Limp Willy

A male character has trouble getting it up, usually from some stress or anxiety in his life.

Just Shoot Me!

Appearances

• Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman: Season 1, episode 1 (1976). Mary and Tom haven't made love in five weeks because Tom refuses. Later, he reveals that it's because "little Tom" isn't working like he used to.
• Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman: Season 2, episode 4 (1976). When Charlie accidentally gets shot while wrestling over a gun with Merle, he ends up in the hospital with one missing testicle, and for some reason, this causes erectile dysfunction, which means he "temporlarily" (as Loretta would say) can't participate in his and Loretta's favorite hobby.
• Soap: Season 1, episode 1 (1977). Mary is fed up because Burt hasn't been able to get it up for six months; Burt reveals in an aside that it's because he feels guilty for killing Mary's first husband.
• Barney Miller: Season 4, episode 18, "Wojo's Problem" (1978). Wojo is not quite himself because he's having trouble getting it up with his girlfriend.
• Soap: Season 4, episode 10 (1981). When Jessica and Chester get officially divorced, Chester struggles to get it up with his girlfriend, Annie.
• Too Close for Comfort: Season 3, episode 4, "A Snip in Time" (1982). After Muriel has the baby, Henry can't seem to get it up anymore because he's afraid Muriel might get pregnant again, and they don't want anymore kids.
• Night Court: Season 5, episode 8, "No Hard Feelings" (1987). Dan, the notorious womanizer, is "having a little trouble launching the old love boat," as Harry put it. His doctor tells him it's because he's stressed out over a big interview.
• The Golden Girls: Season 4, episode 13, "The Impotence of Being Ernest" (1989). Rose is concerned that her new boyfriend hasn't made a move on her. When it finally seems like they're going to seal the deal, he tells her he's impotent.
• Dream On: Season 2, episode 6, "Futile Attraction" (1991). Despite being almost constantly in bed with various women, Martin is suddenly having trouble getting his engine started, and it's putting him in a nasty mood.
• Cheers: Season 10, episode 1, "Baby Balk" (1991). Sam and Rebecca are trying to have a baby together, and Sam is surprised to find that he can't perform. Frasier explains that it's due to the pressure of having sex for the sole purpose of having a baby instead of just having it for fun like he usually does.
• Herman's Head: Season 1, episode 17, "Hard Times" (1992). A beautiful model asks Herman out and goes back to his place, but when they start kissing, Animal notices that he's "not working."
• Seinfeld: Season 5, episode 1, "The Mango" (1993). After Elaine confesses at the coffee shop that she faked all her orgasms with Jerry, George gets so psyched out that he can't perform with his girlfriend, Karen. It's not until he tastes a really good mango that he's able to get back in action.
• Wings: Season 6, episode 8, "Miss Jenkins" (1994). Brian gets a date with his former English teacher, on whom he had a huge crush as a kid, but the awkwardness of being with "Miss Jenkins" causes "equipment failure" and he can't perform.
• Spin City: Season 1, episode 2, "The Great Pretender" (1996). When Manhattan magazine names Mike "Sexiest Man in New York," he starts to feel the eyes of everyone in the city on him, and causes some performance anxiety that presses pause on his sex life with Ashley.
• Spin City: Season 3, episode 5, "It Happened One Night" (1998). The mayor is having trouble getting it up, so he tells Mike he wants to see a psychiatrist, so to avoid any bad optics, Mike sends James to the psychiatrist instead.
• Just Shoot Me!: Season 4, episode 1, "A Divorce to Remember" (1999). While trying to stop Finch and Adrienne from getting married, Maya and Elliot accidentally married each other at a mass wedding held by Nina's cult. At first, Elliot acts like it's not a big deal, but when he spends the night with a model, he's unable to perform, and the only solution is for him and Maya to get divorced.
• Frasier: Season 11, episode 1, "No Sex Please, We're Skittish" (2003). Niles and Daphne are trying to have a baby, and when Frasier reminds him that he made a donation to a sperm bank when he was in college, Niles goes to the bank to find out if his sperm was ever used, and the bank tells him his sperm was discarded because of "low motility."
• Saxondale: Season 1, episode 5, "Squirrels" (2006). Tommy falls out of a client's attic and hurts his back, and as a result, he can't get it up, no matter what he and Magz try, and his condition depresses him, until Vicki accidentally-on-purpose reads his medical records and tells him he's actually in great shape.
• GCB: Episode 3, "Love is Patient" (2012). Amanda's husband, Bill, conned Ripp Cockburn out of a large amount of money before he died, and the being "very, very rich, just not very, very, very rich" is stressing Ripp out so much that can't make his "steeple stand up," as Cricket put it.