History BizarroEpisode / LiveActionTV

** The ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS2E15Threshold Threshold]]". So Tom Paris breaks the "transwarp barrier", right? And this results in being in ''every location in the universe at once''. Somehow this makes him [[GoalOrientedEvolution evolve into a higher order of being]]... which turns out to be a lizard thing who can't breathe air. He kidnaps TheCaptain and they run away in said transwarp barrier-breaking ship. They are discovered ''within range'' and the crew find them on a beach together having just had a small litter of lizard ''babies''. (Repeat: Paris had children with Cap'n Janeway. While they were both lizards.) The babies are still out there presumably but everything else is {{reset|Button}} with "antimatter injections". Got all that? Okay, because this is the ''one'' episode out of all the ''Star Trek'' episodes ever made that is considered CanonDiscontinuity, to the point that in "Timeless", Tom Paris himself mentions that he has never traveled in transwarp before. ''Never''.

** ''Series/KamenRiderBlade'' had a two-parter where an amnesiac Hajime gets mistaken for an IdenticalStranger and gets involved in the [[StarCrossedLovers Romeo and Juliet]]-esque feud between their families...[[SeriousBusiness over takoyaki and taiyaki]]. The guy whose life Hajime "stole" ends up teaming up with the rival family and entering a CookingDuel while wearing an electric suit of PoweredArmor, and helps him fight the MonsterOfTheWeek by smacking her in the face with a burning-hot taiyaki pan. This actually got acknowledged in the UsefulNotes/Playstation2 ''Blade'' game, which has the "Taiyaki Master Ultimate Form" as a JokeCharacter.

* "iSpace Out" from ''Series/ICarly'' has a [=BLAM=] subplot, with a random little girl wandering into the apartment when Spencer is there, and not doing anything until she walks out again; it takes up half the time of the episode and literally nothing happens or is resolved. "iMake [[ChaoticNeutral Sam]] Girlier"'s entire plot was [[ChaoticNeutral Sam]] wanting to get a boyfriend; [[NoGuyWantsAnAmazon she tries to act more girly]], but in the end BeYourself wins out. The guy vanishes and is never spoken of again, not even to explain why. Another Spencer B-Plot (to use the term loosely) just has Spencer wandering around the house doing nothing in between other scenes.

* ''Series/{{Columbo}}'''s episode "Last Salute to the Commodore" definitely qualifies. Not only is it a who-done-it, it also has the weirdest performance by Peter Falk ever. He just walks through without any emotions completely hamming it up. He seems high as a kite. In the bizarre ending, [[spoiler:Columbo goes around showing everyone a watch saying 'Commodore's watch' until someone eventually says 'T'isnt,' thus proving he is the killer]].

* ''Series/AdamRuinsEverything'': Outside of Adam's magic powers, the show's storylines generally stay basically realistic. The exception is "Adam Ruins Games", where instead of Adam following someone around and correcting their misconceptions as in other episodes, we get a subplot about Satan trying to trick Adam into selling his soul.

* ''Series/TheNanny'' Christmas Special "Oy To The World" holds the honor of being the first (and only!) animated special in the entire series. It starts off innocently enough, with Fran trying to teach Brighton The TrueMeaningOfChristmas... before suddenly shifting into a SavingChristmas plot where Fran, Brighton, and their dog Chester (who is SuddenlySpeaking) are transported to The North Pole via blizzard, suddenly tasked with helping Santa to stop C.C. The Abominable Babcock from flash-freezing his workshop and ruining Christmas. The studio seems to agree on this episode's status as well, as while it is available for viewing on home video and HBO Max, it was only broadcasted '''''once''''' in the show's run.

*** In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E9HideAndQ Hide and Q]]", Q gives Riker the powers of the Q continuum, who grants the characters wishes, and teenage Wesley Crusher wishes to be 10 or so years older. Then suddenly, BAAM he's transformed into a strapping, tall and exceptionally hunky man. We then cut to Geordi [=LaForge=] leering at the new Wesley and saying, "Hey, Wes. Not bad." It has been noted by several sources that [=LaForge=] was originally supposed to be gay, but this is the only time it appears to be shown on screen, in this season one episode. Thereafter, it is NEVER EVER EVER EVER mentioned again, and the [=LaForge=] character eventually falls in love with a holodeck character then eventually an actual woman, and they live happily ever after. BLAM.

** From ''Tiga'''s SequelSeries ''Series/UltramanDyna'' is "Monster Drama", in which an insane playwright brings a giant monster from his script to life using alchemy. The result is some ''incredible'' MindScrew, including several backgrounds suddenly becoming [[MediumBlending manga art]] and a fight that can only be described as "WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs"

* ''Series/NaturallySadie'': The HalloweenEpisode "Ghouls Just Want to Have Fun" has Hal's new girlfriend distributing bracelets that turn most of the regular cast (and the school) into zombies, only for the day to saved by ExtravertedNerd Ron Yuma, who apparently has a secret second life as a monster hunter (based on his extensive knowledge of zombie films). A radical departure for a 'slice of life' teen comedy, its events are never referenced again. It feels like it should have been an AllJustADream episode.

