The BEST episodes written by Thad Mumford
#1 - Goodbye, Farewell and Amen
M*A*S*H - Season 11 - Episode 16
Hawkeye is sent to a mental hospital; a freak accident causes Father Mulcahy to lose his hearing; Margaret worries about her post-war plans; Charles run across a band of Chinese musicians; BJ is sent home, much to Hawkeye's dismay; Klinger decides to stay in Korea to marry Soon-Lee; a ceasefire is declared, ending the war.
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A Different World - Season 2 - Episode 18
Kim becomes overwhelmed by her hectic schedule, as she tries to balance pre-med courses with work and extracurricular activities. She also obsesses over her grades, suffering from nightmares about getting too many B's to make it into medical school. She buys a datebook and tries to plan every moment of her day, ignoring her friends' warnings that her lack of sleep could endanger her health. Kim finally agrees to cut back on her activities after fainting in the Pit. Mr. Gaines quarrels with his wife over the presence of their grown son, whom he wants to throw out of the house. Mr. Gaines crashes at Col. Taylor's place after Velma kicks him out, and quickly wears out his welcome.
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#3 - The Visitor
Good Times - Season 1 - Episode 9
Michael's angry letter about the conditions in the ghetto prompts a visit from the city housing commission.
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#4 - No T.V.
Clarissa Explains It All - Season 1 - Episode 2
Ferguson and Clarissa have been fighting for control of the TV when Clarissa's mother decreed no TV for a week. The problem then becomes about how to fill in the time without getting on each other's nerves.
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#6 - If Chosen, I May Not Run
A Different World - Season 1 - Episode 8
Denise shows potential as a sprinter during P.E. class, and the track coach asks her to come out for the team. Her father is thrilled to have another Huxtable competing for Hillman, as he and his father both ran for the school. Denise enjoys the attention she receives from her friends and other students, but cannot handle the grueling practices. She considers quitting until a star runner informs her that she is not the only one who hates practice; in fact, the entire team feels this way. Maggie desperately tries to track down an economics book that she needs for a term paper.
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#7 - Does He or Doesn't He?
A Different World - Season 1 - Episode 11
Dwayne annoys a graduate student with his stupid pick-up lines. She predicts that Dwayne would freak out if a woman actually responded to his advances, and decides to invite him to her apartment. Jaleesa takes bets from the entire dorm on Dwayne's possible reaction. Denise feels that Dwayne does not deserve this treatment, and warns him that he is being set up. Ron persuades Dwayne to go to Peggy's apartment and win her over with his charm. Denise and Walter (Dwayne's resident director and P.E. teacher) try to convince Dwayne to be himself around women. Peggy realizes that Dwayne is a good guy and cannot follow through with the bet.
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#8 - Bad Rap
NYPD Blue - Season 4 - Episode 19
Simone and Sipowicz catch a very early morning case involving a shooting with a rap artist who refuses to cooperate in identification of the perp. His lack of cooperation and a very tired (and a sometimes slaphappy) Andy makes for a very interesting investigation. Abby tells Greg what was on her and Kathy's mind; they are looking for a donation that will get Abby pregnant. Off. Szymanski implies that Fancy was one of the ones responsible for his being set-up and caught in the alleged theft of a drug dealer's money. Fancy conducts his own investigation. Later, Bobby is propositioned by the Feds to help them with their ongoing investigation into the affairs of Joey Salvo. Greg tells Abby his decision concerning her proposal.
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Judging Amy - Season 2 - Episode 13
As Peter and Gillian prepare for Ned's christening, Evie returns to claim her son; Amy and Tom decide to make their relationship public; Carole has trouble dealing with Vincent's relationship with Donna; Maxine moves forward with her plans for Sanctuary House; Amy looks for signs of remorse from a teenage boy accused of killing his sister.
