I don't know if there already is a thread on this topic but I'd like to know what you think about sitcom episodes that stray from the show's usual setting.

Do you hate it when your favourite sitcom has an episode which deviates drastically from the usual programme or can it be a welcome and refreshing experience?

Can you name a few examples from the last few sitcom decades?

My examples would be:
Several Only Fools And Horses episodes:
-the nuclear fallout shelter
-holidays in Benidorm (Grandad in jail)
-holidays in Mallorca (the kids painting contest)
-fishing trip

Porridge
-"A Day Out"
-Fletch with a broken leg in the medical quarters

The Young Ones at University Challenge

-Pub quiz + training day episodes in The Office
-Rising Damp: the main characters dining in a restaurant
-Father Ted: "Flight Into Terror"

As a general rule, I hate it. Changes the atmosphere, the dynamic, and all too-often the general rules by which the characters and the show as a whole operates. There are a few exceptions, off the top of my head I think the Rising Damp example may be one, but they really are just that.

ok, but then let's differenciate it further. "Miami Twice" for example opts for a cinematic feel (or maybe Red Dwarfs "Back To Earth"?); in this case one can argue that the producers destroy the show. But if a sitcom remains a sitcom instead of pretending to be a movie blockbuster only in a slightly different environment then it's no harm done, is it?

I don't think any one episode, or small handful of episodes, can do harm; your distinction doesn't necessarily make normal-style-but-different-location episodes any better a watch IMO though.

I remember John Cleese telling in an interview that one plot idea for a "Fawlty Towers" cinema film was that Basil Fawlty would visit Manuel in Barcelona where he would have to master several inconveniences. My reaction to that was: "Naaah, that wouldn't have worked...sounds terrible"

maybe we, sitcom-fans, are just narrow-minded people...

Caged beast from OFITG was genius.....unlike One Foot in the Algarve

It seems that in American shows such "atypical episodes" are no big deal. Nearly every show has several of them...in each series/season. Nearly every show has at least one clipshow, then there is one dream episode, one episode in black-and white where they work in the plot of a 40s or 50s film classic, in every season new characters are introduced and so on.
In British sitcoms the status quo is kept steadier.

Quote: bigfella @ August 13 2012, 9:58 PM BST

Caged beast from OFITG was genius.....unlike One Foot in the Algarve

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was that the one where they were stuck in the traffic jam? That one was great!

That leads me to another concept...to keep the most important main characters even more isolated than usual. see for example "A Quiet Night In" from "Porridge" or "The Russians Are Coming" from OFAH

That's an interesting question, GB. No I don't hate it in the sitcoms I love the best which are mainly from the 70s and probably always will be now. Many tended to have location scenes anyway so you're not really stuck in a single box set. So I think you got prepared for unusual settings.

Much as I love the studio sitcom, one fault with them is they can look artificial if they remain rigidly in set and I think Rising Damp is a classic example of that. I think that episode you mention is one of its best because it does take us somewhere else and makes it look a bit more real. If still quite silly.

Unusual themes or moods is different though, and I'm not sure I'd like that. Can't think of any that did it though.

Quote: Gordon Bennett @ August 13 2012, 8:52 PM BST

Porridge
-"A Day Out"

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"A Day Out" was a fantastic episode, but "A Night In", despite being confined to a single familiar setting, is arguably more atypical.

Quote: Tursiops @ August 13 2012, 11:36 PM BST

"A Day Out" was a fantastic episode, but "A Night In", despite being confined to a single familiar setting, is arguably more atypical.

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I agree...like I said earlier, episodes where the main characters are more isolated than usual are an interesting thing. Such episodes are normally more dialogue-heavy than others. The "Bottom" episode "Hole" where Richie and Eddie are trapped in ferris wheel could be a possible example for this.

