History Main / HollywoodJehovahsWitness

* There's an UrbanLegend that ''{{Witness}}'' was named for the writer confusing the Amish with Jehovah's Witnesses. In truth, the film was going to be titled ''Called Home'' and was pretty wise up on Amish practice.
* Averted in ''A Perfect World'', where it's really only mentioned that they don't celebrate birthdays or Hallowe'en.
* In ''{{Coneheads}}'' it is played for laughs when Michael [=McKean=] and David Spade impersonate Jehovah's Witnesses in order to get into Dan Aykroyd's house in the film. [[CrazyPrepared They even came prepared]] with copies of ''Magazine/TheWatchtower'' magazine.

* In Leverage, Hardison is an ex-Jehovah's witness, but is not treated as a Hollywood version. It's mainly used as insight into his childhood.
* The "Land Shark" sketch from ''SaturdayNightLive'' consists of the titular shark going door-to-door pretending to be a plumber/janitor/candygram-delivery only to eat people, but when one woman hears his voice proclaiming himself to be one of Jehovah's Witnesses and offering a copy of the Watchtower periodical, she quietly grabs her sledgehammer and knocks her guest on the head...who turns out to actually ''be'' a Witness.

* They have such a bad reputation in TheFarSide that one panel has a family of gooey blobs act like inanimate beanbag chairs when some Jehovah's Witness approach their door.

* Happens in ''ThePractice'', where one of the main supporting characters is revealed to be a Jehovah's Witness right when she needs a blood transfusion. Unusually for an [[InformedAttribute Informed Religion]] topic, the fact that no one's seen any evidence of her being a Witness becomes a plot point. The other attorneys at her firm argue that her personal practices clearly indicate that she is not a Witness and therefore should receive a transfusion.

* The world is about to end.

* In ''Film/{{Clue}}'' one pops up after a few of the other unannounced guests to the mansion have died.

* In ''Film/Clue'' one pops up after a few of the other unannounced guests to the mansion have died.

Yeah, there happens to be this other RealLife religion with a similar name but they've got all this extra junk about the true [[ArchangelMichael nature of Christ]], the method of Salvation, organisational structure and all those other things that you can't fit into a 42 minute hour. Now those guys believe that only 144,000 will go to heaven, yes, but that's not what most of them are aiming for: other good people will rebuild earth into [[{{Arcadia}} a paradise]]. They do indeed believe that blood is sacred and thus they reject blood tranfusions. However, the real life ones have committees trained to point out the alternatives to blood transfusion, even having had heart surgery performed without transfusions without lowering survival rates - but that wouldn't make for such an interesting moral dilemma in MedicalDrama. Despite the evangelical side, they are politically neutral. Also, it's grammatically incorrect to say "a Jehovah's Witness." The phrase "one of Jehovah's Witnesses" is more correct and is more commonly used by actual Witnesses.

*** Justified in that Troy makes it fairly clear that he does not like being a Jehovah's Witness. He's always really annoyed when he talks about it and jumps headfirst into any activity that would be frowned upon (such as celebrating Christmas).

** It's also highly unlikely they would "pray for your soul" given they don't believe in the soul in the terms most understand it; body and soul are not separate things.

* Constable Visit-The-Infidel-With-Explanatory-Pamphlets of the [[{{Discworld}} Ankh-Morpork City Watch]] is a deliberate parody.

* In ''{{Scrubs}}'', [[strike:DrJerk]] Dr Cox had to treat a patient who needed a blood transfusion for a straightforward treatment but was a Jehovah's Witness. In order to keep his jerk credentials, Cox refuses to find another harder way of helping her which clashes with his normal attitude of always trying to keep the patients he can alive. He later goes on to help her, on the condition that she (and everyone else present) refuse to let anyone know he helped her, on pain of death. Turk's mother was stated to be a Jehovah's Witness as well.

* On the first episode of ''MockTheWeek'''s seventh season, the cast commented on MichaelJackson's death [[CrossesTheLineTwice in their usual style]]. They noted that being a Jehovah's Witness was possibly the least weird thing about Jackson and pondered whether, when he went to meetings, ''they'' pretended to be out and that he did look like someone who wouldn't have a blood transfusion. [[note]](This also completely ignores that Jackson disassociated himself from the Witnesses in 1987.)[[/note]]

* In the first episode of {{Black Books}}, Bernard lets in a pair of Jehovah's Witnesses (on the grounds that he'd rather talk to them than do his tax returns). They are utterly surprised by this, having never got past a single door, and in fact have no clue what to say, with Bernard being rather more informed about religion than them.

* Otto Aquarius from ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers is one of these.

