History YMMV / InTheHeatOfTheNight

** Neither Music/QuincyJones' score, nor Music/RayCharles' theme song were nominated, though Jones was nominated for scoring ''Film/InColdBlood''.

* SignatureLine: Virgil Tibbs' retort towards police chief Bill Gillespie.

** "Obsession": [[SexIsEvilAndIAmHorny Ashe Crowe]] is a twisted puritan who was discharged from the army after he was outed as a [[ThePeepingTom Peeping Tom]]. [[StalkerWithACrush Becoming obsessed]] with a Sparta schoolteacher named Jeanette, Crowe begins stalking her, with his harassment of her alternating between affectionate gestures like sending her gifts to manic SlutShaming. After he murders one of her lovers, Crowe meets with Jeanette, and makes it clear to her that he has no actual affection for her, he merely wants total dominion over a woman who he is sexually attracted to due to being a misogynist ControlFreak. Eventually deciding that Jeanette is a lost cause, Crowe tries to kill her by planting a military-grade bomb in her classroom, without any care at all for all of the people that it will maim and kill alongside Jeanette.

** The [[spoiler:fake]] Simon Ware's voice in "The Pig Woman of Sparta."

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Kate Morell in "The Time Of The Stranger", who whines (albeit truthfully) about having been a good mother---to the girl she ''kidnapped'' '''''15 years ago'''''. While it's true that she was suffering from a nervous breakdown due to the near simultaneous loss of her husband and her own child, it doesn't excuse what she did, as Gillespie put it, "every day for the past fifteen years, you stole that child over and over again." Nor does it excuse her murdering (albeit accidentally) the private investigator who tracked her down, who despite being an AssholeVictim herself (she either ripped off or blackmailed clients), was completely right in confronting her about what she did.

* AcceptableProfessionalTargets: Reporters, apparently, considering every employee of ''The Sparta Herald'' was portrayed as an obnoxious, immoral {{Jerkass}}.

** "Give Me Your Life": [[DarkMessiah Marcantony Appfel]] is the {{narcissist}}ic leader of the [[{{Cult}} Church of the Celestial Influence]]. Appfel has his followers sign all of their possessions over to him, and keeps his congregation compliant with drugs, which he also uses to [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil rape]] his devotees' [[WouldHurtAChild children]], with his latest sexual abuse victim being a girl named Clarice. After Clarice is saved from him and outs him as a predator, Appfel barricades himself and his disciples in his church, and has two of his subordinates kidnap Clarice. Appfel then has his men execute a captured reporter and engage in a gun battle with the Sparta PD. It is soon revealed that Appfel intends to martyr himself by blowing himself and all of his mostly oblivious followers up with a bomb; while the police are able to defuse the bomb and save most of the church members, several are still killed when a hidden second bomb is detonated by Appfel.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The 1991 episode "Obsession" revolves around a woman who comes to the Sparta Police for assistance with a man who has been stalking her, with the police struggling to help because he hasn't done any physical harm to her or otherwise broken the law. This dates the episode to before Mississippi made stalking illegal in 2006.

* ValuesResonance: For all of Mr. Purdy's ugly pride about Tibbs "shaming" his sister just by being in the room and listening to her confession, he is justifiably furious about Matt being with Delores, and accurate when he calls it rape regardless of whether or not she "asked for it".

** Neither Music/QuincyJones' score, nor Music/RayCharles' theme song were nominated.

** Modern viewers will probably be shocked to find out that Creator/SidneyPoitier wasn't even nominated for an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for portraying Mr. Tibbs. The fact that co-lead Creator/RodSteiger won Best Actor only makes this more noticeable.

-->"Now, look. I got no wife. I got no kids. Boy, I got a town that don't want me. And I got an air conditioner that I have to oil myself, and a desk with a busted leg. And on top of that, I got this, uh... place. Now, don't you think that'd drive a man to takin' a few drinks? I'll tell you a secret. Nobody comes here. Never."

* SignatureLine: "They call me Mister Tibbs!".
* SignatureScene: Virgil Tibbs' retort towards police chief Bill Gillespie.
-->'''Bill''': "What do they call you in Philadelphia?"
-->'''Virgil''': "They call me Mister Tibbs!"

