History VerySpecialEpisode / LiveActionTv

** "Edith's Crisis of Faith," where Edith witnesses the brutal slaying of cross-dresser Beverly LaSalle (during a failed robbery attempt), and is so shaken that she nearly renounces her faith in God.

** Is a one-off special. Originally, these were special theatrical presentations meant to appeal to high culture, such as a videotaped presentation of ''PeterPan'', but later evolved into one-time comedy or cultural events (such as the Academy Awards).

** IIRC, it also had one against drunk driving.
*** Yes, the one where [[HeyItsThatGuy Chandler from]] ''Series/{{Friends}}'' snatches death from the jaws of recovery.

* A few episodes of ''ColdCase'' dealt with DomesticAbuse, notably "A Perfect Day", "Churchgoing People" and "The Brush Man". The former was the show's highest-rated episode.

* ''Raising Dad'' had an episode where Sarah decided she wanted a nose job. In a twist, it's the other characters that learn AnAesop such as Stuart and Emily discovering that a perfectly nice looking girl like Sarah can have a bad self-image and that constant teasing can push them over the edge. Emily in particular is horrified when she finds out exactly what happens during plastic surgery. The episode is resolved by Sarah learning a DoubleAesop when a popular girl she wanted to be like talks about all the surgery she still wants to get.

* One episode of ''TheBrothersGarcia'' had Carlos finding out a girl at school wears a wig and delightfully plans to tell everyone...only for Sonia to take him to the hospital and show him into the oncology department, revealing that the girl in question has cancer. It was handled rather well and had a pretty touching ending (though with a bit of FridgeHorror / UnfortunateImplications that the girl never appeared on the show again).

** An episode of season 4 had an episode about LGBTQ acceptance/sensitivity. Adrian's mother gave her a speech about how hard LGBTQ teens have it and that pretending to be gay or bisexual to get attention could be deemed offensive to others who are actually struggling with it, a lesbian student from her school gives her the same speech and calls out [[WhatAnIdiot Grace for dressing like]] a stereotypical ButchLesbian. In the same episode, Ricky calls Amy out for being an insensitive {{Jerkass}} to her mother who recently identified as a lesbian.

*** It's safe to say that the concept of a VerySpecialEpisode was by no means a DeadHorseTrope once Optomen realized its potential with ''PoliceCameraAction'' (which had been a straight-up documentary until now).

* ''KamenRiderW'' has one episode that takes the FantasticDrug aspects of the villains [[TransformationTrinket Gaia Memories]] UpToEleven. It deals with a bunch of teenage runaways sharing a single memory in a way that's very reminiscent of sharing needles. The "actual" memory user actually says that the power gives them a high and they've been using it to cope with stress.

* ''KamenRiderW'' has one episode that takes the FantasticDrug aspects of the villains [[TransformationTrinket Gaia Memories]] UpToEleven. It deals with a bunch of teenage runaways sharing a single memory in a way that's very reminiscent of sharing needles. The "actual" memory user actually says that the power gives them a high and they've been using it to cope with stress.

* ''Every'' episode of ''Series/LouGrant''. The show often deals with such issues as nuclear proliferation, mental illness, gay rights, child abuse and chemical pollution.

* An early example is the "Maude Has An Abortion" episode of ''{{Maude}}''. It wasn't done as a Very Special Episode, though, since it did not moralize. It simply shocked America. In fact, it might have inspired the very concept Very Special Episode by the massive ratings it received.

** Also the season 3 episode Beauty and the Beasts dealt with the nature of boyfriends switching between nice and a [[JerkAss jerk]]. Featured a pointed scene related to the villain abusing his girlfriend and the girlfriend excusing his actions.

** The second season finale (and also the last episode to be broadcast on {{NBC}}) in which Punky's dreams of becoming an astronaut are crushed witnessing the real life Challenger explosion. Soon, her teacher arranges a meeting with Buzz Aldrin, who encourages Punky to not give up on her dreams.

* ''Every'' episode of ''LouGrant''. The show often deals with such issues as nuclear proliferation, mental illness, gay rights, child abuse and chemical pollution.

