Line #112 FormulaBreakingEpisode/LiveActionTV


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7	* The overall concept of {{Celebrity Edition}}s on {{Game Show}}s can be seen as this.
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10	* ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun'' with the two-part AlternateUniverse episode set in New York City. Then there's the episode "Dick and Harry Fall Down a Hole". The title says it all. They also did [[TheDocumentary a documentary episode]].
11	* ''Series/ThirtyRock'':
12	** "Queen of Jordan" and "Queen of Jordan II: Mystery of the Phantom Pooper" are done entirely in the format of a Bravo reality show.
13	** "Live Show" and "Live at Studio 6H" were both, as the names suggest, [[LiveEpisode performed live]] and with a studio audience.
14	* ''Series/SeventySevenSunsetStrip'' had "The Silent Caper" (with no spoken dialogue) and "Reserved for Mr. Bailey" (in which Efrem Zimbalist Jr. is the only actor to appear onscreen).
15	* ''Series/AlienWorlds2020'': The last episode, "Terra", doesn't feature an alien ecosystem like the other three, instead examining a highly advanced hive-mind race attempting to escape a dying world.
16	* ''Series/{{Bones}}'':
17	** The season four finale is a DreamSequence in which Booth and Bones are married and running a bar, with most of the cast working for them.
18	** The season eight episode "The Ghost in the Machine" is shot entirely from the perspective of the skull of the person whose death Booth, Brennan and the Jeffersonian team are investigating.
19	** The 200th episode is presented as a film that 1940s actors Creator/DavidBoreanaz and Creator/EmilyDeschanel star in, where all the characters have the same names as their usual ones but differ wildly in characterization.
20	* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':
21	** "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E7OnceMoreWithFeeling Once More With Feeling]]", the MusicalEpisode.
22	** Other examples include "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E10Hush Hush]]" where nobody speaks for most of the episode, "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E22Restless Restless]]", which takes place mostly in the characters' dreams, and "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E17Superstar Superstar]]" where an extremely minor character usurps main character status, even [[SpecialEditionTitle taking over the opening credits]].
23	** There was also "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS7E7ConversationsWithDeadPeople Conversations With Dead People]]", which features five stories taking place in different places at the same time, each of which includes, well, a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin conversation with a dead person]]. The stories weren't even thematically linked until the next episode, when they all converged.
24	** And the group amnesia episode "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E8TabulaRasa Tabula Rasa]]" - ''Angel'' did it on "[[Recap/AngelS04E06SpinTheBottle Spin the Bottle]]".
25	*** An ''Angel'' example: "[[Recap/AngelS05E14SmileTime Smile Time]]", wherein the basic formula is the same, except the [[MonsterOfTheWeek main antagonists]] are puppets, and [[spoiler: Angel himself becomes a puppet for the duration of the episode.]]
26	** "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E16TheBody The Body]]" was probably the best example. It begins immediately where "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E15IWasMadeToLoveYou I Was Made to Love You]]" ended, with Buffy finding [[spoiler: her mother]]'s pale, lifeless body on the couch, and except for the last five minutes features nothing supernatural, just the poignant shock of an entirely normal, unexpected death. The effect is heightened by the complete lack of background music, close-ups of seemingly random details, etc.
27	** Also, "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E13TheZeppo The Zeppo]]", which took place entirely from Xander's perspective; he had a wacky adventure while [[spoiler: the rest of the main cast prevented the apocalypse, entirely in the background]].
28	* In one episode of the chat show ''Clive Anderson Talks Back'', all the guests were different characters played by Creator/PeterCook.
29	* ''Series/{{Columbo}}'': "Last Salute to the Commodore" is a straight whodunnit, in contrast to the series' usual "[[ReverseWhodunnit howcatchem]]" format.
30	* ''Series/{{Community}}'' would provide several examples of this if it weren't for the fact that, after a few seasons, doing this pretty much ''became'' its general formula. Still, even with the series GenreRoulette, "Epidemiology" stands out. Usually, the world stays totally grounded, with the genre parody stemming from characters [[SeriousBusiness blowing the situation out of proportion.]] But in "Epidemiology", no one is faking; they really have been turned in to {{Technically Living Zombie}}s, and are really at risk of dying if something isn't done. Then TheMenInBlack show up and hit everyone with LaserGuidedAmnesia. Only a voicemail sent from Chang to Troy keeps this from being totally divorced from the normal canon.
31	* ''Series/{{Coupling}}'' did this enough so that it practically became the norm. Episode quirks include the following: One told first from the point of view of Jeff talking to an Israeli woman who speaks no English, which then switched to an Israeli perspective where the Hebrew dialogue is in English, the English dialogue is in gibberish, and we find out what she's really saying; One that takes place entirely in a split-screen perspective after a break-up, where one-half of the screen is devoted to each member of the break-up; And the one that narrates the same nine and a half minutes from three different perspectives.
32	* ''Series/CriminalMinds'' usually has the team trying to hunt down a SerialKiller. Episodes that did something different include "Secrets and Lies" (the team searches for a mole in the CIA headquarters), "Honor Among Thieves" (the team investigates a kidnapping perpetrated by the Russian mafia), "Derailed" and "Minimal Loss" (the team become embroiled in a hostage situation), "Lessons Learned" (the team go to question a terrorist), "Masterpiece" (the killer turns himself in at the beginning), "Tabula Rasa" (the team help [[CourtroomEpisode prosecute a killer]]) and to a lesser extent "True Night" (like a regular episode, except [[VillainEpisode the killer is the main character]]).
