History VerySpecialEpisode / LiveActionTv

** "Mistaken Identity": Will and Carlton are pulled over trying to get to a fancy party. After Uncle Phil bails them out and threatens the arresting officer with litigation over it, Will and Carlton debate police racism, with Will thinking they were victims of racial profiling while Carlton says the whole thing was a misunderstanding and the police were just doing their jobs.

** "Papa's Got a Brand New Excuse": Will's deadbeat dad (played by Ben Vereen) comes back, only to abandon him again. The ending shows Will breaking down over the realization that his real father just doesn't love him.

* ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'' has a couple, but perhaps most notable is the episode in which Sergeant Jeffords is stopped outside his own home while out of uniform by a white officer. The episode discusses various positions on the issue of racial profiling within the police.

** The episode "Show Me the Money" has Tia discover that a male employee who started working in the coffes shop the same day as she did earns more money than she does, but decides not to do anything about it. Eventually she decides that it's not fair for her and her male coworker to earn different wages despite doing the same job, and goes to confront her boss who tells her what he is doing is not only unfair, but illegal, and after she threatens to lead a boycott of the coffee shop, he institute a pay raise for all female employees and rehires her (unknown to Tia, [[TwinSwitch Tamara put on her work uniform]] and tried to confront the boss earlier, but got her fired instead).

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' had several also, typically veering into SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped territory.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' did a couple of these a season, in addition to the quaint '90s anti-sexism dialog throughout (anti-racism dialogue didn't get the same treatment for whatever reason).
** ''Symbiosis'' included this exchange between Wesley Crusher and Tasha Yar about the evils of doing drugs. Something along the lines of:
---> '''Wesley''': Golly, gee, tawillekers, I don't know why anyone would do drugs.\\
'''Tasha''': Drugs make you feel good. They are an escape.
** "The Outcast" is an infamous example. Riker falls for a female "deviant" from a OneGenderRace which considers expressions of gender evil. It was meant to be a way to showcase how "deviant" is really a point of view. However, the casting and costuming made the alien look very obviously female, which caused a bit of a CluelessAesop (or worse, a reactionary "feminine heterosexual rebels against separatist {{Butch Lesbian}}s" kind of plot). Creator/JonathanFrakes realized this and argued strongly for the alien to be played by a man, but he was overruled.

* ''Series/TheSecretLifeOfTheAmericanTeenager'' is practically a Very Special Series (not surprisingly, it was created by Brenda Hampton - who also created the aforementioned ''7th Heaven'' and features much of that show’s former writers), to the point where every episode ends with a message telling teens to talk to their parents about sex and avoiding teen pregnancy (later replaced with a sexual abuse help hotline message). However, some episodes are very centered on a specific issue, including:

** Another deals with STD testing.

* ''Series/TheSecretLifeOfTheAmericanTeenager'' is practically a Very Special Series (not surprisingly, it was created by Brenda Hampton - who also created the aforementioned ''7th Heaven''), to the point where every episode ends with a message telling teens to talk to their parents about sex and avoiding teen pregnancy (later replaced with a sexual abuse help hotline message). However, some episodes are very centered on a specific issue, including:

* ''Series/TheSecretLifeOfTheAmericanTeenager'' is practically a Very Special Series, to the point where every episode ends with a message telling teens to talk to their parents about sex and avoiding teen pregnancy (later replaced with a sexual abuse help hotline message). However, some episodes are very centered on a specific issue, including:

* ''Series/StrangersWithCandy'', in every episode, takes the Very Special Episode, and viciously subverts, parodies, mocks, moons, and otherwise brutalizes it with the kind of glee generally only reserved for children on Christmas morning.
* ''Series/SuddenlySusan'' had a unique one that dealt with the ActorExistenceFailure of David Strickland.

** The show tried dealing with divorce twice, but it's a particularly tricky subject to explain to young children. The first saw an episode produced where Snuffy deals with his parents' divorce; after negative test screenings, it [[MissingEpisode was never aired and remains lost to this day]]. The second did air years later, and it involved Abby Cadabby revealing that her parents were divorced; the fact that she still gets to see them both and was on good terms with them softened the blow. Abby's mother later began dating another man, giving Abby a step-brother.

* ''Series/SydneyToTheMax'' had a special episode in Season 1 about Woman's Rights and allowing women to be more inclusive. There's also a Season 2 episode about the women's menstrual cycle and how to deal with it.

** Episode 1065 had a scene promoting desegregation in which Officer Clemmons, an African-American police officer, puts his feet in the same pool as Fred to proove that people of different races can get along as well as those who are the same race.

* ''Series/WandaVision'' [[PlayingWithATrope plays with]] the trope in episode 5, and {{Lampshades}} the fact; the episode title is “On a Very Special Episode...”. In fact, it’s more or less PlayedForHorror, as Wanda’s reality takes the form of a heavy-handed 1980s sitcom and delivers the message that death is sad but irreversible, and that grief is normal and should be dealt with in a healthy way. All the while, Wanda struggles to ignore the fact that she [[spoiler:seemingly]] resurrected her dead lover, Vision, and that [[spoiler:enslaving thousands of people to act as the supporting cast of]] a sitcom about your home life is not a healthy way to deal with your grief.

