History Main / PestEpisode

The modern successor of EekAMouse, filling its shoes as a staple of the DomCom, and usually showing up at least once in any given WorkCom. The pest in question is usually either a mouse or TerrifyingPetStoreRat, but substitute other animals as needed, particularly in sci-fi and fantasy settings. Expect the cast to be outsmarted and HoistByTheirOwnPetard at every turn -- {{Mouse Trap}}s may be employed, but will frequently be sworn off as cruel, and if the characters do catch the animal, don't be surprised if WhatMeasureIsANonCute kicks in and they end up keeping it as
a pet, or releasing it outdoors -- where it will usually [[HereWeGoAgain bolt right back into the house]] during the closing credits.

Tends not apply to insect infestations, where residents are more likely to become TheThingThatWouldNotLeave at someone else's place while their own is being fumigated -- compare TermiteTrouble and FleaEpisode.

* The ''[[WesternAnimation/{{Terrytoons}} Gandy Goose]] cartoon "The Exterminator" has Sourpuss calling the P.D.Q. Exterminating company to help stave off an invasion of mice in his home. They send Gandy, who is none too effective, which is lampshaded at the end: "2,000 years ago, Aesop said 'There are many ways to get rid of mice, but none of them are any good.'"

* ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'': In one episode, Dexter's brain has been accidentally switched with a mouse courtesy by youknowwho (DEEDEE!!!) and been chased out of the lab by a cat to the kitchen where his mother is now his antagonist for this episode.

* In ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'', "Eek, An Urchin!" is an episode about a sea urchin invading the kitchen in the Krusty Crab and the crew trying to find a way to get it out of the restaurant.

!! Examples include:

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The modern successor of EekAMouse, filling its shoes as a staple of the DomCom, usually showing up at least once in any given WorkCom. The pest in question is usually either a mouse or TerrifyingPetStoreRat, but substitute other animals as needed, particularly in sci-fi and fantasy settings. Expect the cast to be outsmarted and HoistByTheirOwnPetard at every turn -- {{Mouse Trap}}s may be employed, but will frequently be sworn off as cruel, and if the characters do catch the animal, don't be surprised if WhatMeasureIsANonCute kicks in and they end up keeping it as

* ''Series/ModernFamily'': Gloria is said to have killed a rat and leaving its head, sending a message for other rats when there was a time they had rats in the house.

* ''Disney/LadyAndTheTramp'': The main antagonist is a rat who gets into the house and threatens Jim Dear and Darling's baby. Tramp kills the rat.

* ''Series/{{Charmed}}'': Although it wasn't a main part of the episode, Piper was trying to catch rats in her club, after reports of their being present. She doesn't succeed, and it turns out the rats were actually demons.

* ''Series/HannahMontana'': There was an episode where Robbie Ray and Jackson were trying to catch a mouse, but they were not successful. Robbie discovers that the mouse can play one of his hit songs on the piano, and opts to keep it.

* ''Series/{{Mom}}'': Christy was trying to catch a cricket which was disturbing her. Bonnie catches it in the end.

Basically, this is when the writers decided to try their hand at penning a ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' episode. Most often used as a B-plot, in part because, much like in real life, not catching the pest is likely -- meanwhile, the close quarters and [[FireForgedFriendship Fire-Forged Friendships]] created by a common enemy can easily segue into other developments, in which case this can become a literal case of WhatHappenedToTheMouse%%?

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheProudFamily'', Season 1 "Don't Leave Home Without It", the B-story involves Oscar trying to get rid of a mouse in their home. Instead of paying an exterminator to get rid of the mouse, he and Felix try to do it themselves, but it doesn't end well and they ended up spending more money than what the exterminator offered.

* Subverted in ''Disney/TheRescuers'', Madame Medusa is [[EekAMouse scared of mice]], so she sends her two crocodiles, Brutus and Nero, to catch the Rescuers, Bernard and Bianca, when the pair of [[NiceMice heroic mice]] come aboard Medusa's wrecked boat to rescue kidnapped little girl Penny.

* ''Series/TwoBrokeGirls'': Max and Caroline have a cupcake shop, which has rats. The episode is spent on the girls trying to hire an intern to catch the rats, but they don't succeed.

