With hindsight, these TV episodes hit different. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at TV episodes that play differently since they first aired because of what we know now.
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00:00Maybe we should wear masks.
00:04What difference does it make?
00:05According to you, we've already been exposed.
00:07Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at TV episodes that played differently since
00:11they first aired because of what we know now.
00:13I think it's time to grow up, fellas.
00:14I want you to live, and it's gonna be okay.
00:15Alright, man.
00:16I'm the new Chris, okay, fellas?
00:21Number 10.
00:22No Good Deed.
00:23Person of Interest.
00:24This sci-fi drama revolved around a government computer called The Machine, which can access
00:28information beyond your imagination.
00:29In each case, a single name gets added to what I wrote, and each time, that name turns
00:34out to be the key to stopping a major terrorist attack.
00:36Six for six.
00:37In season one's penultimate episode, an NSA security analyst named Henry Peck learns about
00:43The Machine and plans to inform the press.
00:45Almost a year after this episode debuted and 16 months after it was written, NSA intelligence
00:50contractor Edward Snowden leaked classified documents, revealing surveillance programs
00:54many deemed unethical.
00:56The only way to be that accurate is with illegal surveillance on a massive scale.
01:01Then there's this.
01:02Sibilance.
01:03An internal audit of the NSA internet is totally routine until they find signals hidden just
01:08beyond the Shannon window.
01:10The Machine doesn't exist in real life, but Snowden's actions confirm that the government
01:13is keeping a closer eye on citizens than we realized.
01:16Reflecting on the episode, actor Michael Emerson said,
01:19I don't have to be in charge of selling this concept, this fictional concept, to anyone
01:23anymore.
01:24It ain't fiction.
01:25Everyone knows it now.
01:26How do you know all this?
01:27Because I built it.
01:34Number 9.
01:35The Midnight Sun.
01:36The Twilight Zone.
01:37The Twilight Zone often mirrored real-world issues that remain prevalent.
01:41Season 3's The Midnight Sun was ahead of its time, however.
01:43The episode sees the Earth slowly but surely heading toward the sun with temperatures skyrocketing.
01:48There was a scientist on the radio this morning.
01:51He said that it'll get a lot hotter more each day.
01:54Wow, that we're moving so close to the sun.
01:56This turns out to be a dream, although Earth is actually moving away from the sun, making
02:00temperatures drop.
02:01When this episode premiered in 1961, climate change wasn't unheard of, but it was hardly
02:05top of mind.
02:06The term global warming wouldn't even be coined until 1975.
02:09From the Weather Bureau, the temperature stood at 110 degrees at 11 o'clock this morning.
02:16Humidity, 91 percent.
02:18Forecast for tomorrow?
02:21Hot.
02:23While the Earth isn't inching toward the sun, it's difficult to watch this episode
02:26now without thinking about the record-high temperatures that could mark civilization's
02:30downfall.
02:31Some write it off as science fiction, but climate change isn't restricted to the Twilight
02:35Zone.
02:36She's coming out of it now.
02:37Norma?
02:38Norma?
02:39Yes?
02:40You've been running a very high fever, but I think it's broken now.
02:48Number 8.
02:49The Simon Earth.
02:50Star Trek.
02:52In the finale of Star Trek, the USS Enterprise travels back to 1968, the same year this episode
02:57aired.
02:58Spock mentions there's going to be an important assassination on this day.
03:00There will be an important assassination today.
03:03The line doesn't impact the episode, which was originally conceived as a backdoor pilot
03:07that never went anywhere.
03:08Less than a week later, though, Martin Luther King, Jr., himself a Star Trek fan, was assassinated.
03:13Revisiting the episode today, this throwaway line now feels like a haunting omen.
03:18It wouldn't be the last time Star Trek proved eerily prognostic.
03:30In season 3 of Deep Space Nine, the crew visits San Francisco during the 2020s, where homelessness
03:35and social unrest are more relevant than ever.
03:37Today is where the future and past intertwine.
03:44Number 7.
03:45Episode 22, Episode 3, Grange Hill.
03:47Consisting of more than 600 episodes across 31 seasons, this British teen drama had a
03:52revolving door of young talent.
03:54Actress Laura Sadler joined the cast in 1997 as Judy Jeffries, appearing in 30 episodes.
04:09Sadler's time on the show came to an end in 1999 when Judy, attempting to get out of a
04:13burning storeroom, fell out of a window to her death.
04:23Four years later, Sadler fell off the balcony of her boyfriend's flat.
04:27Sadler didn't survive the accident, with experts finding alcohol and drugs in her system.
04:30There might be a few differences, but many noticed that Sadler's death was grimly similar
04:35to her character's.
04:36Knowing how Sadler died, Judy's fate carries an even more tragic sentiment.
04:49Number 6.
04:50Eat, Drink, Dick, Marry, Third Rock from the Sun.
