- 4 minutes ago
From live broadcasts to black-and-white noir fantasies, some TV episodes take huge creative swings. Join us as we explore 10 installments from shows like ER, Smallville, and The X-Files that should have 'jumped the shark' but instead became iconic moments in television history.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00From musical madness to bizarre mystery gang team-ups,
00:04this bunch of TV episodes right here should have all likely done a Fonz.
00:09But guess what? They did not.
00:12The following episodes sucker punch the formula, re-energize the fanbase,
00:17and surprise, just about everyone involved.
00:20That's right, I am Gareth, this is WhatCulture,
00:23and we're about to look at a bunch of TV episodes that should have jumped the shark,
00:29but didn't.
00:30Kicking us off, we have ER Ambush,
00:33the show that popularized George Clooney.
00:36ER made general hospital emergency room life exciting and sexy,
00:42rendering a vivid cast of characters in dimensions across 15 seasons.
00:47That's a lot of seasons.
00:48Bringing doctors' personal lives into play with romance, heartbreak, conflict, and tragedy,
00:54made the decisions in their professional lives,
00:57fighting to save patients and sometimes losing them.
01:00All the more compelling.
01:02But at season 4, it almost pushed the envelope too far.
01:06Season 4 premiere, Ambush was positioned to give an already well-received show
01:11that extra boost by filming and broadcasting it live.
01:16Shot on handheld cameras in a documentary style,
01:19from the perspective of a PBS film crew,
01:22it provides an unrefined, guerrilla look at what was usually an aesthetically polished show,
01:28forcing the cast to work in real time and think on their feet.
01:32And rather than just coast by with a rote episode,
01:35the writers had head of the ER, David Morgenstern,
01:39suffer a heart attack,
01:41introduced new surgeon Elizabeth Corday,
01:44and going hard on Dr. Green's assault from the previous season.
01:49And somehow, it all came together.
01:51The live format was plenty excuse for an all-out disaster,
01:55but the use of roving handheld cameras added to the uncertainty,
01:59making it feel like a whole different show.
02:02Now, critics weren't convinced,
02:04but audiences absolutely loved it.
02:07And the episode became the most-watched season premiere for a drama series.
02:12Sounds like a win to me.
02:13You know, when the nights get here faster and the temperature starts dropping
02:17and I'm in need of something cozy to pick me up,
02:20there's nothing I want to do more than spend some time with your friend and mine,
02:25Pumpkinhead.
02:26As in the 1988 supernatural horror movie Pumpkinhead,
02:30directed by Stan Winston.
02:31Obviously.
02:32And wouldn't you know it,
02:33you can go and do that on Prime Video right now.
02:36And if you sign up using our special link in the description or scan the QR code on screen,
02:41you'll get 75% off your first two months,
02:44which is as low as 99 cents per month.
02:47That includes both single subscriptions and bundles,
02:50so you can add on stuff like Apple TV and HBO Max
02:54and watch all the movies and shows you want to your heart's content.
02:57Like, guys, they have all of Columbo on there.
03:00I'm about to go into a winter hibernation
03:02and come out talking like Peter Fork.
03:04I can't wait.
03:05Next up, we've got Smallville Noir.
03:08Long before James Gunn's Superman,
03:10The Snyderverse,
03:12or Bryan Singer's lacklustre run,
03:14The Man of Tomorrow,
03:16Smallville had cornered the Superman market,
03:19or the supermarket, up to you.
03:21With Tom Welling as a young Clark Kent,
03:24the show ran for 10 seasons
03:26and perfectly encapsulated noughties culture
03:29while giving us more reasons than usual
03:31to care about a flawed hero that we thought we knew.
03:35Season 6's 20th episode, Noir,
03:37offered just this,
03:39with a Jimmy Olsen-centric adventure
03:41set in a black-and-white 1940s gumshoe world.
03:46Here, Jimmy is the Daily Planet star reporter,
03:49and he goes on the case of a woman
03:50who wants him to help solve her own murder.
03:54Alternative versions of all the regular cast turn up,
03:57and Jimmy even shoots Lex Luthor dead.
04:00Like Wizard of Oz, however,
04:02it is all a dream.
04:03A DC what-if, if you will.
04:06Never mind the outlandish setup and story.
04:08The fact of none of it being of consequence
04:10was enough to send viewers packing.
04:13Except, uh, well, it didn't.
04:15And Smallville managed to quickly course-correct.
04:18Hesitant to take this kind of risk again,
04:21but maintaining a steady quality nonetheless.
04:24And now, let's talk about The X-Files,
04:26the post-modern Prometheus.
