A Very Special Episode...

[Khan]

I remember their cameos, too. I thought theirs were the most random ever. Funny, but random.

[VirginiaHamilton]

I'm surprised that no one's mentioned Life Goes On. Granted, that whole series was a VSE, but I still think that it merits a mention because of the season-long arc of Becca being in love with an HIV+ Jesse:

[All My Shadows]

Looka Aria's daddy!

[lovely_m]

.

I'm amazed no one has mentioned Blossom yet.

[Khan]

Oh, God. "Blossom." Just how many times did she lose her virginity in a VSE anyway?

[alphanguy74]

Blossom was good for two things, the eye candy that was Ted Wass, and the appearances by Melissa Manchester as her mother.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Remember the episode where she went on a date with a guy who ended up punching her? It was supposed to be their attempt at a 5 minute abusive relationship storyline. The guy was played by James Marsden.

The only sitcom where I think an abusive relationship was done well was probably Roseanne, with Jackie and Fisher. It helped that wecared about Jackie and saw her relationship with Fisher progress.

Ted Wass was a DILF...

[ReddFoxx]

Family Ties

"Heartstrings" was moving, because it didn't overdue it to the point where the drama was not real. Steven had a heart attack and the character reactions to it were not overwritten.

"All In The Neighborhood" Probably one of the best, because it doesn't really feel like a very special episode. I think it was the only time racism in the suburbs was discussed on a sitcom.

Family Matters

"Fight The Good Fight" was when Laura wanted a black history class at school and got a racist backlash. Nick at Nite edited out the locker scene

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[SFK]

I swear to G-d, I said bolded in my head during the millisecond gap between your first and second sentences. But I guess "VSE" is a term more associated with situation comedies that decide to get all dramatical on us.

How could I forget Jessie!? Yet another television depiction that had me terrified of AIDS. In one ep, he wakes up in a panic, drenched in night sweat before he goes to grab painful lesions on his back. It was awful. And the episode where the dad was doing the dishes, and when he got to Jessie's glass, he stared at it for a charged moment before guiltily throwing it in the garbage pail.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I destest those Miller-Boyette sitcoms. So sugary-sweet, sappy, preachy and annoying.

[ReddFoxx]

I glanced over the previous pages of the thread and saw some references to "A Different World", did anyone mention the "Number Ho" episode? That one was really written from a writer's soap box.

[Eric83]

Wow I never saw that last part.

I am too lazy to go through the thread did you all talk about Laura's friend getting shot over her shoes?

LOL "Digit Ho", I brought it up. It was one of my favorite ones from Season 6

[ReddFoxx]

I'll second that, even the opening sequences were excessively corny. If it opened with people smiling and running around outside, it was Miller-Boyett.

It's been such a long time since I've seen it, I had forgotten that it was digit instead of number.

The episode with Laura's friend getting shot had a PSA with it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgD2Qr67ymc

Squash it? Attempts at coolness in the 90s were laughably bad at times.

[Khan]

Speaking of Miller-Boyett sitcoms, remember the "Full House" where D.J. was anorexic for all of 10 minutes on account of being overweight?

And then the opening credits are over, and the actual show begins, and it just gets worse.

[Khan]

IIRC, Mother Winslow talked to her afterward, and told her how she was the first AA in her town to receive a public library card after walking there everyday and refusing to give up.