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#11 - Theo and Cockroach
The Cosby Show - Season 2 - Episode 15
Theo and his friend Cockroach scheme to pass a test on William Shakespeare's "Macbeth", which neither one has read. First appearance of Carl Anthony Payne II as Cockroach. Phylicia Ayers-Allen changes her professional name to Phylicia Rashād, after marrying NBC sportscaster Ahmad Rashād.
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#12 - Dr. War is Hell
A Different World - Season 2 - Episode 1
As the school year begins, Dwayne faces the prospect of taking a calculus class from Col. Taylor, a tough professor nicknamed "Dr. War." He fears that Col. Taylor could expose his academic success as a fluke and destroy his dreams of becoming an engineer, so he asks Walter to help him get into another section. Walter believes that Dwayne could thrive under Col. Taylor's tutelage, and asks the professor to talk to him. Col. Taylor manages to change Dwayne's mind and convince him to enroll in his class. Whitley meets new roommate Kim Reese, a headstrong freshman who plans to become a doctor. Whitley hopes to intimidate Kim and drive her to another room, but finds it impossible to break her. Jaleesa's cheerful freshman roommate, Freddie Brooks, develops a massive crush on Dwayne.
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#16 - Rerun Sees the Light
What's Happening!! - Season 2 - Episode 18
Rerun joins a strange cult and it's up to Roger, Dwayne and Mama to expose the cult as a fraud.
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A Different World - Season 3 - Episode 12
Dwayne's old friend Milt comes for a visit. He believes that Hillman is holding Dwayne back, and encourages him to transfer to the University of Pennsylvania. Milt also recommends that Dwayne distance himself from "dead weight" like Ron. Dwayne considers his friend's words, until a talk with Whitley helps remind him of Ron's good qualities and the feeling of family that Hillman holds for its students. He defends the school's academic reputation to Milt. Col. Taylor and Mr. Gaines attend a reunion for U.S. servicemen. Col. Taylor tries to start a romance with a nurse he knew in Vietnam, only to discover that she is a complete mess.
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A Different World - Season 3 - Episode 1
Dwayne and Whitley run into each other on a flight back to school. Whitley finds that Dwayne has changed over the summer, as he is dressed in an expensive suit and seems to have matured during his successful internship at Kinishewa. Dwayne comforts Whitley when the plane experiences turbulence. Whitley kisses Dwayne in front of her entire dorm, prompting much teasing from her friends. Each insists that they are only friends. Whitley goes to Dwayne's apartment to see him, but is turned off when she finds him dancing like an idiot at a party. The residents of Gilbert Hall struggle to adjust to the fact that the dorm is now coed. Walter is the resident director, with Jaleesa as resident assistant.
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#22 - Back Pay
M*A*S*H - Season 8 - Episode 24
Angered by the way civilian doctors in the States are profiting from the war, Hawkeye presents the Army with a bill for his medical services. Meanwhile, Charles reluctantly demonstrates American medical practices to three Korean medics, and is on the receiving end of their medical expertise.
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#23 - Sometimes You Get the Bear, Sometimes the Bear Gets You
A Different World - Season 1 - Episode 7
Denise is apprehensive about a visit from her grandfather, as she fears that she cannot live up to his expectations. Jaleesa and Maggie ask Denise to take part in a traditional homecoming prank by stealing the head of the rival mascot's bear costume. (They would be the first women in Hillman history to accomplish this.) Denise initially turns them down because she does not want to disappoint her grandfather. She does not realize that Russell tried to steal the bear head in 1935, but was bested by a friend. He is still bitter about this, and bets his friend that he can pull off the feat. Denise decides to help her roommates after Whitley angers her by belittling the prank as "foolishness." Russell and the girls separately seek the assistance of Hillman mascot Dwayne, who distracts the guys assigned to guard the mascot. Denise and her grandfather simultaneously try to steal the mascot head; they realize they have misjudged each other. The girls leave the head in Whitley's bed as revenge
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#25 - Reconcilable Differences
A Different World - Season 1 - Episode 1
Denise Huxtable begins her sophomore year at Hillman and moves into Gilbert Hall. She meets her roommate, Jaleesa Vinson, a 26-year-old divorcée who is the subject of much rumor and innuendo. Denise feels uneasy around Jaleesa and asks Stevie Rallen, the resident director, to find her a new room. Denise decides to try harder to get along with Jaleesa, but Jaleesa is offended that Denise has gone behind her back. They get into an argument, and Denise moves in with wealthy Whitley Gilbert (for whose family the dormitory is named). Whitley drives Denise insane with her idiosyncrasies and generally self-absorbed behavior. Denise apologizes to Jaleesa and asks for another chance, and Jaleesa agrees to stop being so defensive. Meanwhile, overeager freshman Dwayne Wayne hits on every woman in sight.
