S/D: Scary episodes of dumb sitcoms

Crown may have to go to the Descent-prefiguring spelunking/possession episode of Punky Brewster.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRf6hjm9hvU

Soap:

Jessica leads the family in the exorcism on Corrine's baby. Corinne believes that the baby is possessed because of her promiscuous past. Jessica calls Chester and Donohue together to deliver her decision.Jodie and Alice grow closer. Danny finds himself in danger. Billy is taken hostage by the Sunnies. Burt is abducted by aliens.

is Louie a sitcom?

Damn it, I was revving up to post the Punky clip as soon as I saw the thread title.

Isn't there a Happy Days episode where they stay in a haunted house which turns out to be a hoax by gangsters?

The Hogan Family episode in which all three boys have nightmares after watching a zombie movie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mh9FP_9eskw

The Facts of Life episode in which the girls see a slasher movie and then get murdered one by one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w33JFdZOtWY

V impressed at your memories

No kidding. I have a vague recollection of dumb sitcom episodes featuring hauntings or possessions or something but I have no idea what dumb sitcoms they were.

when family matters went to cbs they took it in a surreal direction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHkOyiqoHUM
they did two episodes with that puppet.

& the dinosaurs episode where they all die

I recently caught a rerun of the "Diane's Nightmare" episode of Cheers and remembered this thread. It gets pretty goofy in the second half, with dreams-within-dreams and a pipe-smoking, Shakespeare-quoting Sam, but the first half of the episode--in which the main players all gradually disappear while exploring a newly discovered wine cellar during a blackout--is pretty intense.

The "Pigmailion" ep of King of The Hill

xp Yeah that's a great Cheers episode, (admittedly i was coming here to mention it when i saw this thread title)

I feel like beloved sitcom Benson had at least one of these, I know they had some kind of tropical set very special episode involving spies and murder and intrigue. Maybe the Governor was kidnapped? Maybe pirates? CIA? idk.

I knew I started this one.

Also, not a sitcom, but there was an episode of the Canadian children's series Today's Special called "Adventure" that rivals the infamous cave episode of Punky Brewster for sheer WTFness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Sw8aecNjxE

(1/3; shit doesn't start getting really crazy until the second video, but do make sure you catch the "LIZ-ARD!" bit if you watch the whole thing)

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/a6/35/f4/a635f43500778b7fd41512251eeaced4--the-brady-bunch-vincent-price.jpg

Diff'rent Strokes had the one where Sam gets kidnapped. Seemed like kidnapping was pervasive in early-mid 80s news and entertainment, stemming from John Walsh's kid and the TV movie "Adam" about him I guess? I was terrified of being kidnapped when I was a young kid. A kid's body was actually found in "the creek" 1/2 mile from my house, so I assumed that's where I'd end up.

the HOgan's family episode gave me a crying fit and legit nightmares for days

they also had the episode where their house burned down!

Also remember some spooky shenanigans in the Diff'rent Strokes episode that involved Knight Rider

I remember every single one of these and they were scary as fuck.

The Soap one, Good God. What I remember is the screen going green, the baby shouting something demonic, and the door slamming open and closed. It's like the only episode of Soap I remember.

I was even scared of the one Treehouse of Horrors where Homer's head was sewn onto Burns's body.

kind of amazing that I turned out the way I did given what a wuss I was w/ scary imagery growing up

Eh I don't think there's much carry-over for a lot of people. I was scared of everything (Thriller gave me nightmares. I had to move my bed away from the window after watching Twilight Zone movie. There was a Darth Vader sticker on my wastepaper basket so I had to turn it so sticker wouldn't face me as I slept. Etc Etc) that had to do with "horror". Plus I was a wuss wrt amusement park rides. None of that has phased me whatsoever since I was 15 or so.

The Willie-as-a-giant-argyle-spider in the ToH Nightmare on Elm St. spoof still kinda freaks me out.

My wife couldn’t watch Jack Nicholson in films til college bc when she was 8 her babysitter showed her The Shining.

It was part of the series as it went on, but there are a handful of MASH episodes that are pretty much full bummers. That one went Hawkeye thought (or was) going nuts and is dreaming of sailing with no arms in a canoe in a canal filled with mannequin arms was pretty damn trippy for a sitcom.

I also had Sesame Street nightmares

I feel like beloved sitcom Benson had at least one of these

Benson also had the episode where they were doing a test run of their actions in a bunker during a nuclear war, and realised that they would all die horribly.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0789851/

I must speak up for the refrigerator episode of Punky Brewster and the episode of Webster where he burns the apartment down.

When Ailsa started hallucinating dead Bobby's head coming through the fridge door in "Home and Away". Genuinely frightening.

wasn't there a Halloween episode of Roseanne that would fit this thread

The giant spider in a cave on Gilligan's Island scared the shit out of me as a child.

OH....there was that one episode of Alf where there was a giant spider that was threatening the family and it tore down the kitchen door.....

oh no even worse...IT WAS A COCKROACH

This one's REALLY dumb and not very scary, but the Father Knows Best episode "The Great Anderson Murder Mystery" is actually pretty atmospheric and suspenseful, considering. (The Anderson family must solve a who-done-it murder mystery when the television goes out during a storm.)

I also had Sesame Street nightmares

― fuck the NRA (Neanderthal), Monday, July 9, 2018 9:02 PM (yesterday)

the pickle candy machine segment seriously creeped me out when I was 3-4 years old:

Meanwhile, in the city, a salesman tries to sell Prairie Dawn a candy-making machine, but she's turned off by the vicious amount of smoke it creates. Old Yuckdonald happens upon it and, seeing the smoke and how it can even create pickle candy, buys it for his farm. As the Grouches load their pickles into the machine, the farm becomes polluted with smoke. The smoke drives away all of Yuckdonald's neighbors, livestock and all his vegetation, including their precious cucumbers. The Grouches realize their mistake and shut off the machine.

https://i.imgur.com/XUbqwl8.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/D8hYa7O.jpg