** One [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0547043/ episode]] featured the cast as fairy-tale characters, clothed in costumes made to look like crayon drawings. The in-universe justification: Rudy was [[StoryWithinAStory telling the story, which she'd written, to her parents]]. Interestingly, it ends on a genuine TearJerker, as Cliff and Clair watch news reports of various weapons testings/violent activities and urge Rudy to make the world better, as she did in her fantasy.

* Franchise/UltraSeries examples. All of these are directed by the late Akio Jissoji, well-known in the fanbase for his unorthodox style, raging from merely subversive to outright surrealist.

* The penultimate episode to ''Series/TheDickVanDykeShow'', "The Gunslinger," puts the main characters into a Western, representing [[AllJustADream a dream]] by Rob while under anesthesia at the dentist.

* The penultimate episode to ''Series/TheDickVanDykeShow'', "The Gunslinger," puts the main characters into a Western, representing [[AllJustADream as a dream]] by Rob while under anesthesia at the dentist.

* ''Series/{{UFO}}'''s episode "Mindbender" had Straker hallucinate that he was an actor in a TV series about [=UFOs=]. One memorable scene had him wandering around the actual ''UFO'' soundstage, showing the HQ and moonbase sets.

* The ''Series/{{Fringe}}'' episode "Brown Betty", from season two. Walter Bishop smokes some special dope, and then entertains Olivia's niece Ella by telling her a story in which Olivia is a hard-boiled private detective in a world of AnachronismStew. Walter's story has obvious resonances to the main plot, but the whole episode boils down to him doing some child-minding. Made all the more jarring by coming right after some serious, dramatic episodes about Walter's relationship with his son Peter.
* Nobody would say that ''Series/GetSmart'' is based in reality, but the episode "Hello, Columbus-Goodbye America" is weird even by the show's standards. The premise is that the USA doesn't own its' land, but leases it from the descendants of Amerigo Vespucci [[note]] Which, despite RuleOfFunny, is not true on so many levels [[/note]] and the Chief needs Max to shmooze Vespucci's descendant so he'll resign the lease. However, a KAOS agent, who is two little people in a TotemPoleTrench, tries to persuade him to sign America over to them instead. A fansite for the show said this is considered the worst episode; fortunatly, it was the third to last.

** One episode involves the Cunninghams offering assignment to a beatnik whose pregnancy makes her [[{{Fainting}} pass out]] despite not having other symptoms of anemia.

** Some viewers consider "[[Recap/AngelS05E20TheGirlInQuestion The Girl in Question]]" to be this -- in the middle of a tense, tragic story arc leading up to the heavily depressing series finale, we get an episode revolving around Spike and Angel gallivanting off to Italy to have wacky, {{hoyay}}-tastic adventures while trying to rescue Buffy from the mistake of dating an [[TheFaceless unseen]], vampiric [[TheCasanova sexual predator]] with whom they apparently have a [[RetCon never-before-mentioned]] complex history; this unapologetically farcical storyline is [[MoodWhiplash played against]] a bitter, tragic Los Angeles subplot in which [[EldritchAbomination Illyria]] assumes Fred's form in order to deceive her parents into believing that their daughter is alive and well, a state of affairs which nearly breaks Wesley and is difficult to watch even for the viewers.

** ''Series/PowerRangersNinjaStorm'' while surfing Tori got into a major wipe out, and wind up in a MirrorUniverse where the Rangers are the bad guys and Lothor and his goons are good guys. She eventually gets back to her own universe by getting wiped out again.

* ''Series/TrueJacksonVP'': The episode "True Fear," features Amanda hiring a new male model from Transylvania that Lulu and Ryan believe is an actual vampire. [[spoiler: The episode ends with True, Lulu, Ryan, Oscar and Amanda going through Ryan's photo history book and finding people who look a lot like the model at events such as The Civil War, Iwo Jima and The 1934 World Series, before Amanda laughs it off as silly, while the other four are terrified as a seemingly turned Mr. Madigan and Kopleman approach from behind her, with Amanda letting out an ear piercing scream in horror, before cutting to black, leaving the groups fate unknown.]]

* ''Series/TheXFiles'' did this a few times, most notably in its RashomonStyle episodes "[[Recap/TheXFilesS03E20JoseChungsFromOuterSpace Jose Chung's From Outer Space]]" and "[[Recap/TheXFilesS05E12BadBlood Bad Blood]]". Then there's "[[Recap/TheXFilesS05E05ThePostModernPrometheus Post-Modern Prometheus]]", which is filmed entirely in black and white and ends with a song-and-dance number featuring a Cher lookalike (after Mulder had effectively broken the fourth wall because he decided the original ending sucked). And [[Series/TheJerrySpringerShow Jerry Springer]] was in it, too.