What was your most hated "reset button" in a episodic tv show?

[cardinal biggles]

I'll second the Dallas shower scene as one that really pissed me off; since I didn't watch the original Dallas until 2012 when the revival started, I even knew it was coming and it still pissed me off.

I'll also second the way Trek characters seem to just shrug off trauma like it's nothing; not just Picard and his experiences as Locutus and a Cardassian POW, but Geordi getting brainwashed by the Romulans, and pretty much every "O'Brien Must Suffer" episode of DS9. For certain, Deanna Troi earned her keep on the Enterprise what with all the crazy shit everyone endured.

And I know we're supposed to stick to TV here, but the whole Star Trek II-III-IV unintentional trilogy is basically making a sacrifice and then having it reversed. Spock gives his life to save the crew, but it's OK, he comes back. Kirk scuttles the Enterprise, but it's OK, he gets a new one. Kirk hated being an admiral? It's OK, we'll reward him by demoting him back to Captain. About the only permanent loss in those films is David, and that's played as him paying the price for screwing around with protomatter, and after Kirk and Saavik's brief conversation on the Bird of Prey in IV, he's forgotten until Kirk needs an excuse to be racist about Klingons in VI. As much as I enjoy those films, it's really aggravating at times.

 

[Skipper]

Oh, yeah, this was a pretty stock trope back in the day. Even as a kid, I figured out that if the Hero got serious about this week's Female Guest-Star, to the extent of them talking wedding bells and kids, she was a goner for sure. Nothing could be allowed to change the status quo that much.

See "The Paradise Syndrome" on STAR TREK. Miramanee was doomed the minute Kirk married her and she got pregnant. And, of course, she was never mentioned again.

Heck, even The Bionic Woman died tragically when she was first introduced on THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN. It was only later, after the ratings for that ep went through the roof, that ABC undid her death in order to give her her own show.

Well, today probably in a modern show, one season would be dedicated to the introduction of the new female character, another to the love story with the protagonist (of which the last three episodes dedicated to her tragic death). In the next two seasons the protagonist would try desperately to overcome her death and sometimes he would see her in a dream / hallucination, if the scheduling of the female star allowed that .

(Hello Person of Interest!)

By the way, I don't think I'm the only one who strongly disliked Female-Guest-Star-Who-Became-Main-Character's-Love-Interest-And-Tragically-Die-All-In-A-Single-Episode trope, because, otherwise, why has it almost completely disappeared from the modern TV series, even those which most follow the episodic formula ..?

ETA
Well, I just found what it the official name of this trope :

Temporary Love Interest
and
Cartwright Curse

Bonanza is the Trope Namer. Ben Cartwright, the patriarch of the Cartwright family, has three sons from three different women. One of his wives died in childbirth, another died after falling from a horse, while the other one was killed in an Indian attack. Each Cartwright man has a string of girlfriends over 14 seasons, many of whom do not survive the experience. The worst man to flirt with, statistically, was the youngest, Little Joe Cartwright: over 14 seasons, he had 39 girlfriends, 25.6% of whom died. His girlfriend mortality rate became so legendary that other TV shows started to lampshade it. (For example, on Happy Days, Mrs. Cunningham refuses to watch any episode where Little Joe gets engaged, simply because "that girl is headed straight for Boot Hill!")

39 girlfriends 25.6% of whom died?!? And after that he was still sane?!? Wow, he had to be a kind of sociopath in order not to suffer from grief or Survivor's Guilt and still trying to get a new girlfriend...
I know it was a different time, but seriously, did anyone in-universe note he was practically the Angel of Death and any woman should stay far away from him..?

 

[Skipper]

I was thinking that using the death of a female character as a plot device is a quite misogynist trope (that can dangerously overlap with the Women in Refrigerators trope). I sincerely doubt that in a popular modern tv show (even the most episodic ones) the main character could have more than a couple of a single-episode dead love interests without causing an uproar...

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

This is one of my biggest gripes with TNG - since this seems to never have really affected him again (aside from the "Lessons" moments when he gets asked about the Ressikan flute) it's also massively overlooked by the viewers of the show, which causes somewhat bizarre misconceptions. The man raised two kids, and yet people always claim "Picard hates kids/knows nothing about kids", etc etc. He. Raised. Two. Kids. I mean just because the experience wasn't real for anyone but him doesn't invalidate it, and I for one think "Inner Light" should have affected him profoundly, perhaps even more than the Borg or Gul Madred (the latter of which is yet another trauma of his that's never mentioned again... sigh). I've always found it extremely illogical that he resorts to making up a family in Generations when the real Nexus thing should have been him reuiniting with Eline and Batai and Meribor. They were his family, right there, but nah, the writers had come up with some super bizarre Elizabethan-style XMas scene scenario.

Ah, well. Episodic TNG could only go SO far, I know. Still kinda aggravating how they just "forgot" about most of Jean-Luc's traumatic experiences.