33	* The DayInTheLimelight episode of ''[[Series/{{CSI}} CSI Las Vegas]]'', "Lab Rats". The whole episode takes place inside the laboratory, focusing on a group of lab technicians revisiting the miniature killer case, the main investigator team making only short appearances, and the whole atmosphere being a lot more humorous.
34	** "A Space Oddity". An episode involving a death at a sci-fi convention, where one of the techs kept daydreaming he was Captain Ki- er, [[CaptainErsatz the lead in a cheesy old sci-fi show]]. The episode contains homages to ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', as well as both the [[Series/BattlestarGalactica1978 original]] and re-imagined ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica\|2003}}''.
35	** "You Kill Me". Hodges uses the other lab techs to play-test a game he designed based on the the [=CSI=] lab.
36	** An episode where three seemingly-unrelated cases are linked together through a non-linear story told in a series of progressively-earlier flashbacks.
37	** The episode "Rashomama", which is told mostly through [[TheRashomon conflicting flashbacks]].
38	* ''Series/Daredevil2015'': Season 3's "The Perfect Game" is a twofer in that Matt is only onscreen for the last few minutes and has no dialogue, while there's also the black-and-white stageplay that visualizes Wilson Fisk's readthrough of Dex's backstory. The episode "Karen" later counts as the first half hour of the 45 minute episode is an extended flashback to Karen's backstory in Vermont, which while crucial to understanding her character, is very tonally different from the rest of the show.
39	* ''Series/TheDickVanDykeShow'' presented its ChristmasEpisode, "The Alan Brady Show Presents", as an episode of the fictional ''[[ShowWithInAShow Alan Brady Show]]''.
40	* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
41	** In the original series, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E2MissionToTheUnknown "Mission to the Unknown"]] did not feature any of the cast, who did not get a mention. The episode concerned some humans' [[DownerEnding doomed]] struggle against Daleks on an alien planet and acted as an episode-long prologue to "The Daleks' Master Plan", which aired a few weeks later.
42	** "The Feast of Steven", episode 7 of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E4TheDaleksMasterPlan "The Daleks' Master Plan"]], a strange ChristmasEpisode break from the storyline done partly in the style of a silent comedy and ending with the Doctor [[BreakingTheFourthWall wishing the viewers happy Christmas]].
43	** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E3TheDeadlyAssassin "The Deadly Assassin"]] was the first ''Doctor Who'' story to not include a companion, or at least a character who took on the role of a companion.
44	** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E5BlackOrchid "Black Orchid"]] is a purely historical story that occurs during the Fifth Doctor era, a time when this type of story had been retired. The last one was the Second Doctor's second story. Also, unlike the purely historical stories from the Sixties, it's set at a time (the mid 1920s) which was within living memory when it was first broadcast and still is — just.
45	** "Doctor-lite" episodes, made because the actors playing the Doctor and his companion don't have the time to film 45 minutes of footage for all 14. So we get an episode with the main characters reduced to a few, usually crucial, minutes of screen time that they could film in a day or less.
46	*** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E10LoveAndMonsters "Love & Monsters"]] tells a story set in the Franchise/{{Whoniverse}} [[LowerDeckEpisode from the perspective of an ordinary human]] (and UnreliableNarrator) who only knows rumours about the Doctor's existence.
47	*** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E10Blink "Blink"]] focuses on two one-shot characters who mainly interact with the Doctor through pre-recorded videos.
48	*** Series 4 gives us the Donna-lite episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E10Midnight "Midnight"]] and Donna-centric Doctor-lite episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E11TurnLeft "Turn Left"]], which were filmed at the same time with different crews and casts, and both have unusually dark stories, the former involving an unidentified entity possessing the passengers on a tour bus, while the latter is about how dystopian England would become if Donna wasn't there to stop the Doctor from drowning with the Racnoss in "The Runaway Bride". Donna only has about one minute of screentime in "Midnight", and the same is true for the Doctor in "Turn Left".
49	** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E742 "42"]] takes place in RealTime.
50	** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E8MummyOnTheOrientExpress "Mummy on the Orient Express"]] has a timer HUD that starts whenever the monster begins to attack and counts down to the moment of the victim's death.
51	** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E9SleepNoMore "Sleep No More"]] is a FoundFootage horror episode with a twist [[spoiler:regarding the nature of the InUniverseCamera[=s=]]].
52	** Like "The Deadly Assassin", [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E11HeavenSent "Heaven Sent"]] does not feature a companion. [[spoiler:The vast majority of the episode is the Doctor, by himself, stuck in a mysterious MobileMaze, having been trapped there by unknown enemies.]]
53	* ''{{Franchise/Dragnet}}'' had a handful of episodes where little to no police work was involved. In one such episode, Joe Friday is invited to his partner's house for dinner and to watch television, while the neighbors keep coming over to ask questions. Jack Webb wanted to show that the police had personal lives outside of their job.