04:52This sitcom's third season ends on a cliffhanger with Phil Hartman's character kidnapping
04:56Harry, believing he can profit off him.
05:12The episode leaves the door open for Hartman's character to return.
05:15Eight days after the episode aired, though, Hartman was murdered by his wife Brynn before
05:19taking her own life.
05:20Although Hartman worked on a few other projects that had yet to come out, his Third Rock guest
05:24spot was the last performance the world would get to see during his lifetime.
05:47While the showrunners had plans for Hartman's character, his absence would be explained
05:51in the season four premiere, where Harry is sold to a circus run by Larry Miller.
05:55Watching these two episodes were a reminder that Hartman was taken far too soon.
06:10Number 5.
06:11The One with Rachel's Other Sister, Friends.
06:13Rewatching any Friends episode is bittersweet, knowing that Matthew Perry is no longer with
06:16us.
06:29This season nine Thanksgiving episode is especially rough, however.
06:32The storyline revolves around who will get custody of Emma if Ross and Rachel unexpectedly
06:36die.
06:37They choose Monica as a guardian, but if anything happens to her, Ross and Rachel aren't convinced
06:41that Chandler can handle the responsibility.
06:43Chandler proves that he's up to the task, but after accidentally breaking Monica's fine
06:47china, he isn't sure if he'll live much longer.
06:55At the time, nobody could have imagined that Perry would be the first friend to leave us.
07:01In retrospect, what was once a funny zinger may be the most heartbreaking line in the
07:04series.
07:05Number 4.
07:12Walk Out, In the Heat of the Night.
07:22O.J. Simpson was acquitted of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman's murders.
07:26Even after his passing, though, Simpson remains an infamous figure in the court of public
07:29opinion.
07:30It's easy to forget that Simpson was once a beloved figure, showing promise as an actor
07:34following his NFL tenure.
07:35In this TV adaptation of the Oscar-winning film, Simpson was considered for the role
07:39of Virgil Tibbs.
07:40The part ultimately went to Howard Rollins, but Simpson did make a season two guest appearance
07:45as Councilman Lawson Stiles.
07:54Caught in the middle of a tense union strike, the councilman is murdered in his home one
07:58night.
07:59Wherever you stand on the O.J. debate, there's no denying that this episode took an ironic
08:02turn six years later.
08:09Number 3.
08:10Chris Farley, Saturday Night Live.
08:18In season 23, Chris Farley returned to SNL as host.
08:21It was Farley's last trip to his old stomping grounds and one of the last times we'd see
08:25the comedian alive.
08:26Barely two months after its airing, Farley tragically died of an overdose.
08:30Farley's behind-the-scenes struggles were evident in this episode, as many cast members
08:33noticed that he wasn't in the best health.
08:35Producer Marcy Klein even worried he might have a heart attack.
08:38The opening sketch in particular hits too close to home, as Tim Meadows and Chevy Chase
08:42try to convince Lorne Michaels that Farley is well enough to host following his last
08:46trip to a spa.
08:47For a period following Farley's death, this sketch and his monologue were cut from syndication.
09:17Number 2.
09:18Plague, The Dead Zone.
09:19COVID-19 has changed the way we look back on numerous TV episodes, including one of
09:24Supernatural that totally called the whole toilet paper thing.
09:39The TV adaptation of The Dead Zone arguably came the closest to foreshadowing the pandemic,
09:43however.
09:44In season 2, Johnny Smith has a vision of a deadly virus that originated from China
09:57and involved an animal.
09:58The characters discuss whether masks are necessary, look to chloroquine as a possible cure, and
10:03the coronavirus is even directly mentioned.
10:15While COVID-19 hadn't been discovered yet, SARS-CoV-1, a coronavirus strain, had recently
10:20led to a serious outbreak.
10:22This episode was largely inspired by the 2002-2004 SARS outbreak, although in 2020 hindsight,
10:28it may feel like the writers had prognostic powers like Johnny.
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10:53Number 1.
10:54Pilot, The Lone Gunman.
10:55The Lone Gunman only lasted one season, but it's remembered for two things, being an X-Files
10:59spinoff and inadvertently predicting the September 11th attacks.
11:06The pilot episode, which debuted on March 4th, 2001, sees the Lone Gunman uncover a
11:11plot to hijack a commercial plane and crash it into the World Trade Center.
11:15Something like this wasn't entirely unprecedented, as the World Trade Center bombing had taken
11:19place several years earlier.
11:21Even so, it's unnerving just how close this episode came to predicting the reality we
11:25would face six months later.
11:31Not everything coincides with real life, as the episode exposes government workers as
11:35the villains.
11:36Of course, even that unintentionally foreshadowed some of the 9-11 conspiracy theories we've
11:40seen since.
11:49Which TV episodes do you find the most disturbing in retrospect?
11:53Let us know in the comments.