I remember I had to work the night the finale of M*A*S*H was on and we didn't own a VCR so I missed the first hour. It was so strange because I was working in a Howard Johnson's and there was nobody in the place like it was Christmas or something. There was nobody on the streets, no cars etc.

It's from season 1. It's really an odd episode because most of it is about a fund raiser at Steven's t.v. stations with tons of jokes and silliness and then inter-spliced was a story about this creepy middle aged family friend of Steven who was trying to grope and fondle his teenage daughter. I think it's all blamed…

Underrated film. Actually it was very prescient in that it was 20 years ahead of it's time predicting the advent of reality t.v.

Yeah, you're right there is this odd vibe like he's flirting with Mrs. Weir. I love the part about the hot dogs.

I think part of the problem was that the show was cancelled around the time, episode (#12), so they knew they only had a 5-6 episodes to finish up there story lines. That's partly why the last 1/3 of the series seems so dis-conjointed.

Well I think part of the problem is that t.v. shows cast 20-25 year old women to play 14-17 year old girls. Linda Cardellini was 25 when she played 16 year old Linsay Weir on "Freaks and Geeks" for example.

I think the "Different Strokes" episode is the most infamous because it's so bizarre. But you're right in that many of the NBC sit coms had some really bizarre special episodes. Overall "Facts of Life" probably had more disturbing episodes than "Different Strokes."

That's a good observation and an interesting comment. Why they ever thought this was good source material for a silly sit com is mind boggling. The kidnapping attempted rape episode with Kimberly is just as disturbing.

Big Country and Madness are bands that are thought about as one hit wonders in the U.S. but they actually had long and successful careers in the U.K.

Yeah great rhythm section and they played on the core of Townshend's best solo work: "Empty Glass, All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes, and White City: A Novel" I don't think Tony Butler played on all the tracks of White City. He definitely played on the song, "White City Fighting" with Dave Gilmour.

Yeah, Mr. Bradley would constantly walk into this teenage girls dorm house as they were parading around in tight fitting shorts and tops or sleepwear or as they just got out of the shower.

Maybe the rapist was after a middle aged hobo? I don't know, I was kind of confused by the whole episode.

Oh, yeah and it seemed like ever other episode was about a teenage girl being raped or getting pregnant or becoming a prostitute or getting into pornography or having an eating disorder or getting kidnapped or killed or assaulted or getting hooked on cocaine right in the middle of some story about Mrs. Garrett trying…

LOL, Yeah, you're right it was Charlie Chaplin. I remember being really confused by this one because I wasn't sure if the rapist was after a teenage girl or a middle aged hobo.

There's actually dozens of anachronisms & factual errors in the series. It's actually kind of fun to go back and look for them.

I wasn't crazy about this episode on first viewing but I'm actually quite fond of this episode after the 2nd, 3rd & 4th viewing. I think by the 3rd or 4th viewing I got over the fact that they were never going to make it look like Michigan in the winter and instead focussed on the story.

It seems like NBC 1980's sit coms was ground zero for all these "very special episodes."

I don't remember an episode with Mr. Drummond peeking into the shower but I remember a really disturbing one where Kimberly and Arnold were kidnapped by this really creepy perverted middle age man. It was played rather seriously with an odd laugh track mixed in every 2 minutes. The whole thing was just surreal and…

Ann03,

Yeah, I don't know what the actual percentage is and it probably varies per person but there is enormous luck and chance to our situations in life. I mean when you think about it Insurance companies base make their money by literally betting against your luck with highly complicated actuary tables.