54	* One of the biggest offenders being ''Series/TheDrewCareyShow'' having April Fools Day episodes, live episodes, and the like.
55	* ''Series/DrunkHistory'' usually uses a ThreeShorts format, but the Hamilton episode done by Creator/LinManuelMiranda is a single 22-minute segment. (He also seems to be less intoxicated than usual for the show, although it could just be a case of him being able to hold his liquor.)
56	* ''Series/EastEnders'':
57	** The episode dated 31/01/2008 featured only one character, Dot Branning, recording a message for her husband. This was due to [[RealLifeWritesThePlot the actor playing the husband suffering a stroke]].
58	** A much-earlier episode featured Dot and her friend Ethel reminiscing about their lost youth. It was a pure character piece, with no other characters, and did not advance any of the ongoing storylines.
59	* ''{{Series/ER}}'', much like ''Homicide'', would do one every year. Known for its multiple, overlapping stories, its deviations would usually focus on just one story or character--''Love's Labor Lost'', ''Hell and High Water'', ''The Long Way Around''. Still others would take place completely outside of the hospital and over several days, unlike the typical BottleEpisode format, some took said format even further and not only focused on one story but took place in RealTime, and another ''Secrets and Lies'', had nothing to do with medicine, being a [[Film/TheBreakfastClub Breakfast Club]] type episode where the doctors sat around and talked to each other.
60	* ''Series/TheEricAndreShow'' typically has one episode per season (usually the SeasonFinale) be even weirder than normal by breaking the usual "intro, interviews, street segments, and musical ending" formula apart. Season 2 has Eric endlessly TrashTheSet after the intro ends, Season 3 has the [[ShowWithinAShow Bird Up!]] segments gradually hijack the entire show, and so on.
61	* ''Series/FamilyMatters'' did one episode as if it were a trashy Jenny Jones-like talk show.
62	* The ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' episode "Revenging Angel" features repeated excursions into the psyche of the comatose John Crichton...in the form of pitch-perfect Looney Tunes parody animations. That's weird enough, but when the slapstick and cartoon logic start to cross over into live-action sections it all gets a bit brain-breaking. And horrific. ''They blew up D'Argo!''
63	* An episode of ''The Father Dowling Mysteries'', which was partly told by a "fictionalized" version of events set in the 1920s. (So when Father Dowling was visited by yuppified gangsters in sharp suits, his fictional counterpart was visited by stereotyped hoods in double-breasted pinstripes.)
64	** Another Father Dowling episode was a remake of ''Film/TheDevilAndDanielWebster'', with Father Dowling defending [[TheWatson Sister Stevie]] when she's forced to make a DealWithTheDevil to save her brother.
65	** Yet another episode featured Dowling doubting his deductive powers when the police arrest the wrong man on his reasoning. This doubt causes him to conjure up a consulting detective ... none other than Literature/SherlockHolmes.
66	* ''Series/{{Friends}}'' had the 1-hour special "The One that Could Have Been". Aside from the pre-opening sequence, the entire episode takes place in an alternate timeline where each member of the gang's lives had turned out differently than in the actual show (although things more or less wind up close to how things are regularly by the end).
67	* The ''Series/{{Fringe}}'' episode "Brown Betty" is mostly the story that Walter tells to Olivia's niece, in which Olivia is a PrivateDetective in a [[NoirEpisode pastiche]], dealing with variations on the shows characters. Who occasionally sing.
68	* ''Series/{{Gunsmoke}}'' was quite the western drama, but season nine's "Comanches Is Soft" was a flat out comedy episode. It dealt with Quint's misadventures in retrieving a new bellows for his blacksmith shop with Festus in tow.
69	%%* Various episodes from both ''Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys'' and its companion show ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess''.
70	* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' tends to have one flashback episode each volume.
71	* There have been a few of these in ''Series/HomeAndAway''[='s=] 2010 season. One such occurrence was an episode themed around dreams (Annie had some dreams of Romeo that involved nudity, Tony and Rachel had dreams about how they weren't prepared to care for Harry). Another occurrence was an arc where Miles gained an imaginary friend who turned out to be [[spoiler:an aged-up ghost of his daughter, complete with psychic ability]].
72	* ''Series/HomicideLifeOnTheStreet'' did one of these practically every year, with some stand-outs being ''Night of the Dead Living'', ''Three Men and Adena'', ''Colors'' and ''The Subway''.
73	* The penultimate episode of ''Series/{{House}}'''s first season, "Three Stories", takes the form of a lecture that Gregory House gives to medical students. He narrates three case histories, absurdly embellished to the point where one patient is "played" by Carmen Electra. [[spoiler:As House's own memories intrude, it turns out that Carmen Electra is actually House himself, in a flashback to his infarction.]]
74	** And the second-season finale "No Reason" [[spoiler:contains about five minutes of "real world" time; the rest is [[AllJustADream House's various hallucinations after being shot in the teaser]].]]
75	** The fourth season episode "Ugly" was TheDocumentary.
76	** Season two had an episode called "The Mistake" where Stacy investigates what caused the death of a patient. The patient storyline is told mainly through (sometimes conflicting) flashbacks.