04:29From the beginning, The X-Files had absurdity on its side.
04:33Dealing with extraterrestrials, monsters, and mysteries
04:36meant the showrunners and writers
04:38could take it in interesting and discordant directions,
04:42anchored by the Monster of the Week format.
04:44But nobody expected it to go where Episode 5,
04:47the post-modern Prometheus, went.
04:49Not a single soul.
04:50The episode begins in the style of a comic book,
04:52shot in all black and white,
04:54and proceeds with a wackadoo storyline
04:56about a mysterious creature named the Great Mutato
05:00that has impregnated a middle-aged woman.
05:03Amongst its many oddities,
05:05it features a special episode of Jerry Springer.
05:08And at the episode's end,
05:09Mulder breaks the fourth wall,
05:11demanding to see the writer.
05:13Thereafter, Mulder and Scully take Mutato
05:16and the townspeople to a Cher concert, alright?
05:19Not only does the episode depart from the series' style and tone,
05:24but it's seemingly totally divorced
05:25from the established mythology and chronology of the show.
05:28And while this ought to have spelled disaster,
05:32it instead gave the somewhat formulaic series
05:34a new lease of life,
05:36starting a trend of these kinds of humorous,
05:39low-stakes episodes
05:40that kept it on air for another four seasons in its original run.
05:45Moving on to Angel's smile time.
05:47Vampire detective show Angel benefited greatly
05:50from its parent series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer,
05:54as Joss Whedon was able to transfer
05:56many of their existing characters across,
05:59including the big man himself,
06:00ex-plastic Cordelia Chase,
06:02and failed watcher Wesley Wyndham Price,
06:05and integrate seamlessly into the same universe and lore,
06:09but with a darker tone and bigger city.
06:12This familiarity meant the show
06:13could take a bolder approach from early on,
06:16including switching out main supporting cast,
06:19sharing storylines and cameos with Buffy,
06:22and throwing the action over to the hellish upside-down world
06:26of Pylea in season two.
06:28By the fifth season,
06:30Angel was a known element,
06:32outliving Buffy,
06:33and continuing on with a revamped format
06:35that balanced the monster of the week
06:37with an impending apocalypse.
06:39But just because the stakes were bigger
06:41did not mean it couldn't have some fun, people.
06:44Episode 14, Smile Time,
06:45arrived over halfway through the season,
06:48at a sensitive time for the show
06:49if it was gonna stick its landing.
06:51And yet, rather than take it easy
06:53and pitch a few softballs,
06:55Whedon and co. had Angel turned into a puppet
06:58by a singing, murdering band of felt-formed demons.
07:02There are musical numbers, puppet fights,
07:05and a lighter approach throughout.
07:08And rather than tanking what was left of the show,
07:11Smile Time became a fan-favorite,
07:14and proved that it was still innovative this far in.
07:17Yep, turns out everyone liked
07:18looking at the wee little puppet man.
07:20And here we have Supernatural, Scooby-natural.
07:23When Supernatural first hit screens,
07:25it was cut from the same cloth as Buffy and The X-Files,
07:29that we've already mentioned on this list,
07:31and shared many of both show's minor cast,
07:34with enough references to satisfy fans of either property,
07:38and a new fantasy-led story
07:40that prioritized angels and biblical battles
07:43over gothic monsters or aliens.
07:45The story of Sam and Dean Winchester,
07:48hunters of everything dark and evil,
07:50especially demons,
07:52felt familiar yet inventive enough
07:54to keep us watching over the following years,
07:57rooted in the strength of the brothers' relationship.
07:59And in Season 13's 16th episode,
08:02Scooby-natural,
08:04Sam and Dean are pulled into a Scooby-Doo mystery,
08:07fully animated.
08:08The whole Scooby gang is there,
08:10and the already cartoonish approach
08:12of late-season Supernatural
08:14is kicked into high gear,
08:17stretching reality,
08:18amplifying character traits,
08:20Dean hitting on Daphne, anyone?
08:22And merging the best parts of both shows
08:24to give us an adventure
08:25that would have seemed not only implausible,
08:28but highly inadvisable in the first half of Supernatural's run,
08:32While it may seem like just one
08:34in a long track record of fun,
08:36playful episodes
08:37that managed to keep the show going
08:38long after the original arc,
08:40Scooby-natural came along at a point
08:42when viewers thought that they had experienced
08:44all the weird and unusual things
08:47that Supernatural had to offer,
08:48and were about ready to wind things up.
08:50And it surprised everyone,
08:52keeping even reluctant viewers
08:54tuning in for more.