Generally, I can understand Aarons point, I don't like changes in atmosphere and dynamics myself..at least at first. Normally, when I realize that an episode of a show I like will turn into an atypical one my first reacton is: "No, why do they have to tinker with the show's feel...I'd rather skip this one". But I usually grow to like these episodes because they provide a chance to learn more about the characters (see "A Night In" of Porridge)...especially the one's in which the characters are more isolated. And if you don't like them they at least make you appreciate the typical ones a bit more!
I read somewhere that one major element of a sitcom is ENTRAPMENT: Fletch is trapped in jail, Basil is trapped in his hotel and his unhappy marriage, the Trotters and Steptoes are trapped in poverty, Lister is the only human being and is trapped in a spaceship and so on.
And these atypical episodes in which the protagonists are isolated more than usual represent the concept of entrapment the best IMO.
This is an interesting article that may touch this topic: http://www.glyndwr.ac.uk/rdover/MED-STUD/situatio.htm

I didn't like the fall out shelter episode of OFAH at first...but now it's one of my favourites. No wheeling and dealing, no Del Boy flirting with dubious women...but you learn so much more about Grandads past and his feelings. Usually he was a bit two dimensional but in this episode you learn more about his past and what turned him into this grumpy and crafty old man

I'm not sure but maybe one could qualifiy the "anniversary" episode of Fawlty Towers as an atypical one. It's not the typical hotel guests vs. Basil situation. It's a bit more personal...you learn more about the fragile facet of Sybil...and that Basil cares about what their "friends" think about their marriage.

I quite liked 'And The Winner Is', it's the only out-of-usual-setting episode of Only Fools And Horses that I like.

Quote: Feeoree @ August 14 2012, 12:08 PM BST

I quite liked 'And The Winner Is', it's the only out-of-usual-setting episode of Only Fools And Horses that I like.

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Here the premise of Rodney having to act as a 14 year old kid (and join the "Groovy-Gang" hehehe)and making himself look like a tit in front of his (then) new girlfriend is almost unbearably funny...but the change of atmosphere/mood/dynamics wasn't that dramatic as let's say the fall-out shelter episode...maybe it was that dramatic, I don't know. But anyway this episode is great fun! "Isn't he a good mixer?"

Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ August 13 2012, 10:20 PM BST

Much as I love the studio sitcom, one fault with them is they can look artificial if they remain rigidly in set and I think Rising Damp is a classic example of that. I think that episode you mention is one of its best because it does take us somewhere else and makes it look a bit more real. If still quite silly.

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Now I really like Rising Damp, but at first I had problems concerning the plausability. These flats there were really grotty including a landlord that doesn't knock before he enters your room. Who but the mentally ill would voluntarily rent a flat in such a s***hole? I don't know, maybe It was a realistic depiction of the mid 70s. But it seemed to me a bit unrealistic, a nightmare-like premise which you had to accept. Episodes like the one with the restaurant really made it more believable IMO.

All the Father Ted episodes where the priests find themselves out and about are pretty good. The flight, mainland and caravan all stand up to the regular series.

Quote: Gordon Bennett @ August 13 2012, 10:05 PM BST

It seems that in American shows such "atypical episodes" are no big deal. Nearly every show has several of them...in each series/season. Nearly every show has at least one clipshow, then there is one dream episode, one episode in black-and white where they work in the plot of a 40s or 50s film classic, in every season new characters are introduced and so on.

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I think the only thing nailed is the clip show; B&W and dream episodes are fairly rare. In the past a common atypical American theme was the "Very Special Episode". The tone of the show goes from lighthearted to real serious and someone is raped, molested, addicted to drugs/alcohol, runs-away, victimized by domestic violence or racism, etc. I think it was started by MASH and ended by Seinfeld/Married with Children... almost every US sitcom from the late 70s to mid-90s has one.

Quote: MTpromises @ August 14 2012, 7:38 PM BST

I think the only thing nailed is the clip show; B&W and dream episodes are fairly rare. In the past a common atypical American theme was the "Very Special Episode". The tone of the show goes from lighthearted to real serious and someone is raped, molested, addicted to drugs/alcohol, runs-away, victimized by domestic violence or racism, etc. I think it was started by MASH and ended by Seinfeld/Married with Children... almost every US sitcom from the late 70s to mid-90s has one.

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I think I forgot one type of episode: the musical episode! I've seen it lots in The Simpsons, saw it in Scrubs, Ally McBeal...even in prime time drama series such as Chicago Hope.
The problem is: I have an incurable musical-allergy! Normally I find a sitcom-musical as annoying as a real one.
That could be a topic for another thread: "Who thinks musical-episodes should be forbidden...or musicals in general?"

Quote: MTpromises @ August 14 2012, 7:38 PM BST

All the Father Ted episodes where the priests find themselves out and about are pretty good. ... caravan all stand up to the regular series.

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There are few episodes of ANY sitcom that I hate more than that one.