Without giving too much away, we’ll say that last night’s episode of True Blood featured a few of our favorite characters embarking upon one of the craziest drug trips we’ve ever seen on TV. Once we got over all the bright colors and freaky visuals, we started thinking about all the other epic chemical-induced sequences we’ve seen on the small screen over the years. After the jump, we present our 10 favorites for your viewing pleasure. Let us know what we missed in the comments.
Six Feet Under Drug of choice: Ecstasy On True Blood creator Alan Ball’s wonderful Six Feet Under, the Fisher children are always getting high on something or another. But the trippiest trip of all happens when mom Ruth mistakenly takes the ecstasy David hid in an aspirin bottle during a camping trip with boyfriend Hiram. Like a middle-aged Alice in Wonderland, she chases a giant stuffed bear who leads her to an encounter with her dead husband.
Strangers with Candy Drug of choice: Glint We knew Amy Sedaris’ cult classic Comedy Central series would be fantastic right from its debut episode, when Sedaris’ Jerri Blank makes a play for popularity by mixing up a batch of the homemade narcotic “Glint” for a popular classmate. When Poppy spreads a fistful of the gooey, green substance on her lips, she enters an altered state that makes her a gym-class superstar. Of course, then she utters the words “I’m a bumblebee,” crashes into the door trying to fit herself through a keyhole, and ends up in a coma… Watch the entire episode here.
The Simpsons Drug of choice: Guatemalan Insanity Pepper In over two decades, The Simpsons has produced more hilarious drug sequences than just about any other series in history. One of our best loved moments comes when Homer ingests a Guatemalan Insanity Pepper and finds himself in a bad-trip desert where he’s made of liquid, gets dive-bombed by a psychedelic butterfly and somehow manages to break the sun.
Skins Drug of choice: Ecstasy Just about every episode of the British series Skins features teens on hard drugs. But perhaps our favorite sequence takes place in series three, when daffy Pandora throws a slumber party and her straight-laced mom gobbles a handful of brownies that a buddy has spiked with MDMA powder. From that moment on, the whole gang is “Livin’ on a Prayer.”
Flight of the Conchords Drug of choice: LSD After Flight of the Conchords double their fan base by gaining two new groupies at “World Music Jam,” they agree to let one dose them with acid — a whopping sixteenth of a tab each! Suddenly, Jermaine and Bret are dressed like Prince, singing and dancing in a forest full of fuzzy, woodland creatures.
Saved by the Bell Drug of choice: Caffeine In a “very special” — that is, notoriously campy — episode of Saved by the Bell, Jessie uses caffeine pills to juggle schoolwork and the mysteriously successful girl group she’s started with Kelly and Lisa. But when she becomes dependent on the pick-me-up, a meltdown of epic proportions ensues. She’s so excited, she’s so, so… oh, you know the rest.
That ’70s Show Drug of choice: Pot brownies The gang on That ’70s Show gets high on just about every episode, but we love the one that finds Eric and Donna’s parents scarfing a pan of Hyde’s brownies that are, unbeknownst to them, laced with pot. Naturally, they end up around the notorious table in the basement, making some of the best stoned conversation in the series’ history.
Beverly Hills, 90210 Drug of choice: U4EA Oh, that Emily Valentine! In an episode named for the titular fictional drug (obviously meant to be ecstasy), the crew visits a secret underground dance club, and the wild child spikes Brandon’s drink with U4EA. Beverly Hills’ designated goody two shoes finally relaxes, but because this is 90210, the evening nonetheless ends in disaster. Watch the show in its entirety here.
South Park Drug of choice: Cat piss Following a tip from the ever helpful Mr. Mackey, the gang arranges for a male cat to spray Kenny in the face. The resulting trip involves a voyage through space in a badass car, culminating in a ride alongside a bodacious blonde to a palace bedecked in breasts.
Mr. Show Drug of choice: A conk on the head with a metal pipe After a hearty bop on the skull, Billy (David Cross) finds himself in “The Altered State of Drugachusetts” — a land remarkably similar to the classic psychedelic H.R. Pufnstuf cartoons of the ’70s. There, he picks pills from the trees and hangs with puppets named “Halucinojenny” and “Pot Brownies.” His task? To help his stoned friends order a pizza.