77	* The ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' episode "Symphony of Illumination" used the FramingDevice of Robin talking to her kids in the future, rather than every single other episode's framework of Ted talking to his kids. [[spoiler: However, it turned out that all the narration and the kids were figments of Robin's imagination while she was reflecting on the events of the episode, and Future Ted actually ''was'' telling the whole story in the end, making the episode an imagine-spot-within-a-framing-device-within-a-story-within-a-framing-device.]]
78	* The show ''I Survived'' usually featured three separate stories of people living through horrific ordeals (occasionally cut down to two if one of the stories is particularly long or involved). However, a handful of them focused on one event--9/11, the Norway massacre, Hurricane Sandy. The 9/11 episode even aired without commercials.
79	* On one April Fool's Day, Alex Trebek (host of ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'') and Pat Sajak (host of ''Series/WheelOfFortune'') switched places.
80	** For a week in 1968, Ed [=McMahon=] hosted ''The Series/MatchGame'' while that show's Gene Rayburn hosted Ed's ''Snap Judgment''.
81	* Three episodes of ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' in 2011 were dedicated to testing a supercomputer named Watson against champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. (Only two matches were played, one of which was split between two episodes and interspersed with behind-the-scenes footage.) They were also taped at an IBM laboratory in New York instead of at the show's usual home base at Sony Pictures Studios in California.
82	* The ''Series/LawAndOrder'' episode "Aftershock" was a famous episode that showed the main characters on their day off from work, having attended an execution of a criminal the night before, culminating in Claire Kincaid getting KilledOffForReal in a drunk driving accident.
83	** Also of note, was "Mayhem", another episode which famously followed Briscoe and Logan spending a twenty-four hour period dealing with a variety of cases, with the prosecution team appearing only briefly. The episode was popular enough that the writers did a similar episode several years later, this time with Green as Briscoe's partner, and it was also one of those that was adapted into an episode of Series/LawAndOrderUK (an honor Dick Wolf reserved for his favorites and/or what he felt were his best episodes of the original). A two-part crossover between the original series and ''[[Series/LawAndOrderSVU SVU]]'' also followed up on the unsolved case from the original "Mayhem".
84	* ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'', episode "Gone". The episode literally begins with the arrest and preliminary hearing of two suspects, but soon [[YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle a twist is thrown in]]. The audience is caught up to speed when the ADA asks the detectives to [[TellMeAgain tell her again]] all the details of the case. Pretty much the entire episode deals with the legal side of things.
85	* ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'' episode "Untethered" is the only episode not to involve an official Major Case investigation. Instead it centers on Goren trying to help his nephew, who witnessed a murder in prison and is (for good reason) afraid of retaliation.
86	** To a lesser degree, "Renewal", which still features a Major Case investigation, but the main focus of the episode is on Logan trying to determine who killed a girl in his apartment building that he'd been flirting with.
87	* ''Series/LazyTown'': "School Scam" and "Time to Learn" are the only school-themed episodes in the entire show. The rest of the series depicts the kids as FreeRangeChildren who don't attend, or even mention, going to school at any point. What makes it even weirder is that, judging by their dialogue, the kids have been attending school for some time, but these are literally the only instances we ever see them in a classroom.
88	* The wonderfully irreverent ''Series/LoisAndClark'' did this quite frequently. "Don't Tug On Superman's Cape" is a collection of TV pastiches revolving around Supes and Lois' relationship troubles, with a [[LargeHam hamtacular]] Jonathan Frakes providing the B-story/frame story of the episode.
89	* ''Series/{{Lost}}'' had a few of these episodes. The first was "The Other 48 Days" which, instead of featuring one character with off-island flashbacks, focused on all the characters from the tail section of the plane, and told the story of their time on the island.
90	* The sitcom ''Series/MadAboutYou'' did an entire episode in one take, with Paul and Jamie sitting outside of the bedroom door waiting for Mabel to fall asleep.
91	** A first-season episode was entirely in flashback, showing how Paul and Jamie met.
92	* ''Series/MadTV1995'' had seven clip shows (four in season 13, three in season 14) that were different from their usual episodes:
93	** ''[=MADtv=] Ruined My Life'': A clip show episode where Nicole Parker goes on ''The Jerry Springer Show'' to defend claims that ''[=MADtv=]'''s sketches are raunchy and vulgar.
94	** ''Survivor: [=MADtv=]'': Jeff Probst (the host of the actual show ''Survivor'') and Creator/KeeganMichaelKey (as his character, Caress the Prostitute) host a collection of TV and movie parodies that the show has done.
95	** ''I Want My [=MADtv=]'': Bobby Lee's Johnny Gan character and Perez Hilton (as himself) host a collection of a clip show episode centered on Mad TV's best [[TakeThat swipes]] at all things pop culture.
96	** ''[=MADtv=]'s Most Wanted'': Michael [=McDonald=] and Susan Sarandon host a collection of sketches featuring the show's most popular recurring characters.
97	** ''[=MADtv=]'s Best of Holiday Sketches Spectacularly Special Spectacular'': A [[ChristmasEpisode Christmas]] clip show episode.
98	** ''[=MADtv=]: Sexy, Dirty Politics'': A collection of political and historical sketches.
