Lead series character goes blind for an episode. Name them. (1 Viewer)

[Dale MA]

My fiancee tells me that in an episode of Charmed each of the girls becomes inflicted with a particular disability, the character Piper becomes blind.

 

[Ockeghem]

My fiancee tells me that in an episode of Charmed each of the girls becomes inflicted with a particular disability, the character Piper becomes blind.

Good catch. The episode has one of the girls becoming blind, another deaf, and another, unable to speak. The episode is Sense and Sense Ability (Season Five).

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

Hollywoodaholic,
Lassie did receive an Emmy for that particular episode. And the interpretation of Lassie's acceptance speech was spot on, albeit a bit ... ruff in places.

Okay, now you're pulling my hind leg.
Lassie did not win best actor (or actress?), but I see the series itself did win an Emmy for Best Childrens Program in 1954 and 1955. And no doubt you are right that Lassie was probably trotted up there to fetch the award.

 

[Waylander]

On Quantum Leap, Sam Beckett leaps into a blind pianist, but retains his actual sight until he's blinded himself by a flash of light while the pianist's girlfriend is in danger in the often-used-titled-episode "Blind Faith."

 

[David Deeb]

What a hilarious thread! I didn't realize this was such a cliche.

Not quite blind, but Gilligan once drank something of the Professor's and it caused him to see everything upside-down.

Then, when they tried to correct it by having him drink something else, he then saw 4 or 5 of everything.

 

[Zack Gibbs]

I really wouldn't consider it a cliche, it's more of a staple. Blindness is a common enough disability that lends itself well to the camera. The only reason it seems odd is because it's always "temporary" blindness, lol. Looking at the examples as a whole you'd think it were as if the characters were just coming down with a cold or something-- but it always works within the shows themselves. IMO many of the episodes of the various shows listed are quite good.

We're running out but I can think of a couple of animated entries; Batman from "BTAS" and Hank Hill went blind after seeing his elderly mother having sex in his kitchen on "King of the Hill."

Also Carlos just recently got over a wee bit of blindness on Desperate Housewives.

 

[Harry-N]

BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25th CENTURY. Though it's part of an unreal scenario, Wilma is blind in one of the second season episodes. She's seen with dark glasses and a cane wandering the corridors of the Searcher.
Great thread idea. When I saw it, I immediately thought of M*A*S*H, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, MANNIX, STAR TREK, and some of the others mentioned.
Harry

 

[Ockeghem]

Okay, now you're pulling my hind leg.
Lassie did not win best actor (or actress?), but I see the series itself did win an Emmy for Best Childrens Program in 1954 and 1955. And no doubt you are right that Lassie was probably trotted up there to fetch the award.

Hollywood,
Yeah, a joke. But if Lassie had gone up to the podium, the interpretation of the barking would have been a scream.

 

[Jonathan Kaye]

Sarah Jane Smith is temporarily blinded in the Doctor Who story The Brain of Morbius (January 1976). Specifically, caused by a beam of light fired from a ring worn by Maren, the leader of the Sisterhood of Karn.

 

[Marty McKee]

Chad Everett on MEDICAL CENTER.

 

[TV_Fan]

In the "Four Dreams" episode of "Medium" Devalos temporarily goes blind due to diabetic retinopathy.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Same thing with the second-most overused cliche TV storyline from the same era: the appearance of the hero's identical (and usually evil) double, which always gave the star the chance to really chow down on the scenery. Somebody should start a thread on that one, too.

