The Old Bucket of Water on the Door Gag

A character balances a bucket of water on the top of a door so that when someone walks through it, it will pour on their head. It never wets the right person.

The Bob Newhart Show

Appearances

• The Patty Duke Show: Season 2, episode 27, "Patty, the Practical Joker" (1965). Patty tries to get back at Ross for putting a frog in her bed by getting him with the old bucket of water on the door gag. Unfortunately, it falls on her dad instead.
• My Mother the Car: Episode 2, "The De-fenders" (1965). When he hears about "car strippers" trolling the neighborhood, Dave rigs a boobytrap by placing a bucket of water on the garage door, tying one end of a string to the bucket and the other end to his toe while he's in bed. When he feels a tug on the string, he thinks he caught a stripper, but it's just his dog getting soaked by the bucket of water.
• The Bob Newhart Show: Season 5, episode 1, "Enter Mrs. Peeper" (1976). Emily and Corrine want to get their husbands back for all their pranks, so they attempt the bucket of water on the door gag, but the bucket refuses to fall no matter how many times someone opens the door.
• Cheers: Season 4, episode 14, "Suspicion" (1986). When Diane uses the gang at Cheers as subjects in a psychology experiment for one of her classes, they get back at her with a bucket of water over the door to Sam's office.
• Cheers: Season 10, episode 19, "Rich Man, Wood Man" (1992). Carla nails Rebecca with a bucket of water over the door of her office by convincing her she wants to hang out with her so that she'll attempt to retrieve her coat.