99	** ''[=MADtv=]: The Best of Michael [=McDonald=]'': ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin
100	*** Over on the actual episodes, season 12, episode 9 was a ChristmasEpisode where the wraparound centered on the cast holding a Secret Santa party and end up humiliating each other with thoughtless gifts (such as Creator/ArdenMyrin giving Nicole Randall Johnson a cookie jar shaped like a Southern black housemaid).
101	* ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'':
102	** An episode called "Top of the Heap", which [[PoorlyDisguisedPilot focused on the Verduccis]] (Al's friend, Charlie, and Charlie's dim-witted son)[[note]]who first appeared on the episode where Al annoys everyone when he becomes obsessed with remembering a song he liked that goes "Hm-hm..him"[[/note]], and aside from a brief appearance by Al (both in the beginning and [[spoiler:in the end when he takes back the TV he lost in a bet]], featured none of the regular characters.
103	** Another pilot-in-disguise episode was "Radio Free Trumaine". It featured a pair of radio jockeys at Bud's college, with only minor appearances from Bud and Kelly and major appearances from Steve (who is now Trumaine University's Dean of Students) and Marcy (who is leading a protest against the radio station).
104	** A PoorlyDisguisedPilot episode called "Enemies", which focused on Kelly, her new boyfriend, and her new boyfriend's sarcastic friends.
105	* ''Series/{{MASH}}'' had several of these during its run: TheDocumentary, the VoiceoverLetter episodes, the newsreel episodes, the RealTime episode, the NearDeathClairvoyance episode, the "Hawkeye monologue" episode, the episode done totally from the [[POVCam point of view of a wounded soldier]], and the DreamEpisode, among others. (Some of these may well have been the initial examples of their kind, copied by later series.)
106	* Each season of the ''Series/MastersOfHorror'' anthology (usually set in modern day EverytownAmerica) had one episode set in the early 19th century and another filmed in Japan and directed by a Japanese director.
107	* The ''Series/Millennium1996'' episode "Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me" featured four demons sitting in a coffee shop discussing humanity's flaws; the main character of the series only appeared for brief periods. Many fans of the series consider the episode a favorite.
108	* ''Series/TheMonkees'': "The Monkees on Tour" (a cinema verité documentary about the actual band playing a live show); "The Monkees in Paris" (basically a longform music video of the guys romping around Paris and getting chased by gorgeous models); "Fairy Tale" (a FracturedFairyTale with cardboard cutout sets and props.)
109	* ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' itself has the Cycling Tour episode, which is unique in Pythonian terms since it actually has a continuous and more or less coherent plot.
110	* ''Series/{{Moonlighting}}'' featured an episode spoofing ''Theatre/TheTamingOfTheShrew'' entitled "Atomic Shakespeare", written entirely in Iambic Pentameter.
111	** The Season 2 episode "The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice" has David and Maddie imagine themselves in 1946 (in black and white, of course). If that isn't enough, it's introduced by Creator/OrsonWelles.
112	*** Welles introducing the episode was a network mandate, as they were horrified that the audience would change channels if they saw the show in Black and White, let alone with Willis and Sheppard playing different characters. The writers response was to have Welles do an introduction praising the show for pushing the envelope for doing an episode that was 80% black and white footage.
113	* ''Series/MurderSheWrote'', especially in the later years, had multiple "Jessica-light" episodes focusing on recurring characters (e.g. reformed GentlemanThief Dennis Stanton; [=MI6=] agent Michael Hagarty) or supposedly based on one of Jessica's books.
114	** One episode, "The Days Dwindle Down", was essentially a follow-up of an obscure film noir thriller ''Strange Bargain'', with members of the movie's original cast reprising their roles as Jessica investigates the 35-year-old murder.
115	** Even by the standards of "Jessica-light" episodes, a few stand out for not entirely following the whodunnit formula ("Jack & Bill" is more of a spy thriller; "O'Malley's Luck" feels like a ''Series/{{Columbo}}'', even though it has a twist ending).
116	* ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'':
117	** The episodes "[=Y2K=]" (which, in flashback, deals with the characters' experiences at the turn of the millenium) and "Our "Cops" Is On" (most of which is presented as an episode of ''Series/{{COPS}}'' featuring the characters).
118	** "Our [[spoiler:''Other'']] "Cops" Is On".
119	* In ''Series/TheNanny'' Christmas episode "Oye To The World" except for the first 30 seconds which uses a clip from a previous Christmas episode, the entire episode is an animated cartoon like the intro.
120	* ''Series/NewsRadio'' had two episodes which, while not actually changing the format of the show or the characterization of the leads, instead changed the setting (by way of a clever set redress). The characters act as if nothing is different. The 3rd season finale was set on a radio station in space, and the 4th season finale was set on the Titanic, and roughly followed the plot of the hit 1997 film. These episodes, naturally, do not follow series continuity, especially since both involve the deaths of nearly all of the main characters.