And let's not forget these hardy perennials:
The lead character is framed for (or just unjustly accused of) a crime he didn't commit and either goes on the run to solve the crime hm/hersefl or is stuck in jail while the rest of the ensemble proves his/her innocence.
Less-than Total Recall. Lead suffers a blow to the head and wanders around for 30 or 60 minutes not knowing who he/she is. Uusally develops a whole alternate life and falls in love, has bittersweet moment at the end of the episode musing on what could ahve been.
Vanishing Act: Lead character disappears at the end of the teaser and doesn't reapper (except sometimes as a hand or foot, or when seen from behind or at a distance) until the tag. The secondary characters spend the episode trying to find the lead, and constantly asking, "What would he [or she] do?" This kind of episode was often done so the star could go off and shoot a feature film during the season. This was also often the reason behind...
Body Double. In this episode the mind of the lead character was transferred into the body of someone else This was a staple of SF shows, but sometimes found its way into straight shows through dream sequences or by invoking improbably sophisticated plastic surgery techniques. (This happened to Number Six on The Prisoner while Patrick McGoohan was off shooting Ice Station Zebra.)
"I got better" A variant on "Vanishing Act" in which the lead is apparently killed in the teaser and the rest of the cast spend the episode feeling sorry for themselves and reminicsing - often with the assistance of copious flashbacks. The lead usually returns for the climax at the end of act IV, then explains his/her improbable survival in the tag. This kind of show, in turn, is a variant on...
The Album Episode. An album episode is any show made up primarily of footage from a bunch of earlier shows. Usually used in conjuction with the "I got better", album shows were also popular for milestones like 100th episodes character anniversaries, weddings or permanent deaths of characters. They often literally involved everybody sitting around leafing through the old family album and having memories (flashbacks) cued by photographs. Album show were sometimes produced when the network requested an additional episode in a given season, beacuse the "envelope" footage could be shot in a day and the rest of the show created in post-production. Also used, like Body Double, when one or more major cast members needed time off for outside projects or when late-seaon budget constraints required that they crank out an extra-cheap episode. This was also often the reason for...
"The bottle show." The lead, sometimes alone, sometimes with others, is trapped in a mountain cabin, desert shack, disabled vehicle by a blizzard, sandstorm, hurricane and has to survive by his/her wits. This immediately reduced the budget for sets and the need for lots of complicated camera set-ups. (If the characters were trapped in their own home or office, so much the better. No need to build any new sets at all.) These episodes often involved on the regulars or at most one guest star, which also saved money. If the lead's mortal enemy is one of the people who is also trapped, the two must work together to escape the situation, and in the process develop a grudging respect for one another.
(This was hilariously spoofed in an episode of Babylon 5 when the Narn, G'Kar, is trapped in a wrecked elevator with the Centauri, Londo, after an explosion. The Centauri occupy G'Kar's home world, and have decreed that for every Centauri killed by the reistance, 100 Narn will be executed. Londo gives the usual, "We have to work together or we'll die" speech, and G'Kar basically says, "I'm good with that. I'll die, but I'll get to watch you die first, because I'm in better shape than you. So I get to kill you by simply doing nothing, and there wont' be any reprisals because there won't be any proof." When the two are finally rescued they are still arguing and cursing one another.

)
Back to the topic: I do seem to recall somebody going (temporarily) blind on the old Adam West Batman series. Can anyone confirm that?
Regards,
Joe

 

[Kenneth V]

Bill Cosby goes blind in an episode of ISPY.

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

series. Can anyone confirm that?
Regards,
Joe

Thanks for that enjoyable and insightful read, Joe. I particularly like how you explain the production reason behind these stock staples. And I notice we obviously have no soap watchers on this thread because probably every character in every soap has gone blind at one time or other. But then soaps, thankfully (except for the prime time variety) are not on DVD.

 

[jcplaty]

Audra Barkley also went blind in the "Big Brother" episode in 1967.

 

[jcplaty]

And who can forget that all-time favorite - amnesia?!

 

[Regulus]

Mary Ingalls (Melissa Sue Anderson) went blind permanently on "Little House on the Prairie". From Little House Wiki, the Little House encyclopedia: Season 4: I'll Be Waving As You Drive Away (Part 1) Just as Mary falls in love with newcomer Seth Barton, her eyesight begins to worsen. Charles takes her to an optometrist, but the news is not good: Mary's vision cannot be saved, and she will soon go blind. In denial, Charles does not tell his daughter. One morning, she wakes up and finds to her horror she is completely blind. Mary becomes very bitter over her predicament and having to rely on others for basic needs.

In July of 2009 I visited Minnesota on Vacation and one of the places I visited was the town of Walnut Grove. There's a Museum there devoted to Laura Ingalls Wilder and one of the things I learned was that Willie Oleson (Nellie's Brother) also went blind, the result of a fireworks accident. BTW the real Pa Ingalls didn't look at all like the Late Micheal Landon!

 

[LeoA]

Macgyver's boss going blind (And in real life) has already been mentioned. But Macgyver also loses his sight in one of the episodes. I believe it's the result of a failed murder attempt.

 

[Theodore J. Mooney]

Fonzie went blind after getting bumped in the head in the sixth season Happy Days episode, "Fonzie's Blindness". The Golden Girls dealt with the issue of blindness as Rose's blind sister comes to visit in the first season episode, "Blind Ambitions". Lucy Ricardo experiences blurry vision in the third season I Love Lucy episode, "Lucy Has Her Eyes Examined".

 

[Hasslein]

King of Queens "Sight Gag" Carrie loses vision after cheap laser surgery.