Best/Worst Episode

I really didn't like this show, but I did have my favorite/least favorite episodes...

Best episode: Neighborhood Watch- Jim Osgoode (David Paymer) and his wife, Sally, get a letter from the state police saying that the new guy who just moved into their apartment complex is a convicted child molester. When word of this gets out, the whole neighborhood turns on the new guy. They report him to the local police, but the police say they don't have any evidence to have him arrested. But after Jim and Sally's daughter, Ashley, has several close encounters with the new neighbors, the neighborhood decides to take the law into their own hands. Jim volunteers and kills the neighbor. His wife and friends are there to lie for him when Jim's questioned by the police. A few days later, everything seems to be back to normal, and it seems everyone is going to live happily ever after. Jim, the conquering hero, stops by the playground to pick up Ashley. When they return home, they find Sally sitting in the living room. She's staring into space with a look of horror spread across her face. Confused, Jim notices a letter on the table in front of her. It's from the state police. He picks it up and reads it..."This is in regards to the letter we sent out a few days ago, in which we said your neighbor was a felon. We made a mistake. The felon in question lives on the other side of town. We're sorry for the inconvenience." Jim drops the letter and gets the same look of horror. That good feeling he's had goes away. He's not a hero, he's a murderer.

I think I like this episode, because it's about a witch hunt. I don't know why I think witch hunt are so cool, but they are. Maybe I just like the idea of people allowing their fear to get out of hand. I feel the same way about an episode of the Twilight Zone: Monsters Are Due On Maple Street.

Worst episode: Hate Puppet- Andy Harris (Chad Lowe) is rushing to work one morning, when he, accidentally, runs into and spills his coffee on a man at the bus stop. Even though he apologizes, the man loses it and smites him with a curse. Andy didn't think about this much at the time, but as he goes through his day, scary things start to happen. Everybody Andy comes into contact with, including his boss, his best friend and his wife, Linda (Helene Joy), become filled with intense hatred for Andy. Many of them actually try to kill him for no reason other than "they hate his guts." Eventually, Andy discovers that everything that's happened to him today is written in a new book called "Hate Puppet." Seeing the oppurtunity to get his life back, Andy confronts the writer, William Price (William Atherton) and demands that he "write" him his life back. Mr. Price rings the silent alarm for the police, but before they even arrive, Andy goes insane and shoots himself in the head. Later, Mr. Price is down at the bar telling his friend about the crazy man who came to his house. "He actually thought I was writing about him." he laughed. Just then, he looked up at the bar's TV, and saw the end of a slasher flick. "Ya see that?" he told his friend, "Some idiot's gonna go home tonight and think that that movie's about them." Ironically, that idiot was Mr. Price. Driving home, he's killed in the same way as the character in the movie.

I hate this episode cuz it's just creepy. Can you imagine everyone in the world hating you? Even your friends and family? Where would you run? How would you live? I haven't seen this much hatred since a group of Yankees' fans came to Camden Yards to jeer the Orioles. Sure, you could move to some remote, isolated area, but personally I'd get lonely. I just don't like that idea.

These are my best/worst episodes. What are yours?

Brother Maynard, bring forth the holy hand grenade!