Hostage Situation

One or more characters are held hostage by criminals, usually in their home or in a bank.

The Nanny

Appearances

• The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis: Season 4, episode 17, "All Right, Dobie, Drop the Gun" (1963). An escaped convict and his girlfriend hold the Gillis family hostage while they hole up at the grocery store, and Maynard is their only hope for rescue.
• The Munsters: Season 2, episode 4, "Herman Munster, Shutterbug" (1965). When Herman accidentally takes a photo of two bank robbers fleeing the scene of their crime, they track him down and hold the family hostage while they "hole up" until "the heat is off."
• My Mother the Car: Season 1, episode 30, "Desperate Minutes" (1966). Two jewelry store robbers hold the Crabtree family hostage, and Dave has to secretly recruit Mother to help.
• Captain Nice: Episode 10, "Who's Afraid of Amanda Woolf?" (1967). When a mob boss's girlfriend takes a shine to Carter, the mob invades the Nash home and holds the family hostage.
• Sanford and Son: Season 5, episode 3, "Bank on This" (1975). While at the bank applying for a loan, Fred and Lamont are held hostage by two bank robbers, one of whom went to high school with Lamont.
• The Bob Newhart Show: Season 5, episode 21, "Desperate Sessions" (1977). A bank robber holds Bob hostage in his office to get the attention of a woman he likes.
• What's Happening!!: Season 1, episode 20, "Nice Guys Finish Last" (1977). Dee's prison pen pal, Judy, has escaped from jail and is staying at the Thomas home. When her fellow escaped convict boyfriend, Lew, comes to pick her up, the cops aren't far behind. In an attempt to avoid going back to jail, Lew holds Dee hostage.
• Barney Miller: Season 4, episode 20, "Hostage" (1978). An armed robbery suspect and his brother hold everyone in the squad room hostage in an attempt to keep the robber from going back to prison.
• WKRP in Cincinnati: Season 1, episode 5, "Hold Up" (1978). While Johnny is broadcasting remotely from a stereo store, an out-of-work DJ who was turned down for a job at the station holds Johnny and the store owner hostage.
• Diff'rent Strokes: Season 3, episode 1, "The Bank Job" (1980). The Drummonds are on their way to an amusement park, and Arnold is bringing Tootie as his date, so he wants to stop at the bank and take and take out some money. While he and Willis are in the bank, two men hold everyone hostage while they rob it. Mr. Drummond grows concerned when Willis and Arnold don't come out after the bank closes, so he goes into the bank to look for them and is held hostage too.
• The Young Ones: Season 2, episode 5, "Sick" (1984). After escaping from a prison van during a street brawl, "Brian Damage Balowski" breaks into the house and holds the gang hostage with a shotgun.
• It's a Living: Season 2, episode 4, "Desperate Hours" (1985). A foreign embassador dines in the restaurant, and three terrorists from his country hold everyone hostage until he complies with their demands.
• Night Court: Season 3, episode 2, "The Hostage" (1985). A burglary suspect who thinks he's an alien from Saturn holds the courtroom hostage demanding materials he needs to contact his planet and get home.
• Night Court: Season 3, episode 17, "The Mugger" (1986). A man tries to mug the owner of an army surplus store, and Flo tackles him to the ground, but the mugger grabs a grenade from the store owner's pocket and holds everyone in the cafeteria hostage.
• Sledge Hammer!: Season 1, episode 4, "Dori Day Afternoon" (1986). While Sledge and Dori are in a bank trying to find out why Sledge can't get cash from the ATM, a pair of armed bank robbers come in and hold everyone hostage.
• Golden Girls: Season 2, episode 11, "Twas the Night Before Christmas" (1986). While Dorothy and Blanche are picking Rose up at work, a man in a Santa suit comes in and holds everyone hostage at gunpoint because he wants people to spend Christmas with him.
• Murphy Brown: Season 1, episode 7, "Set Me Free" (1988). In the middle of a broadcast, a man walks onto the set, pulls out a gun, and demands that Murphy read a statement he wrote, but she refuses, so he holds everyone in the studio hostage.
• Night Court: Season 5, episode 19, "Jung and the Restless" (1988). Roz is sentence to attend a sensitivity "encounter" therapy group after roughing up a guy in the holding cell, and the rest of the gang comes along to support her. To everyone's surprise, a young man with a gun, who just robbed a convenience store, runs in and holds them all hostage while he hides from the police.
• Night Court: Season 6, episodes 12-13, "Clip Show" (1989). A clown with a gun holds everyone hostage as part of a bizarre wraparound story for a two-part clip show.
• Night Court: Season 6, episode 14, "The Trouble is Not in Your Set" (1989). A woman holds the courtroom hostage with a hand grenade to force them to help her "husband," who turns out to be a character on a TV show.
• Dream On: Season 2, episode 9, "Play Melville for Me" (1991). While Martin is hosting a public access talk show, his obsessed fan bursts in with a bomb strapped to her and threatens to blow him up.
• The Golden Girls: Season 6, episode 19, "Melodrama" (1991). Rose auditions for a reporter job at the TV station where she works, and her audition assignment is to cover a dog show. While she's there, a man comes in with a gun, robs everyone, and holds them hostage. In an unusual move, Rose continues covering her story, "people who look like their dogs," during the robbery.
• Wings: Season 6, episode 11, "Insanity Claus" (1994). When Antonio unwittingly eats the last jelly doughnut, Bob, an unhinged air traffic controller, loses his shit and holds Antonio at gunpoint and demands a jelly doughnut, so the gang has to figure out how to make a jelly doughnut appear without leaving the airport or calling anyone.
• Dream On: Season 5, episode 1, "The Taking of Pablum 1-2-3" (1994). Two struggling writers hold Martin and baby Richard hostage as part of a bizarre plan to sell their screenplay.
• The Nanny: Season 4, episode 16, "The Bank Robbery" (1997). A bank robber holds Fran and her mother hostage at a bank.
• Spin City: Season 2, episode 21, "By, Bye, Birdie" (1998). In an attempt to remove a vulgar statue from City Hall, Carter and James go to a hardware store to get some tools. When they don't come back, Mike goes looking for them and discovers a burglar is holding them hostage, and he holds Mike hostage too.
• It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Season 3, episode 4, "The Gang Gets Held Hostage" (2007). The McPoyles invade Paddy's Pub and hold the gang hostage just to torment them because they hate them, but after several hours, the gang realize the McPoyles' gun wasn't even real, and they could have left at any time.