33the writers were putting
14:34in her co-stars' mouths
14:35while the producers
14:36were pressuring her
14:37to shed pounds.
14:38She's since recovered,
14:40but it's a blight
14:41on the squeaky clean show's image.
14:43So how come every time
14:44a load gets shifted
14:45it plops on me?
14:47Frank Dunphy's funeral,
14:49Modern Family.
14:50Actor Fred Willard
14:51appeared as Phil Dunphy's
14:53somewhat absurd dad, Frank,
14:5414 times over the show's 11 seasons.
14:57His last scene
14:58in the final season was fitting.
14:59Well, you did take over
15:00the family business, didn't you?
15:02Keeping life light,
15:03making it fun for everybody.
15:07I learned from the best.
15:10After spending a day together,
15:11Phil tells us
15:12in his Talking Head interview
15:14that it was also
15:15the last time he saw his dad.
15:17He died soon after.
15:18The hard part has been
15:19figuring out a way
15:21to pay tribute to my dad,
15:22but something came to me
15:24in the garage today.
15:25A month after the episode aired,
15:27Real Life gave the episode
15:28a haunting significance
15:29when Willard
15:30passed away himself.
15:32The Canadian comedy legend
15:33left behind five decades of work,
15:36and his touching,
15:37Emmy-nominated guest spot
15:38on Modern Family
15:39is a perfect tribute.
15:43You left some big footprints,
15:45my old man.
15:47None of us really died.
15:49News Radio.
15:50The ending of this
15:51otherwise fun and irreverent episode
15:53turns unexpectedly dark
15:55when you know what happened
15:56shortly after it aired.
15:58We're sinking.
16:07A fantastical storyline
16:09puts the crew
16:09of the WNYX radio station
16:12at the site
16:12of the Titanic disaster.
16:14The episode ends
16:15with a speech
16:16by star Phil Hartman
16:17assuring the audience
16:18that none of them
16:19actually died.
16:20Right, gang?
16:21Thanks, I'm right.
16:22Hey, where's Dave?
16:24Oh, Dave drowned
16:24while we shot that last scene.
16:26Oh, what about Vicky?
16:27Off making a movie
16:28in Toronto.
16:29As it turned out,
16:30neither he nor his character
16:31would be returning
16:32for the next season.
16:33Tragically,
16:34a month after the episode aired,
16:36Hartman was murdered,
16:37turning his message
16:38into a painfully ironic goodbye.
16:41So, I guess we'll be stuck
16:43out here for a long time,
16:45eh, old friend?
16:46The Big One, Sanford.
16:48I got the two big ones.
16:50One in my head
16:51and one in my heart.
16:53Oh, Elizabeth.
16:54I was coming, honey.
16:56Fred G. Sanford
16:57made a habit
16:58of pretending
16:59to have a heart attack
17:00whenever he wanted sympathy.
17:01His performer, Red Fox,
17:03was particularly skilled
17:04at the recurring bit.
17:06That's why it was so shocking
17:07when his character
17:08actually did have
17:09a heart attack
17:10on the Sanford & Son
17:11spinoff, Sanford.
17:12Elizabeth, honey,
17:15you know what I'm always saying?
17:16I'm coming to join you.
17:18This time, I ain't kidding.
17:20But the gag
17:21would have some
17:22ironic consequences later.
17:24While on the set
17:24of a different show,
17:26The Royal Family,
17:27Fox keeled over.
17:28For a brief moment,
17:29his colleagues
17:30thought he was kidding.
17:31It turned out
17:32to be a real heart attack
17:33that led to his death
17:34hours later.
17:35He was always doing
17:37pride falls.
17:39And I thought
17:40that's what he did.
17:40Everybody thought
17:41that's what he did.
17:42And he was laying
17:43on the floor
17:44and I leaned down
17:45to him
17:46and I put my hands
17:47on him.
17:48He said,
17:48get my wife,
17:49get my wife.
17:50The Downside of Fame,
17:51Mork and Mindy.
17:53Robin Williams,
17:54Mr. Smarty Pan's
17:55big shot.
17:56Wow.
17:57You forgot your old friend,
17:57you can't lend me $10,000
17:58for a new car.
18:00I'm going to do the
18:00Save the Shrimp benefit.
18:02This goofy
18:02Robin Williams sitcom
18:03about an alien
18:04named Mork
18:05and his human friend Mindy
18:06got very meta
18:08in a season 3 episode
18:09aptly titled
18:10Mork Meets Robin Williams.
18:12The two end up
18:13in the dressing room
18:14with the real
18:14Robin Williams
18:15whom Mindy
18:16is hoping to interview.
