Time Capsule

The gang gathers items to bury in a time capsule that will be dug up in the distant future. Usually the items are bizarre, and sometimes the capsule is dug up prematurely.

Newhart

Appearances

• The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis: Season 3, episode 7, "Eat, Drink, and Be Merry... for Tomorrow Ker-Boom" (1961). The junior college is burying a time capsule, and Dobie and Maynard's professor asks all her students to contribute items to it, but Maynard doesn't want to participate. He thinks no one will be alive in the future to dig up the time capsule because "one of them slack header jokers is gonna wig out and push the panic button, and it's hello bomb time."
• Head of the Class: Season 1, episode 19, "Video Activity" (1987). The city is burying a time capsule that they plan to open in 2100, and Dr. Samuels talked them into letting the IHP class contribute something, so the class decides to make a music video.
• Newhart: Season 7, episode 9, "Shoe Business is My Life" (1989). Larry, Darryl, and Darryl decide to bury a time capsule, and they ask the gang at the Stratford to contribute items to it, then they dig it up a week later because Darryl put in a library book.
• Wings: Season 7, episode 23, "Life Could Be a Dream" (1996). While the contractor is laying the foundation for Joe and Helen's house, Joe finds the time capsule he, Brian, Helen, and Casey buried 22 years ago, and it contains letters they all wrote about what they thought their futures would be like.
• Frasier: Season 9, episode 19, "Deathtrap" (2002). Frasier and Niles hear that their old house is for sale, so they break into it to dig up the time capsule they buried under the floor boards as kids. When they find a human skull, they try to find out who it was and how it got there, forgetting that they stole it from their science class when they were kids so they could use it to play Hamlet.
• It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Season 6, episodes 8, Who Got Dee Pregnant?" (2010). The gang opens a time capsule they buried 10 years ago and find a photo of Schmitty, who was part of the original gang long before Frank came along, and Mac and Dennis have fond memories of him, so they decide to invite Schmitty back into the gang.
• The Goldbergs: Season 3, episode 24, "Have a Summer" (2016). Evelyn Silver (aka mini Beverly), is organizing a time capsule at school, and Erica contributes a New Kids on the Block plate, which she accidentally wraps in Adam's baby blanket, so Beverly insists they dig up the time capsule, but Geoff contributed a tape confessing his love for Erica, so he tries to get to it first and accidentally breaks open a water line, ruining everything in the capsule except his tape.