Quote: Aaron @ August 14 2012, 9:02 PM BSTThere are few episodes of ANY sitcom that I hate more than that one.
The caravan one? Come oooon, Graham Norton makes a great appearance in that one.
Atypical episodes Page 2
The Seinfeld episode that moves backwards in time is very good. The 30 Rock episode that takes the form of a reality TV show following Tracy's wife is quite good too.
The episode of Coupling where Jeff tries to hit on the Israeli women stands out to me. They don't speak the same language, and the episode is presented in two halves showing their interactions from both points of view.
Quote: Gordon Bennett @ August 15 2012, 5:47 PM BSTThe caravan one? Come oooon, Graham Norton makes a great appearance in that one.
That's one of my favourites episodes of Father Ted. "Hell", from series 2.
Quote: FracturedMirror @ August 16 2012, 5:39 PM BSTThe episode of Coupling where Jeff tries to hit on the Israeli women stands out to me. They don't speak the same language, and the episode is presented in two halves showing their interactions from both points of view.
That's one of my favourites episodes of Father Ted. "Hell", from series 2.
"Malcolm In The Middle" has some experimental episodes too. Two spring to mind: there's the one where we see what happens when Malcolm and Reese are accompanied to the bowling alley by their dad instead of their mum. Every scene is shown in both versions; sometimes even by split screen.
Then there's the other episode where we see what happened on a particular evening in the Malcolm household from different angles. Every five minute or so there's a rewind and the whole episode starts from the same point again but from a different perspective. I like such innovative episodes in American shows because that injects some variety into a 25 episodes season.
And yes, I like the "Hell" episode of Father Ted too. "These are small cows Dougal. Those over there are just far away".
Speaking of American sitcoms. There's seems to be another kind of atypical episode: When the producers try to launch a new show through an already existing and very succesful one. I can remember such an episode in "Married With Children": There was this episode in which Joseph Bologna and Matt Leblanc star as father and son; the Verducci family, distant relatives of Al Bundy. We see the normal cast (or more precisly: Al) just at the beginning and at the end of the episode. In between we see how the Verducci's try to pull some rich & influental birds (just like the Trotters in "Royal Flush"). This was the quasi pilot episode for a show called "Top Of The Heap"; which couldn't even be qualified as a spin off cause the Verducci's weren't regulars in "Married with Children".
The old backdoor pilot is a classic and you mentioned my favourite example of it too! There's a few of them out there... I know on Growing Pains they tested out Just the 10 of US and the Keaton's had a new family friend on Family Ties that served as a pilot for Day by Day.
Quote: MTpromises @ August 16 2012, 8:08 PM BSTThe old backdoor pilot is a classic and you mentioned my favourite example of it too! There's a few of them out there... I know on Growing Pains they tested out Just the 10 of US and the Keaton's had a new family friend on Family Ties that served as a pilot for Day by Day.
Then there are crossover episodes like they did with "Murder She Wrote" and "Magnum P.I." or "Everybody Loves Raymond" and "The King Of Queens"; Jay Sherman of "The Critic" was the co-star of a "Simpsons" episode once. This seems to be a kind of "Alien vs Predator" for television comedy; "let's promote one show through the other and vice versa".
Then Alf appeared once in "Blossom", but this was more of a guest appearance than a crossover episode, George Clooney and the other "ER" guy appeared in a "Friends" episode. I can't think of more examples at the moment. but there must be more such mash ups/crossovers. "Knight Rider" and "Airwolf" should have made one...with David Hasselhof being killed during the showdown! 
A very young and sexy George Clooney was in the first series of Roseanne too I seem to recall. can't remember his name in it though for the life of me lol (plastics factory foreman I think if anyone wants to jog my memory)
Ohhhh yeah, that does ring a bell now you say it.
Quote: yowie29 @ August 20 2012, 10:43 PM BSTA very young and sexy George Clooney was in the first series of Roseanne too I seem to recall. can't remember his name in it though for the life of me lol (plastics factory foreman I think if anyone wants to jog my memory)
If my memory serves me well Clooney's character dated Roseanne's sister in those episodes. He would date the likes of Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Lopez and Catherine Zeta Jones in later years...lucky bugger! 
Quote: Gordon Bennett @ August 17 2012, 9:31 AM BSTThen there are crossover episodes like they did with "Murder She Wrote" and "Magnum P.I."
I read on the AVclub there was supposed to be a an episode of Quantum Leap where Sam leaped into Magnum P.I., that would have been epic.
Similar to cross-overs are sitcoms doing other sitcoms. Alf had an episode where he dreams he was Gilligan from Gilligan's Island. 30 Rock had the Night Court episode where they reunited the cast for a proper final episode. King of Queens had Doug dream he and the rest of the cast were The Honeymooners.
The only British example I can think of is Spaced doing The Royale Family intro... which was rather brief.
Inspired by this old school vs. new school talk in the thread to "Citizen Khan" I remembered a "Scrubs" episode that was shot (at least parts of it) as an old school studio sitcom complete with laughtrack.
And that leads me to a scene of "Natural Born Killers" where a flashback of the main protagonist was shot in sitcom style with laughtrack and Rodney Dangerfield as his father. I know...that ain't a sitcom but it was a clever move by Oliver Stone.
The cast of Cheers also appeared in a Simpsons episode once.
Quote: yowie29 @ August 20 2012, 10:43 PM BSTA very young and sexy George Clooney was in the first series of Roseanne too I seem to recall. can't remember his name in it though for the life of me lol (plastics factory foreman I think if anyone wants to jog my memory)
His name was Booker.
On the American side, the sitcom Mad About You had an unusual episode called The Conversation, Series 6. Paul and Jamie agree -- Paul reluctantly -- that it's time their baby learned to fall asleep on her own. With the parents stationed outside the crying baby's door, the entire show is shot in one long scene.
I think of this episode because I think it was, at least in part, an opportunity for the actors/writers/directors to do something different and more challenging and, possibly, more "artistically" interesting. (The epilogue actually makes this clear.)
Maybe that's the point of at least some uncharacteristic episodes.
Quote: Rose2010 @ August 31 2012, 6:10 PM BSTOn the American side, the sitcom Mad About You had an unusual episode called The Conversation, Series 6. Paul and Jamie agree -- Paul reluctantly -- that it's time their baby learned to fall asleep on her own. With the parents stationed outside the crying baby's door, the entire show is shot in one long scene.
I think of this episode because I think it was, at least in part, an opportunity for the actors/writers/directors to do something different and more challenging and, possibly, more "artistically" interesting. (The epilogue actually makes this clear.)
Maybe that's the point of at least some uncharacteristic episodes.
In an audio commentary to "The Simpsons" a showrunner explains that they want to "push the envelope" at least once in a series; A chance to do something different and more challengeing. As you say Rose.
MASH did this once in a while...which I find remarkable for an American show of the seventies. I remember one episode that was filmed "through the eyes of a patient" who isn't able to speak because of a serious throat injury. The whole episode you see the actions around him and the occasional person sitting at his bed and talking to him.