I’ve always felt that Picard’s discomfort with kids was because deep down he regrets not having a family of his own.

 

[Owain Taggart]

By the way, I don't think I'm the only one who strongly disliked Female-Guest-Star-Who-Became-Main-Character's-Love-Interest-And-Tragically-Die-All-In-A-Single-Episode trope, because, otherwise, why has it almost completely disappeared from the modern TV series, even those which most follow the episodic formula ..?

I think that it's simply possible that the types of stories that are being told have evolved and some tropes have gone out of fashion. But also with the increase in serialized shows, there's less of a need for for that type of story to emerge, and it's also more difficult to explain away in an arc. Rather, what we've started seeing with the popularization of serials, is the character who joins at the beginning of a season as part of a story-arc, to be killed off in the season-ender or even earlier. That's what I think it's been replaced with. Characters that they hope will make an emotional hook, making their deaths much more impactful. And in some rare cases, these characters end up becoming favourites and manage to avoid getting the axe.

 

[Alexander Corrino]

I’ve always felt that Picard’s discomfort with kids was because deep down he regrets not having a family of his own.

That's definitely part of the initial dislike, yes. As he says in "Samaritan Snare" when Wesley asks him if he never wanted kids of his own... "wishing for a thing does not make it so". And the very brief look of regret and sadness on his face and in his eyes when Admiral Jarok asks him if he has kids and he says no and Jarok tells him that he sacrificed too much for his career. But then... he finally HAD a family of his own in "The Inner Light", and that's another reason why that episode and its repercussions should have represented a fundamental shift in his life and why I won't ever forgive TNG for just tossing it aside the way it did.

AND, even before "Inner Light", he's totally cool with his nephew in "Family" AND there's also "Imaginary Friend" when he's totally fine with helping Clara out AND with explaining the issue to 'Isabella' in a kid-friendly manner. The Enterprise-D really helped him to get over his fear of kids (I think fear is the biggest factor in his initial dislike, he fears kids will make him look vulnerable, and he has this strong conviction that captains must seem invincible). I mean he even lets the kids have a day on which they celebrate him. He may seem grumpy about Captain Picard Day but deep down inside he's absolutely touched by their love for him and even proud of it (even though he might think it's misplaced).

Spoiler: Spoiler: PIC

Hence why he kept that Captain Picard Day banner, it comes as absolutely NO surprise to me and I don't understand people who claim for this to be out of character. It's EXACTLY what I would expect to find in a storage facility where he keeps things he treasures.

It's really also an exaggeration when people say he HATES kids. He's simply uncomfortable with kids, at least during the first two seasons of the show. And maybe dislikes some of their more negative traits (as seen in "Disaster" when he rolls his eyes when the kids start to cry or when he's 100% done with Jono's shenanigans in "Suddenly Human"). But "hate" is WAY too strong a word. Ah well. Pop culture misinterpretation through exaggeration and lack of "is this actually true, let's watch some episodes" examination, I guess.

 

[Skipper]

Yep, people tend to toss around the word "hate" too easily. If someone really "hates" kids, s/he has surely some issues and it would be quite difficult that s/he could get the command of a starship full of families...

 

[tharpdevenport]

Can't really fault "CHiPs" for that; lots of TV shows did that over decades.

I can't say an egregious one springs to mind, but I can think of some that I am indifferent to: "Wiseguy" vs. the "Wiseguy" 1996 TV movie (which can be easily explained; some people put out bad knowledge probably based on old memories), new characters in TV shows how disappear without explanation (wasn't there some half hour show that introduced some new kid and then one episode the kid went to his room and was never seen or heard from again?), the Borg kids in "Star Trek: Voyager", and of course the sudden and just as suddenly disappear Troi/Worf couple (Trorf? Wooi?).


Speaking of the "M*A*S*H" continuity, "Gunsmoke" probably takes the cake.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Also worth mentioning possibly TV’s biggest reset button.

Judy Winslow.

I like making up sci-fi explanations for what happened to her. Like, Steve invented a temporal incursion ray and it accidentally went off. Or, Steve found a cursed amulet, and the spirit residing in it told him that he could wish for Laura’s love but something else she loves will be lost forever.

Maybe in a lost episode between seasons. “Let me show you my new invention Laura! It’s a temporal incursion ray. Whatever you point it at is completely erased from history!”
“Hey, be careful where you point that thing.”
“Don’t worry, the safety is on. See?”
(Presses the button, just as Judy is walking down the stairs, and she screams as she vanishes from time)
“Did I do that?”
“What did you do Steve?”
“I guess the safety wasn’t on. Good thing the beam didn’t hit anyone, we wouldn’t even know they ever existed.”

In my head canon that’s what happened.

 

[Skipper]

Also worth mentioning possibly TV’s biggest reset button.

Judy Winslow.