** Modern viewers will probably be shocked to find out that Creator/SidneyPoitier wasn't even nominated for an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for portraying Mr. Tibbs. The fact that co-lead Rod Steiger won the Oscar only makes this more noticeable.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Kate Morell in "The Time Of The Stranger", who whines (albeit truthfully) about having been a good mother---to the girl she ''kidnapped'' '''''15 years ago'''''. While it's true that she was suffering from a nervous breakdown due to the near simultaneous loss of her husband and her own child, it doesn't excuse what she did, as Gillespie put it, "every day for the past fifteen years, you stole that child over and over again." Not does it excuse her murdering (albeit accidentally) the private investigator who tracked her down, who despite being an AssholeVictim herself (she either ripped off or blackmailed clients), was completely right in confronting her about what she did.

** Creator/NormanJewison wanted the song on the diner jukebox to be "Li'l Red Riding Hood" by Sam The Sham & The Pharoahs, but they couldn't get the rights (licensing pop songs for movies being almost unheard of in 1967), so Music/QuincyJones and lyricists Alan & Marilyn Bergman wrote the new but very similar "Foul Owl on the Prowl" for the diner scene.

-->"Now, look. I got no wife. I got no kids. Boy, I got a town that don't want me. And I got an air conditioner that I have to oil myself, and a desk with a busted leg. And on top of that, I got this, uh...place. Now, don't you think that'd drive a man to takin' a few drinks? I'll tell you a secret. Nobody comes here. Never."

** Modern viewers will probably be shocked to find out that Creator/SidneyPoitier wasn't even nominated for an Oscar for portraying Mr. Tibbs. The fact that co-lead Rod Steiger won the Oscar only makes this more noticeable.

[[AC:Film]]

[[AC:Series]]

** Norman Jewison wanted the song on the diner jukebox to be "Li'l Red Riding Hood" by Sam The Sham & The Pharoahs, but they couldn't get the rights (licensing pop songs for movies being almost unheard of in 1967), so Music/QuincyJones and lyricists Alan & Marilyn Bergman wrote the new but very similar "Foul Owl on the Prowl" for the diner scene.

** Norman Jewison wanted the song on the diner jukebox to be "Li'l Red Riding Hood" by Sam The Sham & The Pharoahs, but they couldn't get the rights (licensing pop songs for movies being almost unheard of in 1967), so composer Quincy Jones and lyricists Alan & Marilyn Bergman wrote the new but very similar "Foul Owl on the Prowl" for the diner scene.

* {{Anvilicious}}[=/=]SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: The show had ''a lot'' of {{Very Special Episode}}s that covered "racism, police brutality, interracial relationships, hate crimes, drug trafficking, drug addiction, alcoholism, teenage pregnancy, rape, AIDS, misogyny, incest, child abuse, sexual harassment, euthanasia, anti-Semitism, political corruption, prostitution, domestic violence, mental disorders, dysfunctional families, suicide, capital punishment, poverty, and drunk driving."

* ValuesResonance: Tibbs is an intelligent, well-spoken, brave African-American police detective who called out racism (or, in some cases, slapped racists). He lacks offensive stereotypes and is a well-written, complex character.

* ValuesResonance: Tibbs is an intelligent, well-spoken, brave African-American police detective who called out racism (or, in some cases, slapped racists) with no offensive stereotypes and being a well-written, complex character.

** Modern viewers will probably be shocked to find out that Creator/SidneyPoitier wasn't even nominated for an Oscar for portraying Mr. Tibbs.

* SignatureScene: Virgil's retort towards police chief Bill Gillespie.

* SignatureScene: Virgil's retort towards police chief Bill Gillespie
-->'''Virgil Tibbs''': "They call me Mister Tibbs!"

** Modern viewers will probably be shocked to find out that Creator/SidneyPoitier wasn't even nominated for a Oscar for portraying Mr. Tibbs.

%%* HoYay: "You ever get lonely, Virgil?"

* ValuesResonance: Tibbs is an intelligent, well-spoken, brave African-American detective who called out racism (or, in some cases, slapped racists) with no offensive stereotypes and being a well-written, complex character.

* CrossesTheLineTwice: Gillespie's reaction to Tibbs hanging a big picture of UsefulNotes/MartinLuther KingJr up on one of the walls of their shared office at the end of "Pilot."