* ''Series/GroundedForLife'' had an episode with a flashback to the family's last trip to the Jersey Shore; an exterminator comes out of their vacation home, telling them that he managed to trap whatever it was that was in their vacation house behind the fridge and gas it several times. He told the family that they could go back in once it stopped snapping.

* ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'' had an episode where Hal brought home an old wardrobe that was (unbeknownst to him when he bought it) filled with bats; much of the rest of the episode had Hal and the boys chasing bats out of their house and/or trying to kill them, as well as trying to hide from them in a tent inside the house.

* Subverted in the ''Series/NewsRadio'' episode "Rat Funeral", with the cast rushing to save Mike the Rat, their [[AdoringThePests adopted office mascot]], from the traps news director Dave has had set around the station. Dave eventually relents -- only for the snap of a trap to go off in the background. Then double-subverted when it turns out the distinctively black-and-white Mike was not one rat but many, ''many'' similarly colored rats, and WNYX actually had quite the infestation on their hands. Everyone's a little grossed out after that.

* Subverted in the ''Series/NewsRadio'' episode "Rat Funeral" begins with the cast rushing to save a black-and-white rat named Mike from the traps news director Dave has had set around the office, having [[AdoringThePests adopted the rat]] as a kind office mascot/pet. Dave eventually relents -- only for the snap of a trap to go off in the background. Then double-subverted when it turns out Mike was not one rat but many ''many'' rats, and WKRP actually had quite the infestation on their hands. Everyone's a little grossed out after that.

* ''Disney/LadyAndTheTramp'': The main antagonist is a rat who gets into the house and threatens Jim Dear and Darling's baby. Tramp kills the rat.

* ''Series/HannahMontana'': There was an episode where Robbie Ray and Jackson were trying to catch a mouse, but they were not successful. Robbie discovers that the mouse can play one of his hit songs on the piano, and opts to keep it.
* ''Series/FullHouse'': Jesse tries to catch a ferret that entered the Tanner house. After he catches it, he sets it free.

* The B-plot of a ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode involves the staff trying to deal with an infestation of Cardassian Voles. They start off trying to round them up humanely, but by the end of the episode:
-->'''Sisko:''' Take those phasers off stun, Chief. No more Mister Nice Guy.
* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'': Sheldon (who does not like birds) was trying to get rid of one that was on the ledge of the apartment, which later flew into apartment. He becomes attached to the bird, but it flies away.
* ''Series/ModernFamily'': Gloria is said to have killed a rat and leaving its head, sending a message for other rats when there was a time they had rats in the house.
* ''Series/TwoBrokeGirls'': Max and Caroline have a cupcake shop, which has rats. The episode is spent on the girls trying to hire an intern to catch the rats, but they don't succeed.
* ''Series/{{Mom}}'': Christy was trying to catch a cricket which was disturbing her. Bonnie catches it in the end.
* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'': Lily and Marshall find a pest of indeterminate species in their apartment. Marshall claims it's a cross between a cockroach and a mouse -- a cockamouse.

* In the ''Series/OpenAllHours'' episode "An Errand Boy by the Ear", Arkwright creates rumours of an epidemic of ferret-rat hybrids, "A frat", in order to sell his overstocked hurricane lamps as "frat detectors".
* In ''Series/BreakingBad'', the episode [[Recap/BreakingBadS3E10Fly "Fly"]] is a BottleEpisode all about Walt obsessively trying to catch a fly in a meth lab.
* The ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' episode "[[Recap/FarscapeS02E14BewareOfDog Beware of Dog]]" has the team hear a rumor of parasite infestation in a star system they've stopped in to resupply, and buy a rather detestable goblin-like creature called a vorc to eliminate it. Due to problems with the TranslatorMicrobes they're short on details and, after sighting a monster belowdecks, begin to suspect the whole thing is a scam and the vorc is the actual parasite. [[spoiler:Actually, the parasite cocoons humanoid victims as food for its young and replaces them, while the vorc uses its goblin form to track and transforms into the monstrous form to kill.]]