I like making up sci-fi explanations for what happened to her. Like, Steve invented a temporal incursion ray and it accidentally went off. Or, Steve found a cursed amulet, and the spirit residing in it told him that he could wish for Laura’s love but something else she loves will be lost forever.

Maybe in a lost episode between seasons. “Let me show you my new invention Laura! It’s a temporal incursion ray. Whatever you point it at is completely erased from history!”
“Hey, be careful where you point that thing.”
“Don’t worry, the safety is on. See?”
(Presses the button, just as Judy is walking down the stairs, and she screams as she vanishes from time)
“Did I do that?”
“What did you do Steve?”
“I guess the safety wasn’t on. Good thing the beam didn’t hit anyone, we wouldn’t even know they ever existed.”

In my head canon that’s what happened.

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[Starbreaker]

The X-Files Season 11 premier made Season 10's finale a fever dream. when it could have just advanced the story, they got cold feet and reset everything again.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

I don't know if this can be considered a 'reset button', but I first started watching Mission: Impossible when it aired in syndication and the change between Steven Hill (Dan Briggs) to Peter Graves (Jim Phelps) then between Martin Landau (Rollin Hand) to Leonard Nimoy (Paris) and Barbara Bain with a series of 'one-off' actresses without any explanation was a bit jarring. Were they captured/killed/retired?

 

[Marc]

I don't know if this can be considered a 'reset button', but I first started watching Mission: Impossible when it aired in syndication and the change between Steven Hill (Dan Briggs) to Peter Graves (Jim Phelps) then between Martin Landau (Rollin Hand) to Leonard Nimoy (Paris) and Barbara Bain with a series of 'one-off' actresses without any explanation was a bit jarring. Were they captured/killed/retired?

There was never any mention on screen of why the left - simply there one episode, gone the next. Given that Hill was fired they probably didn't want to dwell on the character in anyway

 

[trynda1701]

The X-Files Season 11 premier made Season 10's finale a fever dream. when it could have just advanced the story, they got cold feet and reset everything again.

I lost patience with the X-Files after the first movie (between seasons six and seven?). Scully saw definitive proof of aliens, but was still as sceptical as ever. Never finished watching the following season, or the others after that!

And that's from someone who loved and was taping season one, fell behind, and was taking a VCR into work on evening shift to catch up!

 

[Starbreaker]

I lost patience with the X-Files after the first movie (between seasons six and seven?). Scully saw definitive proof of aliens, but was still as sceptical as ever. Never finished watching the following season, or the others after that!

And that's from someone who loved and was taping season one, fell behind, and was taking a VCR into work on evening shift to catch up!

Season 7 is the last really good one. There were a couple of good episodes in the continuation, but most were mediocre to unwatchable.

 

[FormerLurker]

Oh, yeah, this was a pretty stock trope back in the day. Even as a kid, I figured out that if the Hero got serious about this week's Female Guest-Star, to the extent of them talking wedding bells and kids, she was a goner for sure. Nothing could be allowed to change the status quo that much.

See "The Paradise Syndrome" on STAR TREK. Miramanee was doomed the minute Kirk married her and she got pregnant. And, of course, she was never mentioned again.

Heck, even The Bionic Woman died tragically when she was first introduced on THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN. It was only later, after the ratings for that ep went through the roof, that ABC undid her death in order to give her her own show.

Then there's the season two premiere of "The Incredible Hulk", titled 'Married'. David Banner is indeed married, to another scientist played by Mariette Hartley. While they have developed a fondness and affection for each other, each of them is a specialist in the other's medical condition, and is attempting to find a cure. By the end of the episode, they both fail, David is still the Hulk, and she dies of her condition. No mention for the rest of the show (at least that I remember).

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

At first I fucking well hated the ending of the US version of Life On Mars, I thought it was the worst reset button I'd ever seen.

I thought about it awhile and decided it's not so bad, becuase it probably wasn't even real to begin with. This is why.

 

[UssGlenn]

new characters in TV shows how disappear without explanation (wasn't there some half hour show that introduced some new kid and then one episode the kid went to his room and was never seen or heard from again?)

Chuck Cunningham is the trope codifier here. That 70's show did it with Donna's older sister and I think Married with Children had an example too.

 

[Qonundrum]

There was a Doctor Who audio that discussed very vibrantly a reset button... never mind the reset button in 2005's "The End of the World"... but none of it matters. The only time when its use is good is when it's not used.

And, yes, it can be disguised as well - Star Trek's "The Deadly Years" supplies the reset button in convenient pill form. Amazingly, Futurama didn't go there with a reset button in convenient suppository form either...

Actually, one of the least offensive was the use of it via "dream sequence" as revealed in the series finale of "Roseanne", which fixed a couple of things but mucked up a few others... but "least offensive" is comparatively speaking. Reset buttons aren't my thing.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Frankly, I don't think they're really anyone's thing