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#26 - The Apartment
What's Happening!! - Season 2 - Episode 22
Roger and Rerun take an apartment together, but meddling Mama won't leave them alone.
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#27 - It's My Party
Home Improvement - Season 4 - Episode 17
At Randy's party, Tim's over polished dance floor causes Michelle, Randy's girlfriend, to sprain her ankle.
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#28 - A War for all Seasons
M*A*S*H - Season 9 - Episode 6
On New Year's Eve, the staff looks back on the highlights of 1951: The doctors invent an artificial kidney machine; Mulcahy plants a garden; Margaret takes up knitting; and Klinger and Winchester bet on which baseball team will win the pennant.
#29 - Nurse Doctor
M*A*S*H - Season 8 - Episode 7
A beautiful and ambitious young nurse, Harris, who plans to become a doctor when she leaves the Army, finds herself in a misunderstanding with Father Mulcahy. Meanwhile, the camp's water supply is depleted, and the rest of the 4077th is more concerned about where their next shower will come from.
#30 - Bless You, Hawkeye
M*A*S*H - Season 9 - Episode 17
When Hawkeye can't stop a sneezing fit that has no apparent cause, psychiatrist Sidney Freedman digs into the surgeon's past for a clue to this unusual malady.
#31 - Goodbye, Cruel World
M*A*S*H - Season 8 - Episode 21
Klinger redecorates his quarters, but the resultant ridicule he receives drives him to new heights in his efforts to get out of the Army. Meanwhile, the doctors are perplexed by the reaction of an Asian-American war hero who tries to kill himself when he's told that he will be going home. Sidney Freedman is called in to assist.
#32 - Bombshells
M*A*S*H - Season 11 - Episode 6
Posing the theory that people will believe in anything, Charles and Hawkeye start a rumor that Marilyn Monroe plans to visit the 4077th, which gets everyone excited. Meanwhile, B.J. feels responsible when he's unable to rescue a wounded soldier, and is less than impressed when he is presented with a Bronze Star.
#34 - Captain's Outrageous
M*A*S*H - Season 8 - Episode 13
A brawl at Rosie's Bar puts Rosie in the hospital, and the 4077th doctors are pressed into service as temporary saloon-keepers. Meanwhile, Father Mulcahy is apprehensive that his long-pending promotion to captain will again be denied. Potter: "The Pentagon. Weird looking building. Four walls and a spare. Monument to Murphy's Law."
#35 - The Prime of Miss Lettie Bostic
A Different World - Season 1 - Episode 13
Jaleesa fills in as resident director after Stevie leaves the university to get married (to Professor Walcott?). The students attend a lecture by Lettie Bostic, a renowned world traveler. Lettie dropped out of Hillman and moved to Paris, where she kept company with Picasso and other artistic icons and even worked as a spy during World War II. She confesses that she still regrets quitting school, so the dean offers to give her credit for "life experience" if she takes over as Gilbert's resident director. During a dorm meeting, Lettie immediately rubs the girls the wrong way with her blunt comments. Jaleesa, who is bitter about losing her leadership position, organizes a revolt in the hopes of driving Lettie away. Lettie covers for the girls when they break a television set, and both sides agree to be less abrasive.
