bottle episode

plural bottle episodes

1. broadcastingAn episode of a television series designed to be inexpensive and restricted in its use of sets, effects, cast members, etc.

   Even though they are moving, for large stretches 'Spiral' is a bottle episode.

   2004, Roz Kaveney, “Writing the Vampire Slayer: Interviews with Jane Espenson and Steven S. DeKnight”, in Roz Kaveney, editor, Reading the Vampire Slayer: The New, Updated, Unofficial Guide to Buffy and Angel, 2nd revised and expanded edition, New York, N.Y.: Tauris Parke Paperbacks, I.B. Tauris, →ISBN, page 125

   3 more examples

   That's pretty much what a "bottle" episode is; one that uses minimal sets, guest stars, effects, etc, and/or uses lots of clips from past episodes, in order to make a much cheaper episode.

   1996 February 12, Janet A. Dornhoff, “What are they filming now?”, in alt.tv.forever-knight (Usenet), message-ID <4fno37$t28@vixen.cso.uiuc.edu>

   One of Wright's great strengths as a screenwriter and producer is his ability to design bottle episodes—shows filmed with the goal of saving money—and turn them into riveting, compelling dramas where the viewer forgets that they are watching a bottle show.

   1998 September, Frank Garcia, “Producing SF: Brad Wright, on the lookout to do something never seen before”, in Cinefantastique, volume 30, numbers 5–6, Forest Park, IL: Frederick S. Clarke, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 82, column 2

   By the 2000s, the airwaves seemed full of shows not just making reference to other pop culture "images," but wholly based on pop culture. [...] Community regularly turned episodes into extended homages to M*A*S*H, Doctor Who, and Christmas Claymation specials. In "Cooperative Calligraphy," the show presents a "bottle episode," during which Abed repeatedly reminds everyone they are in a "bottle episode," pointing out each characteristic of such episodes as it occurs.

   2018, M. King Adkins, “‘These are Their Stories’: Postmodern Spaces”, in Television Storyworlds as Virtual Space, Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 122

   Synonyms: bottle show