10 Moments That Literally Stopped TV Shows
These TV shows were stopped dead in their tracks.
Just like movies, TV shows generally want to immerse audiences in their worlds as much as possible, doing only what's absolutely necessary to highlight the artifice of their production.
Escapism is what most people are looking for, after all, but it's also fair to say that not all shows are interested in simply delivering a linear, unchallenging collection of scenes.
Sometimes shows want to test the line between fiction and reality, upending the established tropes and conventions of visual narrative storytelling.
It's generally extremely uncommon for shows to stop the ongoing story dead in its tracks except to go to a commercial, but every so often, a show might make a bold artistic leap and transition into something completely unexpected.
These 10 TV shows, for a multitude of reasons, decided to briefly derail the current story for something totally different, whether breaking through the fourth wall to speak to the viewer or deviating from the series' usual style and tone.
Whatever the motivation, these shows all gleefully subverted viewer expectations by pausing the current story and action, in turn delivering scenes fans won't ever forget...
10. The Monty Python Tribute - Fringe
Few TV shows have ever hit a brick wall as abruptly or bizarrely as in Fringe's season five episode "Black Blotter," where eccentric researcher Walter Bishop (Tom Noble) delves deep into his own drug-addled mind to retrieve the password "black umbrella."
At this point, we're suddenly ripped away from the reality of the show and treated to an 80-second travelogue through Walter's mind, in the distinctive vein of Monty Python's iconic cutout-style animation.
The sequence includes numerous references to Python beyond its mere style - of course, there's a giant foot crushing something - while also giving viewers an ingenious glimpse into Walter's warped psyche.
Animation company 6 Point Harness reportedly produced the idiosyncratic montage in just two weeks, which considering the impact it made with fans is a hugely impressive feat. Unforgettable isn't even the word.