* ''ThatsSoRaven'' had "True Colors" in which Raven finds out she has been passed over for a job at a clothing store because the manager doesn't like hiring black people. During the episode Eddie relates a story from his childhood where he had a white friend who got yelled at by his dad for hanging out with a black kid so they couldn't see each other anymore.

* ''Every episode of ''LouGrant''. The show delves into such topics as nuclear proliferation, mental illness, gay rights child abse

* ''Every'' episode of ''LouGrant''. The deals with such issues as nuclear proliferation, mental illness, gay rights, child abuse
and chemical pollution.

* TylerPerry's TV show, ''House of Payne'' LOVED this trope! Drug addiction, cancer scares, STD's, TeenPregnancy, postpartum depression, gun violence, domestic violence, sexual abuse, etc. Some of the episodes ended with an actor (usually whoever the VSE was about) telling viewers that they can get help for the Very Special Problem through an 800 number or a website.

* During the first run of ''That70sShow'' on Fox, promos for the episode "Happy Jack" promised that it would be a very special episode. Since this was the episode where Donna caught Eric masturbating and everybody treated him like he was a diseased pervert, the promos were both a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]] and a [[ParodiedTrope parody]] of this trope.

* The fourth wall destroying quote above comes from the [[LostEpisode lost episode]] of ''Gap'', which also served as a TakeThatCritics to all the people who protested against the many many (mostly) implied instances of teenage drug use and alcoholism.

** The episode in which LongLostUncleAesop is an "off the wagon" alcoholic. (Which is now {{Hilarious In Hindsight}} thanks to the fact that the uncle in question [[http://www.agonybooth.com/agonizer/Family_Ties/Say_Uncle.aspx was played by Tom Hanks]].)

* ''Adam12'': A third-season episode had a very touching and insightful episode called "Elegy for a Pig," where Officer Pete Malloy (Martin Milner), the elder of the two regular officers, narrates a documentary about his one-time partner, who was killed while staking out a robbery. Malloy's emotional telling of the story sends shivvers down the viewer's spine, showing that when an officer dies, he is more than just a statistic ... he is a comrade, friend, family man and much more. The end credits for that particular episode did not use the usual sequence or theme -- rather, a black screen with no music (the end logos for Mark VII Limited Productions and Universal Television were kept as usual).

** ''Series/HomeImprovement'' was a rare show that actually handled these kinds of episodes very nicely. For example, in another Very Special Episode, Brad smoked pot. Parents behaved in the typical matter, but the episode lacked the soap box feeling most episodes of that nature had. Nobody died when Brad smoked, nobody even got injured, no [[MarijuanaIsLSD out of proportion hallucinations that pot doesn't actually have]], and Jill came out later in the episode, admitting she experimented with it. They said DrugsAreBad, but they didn't [[{{Anvilicious}} put an anvil on the drugs]].

** "Edith's 50th Birthday," where Edith is attacked by a serial rapist. Met with universal critical acclaim, the episode showed -- through Gloria, who recalled her own near-run in with sexual assault more than four years earlier -- that rape was about power and domination, not sex. It all ends with Edith (who, so shaken by the incident, had refused to press charges) slapping Gloria across the face after Gloria calls Edith a selfish coward unworthy of her respect; This helps Edith realize the rapist must be put behind bars for good; what would have been {{Narm}}-inducing ends up being a Crowning Moment of Bittersweet.

** The one where the gang meets their favorite actor and finds out that he smokes pot.
** There was the one where they drink and drive during homecoming and they wreck the car and Slater breaks his arm.

* One episode of ''TheSopranos'' focusing on the soccer coach of Tony's daughter being a child molester played with the trope, in that given their general treatment of women, Tony and his crew come across as somewhat hypocritical in condemning his behavior--particularly in later seasons, the difference between the way Tony and his crew treat women and the way the coach did is that Tony and his crew wait until they're eighteen. Moreover, rather than the black and white morality of the usual VerySpecialEpisode, the show is typically morally ambiguous, as Tony wants to kill the coach, feeling that [[ARealManIsAKiller he would be less of a man were he to rely upon the legal system to seek justice]]--and that even if he did, what the legal system would do could hardly be called justice. In the end, however, Tony gets ''very'' relaxed on both medication and alcohol, [[spoiler:and seems quite content with the idea that "I din' hur' nobody"]].

