What was this show about pink eye from my childhood?

June 23, 2014 3:45 AM

Sometime between 1980 and 1987 (or so), I saw a show that convinced me that pink eye was fatal. What was this show?

I was very young, between 5 and 10 or 11. It might have been an after school special, or it might have been a segment on a show on PBS. For some reason, I keep thinking it had something to do with 3-2-1 Contact, a show I loved at about this time.

All I can remember about the show is that there was someone working at a restaurant who had pink eye, and then they weren't there. I imagine that they just didn't come in, rather than that they actually died, and that this was a message about contagion. It's possible that the episode or show wasn't even about pink eye, and that this was incidental to the rest of the story. It left me with a huge fear of pink eye that lasted well into my twenties, when I realized that it wasn't actually fatal.

Anyway, can anybody else remember anything like this? I know it's a long shot.

posted by hought20 to Grab Bag (7 answers total)

Best answer: Sounds like you're right about it being 3-2-1- Contact. Is it this? "I was reminded of a Bloodhound Gang episode (from 321 Contact) about pink eye. The story was about this school cafeteria employee who had contracted pink eye, yet neglected to wash her hands before she prepared sandwiches, causing a number of teenagers to become ill. She wore sunglasses the whole time to cover her itchy, irritated red eye. But the Bloodhound Gang found her habit of wearing sunglasses indoors, in a dark cafeteria, to be a bit odd. I don't remember exactly how the Bloodhound Gang busted her, but I do remember the moral of the story is to wash your hands frequently... and to never contract pink eye." Also mentioned here.
posted by the webmistress at 5:49 AM on June 23, 2014 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I found another mention, which says that one of the Bloodhound Gang fell ill after eating a bit of a sandwich prepared by the cafeteria worker, and that her cat ate most of the sandwich, and died? If that's true it's no wonder you were traumatized.
posted by the webmistress at 6:01 AM on June 23, 2014

I remember this movie too. It gave me nightmares. I seem to recall it was an adaptation of a Stephen King story.
posted by dfriedman at 6:11 AM on June 23, 2014

Response by poster: Oh my god, webmistress, that has to be it, and I think you're right about the cat being what traumatized me. Thank you!
posted by hought20 at 7:41 AM on June 23, 2014

Best answer: This was an episode of Powerhouse (not 3-2-1 Contact, although in my neck of the woods it aired in the same timeslot) called "You Make Me Sick."

You can read about it in this activity kit for the show (PDF), episode 105.
posted by themanwho at 10:46 AM on June 23, 2014

The shows are on YouTube if you'd like to be traumatized all over again.

Powerhouse - You Make Me Sick, Act 1

Powerhouse - You Make Me Sick, Act 2
posted by themanwho at 12:38 PM on June 23, 2014 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Okay, wait, it also could be that Powerhouse episode, which I am watching right now. It's very familiar. And ALSO has a dead cat!

Also, this is super creepy, with creepy horror movie music, and in this the virus is "deadly," according to the description.

I just don't know. They don't call it pink eye in the Powerhouse thing (which I seriously just turned off because the music was so creepy), so I almost wonder if I saw both and mixed them up in my head.
posted by hought20 at 7:11 PM on June 23, 2014