* ''Series/WandaVision'' [[PlayingWithATrope plays with]] the trope in episode 5, and {{Lampshades}} the fact; the episode title is “On a Very Special Episode...”. In fact, it’s more or less PlayedForHorror, as Wanda’s reality takes the form of a heavy-handed 1980s sitcom and delivers the message that death is sad but irreversible, and that grief is normal and should be dealt with in a healthy way. All the while, Wanda struggles to ignore the fact that she [[spoiler:seemingly]] resurrected her dead lover, Vision and that the whole sitcom reality exists because she isn't dealing with her grief in a healthy way.

* ''Series/WandaVision'' [[PlayingWithATrope plays with]] the trope in episode 5, and {{Lampshades}} the fact; the episode title is “On a Very Special Episode...”. In fact, it’s more or less PlayedForHorror, as Wanda’s reality takes the form of a heavy-handed 1980s sitcom and delivers the message that death is sad but irreversible — while Wanda struggles to ignore the fact that she resurrected her dead lover, Vision.

** "Lemonade" is another notable one, where one of Dre's coworkers is revealed to be a Trump voter, and said voter actually explains her logic in doing so.

** One [[{{Narm}} unintentionally hilarious]] episode involves 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). Then, after the regular plot (just StrictlyFormula ''Series/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 [[{{Narm}} laughing hysterically at it]].

* Series/SmartGuy:
** In season two's "Strangers on the Net", T.J. and one of the friends whose his own age, Karen, meet a guy named Marky412 in an internet chat room for kids. When they meet him at a burger restaurant to purchase some bootlegged games that he's selling, they find out he's a 30-something man. Mark invites them to his house to test a surfing game he's "developing," only to give away the fact that he's had other kids play it at his house... having taken photos of kids who he convinced to take off their clothes to play the game. A shocked T.J., who got Karen out before anything bad happened, later tells Floyd about it. While not explicitly mentioned, when it cuts to after the police interview T.J. about Mark, it is later revealed that Mark had a prior arrest for child molestation, and violated the terms of his parole in talking to T.J. and Karen.

** "Mistaken Identity": Will and Carlton are pulled over trying to get to a fancy party. They debate police racism; Will thinks they were only pulled over because they were two black kids driving a Mercedes, whereas Carlton thinks the officers were just doing their job.

** "Just Say Yo": Will is given speed to help keep him awake, but he has no interest in it and just tosses it into his locker. Then Carlton finds it and mistakes it for acne medicine. He gets tripping ''high'', [[TheCastShowoff dances wildly]] at the senior prom, and nearly dies. It ends with lots of hugging and crying.
** "Blood Is Thicker Than Mud": A fraternity Will and Carlton are trying to join doesn't like Carlton because he's not "black enough".

** "Papa's Got a Brand New Excuse": Will's deadbeat dad comes back, only to abandon him again. The ending shows Will breaking down over the realization that his real father just doesn't love him.
** "Bullets Over Bel-Air": Will recovers from a gunshot wound, which allowed the show to address gun violence (and briefly make Carlton DarkerAndEdgier).

* ''Series/SydneyToTheMax'' had a special episode in Season 1 about Woman's Rights and allowing women to be more inclusive.

* ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'' did this regularly:
** Will and Carlton are pulled over trying to get to a fancy party. They debate police racism; Will thinks they were only pulled over because they were two black kids driving a Mercedes, whereas Carlton thinks the officers were just doing their job.
** Will recovers from a gunshot wound, which allowed the show to address gun violence (and briefly make Carlton DarkerAndEdgier).
** Will's deadbeat dad comes back, only to abandon him again. The ending shows Will breaking down over the realization that his real father just doesn't love him.
** Will is given speed to help keep him awake, but he has no interest in it and just tosses it into his locker. Then Carlton finds it and mistakes it for acne medicine. He gets tripping ''high'', [[TheCastShowoff dances wildly]] at the senior prom, and nearly dies. It ends with lots of hugging and crying.
** A fraternity Will and Carlton are trying to join doesn't like Carlton because he's not "black enough".
** Will's love interest's new boyfriend challenges him to a drinking contest; he gets drunk and passes out. Rather than say outright that alcohol is evil, the episode decries the stupidity of abusing alcohol for the sake of respect and machismo.
** Carlton nearly becomes a victim of [[TheBabyTrap paternity fraud]] because he's too afraid to admit he's a virgin.

* ''Series/{{Zoom}}'': The 1999-2005 revival has not one, but two Very Special Zoom Chat segments related to the events of 9/11 and TheWarOnTerror. They were entitled "America's Kids Respond" and "America's Kids Remember".