* ''Series/TheWestWing'' did something similar as the ''Series/TwentyFour'' example with the episode "Isaac and Ishmael", by having a staff member have the same name as a terrorist. While the rest of the team answered questions from schoolkids about the history of terrorism, and why it happens, Leo was with secret service agents and the accused, asking questions in a shockingly hostile manner. After it turns out that the man is innocent, Leo gets a sharp wake-up call from the accused, who reminds of the shooting in Rosslyn, and adds that it was because "one of [the staff] wasn't [white]".

* From around the third or fourth season onwards, every other episode of ''Series/{{MacGyver}}'' was a Very Special Episode.
** One [[{{Narm}} unintentionally hilarious]] episode involved black rhino poaching in Africa. It starts out with a warning for the squeamish that they would show a "realistic" depiction of a rhino involving blood (it wasn't too convincing looking), then after the regular plot (just StrictlyFormula {{MacGyver}}), Richard Dean Anderson gives an out of character ''speech'' for nearly a minute about the dwindling population of the black rhino. Most people were just laughing hysterically at it.

* ''Jack & Bobby'' had an episode where Jack's ex-best friend Matt (who was only in this one episode) committed suicide. Through flashbacks in Jack's memory, the reason for Matt's suicide was revealed to be that Matt was gay, and in love with Jack. After confessing his feelings to Jack, the two eventually parted ways. Later, when Jack talks to Matt's parents, he finds out that Matt had tried to come out to his mother, but she had rejected him. At the end of the episode, there is a hotline number on the screen for LGBT teens who are depressed or suicidal.

* There was an episode of ''LizzieMcguire'' dealing with anorexia, where Miranda "contracts an eating disorder" - she skips lunch once, one day, and learns her lesson after she almost faints.

* There were multiple Very Special Episodes for ''{{Full House}}'' (indicated by the longer version of the opening).
** "The Last Dance", where [[spoiler:Jesse's grandfather dies]], and unlike many Very Special Episodes for TV shows, it wasn't {{narm}}y and was actually handled very nicely, if not a {{Tear Jerker}}.

** Another episode played with this. Instead of the cliched scenario of "kid drinks and gets in trouble", the episode had DJ declining the beer that her friends were offering her and blasting them for how stupid they looked and acted. Unfortunately, Jesse completely misinterprets the scene and refuses to listen to her side of the story, as does her father, despite DJ's insistence that because he had already talked to her about such matters, she knew better. Not until Stephanie confesses do the adults believe her, even though Danny himself mentions that DJ has always been a good kid.

* Every {{Smallville}} episode that guest starred Christopher Reeves ended with him and Tom Welling telling people to donate to the ''Christopher Reeves Treatment For Spinal Injury Foundation''.

* ''GoodTimes'' had one with the VD episode, complete with a disclaimer at the beginning. It did not give a number for viewers to call for information at the end like most VSEs. During the episode, a then-unknown Jay Leno tells JJ that if people weren't ashamed to come to the clinic to get treatment, then VD wouldn't be so rampant. [[TheDiseaseThatShallNotBeNamed It would have helped if they told people how VD was spread and how it could be prevented]].

** It's also ''very'' much a CluelessAesop. An ''obviously'' female-acted alien - to the point that her lack of gender is an InformedAttribute (you'd never think her something other than a 'her' before you're told that no, ''really,'' she isn't) - decides to start considering herself female, and her love interest is male. [[GayAesop Homosexual tolerance episodes]] ''do not work that way'' - imagine if a show with a cast that was all blond-haired and blue-eyed white people had been hounded by fans to include ''one'' minority, and so one day they do the Big Racism Episode, and we meet... a blond-haired, blue-eyed girl from a world of the same who is being discriminated against due to contemplating dyeing her hair a different shade of blonde (also, since the major "androgenous" characters were all female, it looked like a sexist and homophobic fantasy about lesbian feminists taking over society and oppressing men and straight women). They ''stumbled upon'' a transgender story a time 'transgender' was ''not'' a household word - it was almost certainly unintentional, and at the time, just made ThePowersThatBe look ''twice'' as homophobic as simply being one more of a gazillion shows to not touch sexual orientation made them look. ''Nowadays,'' it can be mistaken for a transgender tolerance episode.