121	* In general, ''Series/OrangeIsTheNewBlack'' is a capricious blend of BlackComedy and ensemble drama that's primarily known for its diverse cast of memorable characters; though it has its fair share of drama, it's largely a LighterAndSofter take on the prison drama, as it takes place in a minimum security women's prison. Then there's "Thirsty Bird", the premier episode of Season 2. For just one episode, everyone in the cast except Piper drops OutOfFocus, and the setting shifts to a hellish maximum security prison in Chicago, where Piper is forced to fight to keep her sanity while living with a slew of genuinely evil or psychotic women. In a show known for its use of humor and its recurrent theme of feminine bonding, "Thirsty Bird" is so damn bleak that it may as well be a Creator/FranzKafka story. [[ItMakesSenseInContext It even has cockroaches!]]
122	* The central McGuffin of ''Series/PersonOfInterest'' is the Machine, a government surveillance supercomputer that can predict acts of terrorism. Most episodes focus on Reese and Finch, who take advantage of a side-effect of the Machine to [[WeHelpTheHelpless help ordinary people]] that are about to be involved in a violent crime, but the episode [[Recap/PersonOfInterestS02E16 "Relevance"]] unfolds from the perspective of Shaw, a government agent whose job is to follow up on the Machine's primary function of trying to stop terrorists, and winds up becoming one of the people Reese and Finch have to help. While Reese and Finch do appear, it's only for about five minutes.
123	* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' has done this from time to time:
124	** "The Rescue Mission" (''[[Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy Lost Galaxy]]'') was an OutOfGenreExperience, being a much harder and darker style of sci-fi than the rest of the show.
125	** "Lost and Found in Translation" (''[[Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder Dino Thunder]]'') had the Rangers watching a Japanese TV show based on their exploits (actually a {{Hong Kong Dub}}bed episode of its source series ''Abaranger'')
126	** "And... Action!" (''[[Series/PowerRangersRPM RPM]]'') was a behind-the-scenes episode.
127	* The original version of ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'' was basically a modified auction with an element of blackjack. In 1957, the daytime show tried a new format. Host Bill Cullen would read an item's price at the onset, but it was the wrong price. The contestants had to predict whether the right price was higher or lower than the one Bill read and make their bid accordingly.
128	* ''Series/ThePrisoner1967'' had a couple of episodes that were way out of their Village context, only resolved at the end - "The Girl Who Was Death" shows Number Six as a secret agent out in the outside world in a loopy story that turns out to be [[spoiler: a bedtime story he's telling children in a Village nursery]]. "Living in Harmony" is a straight Western (casual viewers could easily assume they tuned in to the wrong show) until the ending where it was all [[spoiler: a mind control experiment]].
129	* Most episodes of ''Series/PrehistoricPlanet'' are organised by a single enivironment, but the final episode of Season Two, "North America", focuses on a single place, western North America.
130	* ''Series/{{Psych}}'': A standard episode in the show usually has Shawn in the lead, oftentimes coming up with an outrageous theory. However, there are certain episodes centering around ''Gus'' of all people doing Shawn's shtick.
131	** ''Meat is Murder... but Murder is Also Murder'': Shawn take a backseat when Gus' Uncle - who thinks Gus is the psychic detective - comes to visit. Gus has to pretend to be psychic in front of him, with Shawn's assistance.
132	** ''Let's Doo-wop It Again'': Gus once again takes lead when Shawn is hospitalized. While Shawn gets moments of carrying out his psychic act, the normally cautious and rule-abiding Gus is the one who does the snooping around and guesswork.
133	** ''Cog-Blocked'': The biggest example of this trope, as Shawn and Gus basically swap roles. Gus finds evidence that the victim was murdered, does the breaking, entering, and snoopng around, gives Shawn a ridiculous nickname, and pulls off a BavarianFireDrill. Meanwhile, Shawn is the cautious one and the voice of reason, reacting in surprise to Gus' antics.
134	* ''Series/{{Psychoville}}''[='s=] fourth episode focused entirely on one of its five storylines, rather than jumping between them. It also consisted of just one scene, shot in two takes.
135	** In addition, the Halloween special takes the form of an Anthology Episode starring the characters in various horror stories, with a plot-advancing FramingDevice to boot.
136	* ''Series/QuantumLeap'' had one or two episodes per season which played with the formula:
137	** "Double Identity" had Sam switch to a different leapee in the same location and time.
138	** "What Price Gloria?" was the first leap into a woman.
139	** "The Leap Home Part 1" had Sam [[PeggySue leap into his younger self]], reunite with his family, and potentially affect his own past.
140	** "Shock Theater" featured [[LossOfIdentity Sam's psyche being taken over]] by several of his former leapees, so that he thought he was those people.
141	** "The Leap Back" switched Sam and Al's places as leapee and hologram, and allowed Sam [[HopeSpot a visit home]], giving us a look at Project Quantum Leap.
142	** "The Wrong Stuff" is the only leap into a non-human.
143	** "Lee Harvey Oswald" is the crowning example: in two parts, it (uniquely) features a [[BasedOnATrueStory statement about the historical accuracy of the episode]] and opens and closes on a lengthy still montage of archive photos. Sam makes repeated leaps into the same person at [[TimeSkip different periods]]; he's [[NotHimself almost taken over]] by the leapee's personality and [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness barely acts like himself]]. It's also the first to feature the revamped, more ominous-sounding [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic theme music]].
144	** "Killin' Time": the leapee escapes the Waiting Room, and [[ADayInTheLimelight we follow Al's point of view]] as he tries to retrieve him.
