bottle episode

[ bot-l ep-uh-sohd ]

noun

1. an episode of a television series set in a single limited or confined location, such as a hotel room or a broken elevator, and often using only a few regular cast members, sometimes undertaken as a cost-cutting measure or as a creative challenge.

Word History and Origins

Origin of bottle episode¹

First recorded in 2000–05; perhaps modeled on ship in a bottle or to bottle up

Example Sentences

It is not, however, a bottle episode, as two characters’ story lines move notably forward; it’s just an episode that, apart from those characters, goes essentially nowhere.

From New York Times

Few shows are as experimental with their tone and even fewer are as successful with that experimentation; a great episode of “Atlanta” could be a hilarious and pointed style parody, or it could be a sensitive family-portrait bottle episode.

From New York Times

“Atlanta” mastered the art of the bottle episode, with some stand-alone installments featuring the core cast and others focusing on characters who had never been part of the main story.

From Washington Post

Her testimony was the hearing equivalent of a bottle episode — the episode deep into a series’s run that breaks form to focus on a single character or incident.

From New York Times

The bottle episode that divided fans and created critical applause appeared as Episode 9 in “Ted Lasso’s” second season and came at a critical narrative juncture: the Greyhounds had just lost a heartbreaking game to Manchester United, romances were being rekindled and team members were having an identity crisis.

From Los Angeles Times