* One episode of ''Series/BlackBooks'' has a sub-plot about the bookshop being infested with a strange species of pest which are never named, never appear on-screen and which Bernard and Manny keep killing in increasingly inventive ways. The episode ends with Manny trapping on of the pests in a jug and steaming it to death with a coffee machine, then declaring proudly "I've done it! I got the queen!"
* Subverted in the ''Series/NewsRadio'' episode "Rat Funeral" begins with the cast rushing to save a black-and-white rat named Mike from the traps news director Dave has had set around the office, having [[AdoringThePests adopted the rat]] as a kind office mascot/pet. Dave eventually relents -- only for the snap of a trap to go off in the background. Then double-subverted when it turns out Mike was not one rat but many ''many'' rats, and WKRP actually had quite the infestation on their hands. Everyone's a little grossed out after that.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow'': Donna finds a rat in the house and leaves with the kids to stay with her mother. Cleveland develops an attachment to the rat but it has rabies.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheProudFamily'', Season 1 "Don't Leave Home Without It", the B-story involves Oscar trying to get rid of a mouse in their home. Instead of paying an exterminator to get rid of the mouse, he and Felix try to do it themselves, but it doesn't end well and they ended up spending more money than what the exterminator offered.

* The '' WesternAnimation/{{Catscratch}}'' episode "Bringing' Down the Mouse" has Waffle trying to catch a mouse to be a part of a mouse-catching brotherhood like Blik and Gordon. He ends up facing a dreaded mouse named Squeakus, who even his brothers are afraid of.
* Episode "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E7Bats Bats]]" of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' starts out this way, with the Mane Six dealing with a fruit bat infestation in Sweet Apple Acres.
* ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'': In one episode, Dexter's brain has been accidentally switched with a mouse courtesy by youknowwho (DEEDEE!!!) and been chased out of the lab by a cat to the kitchen where his mother is now his antagonist for this episode.
* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePinkPanther'' episode "Pink Pest Control", this overlaps with TermiteTrouble: the Pink Panther tries to stop a termite that is eating all of the wooden objects in his log cabin home. He tries hitting it with an axe, setting a mousetrap (baited with a toothpick) and a flyswatter, but nothing works. The termite finally eats through the log cabin and causes it to collapse. The episode ends with the Pink Panther forcing the termite to help him rebuild it at gunpoint.
* Played with in ''WesternAnimation/TheBackyardigans'' episode "What's Bugging You" has Tyrone and Uniqua as "pest controllers" trying to rid Tasha's mansion of the wormlike wormans, while trying to keep the "infestation" hidden from [[TheInspectorIsComing an inspection]] by "Mr. Spiffy" (Pablo) -- Tasha won't be able to join the "Spiffy Club" if there are ''worms'' inside. This being ''The Backyardigans'', it's mostly pretend, and the kids are friendly with the wormans in other episodes.

* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePinkPanther'' episode "Pink Pest Control", the Pink Panther tries to stop a termite that is eating all of the wooden objects in his log cabin home. He tries hitting it with an axe, setting a mousetrap (baited with a toothpick) and a flyswatter, but nothing works. The termite finally eats through the log cabin and causes it to collapse. The episode ends with the Pink Panther forcing the termite to help him rebuild it at gunpoint.

* ''Series/TwoBrokeGirls'': Max and Caroline had a cupcake shop, which has rats. The episode was spent on the girls trying to hire an intern to catch the rats, but they didn't succeed.

See also YouDirtyRat and CatchThatPigeon, which often lead to RoadrunnerVsCoyote-style hijinks, particularly in settings with FunnyAnimal casts and substantial FurryConfusion.

* ''Disney/TheRescuers'' Madame Medusa, who is scared of mice, sends her two crocodiles, Brutus and Nero, to catch Bernard and Bianca, when the mouse couple come onto Medusa's wrecked boat to rescue Penny. Subverted in that the two rodent species are the main protagonists.

* The B-plot of a ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode involved the staff trying to deal with an infestation of Cardassian Voles. They start off trying to round them up humanely, but by the end of the episode:

* In ''Series/{{Friends}}'', Phoebe's boyfriend Mike tries to convince her to get rid of her pet rat she named Bob. Bob turned out to be a female when Phoebe discovers a rat nest and Bob is killed by one of the traps that was set by Mike. Mike tries to get Phoebe to give up the baby rats because they can reproduce. Phoebe later gets rid of them.

* ''WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts''

Tends not apply to insect infestations, where residents are more likely to become TheThingThatWouldNotLeave at someone else's place while their own is being fumigated.

Grabbed by Unsung [almost ready to go; any comments?]
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