08:55Okay, next up,
08:56Community Remedial Chaos Theory.
08:59Long before Rick and Morty,
09:01Dan Harmon channeled his offbeat humor
09:04through Community,
09:05the Community College campus-set sitcom,
09:08where a study group of oddballs
09:10come together to try and survive
09:11a substandard academic journey.
09:14It was an instant hit,
09:15and managed to strike a fine balance
09:17of weird and watchable.
09:19But the already out there show
09:21went several steps further
09:23in a single episode
09:25by establishing a chaotic multiverse.
09:29That's right,
09:29Season 3's fourth episode,
09:31Remedial Chaos Theory,
09:33takes place at a housewarming
09:34for two of the youngest study group members,
09:37Troy and Abed.
09:38And things get dicey
09:39when Jeff rolls a die
09:41to decide who will answer the door
09:43to the pizza delivery guy.
09:45Seven timelines unfold
09:47in which the scene is replayed.
09:50Each member of the group
09:51answers the door,
09:52and something different happens
09:53every single time.
09:54Going far beyond the bounds
09:56of the show's usually
09:57imagination-based strangeness,
10:00this episode establishes
10:01the diverging timelines as canon.
10:04Rather than destroying
10:06the show's tenuous grip on reality
10:08and plunging it into obscurity, though,
10:10the episode was wildly successful,
10:12boosting the flagging season,
10:14and Harmon and co.
10:16brought the characters
10:16of the darkest timeline
10:18back in future episodes.
10:20Hooray!
10:21Now it's time to talk about Atlanta,
10:23the goof who sat by the door.
10:25Community may have been
10:26Donald Glover's big break,
10:28but Atlanta was where he proved
10:30that he had the chops
10:31to write, run,
10:32and act in something much bigger,
10:35blending comedy and drama
10:36in narratives and roles
10:38that are weighty
10:39and considerably more three-dimensional.
10:41The show follows Earn
10:42and Paperboy,
10:43a music manager and rapper,
10:45who faced trials and tribulations
10:47traversing the Atlanta hip-hop scene.
10:49The show's brilliance
10:50has always been its use
10:51of somewhat episodic,
10:53stand-alone stories
10:54that are less monster of the week
10:56and more short,
10:57dramatic works
10:58in their own right.
10:59And while Season 4, Episode 8,
11:01The Goof Who Sat By The Door,
11:03is very much that,
11:04it was also a major risk
11:06to take with a big show
11:07at such a critical time.
11:09Goof sidesteps Atlanta's
11:11main narrative concerns,
11:13totally disregarding
11:14the series' plotline
11:15for a documentary-style episode
11:17starring none of the show's
11:19usual characters
11:20about the fictional
11:21Tom Washington,
11:23a black man appointed
11:24CEO of Disney,
11:26who wants to make
11:26the blackest movie
11:27of all time.
11:29Arriving just two episodes
11:30from the end of the show,
11:31this was a very late move
11:33into uncharted territory,
11:35and could have bombed
11:37the whole thing,
11:38leaving the series
11:39on a sour note.
11:41But the element of surprise
11:42was its greatest weapon here,
11:44capitalizing on an already
11:45committed audience
11:46to serve up something
11:48challenging and unusual,
11:49and it won nigh endless praise
11:52for doing so.
11:53Right, and next we have
11:54It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia,
11:57Dee Reynolds'
11:58Shaping America's Youth.
11:59By Season 6,
12:01It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
12:02had well and truly
12:04found its groove.
12:05The exploits of Dee,
12:06Dennis, Charlie,
12:08Mac and Frank,
12:09heavy drinkers
12:09and narcissists all,
12:11were well publicized
12:12and had amassed a sizable
12:14and reliable mainstream audience.
12:17But the gang's ability
12:17to go where no other sitcom
12:19would go was well and truly
12:21put to the test
12:22in that season's ninth episode.
12:24Dee Reynolds,
12:25Shaping America's Youth,
12:26sees Dee take a job
12:28as a substitute teacher,
12:29wherein she introduces
12:30her class to the gang's
12:31attempt to make
12:32Lethal Weapon 5.
12:34The, um, film starts out,
12:36simple enough,
12:37with Mac playing
12:37Mel Gibson's Riggs character
12:39and Dennis as
12:41Danny Glover's Murtagh,
12:42using just a mustache
12:44and a deep voice.
12:45But a few scenes in,
12:46they switch roles
12:47and Mac goes in
12:48blackface for his new part.
12:51Yep.
