10 TV Shows That Went Too Far (In Completely Unexpected Ways)

Okay, so this one has to be the most famous entry on this list—or at least the most infamously dark. The beloved ABC sitcom Family Matters was originally envisioned as a spin off from parent programme Perfect Strangers, but despite starring Die Hard’s Reginald VelJohnson as patriarch Carl Winslow the show soon became a vehicle for the character of Steve Urkel.

Played in a career-best turn by Jaleel White, Urkel was that perfect intersection between hilarious and insufferable, and carried many later instalments of the long-running series on his back (shout out to Jim Parsons who must have a hernia after those years on The Big Bang Theory). However, sometimes the show’s Urkel-centred approach backfired—as seen in the Halloween special where his ventriloquist’s doll counterpart, er, kills his entire family.

That’s it. That’s the bit.

The arrival of Stevil, a scheming puppet who conspires to—succesfully!—off the entire Winslow clan to gales of laughter from the studio audience is one of the most deservedly infamous moments of unexpectedly dark TV. And before you ask, no, the impact isn’t ameliorated at all by the reveal that the episode is a dream—after all, nineties sitcoms did “it was all a dream” episodes all the time without using it as an excuse to off the entire cast.