VERY SPECIAL EPISODE: THE MIXTAPE, A

From the 1970s to the 1990s, many of our favorite TV sitcoms visited the dark side with unexpected hard turns into drugs, violence, child abandonment, cults, and other IRL melodrama. These episodes were loaded with lip service to the Cause of the Week—but at rare times when the broadcast godz intervened, we were gifted with truly amazing moments. A VERY SPECIAL EPISODE: THE MIXTAPE is a guided tour through the golden era of “when sitcoms went serious.” Featuring psychedelic dreams, death scenes, and abrupt stretches played uncomfortably straight, this is a hilarious and bizarre journey that’s impossible to unsee.