History VerySpecialEpisode / WesternAnimation

* ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'' says it word for word in the description of Recap/AquaTeenHungerForceS4E6PartyAllTheTime, a bizarrely serious episode where Frylock gets cancer and he and his friends have to deal with it in a very realistic way. It became a RunningGag for any episode that involves a serious theme (like rape or alcoholism) no matter how irreverently it treats it.

* ''WesternAnimation/AlicesWonderlandBakery'': "Peanut Butter Change-Up has Alice make peanut butter teacups only to learn that Jojo the Dodo is allergic to peanuts, her main symptom being itchy jelly legs, which leads to Alice deciding to replace the peanut butter with something else. This episode teaches viewers to use a good peanut butter replacement should someone have a peanut allergy.

* ''WesternAnimation/AlvinAndTheChipmunks'': "[[Recap/AlvinAndTheChipmunksS7E1CookieChomperThree Cookie Chomper III]]" teaches about death, this time that of a pet. The Sevilles take in a lost kitten, which they name "Cookie Chomper III" or "Cookie" for short. The chipmunks spend the first few minutes adjusting to life with their new friend, but things take a tragic turn when Cookie gets out of the house and is run over by a car in the middle of the night. The rest of the episode shows how the chipmunks deal with their loss -- Theodore refuses to accept that the cat is dead; Alvin tries to get rid of all the houseplants and replace them with artificial plants (so that nothing else can die on them), and Simon is too miserable to do anything. Dave later convinces the chipmunks to think about the happy memories they have of Cookie. The episode ends with Dave and the chipmunks going to the animal shelter to get a new pet; Dave tells the chipmunks that, though this pet won't be the same as Cookie, they will love it just as much. (Rather than choosing another cat, they choose a dog which they name Lily.) [[RealitySubtext The episode was also based on a real-life experience]], when Ross Bagdasarian Jr. (son of series creator Ross Bagdasarian) and his wife Janice Karman's dog Tiger Lily was killed by a car.

* The ''WesternAnimation/BluesClues&You'' episode "If You Don't See It, Be It!" focuses on racism and stereotyping. The episode features Blue and her friends are putting on a superhero movie. Perriwinkle (a cat) is discourage from playing a superhero typically played by a dog. Josh later reveals his own childhood experence with racism in which his friends discourages him from play a superhero because he's Asian.

* The ''WesternAnimation/BluesClues&You!'' episode "If You Don't See It, Be It!" focuses on racism and stereotyping. The episode features Blue and her friends are putting on a superhero movie. Perriwinkle (a cat) is discourage from playing a superhero typically played by a dog. Josh later reveals his own childhood experence with racism in which his friends discourages him from play a superhero because he's Asian.

* The ''WesternAnimation/Blue'sClues&You!'' episode "If You Don't See It, Be It!" focuses on racism and stereotyping. The episode features Blue and her friends are putting on a superhero movie. Perriwinkle (a cat) is discourage from playing a superhero typically played by a dog. Josh later reveals his own childhood experence with racism in which his friends discourages him from play a superhero because he's Asian.

* The ''WesternAnimation/{{BluesClues&You!}}'' episode "If You Don't See It, Be It!" focuses on racism and stereotyping. The episode features Blue and her friends are putting on a superhero movie. Perriwinkle (a cat) is discourage from playing a superhero typically played by a dog. Josh later reveals his own childhood experence with racism in which his friends discourages him from play a superhero because he's Asian.

* The ''WesternAnimation/{{BluesClues&You!}}'' episode "If You Don't See It, Be It!" focuses on racism and stereotyping. The episode features Blue and her friends are putting on a superhero movie. Perriwinkle (a cat) is discourage from playing a superhero typically played by a dog. Josh later reveals his own childhood experence with racism in which his friends discourages him to play a superhero because of his Asian features.

* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'' had a parody of them called "[[Recap/BeavisAndButtheadS7E06AVerySpecialEpisode A Very Special Episode]]", where the duo finds a baby bird (or, as Beavis calls it, "a chicken nugget") and nurses it back to life. [[SpringtimeForHitler By complete accident]], as in typical B&B fashion, they actually wanted to see it die. When the two managed to restore the bird by feeding it, they actually thought that the bird [[InsaneTrollLogic would automatically die only after they fed it]]. They were told by the nurse that the bird was going to die anyway, no matter how much they tried to help it. Of course, being stupid as they are, [[OneDialogueTwoConversations they thought she said to feed it so it could die]].

* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'' had a parody of them called "[[Recap/BeavisAndButtheadS7E06AVerySpecialEpisode A Very Special Episode]]", where the duo finds a baby bird (or, as Beavis calls it, "a chicken nugget") and nurses it back to life. [[SpringtimeForHitler By complete accident]], as in typical B&B fashion, [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals they actually wanted to see it die]]. When the two managed to restore the bird by feeding it, they actually thought that the bird [[InsaneTrollLogic would automatically die only after they fed it]]. They were told by the nurse that the bird was going to die anyway, no matter how much they tried to help it. Of course, being stupid as they are, [[OneDialogueTwoConversations they thought she said to feed it so it could die]].

* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'' had a parody of them called "[[Recap/BeavisAndButtheadS7E06AVerySpecialEpisode A Very Special Episode]]", where the duo finds a baby bird (or, as Beavis calls it, "a chicken nugget") and nurses it back to life. [[SpringtimeForHitler By complete accident]], as in typical B&B fashion, they actually wanted to see it die. When the two managed to restore the bird by feeding it, they actually thought that the bird [[InsaneTrollLogic would automatically die only after they fed it]]. They were told by the nurse that the bird was going to die anyway, no matter how much they tried to help it. Of course, being stupid as they are, [[OneDialogueTwoConversations they thought she said to feed it so it could die]].

** "Mind Pollution" has [[LongLostUncleAesop Linka's cousin Boris]] get addicted to a designer drug called "Bliss" created by Verminous Skumm (who appeared to specialize in "pollution of the body" in the show, so to speak). The episode is notable for breaking the NeverSayDie rule by showing Linka's cousin die from throwing himself out the window and bleeding profusely.
**
[[Recap/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteersS3E11AFormulaForHate A Formula for Hate]]" is about AIDS, involving Skumm spreading lies about a young AIDS sufferer such as the virus could be contracted just through casual contact and the boy being bullied and accused of having contracted it through gay sex with his (initially protective) best friend.
** One episode has Wheeler discover in a dream an island inhabited by greedy, foolish humanoid mice who refuse to stop having large families. The initially clueless Wheeler is against government-mandated population control, but he learns his lesson when the humanoid mice overpopulate to the point that their island destroys itself.

* ''WesternAnimation/AlvinAndTheChipmunks'': "[[Recap/AlvinAndTheChipmunksS7E1CookieChomperThree Cookie Chomper III]]" teaches about death, this time that of a pet. The Sevilles take in a lost kitten, which they name "Cookie Chomper III" or "Cookie" for short. The chipmunks spend the first few minutes adjusting to life with their new friend, but things take a tragic turn when Cookie gets out of the house and is run over by a car in the middle of the night. The rest of the episode shows how the chipmunks deal with their loss -- Theodore refuses to accept that the cat is dead, Alvin tries to get rid of all the houseplants and replace them with artificial plants (so that nothing else can die on them), and Simon is too miserable to do anything. Dave later convinces the chipmunks to think about the happy memories they have of Cookie. The episode ends with Dave and the chipmunks going to the animal shelter to get a new pet; Dave tells the chipmunks that, though this pet won't be the same as Cookie, they will love it just as much. (Rather than choosing another cat, they choose a dog which they name Lily.) [[RealitySubtext The episode was also based on a real-life experience]], when Ross Bagdasarian Jr. (son of series creator Ross Bagdasarian) and his wife Janice Karman's dog Tiger Lily was killed by a car.

** Another episode is about AIDS, involving Skumm spreading lies about a young AIDS sufferer such as the virus could be contracted just through casual contact (it also had implications that the AIDS sufferer was gay and in love with his friend, who was defending him from being bullied).

* Th ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' episode "Candace's Big Day" was a cleverly disguised VSE about healthy eating. The Doof and Perry plotline has Doof's evil scheme involving attempting to eat healthy, but he ends up dipping everything he eats into unhealthy additives and gains weight as a result.

* Two episodes of ''WesternAnimation/TheLittles'' had a few of these: The first was “Prescription for Disaster” in which they meet a girl named Angela, who’s mother is addicted to prescription drugs which cause her to be very irritable and neglect her, one of her pills gets into a pie Dinky Little was eating which causes him to hallucinate that his family members are monsters and make him act paranoid.