18:18I don't know
18:18why I can't say no.
18:20I guess I want
18:21people to like me.
18:22I hate myself for that.
18:24Williams,
18:24in character as himself,
18:26expresses the pitfalls
18:27of fame
18:28in a way
18:28only he can
18:29while his alien
18:30doppelganger
18:31sits across from him.
18:32Given what we know
18:33of his mental health struggles,
18:35there's an unsettling tone
18:36to his admission
18:37that fame leaves
18:38little time alone
18:39with his thoughts
18:40and maybe that's by design.
18:42You know,
18:42if you learn to say no,
18:43you probably have
18:43a lot more time to yourself.
18:46Maybe that's the last thing I want.
18:49Peg's Pregnancy
18:50Married with Children
18:51When series co-star
18:53Katie Seagal
18:53became pregnant
18:54during production
18:55of the controversial
18:56Fox hit's
18:57sixth season,
18:58it was written into the show.
19:03Peg Bundy
19:04can hardly contain
19:05her happiness
19:06as she tells
19:07the entire world
19:08she's five months along.
19:10Al Bundy
19:10can't really believe it either.
19:12He didn't even notice.
19:13Here we go, April.
19:14Week one.
19:15Sold shoes.
19:16Watch TV.
19:17Week two.
19:18Sold shoes.
19:19Watch TV.
19:20Wept.
19:22Week three.
19:23Sold shoes.
19:23Had a few beers.
19:24Passed out.
19:29However,
19:30the pregnancy
19:31was written
19:31out of the script
19:32when real life intervened
19:34and Seagal's pregnancy
19:35ended in tragic circumstances.
19:37Rather than subject her
19:39to carrying out
19:39the storyline as planned,
19:41the show's writers
19:42changed course.
19:43They opted to rewrite
19:44the entire storyline
19:46as an elaborate
19:47dream of Al's.
19:49Think he's crazy?
19:51Well,
19:52he must be.
19:53He didn't ask about you.
19:56Only one left.
19:57The Golden Girls.
19:59Over its seven-season run,
20:00this runaway hit sitcom
20:02starring four showbiz veterans
20:04was a celebration
20:05of friendship
20:06and living life
20:07to the fullest,
20:08even in old age.
20:09One particularly sweet moment
20:11became eerie
20:12in retrospect.
20:13Is it because
20:14we know that
20:15Lillian's just plain lucky
20:16that a lot of old people
20:17do slip through the cracks
20:18and are forgotten?
20:21And maybe it may not
20:22be too long
20:23until
20:24we are
20:25elderly ourselves.
20:27Realizing that there
20:28may be a future
20:29in which they have to go
20:30to a nursing home,
20:31they make a pact
20:32to stick together
20:33to the end.
20:34And while the intentions
20:35are heartwarming,
20:36it's not a perfect plan.
20:38What happens
20:39when there's only
20:40one of us left?
20:43It would become prophetic
20:45that Betty White
20:46spoke those words.
20:47After Rue McClanahan's
20:48death in 2010,
20:50White did become
20:51the last surviving
20:52golden girl.
20:53I'm not the star.
20:54You're the star.
20:55There's no way
20:56with those girls
20:57don't be silly,
20:58but I'm thrilled
20:59to still be aboard.
21:00If I Die Young.
21:02Glee.
21:03So put on your best boys
21:05and now wear my pearls.
21:07What I never did
21:09is done.
21:11When Cory Monteith
21:12passed away suddenly
21:14in 2013,
21:14it was a life-changing
21:16experience for his colleagues,
21:18including his fiancée
21:19and co-star
21:20Lea Michele.
21:21The season 5 episode
21:22The Quarterback
21:23is a tribute to him
21:24and his character
21:25Finn Hudson,
21:27and it's hard to watch.
21:28But one scene
21:29that stands out
21:30even more now
21:31is cheerleader Santana's
21:32tearful tribute
21:33to Hudson.
21:34If I Die Young
21:36Bury me in satin
21:38Lay me down
21:40On a bed of roses
21:41She sings a stirring rendition
21:44of the band Perry's
21:45If I Die Young.
21:46What began as a heartfelt tribute
21:48became a bizarre
21:49and devastating premonition.
21:51In 2020,
21:52the performance went viral
21:54when actress Naya Rivera
21:55died suddenly
21:56in a boating accident
21:57at the age of 33.
21:59Send me away
22:00with the words
22:01of a love song
22:03Oh
22:05What sitcoms
22:05will you never look at
22:07the same way now?
22:08Tell us in the comments.
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