Lead series character goes blind for an episode. Name them. - Page 2

Re: Lead series character goes blind for an episode. Name them.

Steve Austin was blinded in THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN's season 2 episode "Pilot Error" (with the recently deceased Pat Hingle).

Re: Lead series character goes blind for an episode. Name them.

Xena was temporarily blind in the Season Two episode "Blind Faith," which is actually one of the best episodes of the series.

This is a great idea for a thread.

Re: Lead series character goes blind for an episode. Name them.

Also, season 6, episode 1, an episode called "Blind". Jim Phelps undergoes reversable surgery to blind him so he can pose as a blind man as part of a mission.

Just a quick note - shouldn't this be in the TV and HDTV Programming, since it's not actually related to TV on DVD?

Re: Lead series character goes blind for an episode. Name them.

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.

Re: Lead series character goes blind for an episode. Name them.

This is brilliant, guys, really. "Temporary blindness" is the ultimate cliche plotline for TV shows of a particular era. I mean, what could the veteran story editors of some of these shows have been thinking: "Oh, wow, our hero goes blind -- nobody's ever done THAT before?"

I think some of these eye-rollers (pun intended) have a lot to do with TV stars' vanity: the producers/writers knew it was a tired idea, but it gave the show's star something meaty and out of the ordinary to play. 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.

Anyway, add MANNIX: "The Sound of Darkness" to the temporary blindness list.

Re: Lead series character goes blind for an episode. Name them.

I believe that Joe Cartwright was blinded in an episode of Bonanza. Mary Ingalls goes blind as a result of a typhus epidemic.[sp]

Re: Lead series character goes blind for an episode. Name them.

I was just watching the DVD of Season 2 of NIGHT COURT and there is an episode where Harry goes blind (after going to an eye doctor). It is the episode where Michael Richards appears, playing a guy who thinks he is invisible.

Re: Lead series character goes blind for an episode. Name them.

There was an episode in the Incredible Hulk where David Banner goes blind.

Looking at all the responses... what an overused plot device.

Re: Lead series character goes blind for an episode. Name them.

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.

Re: Lead series character goes blind for an episode. Name them.

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).

Re: Lead series character goes blind for an episode. Name them.

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."

Re: Lead series character goes blind for an episode. Name them.

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.

Re: Lead series character goes blind for an episode. Name them.

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.

Re: Lead series character goes blind for an episode. Name them.

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

Re: Lead series character goes blind for an episode. Name them.

Hollywood,

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

Re: Lead series character goes blind for an episode. Name them.

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.

Re: Lead series character goes blind for an episode. Name them.

Chad Everett on MEDICAL CENTER.

Re: Lead series character goes blind for an episode. Name them.

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

Re: Lead series character goes blind for an episode. Name them.

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

Re: Lead series character goes blind for an episode. Name them.

Bill Cosby goes blind in an episode of ISPY.