Compiled by Janet Hamilton
From the OrigamiUSA Newsletter Issue 61, Winter 1997/Spring 1998
In thirty or sixty minutes, you get a problem, a solution, a few laughs, and, sometimes, origami! Here is a list of origami sightings in TV sitcoms, as reported by members of the origami-l email list.
On an episode of the sitcom “Ned and Stacy”, Ned folds Stacy's check into a crane because he doesn't believe her check is any good.
An origami crane appeared in a segue for “Home Improvement”. Hands rapidly folded black paper with white fold lines into a crane, which flapped away on its own. In another episode, there was a scene segue with a blueprinted diagram of the famous crane, which folded itself into the traditional model and sailed off down a stream, taking the screen contents with it.
A Saturday morning show called “Fudge” about a boy and his younger brother (Fudge). The older brother had to spend a week with a kindergartner buddy. The older kids were not looking forward to this. They all were given a picture that their buddy had drawn. One girl only had a piece of creased paper. She made the statement her buddy "must not be very artistic". Her buddy is another girl that tells her it is origami and it must have come unfolded. So the younger girl shows the older one origami for the week. The model shown is the traditional swan. The older girl really enjoyed origami and shows everyone what she learned to make.
In an episode of "Northern Exposure" called "The Wedding", which first aired on 5/11/92, the church decorations for a wedding included a 1000 cranes hung from the ceiling. The characters of Adam and Eve were getting married; Marilyn was shown making the cranes.
A show called "Sabrina the Teenage Witch” had some napkin folding in the story. Sabrina and her friend are in their high school Home Economics class. The enthusiastic teacher tells them that they are going to learn napkin folding. She starts them out with the "bishop's miter." The dim, but dreamy-looking, football player comes over to Sabrina and her friend and says that he can't figure out the bishop's miter, but, holding out a crumpled wad, says he made a snowball. At the end of the scene the teacher approaches Sabrina to see how she is doing. Using her magic she quickly spiral folds her red napkin into a rose. Later in the show, Sabrina's friend and the football player are at the pizza parlor trying to get to know each other. The friend is disappointed that they have almost nothing in common. She makes a last stab at impressing the guy by whipping up a crane (or swan) with pleated wings out of her napkin. She offers it to the football player who is oblivious to what she has made. He says thanks, grabs the napkin, and wipes his mouth with it.
An episode of NBC's "Suddenly Susan" has one of Susan’s bored co-workers folding a Chinese restaurant placemat into a flapping bird.
The January 30, 1997 episode of “The Single Guy” showed one guy fiddling with napkin, and he says he does that when he is nervous. The other insists on seeing it. He holds it up and it is a crane.
On the February 10, 1997 episode of the "The Naked Truth", the character played by Tea Leone finds out that she is really 1 year older than she thought, and is about to turn 30, not 29. She rapidly goes through her life list of things she wanted to accomplish before turning 30, trying to squeeze them into the remaining few days before her birthday. One of the items on the list was "learn origami", and she produces a model that is shown on screen.
On the “Spin City” episode on April 29, 1997, the mayor's staff has to keep the mayor awake all night. Staff members are going to take 4 hour shifts helping the mayor stay awake. The mayor's assistant explains the plan to the mayor and tells him "... And Paul is going to teach you origami!"
Origami was used in an “Alias Smith and Jones” sketch (UK comedy). A teacher had written on the blackboard, "ORIGAMI A-LEVEL", he then looked at his watch and said, 'You may now fold your papers" and the class started to fold.