The term "very special episode" refers to an episode of a show that takes a turn away from the usual content and tone of the show to address a social issue the showrunners feel is important for the audience. (A show may have more than one "very special episode", so it's somewhat subjective to say what percentage of such episodes is required before they stop being "very special" and start being normal content for the show. This will be noted below when it happens.) The term is usually used pejoratively, since many such episodes have been poorly received by audiences who find them jarring, hammy, poorly executed, or unwanted. But some such episodes have received wide praise, even becoming legendary.
Mr. Hooper, "Farewell, Mr. Hooper", Sesame Street (1983)
Sesame Street is a children's educational program that debuted in 1969 and continues today. While the show occasionally addressed serious issues even in its early days, the typical episode features simple lessons like counting, honesty, and getting along. The cast consists of a mixture of puppets, costumed characters, and human characters, and one of the first four human characters was Mr. Hooper - a friendly, elderly general store salesman, portrayed by Will Lee. When Lee passed away in 1983, the showrunners decided against recasting the role or having the character quietly disappear, as they felt that death was an important topic that children shouldn't be completely sheltered from. Instead, they consulted with child psychologists and wrote this episode.
Big Bird is excited to spend time with Mr. Hooper and to share a drawing he made of him with him, but the adult characters painfully remind Big Bird that Mr. Hooper recently died (something they'd told him before but he didn't really understand) and that Big Bird won't see him again - now or ever. The showrunners deliberately avoided using euphemisms like "went away" or "gone", preferring "died" and "dead" to make it clear to the child audience what has happened. The others in the scene share in Big Bird's quiet confusion and help him process his feelings. At the end, Big Bird decides to frame and hang the drawing he was excited to share with Mr. Hooper on the wall in memory of his late friend. The episode has widely been praised as an example of how to talk to children about death, how to manage the death or departure of a character, and how to make an episode like this. The picture of Mr. Hooper that Big Bird hung up in that episode remained as a permanent fixture on the set ever afterward, and remains there today.
Mr. Horton, "The Bicycle Man", Diff'rent Strokes (1983)
Diff'rent Strokes was a sitcom that ran from 1978 to 1986. The cast included the young Black brothers Willis and Arnold Jackson, their white adoptive widower father Phillip Drummond, and Phillip's white biological daughter, Kimberly. Most episodes were about personal issues like growing up, adjusting to a new family life, going to school, or everyday sitcom shenanigans. The show occasionally touched on more serious issues like racism or substance abuse. One standout episode was "The Bicycle Man", which was one of the first "very special episodes" and one of the first TV episodes ever to address pedophilia.
In the episode, the Drummond family is acquainted with Mr. Horton, a bicycle salesman, and since Arnold wants to buy a bike, he and Mr. Drummond negotiate a discount on a bike with Mr. Horton. Mr. Horton then offers an additional deal: he'll give Arnold a free radio attachment for his bike if he agrees to distribute flyers advertising the shop to his friends at school for a while. Arnold agrees, and when Arnold's friend Dudley hears about the deal, he wants in on the deal, too. Over the course of the two-episode special, Mr. Horton continually invites Arnold and Dudley into private areas of his home, offers them sweets, plays gradually more inappropriate games with them, shows them pornographic media, and tells them to keep these meetings secret.
Arnold eventually feels so uncomfortable that he leaves the latest "visit", and upon telling Mr. Drummond about them and that Dudley is still there, Mr. Drummond calls the police. The police rescue Dudley (who had been drugged by Mr. Horton at that point), arrest Mr. Horton, and find more evidence of his crimes in his house. Police come to the Drummond household to report this and to discuss what happened with Arnold, warning him bluntly of the red flags and risks to look out for in the future. In a final voiceover, Mr. Drummond tells viewers to contact police if they suspect child sexual abuse.
The episode was praised for its clear and accurate depiction of the warning signs of pedophilia and for the real-life call to action at the end. It also took special pains to differentiate homosexual people from pedophiles - a distinction not widely understood at the time. It's credited with starting the wave of "very special episodes" in other shows, and at least one real-life pedophile was arrested because a child viewed the episode and recognized the signs in his own life.