12:51Now, while blackface
12:52usually takes a kick in
12:53from the general viewing public
12:55and by all accounts
12:56it ought to have brought
12:57Always Sunny
12:58beyond the point of no return,
12:59fans of the show
13:00love the episode
13:01because it was so
13:02beyond the pale
13:03and yet fits its
13:05degenerate characters
13:06to a tee.
13:07The season
13:08and the show
13:09maintained its
13:09strong viewing figures
13:11and Glenn Howerton,
13:12Charlie Day
13:13and Rob McElhenney
13:14who write the show
13:15return to the
13:16Lethal Weapon premise
13:17several times
13:18in subsequent seasons.
13:19It is time to talk
13:20about a little series
13:21you may have heard of
13:22called Breaking Bad now
13:24and we're gonna talk
13:25about Fly.
13:26Breaking Bad's
13:27third season
13:28far surpassed
13:29the show's
13:29original premise
13:30of a science teacher
13:31Breaking Bad
13:32and teaming up
13:33with his former student
13:34Jesse Pinkman
13:35to cook drugs
13:36and make some quick cash.
13:37While the core of the show
13:38Walter and Jesse
13:39were still going strong
13:40mafiosos,
13:42crooked lawyers
13:42and assassins
13:44entered the picture
13:44and things got a bit complicated
13:46keeping us on the edge
13:47of our seats
13:48throughout.
13:48But as danger closed in
13:50on all sides
13:51the season's
13:51tenth episode
13:52Fly
13:53took a major detour
13:55from the driven
13:56serial format
13:57just three episodes
13:58before the season finale.
14:00And how did it manage this?
14:01Well by having
14:02Walter and Jesse
14:03spend the entire episode
14:04in the meth lab
14:06trying to catch
14:07Fly.
14:08The show had built up
14:08such a head of steam
14:10and the overarching narrative
14:12had grown almost
14:13unbearably tense
14:15that to suddenly make
14:16a sharp left turn
14:17into a comedic bottle episode
14:19seemed
14:20unthinkable.
14:21And yet
14:21Fly manages to crack open
14:23the heart and soul
14:24of its characters
14:25while nothing much
14:27of note happens
14:28using the time spent
14:29to move from tension
14:30to comedy
14:31to an on-off conversation
14:33that reveals parts
14:34of Walt's interior
14:35that the rest of the season
14:36couldn't reach.
14:38And while viewing figures
14:39were not great
14:39at the time
14:40the episode has made
14:42its mark as a fan
14:43and critic favourite
14:44in the years
14:45since its release.
14:46And lastly
14:47we have Buffy the Vampire Slayer
14:48once more
14:49with Phelan.
14:50Buffy the Vampire Slayer's
14:51famous musical episode
14:53arrived late in the game
14:55during the show's
14:56penultimate season
14:57and while Buffy
14:57had always had time
14:59for humour
14:59levity
15:00and experimentation
15:01this took the supernatural
15:03show to unexpected places.
15:05Season 6's 7th episode
15:07once more
15:08with feeling
15:08arrives during
15:09the darkest season
15:11and finds Buffy
15:12isolated from
15:13the Scooby gang
15:14unable to tell them
15:15that by bringing her
15:16back from the dead
15:17they pulled her
15:18out of heaven
15:19so of course
15:19she breaks into
15:20spontaneous song
15:21and everyone else
15:23follows.
15:23Amongst the whopping
15:2417 musical numbers
15:26we get a ballad
15:28from her watcher
15:29Giles
15:29a rock number
15:30from vampire bad boy
15:32Spike
15:32and a show tune
15:34from Anya
15:34and Xander
15:35and somehow
15:36it all works.
15:37The writing is second
15:38to none
15:39with each song
15:40better than the previous
15:42outshining most
15:43Broadway musicals
15:44and of course
15:45the performances
15:46are great too
15:47showcasing most of the
15:49cast's pitch perfect
15:50pipes
15:51which is something
15:52we had only
15:52previously seen
15:53of Anthony Head
15:54who of course
15:55plays watcher Giles
15:56the episode
15:57successfully blends
15:58comedy and drama
15:59dancing and fighting
16:00working as a
16:01standalone spectacle
16:02but also gently
16:04advancing the
16:05overarching narrative
16:06concerns of all
16:07the main cast
16:08once more with feeling
16:09is legendary
16:10it's iconic
16:11and yet it ought to
16:12have jumped clean
16:13over that shark
16:14but it did not
16:15and that's why
16:16it's on this list
16:17of course
16:17now continue
16:18your YouTube
16:18journey by tapping
16:19on another fantastic
16:21what culture list
16:22right here
16:23you're gonna have
16:24such a good time
16:24you're welcome
Comments