It's a Wonderful Life

A character gets a look at what their loved ones' lives would be like if they had never met like in It's a Wonderful Life. It usually seems like they're way better off at first, but then it becomes clear that they're not.

Night Court

Appearances

• Mork & Mindy: Season 1, episode 23, "It's a Wonderful Mork" (1979). When Mork ruins Fred's relationship with his new girlfriend and Mindy's chance to get a job as a journalist, he starts to feel like everyone would be better off without him, so Orson shows Mork what his friends' lives would be like if they'd never met him.
• Head of the Class: Season 2, episode 22, "Moore Than You Know" (1988). Mr. Moore is burned out and considering quitting teaching to return to the theater when his late Uncle Charlie appears and shows him what would happen to his students if he quit.
• ALF: Season 3, episode 2, "Stairway to Heaven" (1988). When the Tanners get annoyed with Alf for his constant shenanigans, he has a dream where his guardian angel, Bob, shows him what his and the Tanners' lives would be like if they had never met each other.
• Night Court: Season 8, episode 18, "Hey Harry, F'Crying Out Loud--It Is a Wonderful Life... Sorta" (1991). Harry is depressed because his girlfriend, Margaret, went into the Witness Protection Program, and he starts to regret ever becoming a judge, so his guardian angel, Herb, appears in the form of Mel Tormé and shows him what his friends' lives would be like if he was never there.
• Parker Lewis Can't Lose: Season 1, episode 23, "King Kube" (1991). In an unusual move, Jerry nominates Kubiac for prom king and gets the whole school to vote for him as a joke, and when Kube finds out, he's so depressed that he tells everyone he's leaving school. To convince him to stay and be buds, the gang makes an It's a Wonderful Life-style video showing him what they think their lives would be like if they never met.
• The Simpsons: Season 5, episode 9, "The Last Temptation of Homer" (1993). Homer is distressed by his attraction to a new woman at the plant, and he has a fantasy where Col. Klink from Hogan's Heroes shows him what his and Marge's lives would be like if they'd never met, and both much happier and rich.
• Beavis and Butt-Head: Season 6, episode 7, "Beavis and Butt-Head Do Christmas" (1995). In a segment of the Christmas special, God decides the boys are total losses and sends an angel named Charlie to kill them, but he can't bring himself to do it, so instead, he shows Butt-Head what the town would be like if he never existed, and Butt-Head finds that it sucks and asks to exist again.