* Utterly mocked in ''{{Rat-Man}}''. The first story has the titular 'hero' being mistaken for one when he knocks on the door of the Buffoon's lair and presents himself as "I'm Rat-Man! I bring justice among those who walk on the wrong path!", prompting the {{Mooks}} to grab the knives to 'make him disappear'. In a later occasion we have a Jehovah's Witness knock on Rat-Man's door, and we're treated to his own way to scare them away.

* In one episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'', a suspect in about five rape-homicides, who was found to have both marijuana and cocaine in his home and was known for sleeping with different women until their money ran out, claims that giving the police a blood sample is against his religion because he's a Jehovah's Witness. (Jehovah's Witnesses condemn drugs and extramarital sex and have no problem with giving blood for non-transfusion purposes). Legally the detectives can't press the issue, but t o their credit they don't take his claim seriously at all.

* ''TheSimpsons'':
** In one episode, a pair of Witnesses about to call at a house stop and decide that they should "go out and get real jobs". Given that the vast majority of Witnesses don't get paid for knocking on doors,[[hottip:*:apart from "special pioneers" who work in remote areas]] this leaves the question of how these particular Witnesses were getting by if they currently had no full-time jobs.

* There's an UrbanLegend that ''{{Witness}}'' was named for the writer confusing the Amish with Jehovah's Witnesses. In truth, the film was going to be titled ''Called Home'' and was pretty wise up on Amish practise.

* In ''{{Coneheads}}'' it is played for laughs when Michael [=McKean=] and David Spade impersonate Jehovah's Witnesses in order to get into Dan Aykroyd's house in the film. [[CrazyPrepared They even have copies of the Watchtower magazine with them]].

* In one episode of LawandOrderSpecialVictimsUnit, a suspect in about five rape-homicides, who was found to have both marijuana and cocaine in his home and was known for sleeping with different women until their money ran out, claims that giving the police a blood sample is against his religion because he's a Jehovah's Witness. (Jehovah's Witnesses condemn drugs and extramarital sex and have no problem with giving blood for non-transfusion purposes). Legally the detectives can't press the issue, but t o their credit they don't take his claim seriously at all.

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* In an episode of ''TheSimpsons'', a pair of Witnesses about to call at a house stop and decide that they should "go out and get real jobs". Given that the vast majority of Witnesses don't get paid for knocking on doors,[[hottip:*:apart from "special pioneers" who work in remote areas]] this leaves the question of how these particular Witnesses were getting by if they currently had no full-time jobs.

* Averted on ''Series/{{Community}}''. In "Religious Studies" (the first-season ChristmasEpisode), Troy is revealed to be a Jehovah's Witness and as such doesn't celebrate Christmas. However, you couldn't tell that he was a Jehovah's Witness if he didn't say so. He does have a crazy and uber-religious and very strict grandma, but that's not so much a trope about Jehovah's Witnesses as it is a trope about black culture in the United States; she could have just as easily been a Baptist or Methodist.

Yeah, there happens to be this other RealLife religion with a similar name but they've got all this extra junk about the true [[ArchangelMichael nature of Christ]], the method of Salvation, organisational structure and all those other things that you can't fit into a 42 minute hour. Now those guys believe that only 144,000 will go to heaven, yes, but that's not what most of them are aiming for: other good people will rebuild earth into [[{{Arcadia}} a paradise]]. They do indeed believe that blood is sacred and thus they reject blood tranfusions. However, the real life ones have committees trained to point out the alternatives to blood transfusion, even having had heart surgery performed without transfusions without lowering survival rates - but that wouldn't make for such an interesting moral dilemma in MedicalDrama. Despite the evangelical side, they are politically neutral.

-->'''Jehova's Witness''': Good morning. Do you know God?

* In an early episode of ''BabylonFive'' Dr. Franklin found himself working on a case concerning the offspring of some alien Jehovah's Witnesses, who refused surgery that would save their son's life, believing it would cost him his soul. [[spoiler:The doctor performed the procedure anyway and saved the boy's life, only for the parents to kill him because in their eyes he wasn't their son anymore.]]

*** Pretty much justified in that many people who are raised under a specific doctrine really only consider themselves a part of that religion because they were raised to. It's very possible that Troy has never really liked being a Jehovah's Witness, and is eager to forget about the faith he was raised in whenever it stands in the way of something he wants to do.

* Painfully played straight on the third season Christmas episode of ''Series/{{Community}}''. Given that it's Christmas - the only time Troy's religion is ever mentioned - the issue of celebration is raised. Despite his supposed beliefs, all it takes for Troy essentially turn away from his faith is for Abed to suggest that he could pretend to celebrate for the purpose of destroying Christmas from the inside. Cue Troy in Christmas sweater, singing carols etc.