** There are a few examples in old school, in particular "[[{{Recap/DoctorWhoS17E4NightmareOfEden}} Nightmare of Eden]]" (DrugsAreBad), "[[{{Recap/DoctorWhoS10E5TheGreenDeath}} The Green Death]]" (GreenAesop) and "[[{{Recap/DoctorWhoS22E4TheTwoDoctors}} The Two Doctors]]" ([[TheRightOfASuperiorSpecies Meat eating is evil]]).

* ''[[ThatsSoRaven That's So Raven]]'' had "True Colors" in which Raven finds out she has been passed over for a job at a clothing store because the manager doesn't like hiring black people. During the episode Eddie relates a story from his childhood where he had a white friend who got yelled at by his dad for hanging out with a black kid so they couldn't see each other anymore.
* Although ''{{Party of Five}}'' was a drama show there were two episodes in particular where the show's opening credit sequence was not shown and had a noticeably more serious plot than the rest of the season. In season 2 an episode revolves around Julia discovering that she is pregnant and debating whether or not to keep it. It presents two opposing views on the subject of abortion with Charlie wanting Julia to abort the baby since she is only 16 and therefore not ready to be a mother while Claudia wants Julia to keep it since she considers abortion to be the same as murder. [[spoiler: At the end of the episode Julia ended up having a miscarriage but the episode did have an effect on her development for the rest of the season, particularly in her relationship with Justin (the father)]].

* Though nearly every episode of {{CSI}} covers anything to make it "Very Special", there was one episode in particular that was created in the wake of the Micheal Vick case. The episode was focal around dogfights and how terrible they are for both the dogs and the people. The episode (not sure of later airings, but it's initial one on CBS at least) even had a PSA announcement after the credits by William Peterson, who plays Gil Grissom in the series. To add to that, he even had his own dog with him on screen to show his support in opposing dogfighting.

* This was done as early as the 1960s on ''LeaveItToBeaver'', in an episode where Beaver learned that his family's gardener was an alcoholic. (Bizarrely, the man became drunk after ''eating a cake''. A ''rum'' cake, but still...''a cake''.)

* TylerPerry's TV show, ''House of Payne'' LOVED this trope! Drug addiction, cancer scares, STD's, TeenPregnancy, postpartum depression, gun violence, domestic violence, sexual abuse, etc. Some of the episodes ended with an actor (usually whoever the VSE was about) telling viewers that they can get help for the Very Special Problem through an 800 number or a website.
* ''{{Life on Mars}}'' has one about the evils of FootballHooligans; notably well-done.

** It's also ''very'' much a CluelessAesop. An ''obviously'' female-acted alien - to the point that her lack of gender is an InformedAttribute (you'd never think her something other than a 'her' before you're told that no, ''really,'' she isn't) - decides to start considering herself female, and her love interest is male. [[GayAesop Homosexual tolerance episodes]] ''do not work that way'' - imagine if a show with a cast that was all blond-haired and blue-eyed white people had been hounded by fans to include ''one'' minority, and so one day they do the Big Racism Episode, and we meet... a blond-haired, blue-eyed girl from a world of the same who is being discriminated against due to contemplating dyeing her hair a different shade of blonde. They ''stumbled upon'' a transgender story a time 'transgender' was ''not'' a household word - it was almost certainly unintentional, and at the time, just made ThePowersThatBe look ''twice'' as homophobic as simply being one more of a gazillion shows to not touch sexual orientation made them look. ''Nowadays,'' it can be mistaken for a transgender tolerance episode.

** There are a few examples in old school, in particular "[[{{Recap/DoctorWhoS17E4NightmareOfEden}} Nightmare of Eden]]" (DrugsAreBad), "[[{{Recap/DoctorWhoS10E5TheGreenDeath}} The Green Death" (GreenAesop) and "[[{{Recap/DoctorWhoS22E4TheTwoDoctors}} The Two Doctors]]" ([[TheRightOfASuperiorSpecies Meat eating is evil)]].