145	** "Trilogy" is the only three-parter and Sam leaps into different but connected people [[TimeSkip at eleven-year intervals]], with the unifying mission of protecting a young woman. [[spoiler: He also accidentally impregnates her and meets his daughter.]] He takes on some of his leapees' physical limitations, which had only happened once before.
146	* ''Series/TheRedGreenShow'': One of the recurring segments was "North of 40" ([[AllThereInTheScript although this title was never given on-air]]), where Red would sit at a desk, offering advice to middle-aged men while winding a fishing lure; each segment would end with the line "Remember, I'm pullin' for ya. We're all in this together." On the episode "The House Raising", his nerdy nephew Harold did the segment instead, and closed it with "[[InvertedTrope Remember, you're on your own. Don't push it.]]"
147	* ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' had a few:
148	** The Charlene Tilton episode from season six (with musical guest Todd Rundgren and Music/{{Prince}} before he hit it big with ''1999'' and ''Purple Rain'') had a running storyline called "Who Shot C.R.?" (a take on ''Dallas'''s "Who Shot J.R.?" storyline) with Charles Rocket (a.k.a "C.R.") falling in love with host Charlene Tilton, and the other cast members vowing revenge. Rocket ends up getting shot during a sketch called "After Midnight" about two swingers who trade sexual innuendo while bathing a dog. At the end, he unintentionally shocks the audience when he says, "I'd like to know who the fuck did it?" and, thus, brought the maligned Jean Doumanian-era to an end.
149	** The season eleven episode hosted by George Wendt with Francis Ford Coppola also had a running storyline, only this time, it was about Francis Ford Coppola trying to make ''Saturday Night Live'' more cinematic and worth watching (as its ratings at the time were in the toilet). It failed miserably.
150	** The two episodes that started on a more dramatic tone after a tragedy (the Creator/ReeseWitherspoon episode that came on after the 9/11 attacks, featuring Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and New York City's fire, police, and medical departments; and the Martin Short Christmas episode from season 38 that came on a day after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that started with the New York City Kids' Choir singing ''Silent Night'').
151	** The season three episode on December 17, 1977 is the first (and only) episode hosted by someone who isn't a celebrity. An old woman named Miskel Spillman was chosen to host an episode as part of a contest ''SNL'' had where an average viewer wins the chance to host an episode.
152	** The first episodes of seasons seven and ten are the only ones that have no host. James Caan was originally supposed to host the season seven premiere, but had to back out after his sister was sent to the hospital for bone marrow cancer. For season ten, Ebersol chose not to have a host because he wanted to show off the new cast he had at the time.
153	** Eddie Murphy hosted an episode in season eight when the slated host (Nick Nolte) was too ill [[note]] hungover [[/note]]. It remains the only episode hosted by a then-current cast member. In the cold open, Murphy controversially announced "Live from New York, it's the Eddie Murphy Show!"
154	** ''SNL Stays at Home'', the three episodes made during the show's 45th season that played out more like low-budget web shows (and done because the COVID-19 pandemic shut down Studio 8H until October 2020).
155	** ''Saturday Night Live: The Best of TV Funhouse'': a clip show special shown as an actual episode with Ace and Gary (a.k.a "The AmbiguouslyGay Duo") hosting and going behind the scenes of ''SNL''.
156	* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' had a few episodes following this.
157	** "My Musical" was, of course, a musical.
158	** The episode "My Life in Four Cameras" becomes a typical SitCom.
159	** The "His/Her Story" episodes, as they're narrated by different characters than normal.
160	** There was "My Day Off", where JD had to experience the hospital as a patient, not a doctor.
161	** "My Princess" in which the events of the episode are portrayed as a fairytale being told by Doctor Cox to his son.
162	* ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'':
163	** "The Chinese Restaurant", an episode in which Jerry, George and Elaine wait for a table at a Chinese restaurant.
164	** The [[BackToFront backwards episode]] "The Betrayal", inspired by a similarly-titled play by Creator/HaroldPinter.
165	** "The Trip" Parts I and II are missing Elaine while Julia Louis-Dreyfus is on maternity leave, and further shakes things up by transporting the boys to Hollywood, where they mainly play out a single storyline about Kramer being arrested for murder.
166	* Jimmy Olsen's DayInTheLimeLight episodes on ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' have been taking on a style like this. "Noir" was a FilmNoir parody, and the most recent was done in the style of a spy thriller. Fans have noted they are some of the weakest episodes in the series.
167	* ''Series/TheSopranos'' had a few episodes that did this. The most notable examples were:
168	** "Mr. Ruggerio's Neighborhood" is a VillainEpisode shown from the [=POV=] of the FBI as they attempt to plant a bug in the Soprano home.
169	** "Employee of the Month" is mostly see from Dr. Melfi's point of view and has a subplot that sees her [[spoiler: raped]] and deal with whether or not she should have Tony deal with it.
170	** "The Test Dream" features an elaborate 20 minute dream sequence.
171	* ''Franchise/{{Stargate\|Verse}}'':
172	** ''Series/StargateSG1'': "200", their 200th episode, a humorous episode that's basically about SG-1 sitting around the table while trying to come up with a good movie idea.