Lou Smith, "Papa's Got a Brand New Excuse", The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1994)
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was a sitcom that ran from 1990 to 1996. Its cast included the upper-class Banks family in their fancy Bel-Air home and their long-term guest Will - their working-class nephew. Like the other examples, Fresh Prince was no stranger to social issues, but most episodes were lighthearted comedy about the clash between Will's native street culture and the Banks family's upper-class lifestyle. One memorable exception was "Papa's Got a Brand-New Excuse", where Will's estranged father Lou pays him a visit for the first time in fourteen years, having abandoned Will and his mother when Will was five.
At first, Will is elated to have the chance to reconnect with his long-lost father, but as they spend more time together, it becomes apparent that Lou is indifferent towards his son - not at all the perfect dad Will remembered. At the end of the episode, Lou flakes on some plans they made for a trip together, offering only weak excuses and feeble rescheduling plans he obviously has no intention of following up on. Will finally understands and gives Lou a terse goodbye - calling him "Lou" instead of "Dad" in an implied disowning. After Lou leaves, Will slowly boils over in hurt and rage as Uncle Phil watches helplessly. His voice rising, Will rages about his fourteen years of hurt and how he'll continue without his father as he'd always been forced to do anyway. As his tirade comes to a close, his rage turns to grief, he breaks down in tears, and he asks Uncle Phil "Why don't he want me, man?" before collapsing into Uncle Phil's embrace.
The episode is cited as one of the best in Fresh Prince and one of the best depictions of a "deadbeat dad" ever. Lou did not appear in the series again.
The entire child cast, "April 9th", Arthur (2002)
Arthur is a children's educational show that ran from 1996 to 2022. The show typically deals with an assortment of life lessons like honesty, anxiety, bullying, and family relationships. The season 7 two-part episode "April 9th" was different. This episode's writer, Paul Hirsch, was in New York during the September 11th terrorist attacks. He and the other showrunners felt a duty to help their child audience process what had happened and so they created this episode.
The episode concerns a fire that breaks out at Lakewood Elementary - the school where the child cast of the show attend. Most everyone escapes physically unhurt, but it's a terrifying experience for many. The episodes are told with multiple point-of-view characters, each of who have a different relationship to the fire. Tough guy Binky actually saw the fire, and even though he's too anxious to admit it, he's suffering trauma from the experience. Sue Ellen is distraught that her precious journal was left behind and was destroyed by the fire. Arthur is worried about his father, who was present at the school as part of his catering job during the fire, so now Arthur feels anxious every time his dad leaves for work. And Buster wasn't at school that day, so he feels disconnected from his class who are all discussing the fire. The show goes through each child as they process what has happened, with helpful adults discussing their own experiences with overcoming trauma.
The episodes are praised today by fans of the series as two of the best episodes of its entire 22-year run, and by others as one of the best responses to 9/11 in all of television. In particular, they taught that people experience mass tragedies differently and that there is no easy, one-size-fits-all solution for trauma response that works for everyone.
Jimmy Osgood, "Jimmy", Static Shock (2002)
Static Shock was a superhero action show that ran from 2000 to 2004. Its star was Vergil Hawkins, a teenage boy with electrical superpowers who fights crime in his urban home city, Dakota City. The show occasionally had episodes about special topics such as dyslexia and Black representation, but most were about superhero action and defeating bad guys. Even so, "Jimmy" was one of the show's most memorable episodes even though it had very little superhero action in it.
The episode opens with Vergil speaking to a therapist about a recent traumatic event he experienced at school. In a flashback Vergil narrates, we see Jimmy Osgood - a classmate of Vergil's who is a loner and who is frequently bullied by other teens when he starts trying to make friends. It comes to a head when the bullies terrorize him at a Halloween event he'd worked hard on the special effects for, ruining his work and stuffing him into a locker. When Jimmy doesn't come to school for a week, Vergil and his social worker father visit Jimmy's home. They find him gone, but find a website open on Jimmy's computer where he's made a website (his "Battle Journal") detailing his hatred of his bullies and his plans to seek revenge. When they learn that Jimmy's father's gun is missing, they race to the community center and find Jimmy holding one his bullies at gunpoint and crying, swearing he'll kill him for all he's done. Vergil's friend Richie nearly talks Jimmy down, but Jimmy accidentally pulls the trigger and shoots Richie in the leg. Richie survives, Jimmy is arrested, and the head bully is seen being taken away in tears, and many of those present recieve counseling.
The episode is remembered today for its unusual intensity, even for Static Shock. Despite having a minimum of superhero action, it hit harder than many episodes with larger scale or heinous supervillains.