I was just watching Season 1 of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and saw the episode where Carlton and Will are arrested under suspicion of car theft. Carlton refuses to believe that they were pulled over just because they were two black guys in a Benz, but Will knows better.

The episode ends with Carlton asking Phil, 'If you were a cop, and you saw a car going 2 miles an hour, you'd pull it over, right?' Phil responds, 'I asked myself the same question the first time I was pulled over...' Pretty heavy.

Anyway, what are your favourite 'Very Special Episodes' of other shows?

I really like the Christmas episode in Season 2 of Happy Days, where Fonz is too proud to admit he doesn't have anywhere to go for Christmas, and Richie finds him eating a can of beans in the garage for Christmas dinner. M*A*S*H had a lot of VSEs, too.

You gotta love the episode of ALF when Brian is in a school play, playing the part of Asparagus. His dad helps him practice his song, which I still remember to this day. "Asparagus, asparagus, put some on the ta-ble/Asparagus, asparagus, it makes you feel more a-ble."

Anyway, thats something I'll always remember.

One of them is that Christmas episode of Family Matters where Eddie loses the doll Laura had ever since she was a lot younger so Urkel went looking for the doll which was in the city dump and he gave her the doll on Christmas morning. Another one is the episode of Full House where Jesse moves away and it upsets Michelle and at the end of the episode Jesse stays at the house and doesn't move away from Michelle and the family. Those episodes were special to me.

i think he meant the epps of a tv show that deal with a certain issue like the all time classic one of diffrent strokes about child molestation

where the owner of the bike store molests arnold and duddly

Yeah, that's what a 'Very Special Episode' is. I didn't make the term up.

Or how about the other episode of Family Matters where Laura puts together a black history class at her school after someone spraypaints that racist word on her locker?

the epp of punky brewster about drugs

I'm watching another very special Fresh Prince of Bel-Air as i type,this is the where Will gets shot.

I was just about to mention that! Oh, and who could forget the one where he accidentally slips Carlton some speed? And then Carlton is in the hospital, and yada yada yada....

Oh, by the by, does Degrassi (new or old) count? That entire series seems like a Very Special Episode to me. [/i]

How can you have a topic about very special episodes and not mention one of the many crappy episodes from saved by the bell. Especially the one with jesse and the pill abuse or the drinking and driving one.

Ek your right that was a very special episode I can remember that one almost made me cry. I would have to say the 90210 episode were Brain Austin Greene best friend kills himself. And all so on Space Cases when Catalina if I recall gave her life to save the crew at the end of season one. Even though Suzie was introduce then I still remember Harlan and the crew all shedding tears because of Catalina.

It's gonna sound stupid, but a couple episodes of Futurama are like that and I enjoy them very much

Actually, I'm kinda curious....what episodes are you talking about? :)

I liked the Boy Meets World where Shawn has a drinking problem. Cheesey, but a good cheesey.

I remember a few of these "very special episodes"... although my memory might be a bit foggy from some of my own "very special episode" moments...

Family Ties- I think it was Tom Hanks that guest starred as an alcoholic uncle that drank from a bottle of vanilla extract.

Facts of Life- Tootie and Natalie visit a head shop and buy bongs. Mrs. Garrett goes off.

Diff'rnt Strokes- already mentioned the bike shop owner molesting Arnold and Dudley by having them play "Neptune, King of the Sea" in the bathtub with him.

Other shows, such as 90210 and Full House, seemed to have some special message included in nealy every episode, but the really heavy ones were started with a disclaimer and usually ended with one of the stars discussing what the message was and where to seek help.

well i guess Boy Meets World fall in that category as well.

And don't forget the oh-so-serious episode of growing pains where mike goes to a party and is offered cocaine.

Full House:
- Not a major fan of this show, but the episode with Stephanie's classmate being abused by his dad kinda got to me. Kid got pushed down the freakin' stairs...ugh :x .
- Papouli's death was pretty serious, especially when uncle Jesse & Michelle had to deal with it. I liked how they did one particular scene transition: they showed Papouli & Michelle happy the night before his death, then the outside shot of the house from night to day, then they show most of the family in tears over his death, & talking about it.

Saved By The Bell:
- I (and many others) may have found 'Jessie's Song' laughable, but the episode with 'Johnny' the Hollywood star was a bit better. He's about to do a 'Don't Do Drugs' commercial with the kids, yet they find out he does drugs. IRONY...
- To this day, I can't watch the drinking & driving episode. One of the worst mess-ups Zach ever had. I still can't believe Lisa drank, too.

A Different World (this show probably had more 'special episodes' than regular ones, lol):
- The one where Ron & Dwayne fight 3 white guys for trying to spray-paint the n-word on Ron's car. That was SERIOUS....they barely held back for that one. Worst part was the end, where all the guys get released, & Ron finds out someone OTHER than them finished spray-painting the word on his car (the 3 guys only got so far as 'NI').
- The episode with Gina getting abused by her boyfriend. He messed her eye up somethin' serious. Glad he got arrested in the end.

Family Matters:
- The one with the school shooting; Maxine's friend gets shot over a pair of shoes. The viewer hears a gunshot, and the camera pans to Maxine crying hysterically & holding the bleeding girl :shock: . Scary stuff, especially for a show which features Steve Urkel.

Parent 'Hood (Not as popular as other sitcoms, but still pretty good):
- The one where Nicholas' friend got kidnapped (& possibly molested), that was scary. They showed the kidnapper in first-person view, convincing the kid to come with him. He was held for a couple of days, but I think he was found by the end. It was tough watching Nicholas deal with that situation.

What's the name of that particular Parent 'Hood episode?