Close Encounter
One or more characters claim they saw a UFO and/or alien creatures, and no one believes them. Sometimes it turns out to be something more mundane; sometimes it doesn't.
The Dick Van Dyke Show
Appearances
- The Dick Van Dyke Show: Season 5, episode 3, "Uhny Uftz" (1965). While Rob is working late alone one night, he sees what looks like a flying saucer outside the window, and it speaks to him in a garbled language. It turns out to be a prototype a toy maker in the building has been testing.
- Barney Miller: Season 4, episode 22, "The Sighting" (1978). Wojo claims he saw a spaceship while he was driving home from his girlfriend's place, and it stunned him so much he was late for work.
- Soap: Season 2, episode 20 (1979). Burt sees a flying saucer, and nobody believes him. Later, he's proven right when the aliens abduct him and replace him with a duplicate.
- Newhart: Season 1, episode 19, "Heaven Knows Mr. Utley" (1983). George thinks he sees an alien spaceship in the sky above the inn, and when the town finds out, they ridicule him.
- The Golden Girls: Season 4, episode 3, "The One That Got Away" (1988). Rose thinks she saw a UFO on the lanai, but Dorothy is convinced it was a plane, so Rose contacts a military base, and a major comes over and confirms it was a UFO, and Dorothy starts watching the skies with Rose. The next day, an article in the paper announces that the UFO was actually a secret bomber.
- Wings: Season 2, episode 16, "Plane Nine from Nantucket" (1991). While on a flight hauling mannequins, Joe and Brian think they see a UFO. When Brian tells the gang at the airport, they don't believe him, and Joe pretends he doesn't know what he's talking about because he doesn't want "bad press" for the airline.
- Wings: Season 8, episode 7, "Olive or Twist" (1996). A group of UFO enthusiasts predicts that aliens will visit the island, and no one believes them, but they turn out to be right when a spaceship lands on Nantucket.
- The Simpsons: Season 8, episode 10, "The Springfield Files" (1997). Moe won't let Homer drive home from the bar, so he walks home and takes a shortcut through the woods, where he sees a glowing creature emerge from the trees. The next day, Homer tells everyone about the "alien" he saw, but nobody believes him, so he and Bart record a short video of it, and the whole town gathers in the woods to see it, but they're shocked to discover it's just Mr. Burns after his weekly medical treatments.