173	** ''Series/StargateAtlantis'': The series' penultimate episode, "Vegas", is set entirely in an AlternateUniverse, with Sheppard as a Las Vegas homicide detective. The [[InTheStyleOf writing and visual style of the episode]] is an homage to ''Series/{{CSI}}'', even including a NecroCam shot of a Wraith victim's heart desiccating. The only connection to the primary Franchise/StargateVerse comes at the end, when the resolution of the plot foreshadows events of the series finale.
174	* ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' had the two-parter, "In a Mirror, Darkly", set entirely in the MirrorUniverse, complete with evil SpecialEditionTitle.
175	* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'':
176	** The episode "Far Beyond the Stars" is a story about 20th-century racism in which the main cast plays humans in 1950s New York, allowing the audience to see the actors who usually play Klingons, Cardassians, etc. out of their alien makeup.
177	** "His Way" doesn't have much in the way of action and has very little sci-fi in it. It's mainly about Odo trying to impress his crush Kira and emulating a hologram who acts like a 20th century jazz musician.
178	* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'':
179	** "Family," which took place on Earth and featured the crew members seeking out their families while Picard dealt with the emotional trauma of his recent assimilation and clashed with his wine-making brother.
180	** "Data's Day", a DayInTheLife episode centering on Data.
181	** A LowerDeckEpisode, called--er, "[[TropeNamer Lower Decks]]", focusing on four junior officers.
182	** "The Inner Light", in which Picard, by way of an alien probe, lives out the life of a villager in a pre-warp civilization.
183	* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'':
184	** In "11:59", Janeway recounts the life story of [[IdenticalGrandson Shannon O'Donnell, her ancestor shortly before the new millennium]]. Predominantly set via flashbacks in 1999, it's probably the only story in the entire ''Star Trek'' franchise without any hard science fiction to it.
185	** "Human Error" is mostly a slice-of-life episode, which doesn't fit with most of the series as ''Star Trek'' doesn't tend to do slice-of-life.
186	* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'s'' third season featured a Sam-and-Dean-lite episode, "Ghostfacers," which focused on two characters from the first season episode "Hell House". It was also shot like a real pilot, with handheld cameras and everything. Demonstrates one of the dangers of these episodes in that it did not look like an episode of ''Supernatural'' and, combined with the confusion due to the writers' strike and a lack of advertising, many people didn't realise they were watching the right programme. And switched off.
187	** In fact, ''Supernatural'' does so quite frequently (the episode "Monster Movie" comes to mind). It is one of the (many) reasons the show is a firm two-thirds in DeconstructorFleet territory.
188	* ''Series/{{Top Gear\|UK}}'', a show that normally focuses on cars, had the "Vietnam Special", which sees Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May riding through Vietnam on motorcycles.
189	* ''Series/TheWestWing'' had the seventh season episode "The Debate", which was a real time presidential debate between Santos and Vinick shot in one take. It was pretty freaking amazing.
190	** Not just in one take, but done twice - once for live broadcast on the East Coast, and once for live broadcast on the West Coast.
191	** In addition, the fifth season episode "Access" was a mock documentary of Press Secretary C. J. Cregg. It was not great.
192	* ''Series/WithoutATrace'':
193	** The episode "Malone vs. Malone" doesn't feature a missing persons case, but Jack's deposition regarding his divorce and custody hearing. Though we get flashbacks in the same manner as typical episodes.
194	** No one disappears in the episode "Showdown" either. Instead, it's about the team's hunt for the gunmen who killed a detainee and injured an agent in the process.
195	** Several other episodes have featured the re-opening of a cold case rather than the typical "hot" ones.
196	** In the episode "Deep Water", we know from the very beginning that the VictimOfTheWeek is dead, as we see her being murdered, but there is still the customary suspense as to who her killer is.
197	** The show itself. Series star Creator/EricClose mentioned in an interview that unlike most crime shows where the victim is already dead, there's a sense of urgency to find a victim who is possibly still alive.
198	* ''Series/TheXFiles'': "[[Recap/TheXFilesS07E12XCops X-Cops]]" (which was shot as an episode of the show ''Series/{{COPS}}''), "[[Recap/TheXFilesS05E05ThePostModernPrometheus The Post-Modern Prometheus]]" (black and white), "[[Recap/TheXFilesS03E20JoseChungsFromOuterSpace Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space']]" (told through [[TheRashomon conflicting flashbacks]]), "[[Recap/TheXFilesS05E12BadBlood Bad Blood]]" (also told in conflicting flashbacks), "[[Recap/TheXFilesS06E03Triangle Triangle]]" (split-screen), "[[Recap/TheXFilesS02E20Humbug Humbug]]" (first comedy episode), and "[[Recap/TheXFilesMiniseriesE03MulderAndScullyMeetTheWereMonster Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster]]" (a {{deconstruction}} of the OurWerebeastsAreDifferent genre).
199	* In ''Series/TheYoungIndianaJonesChronicles'', "Young Indiana Jones and the Mystery of the Blues" is the only episode to lack the George Hall Old Indy bookends, instead being bookended by Creator/HarrisonFord himself.
200	* ''Series/ZNation'': "White Light" consists of almost nothing but continuous action scenes, in two locations, involving multiple factions.

Context FormulaBreakingEpisode / LiveActionTV