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#36 - Wheelers and Dealers
M*A*S*H - Season 10 - Episode 5
On the eve of a big poker game, B.J.'s pride is bruised when he finds out his wife is working as a waitress. And Potter takes driving lessons from Klinger.
#37 - Bottle Fatigue
M*A*S*H - Season 8 - Episode 16
Horrified by the gigantic size of his monthly bar tab at the officer's club, Hawkeye vows to give up booze for a week. Meanwhile, Winchester desperately tries to halt his sister's impending marriage to a man he considers unworthy of the Winchester heritage.
#38 - Part 5
Roots: The Next Generations - Season 1 - Episode 5
Eleven years after the Haley's return home with baby Alex, the story opens in 1932 in Henning, Tennessee during the Great Depression, with Simon still unable to find a job as a professor. In the interim, the family continues to live with Bertha's parents and Simon works for his father-in-law hauling lumber. Simon finally receives and accepts a job offer as Director of Agriculture at A&M Institute in Normal, Alabama, and moves his family there. He meets and eventually works with a white Federal County Extension agent while visiting black farmers in the area. Simon shadows the agent, offering growing advice in an attempt to alter the old destructive farming practices, and notifying the farmers of new farm subsidies recently set up by President Roosevelt. However both men face resistance from the county's largest landowner, who not only refuses the advice, but wants to keep the subsidies for himself. When both men push too far, Simon's house is trashed and the agent is assaulted as a warning. Meanwhile, Bertha slowly takes ill, trying to hide it, but eventually succumbing.
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#39 - Are You Now, Margaret?
M*A*S*H - Season 8 - Episode 2
A Congressional aide, Williamson, visits the 4077th on a supposedly routine fact-finding tour, but it's discovered that his motives are far deeper - too uncover Margaret as a communist sympathizer. His case is full of innuendo, so the gang set out to help Margaret.
#42 - Identity Crisis
M*A*S*H - Season 10 - Episode 2
Father Mulcahy counsels a GI who is plagued by guilt because he has swapped tags with a dead colleague. Meanwhile, B.J. and Charles consider ways of keeping a soldier-salesman quiet.
#43 - Heroes
M*A*S*H - Season 10 - Episode 18
Hawkeye is the golden boy of the world press when he treats a celebrity prizefighter, 'Gentleman' Joe Cavanaugh, who has a stroke at the 4077th. Father Mulcahy finds the news hard to take, as Cavanaugh was a hero of his.
#44 - Feminine Fulfillment
Maude - Season 5 - Episode 19
Maude learns more than she would like to know about Vivian, when she tries to figure out why Vivian is behaving so strangely.
#45 - Clair's Last Stand
A Different World - Season 1 - Episode 19
Maggie and Denise plan a summer vacation in Greece. Denise realizes that her parents may not allow her to go, let alone agree to finance the trip, because of her terrible grades. She plans to soften up her mother during a weekend visit. Clair arrives at Hillman on her own after Denise fails to pick her up on time, and Lettie unwittingly fills her in on the trip. Clair refuses to let Denise go to Greece. She and Cliff have decided to make Denise get a summer job, in the hopes that she might take her education seriously if she helps finance it. Denise believes that her parents consider her worthless, but Clair eases her mind. Jaleesa decides to join Maggie in Greece. Whitley fears that she will have to spend her birthday alone after Millie bails on her because of plans with Ron. She does not realize that Millie and Ron have thrown together a surprise party.
#46 - That's the Trouble with You All
A Different World - Season 3 - Episode 17
Whitley plays matchmaker for Dwayne and a beautiful coed in the hopes of convincing him to move on. However, she becomes extremely jealous and tries to sabotage the couple's date. Dwayne and Whitley try to establish some ground rules in an attempt to save their friendship. Walter angers Jaleesa by claiming that women cannot play poker. He bets that she cannot teach Freddie how to play, while Jaleesa challenges him to turn novice Kobie into an accomplished player. Neither apprentice picks up the game, but Jaleesa literally beats the pants off of Walter.