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(-8)Article: SCP-7158 - "A Happy Day and Too Many More"
Author:
BattleblockB0ss
CW: Descriptions of domestic abuse, suicide, and murder.
Special Containment Procedures: All radio waves carrying the signature associated with SCP-7158 are to be blocked from public access and broadcast only to an isolated television set within the premises of Site-28. Every episode must be viewed, logged, and recorded live by at least one member of personnel.
Description: SCP-7158 refers to 158 anomalous episodes and subsequent reruns of the American 60's sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show originating from a television signal of unknown origin. For every non-anomalous episode broadcast on public television, an anomalous version is broadcast to a smaller amount of television sets on the same channels via anomalous means. Initially, the plot of every anomalous episode is identical to the non-anomalous episodes. The inciting difference between the episodes and their anomalous counterparts is that the main character, "Rob Petrie" (played by Dick Van Dyke), retains the memory of all previous episodes, including reruns, in the order they are broadcast. This causes the course of the show and many individual episodes to diverge from their initial plot significantly.
All physical properties of SCP-7158 and its characters appear to reset after the end of each episode, appearing as they normally do at the beginning of the next episode aired. This effect includes physical injuries sustained by characters1. The entity, "Rob", remains aware of its own deaths but retains no sensory input after expiration.
SCP-7158's anomalous nature was discovered in mid-1962 after the first rerun of The Dick Van Dyke Show. This rerun featured the first broadcasted episode excluding the pilot: Episode 1, "The Sick Boy and the Sitter."2 Various seemingly random viewers (an estimated >5%) viewed what they recognized as a different episode from the original, resulting in several calling CBS, the network featuring the Dick Van Dyke Show, inquiring about the anomaly. One Foundation employee also viewed this anomalous episode and reported it as such. Viewers of the anomaly were subsequently tracked down and amnesticized. The anomalous radio signal was identified, and current Containment Procedures were put in place.
Addendum 1: A log of notable episodes is recorded below.
Season/Episode: S1E1 "The Sick Boy and the Sitter"
Date Aired: April 25, 1962
Anomalous Episode Divergences: Throughout the episode, Rob remarks on the fact that everything feels familiar. He seems to equate this to a sense of deja vu early on, and the episode proceeds mostly as usual.
Season/Episode: S1E2 "My Blonde-Haired Brunette"
Date Aired: May 2, 1962
Anomalous Episode Divergences: Rob remarks on the fact that events in the episode seem to be exactly the same as events that have happened prior and remarks on this to Laura, foretelling her bleached hair.3 This causes Laura to no longer bleach her hair, and the rest of the episode is filled with Rob trying to talk to Laura about what happened and figure out how to fix the increasingly intense feeling of deja vu.
Season/Episode: S1E3 "Sally and the Lab Technician"
Date Aired: May 9, 1962
Anomalous Episode Divergences: As soon as the episode begins, Rob approaches Laura asking her about the events that occurred in the previous non-anomalous episode. Laura has no memory of this and dismisses Rob's claims. Rob grows frustrated with Laura and gets into an argument with her over her reluctance to believe him. Laura leaves the house for the rest of the episode, leaving Rob to pace back and forth, trying to figure out what is happening to him.
Season/Episode: S1E8 "To Tell or Not to Tell"
Date Aired: June 13, 1962
Anomalous Episode Divergences: Growing increasingly desperate, Rob again attempts to convince Laura that he is stuck in some sort of time loop. After she again refuses to believe him, thinking him to be playing a joke on her, Rob grows angry and slaps Laura, who then begins crying and locks herself in the room for the rest of the episode as Rob goes on a destructive rampage, tearing apart the living room. He then calms down and begs Laura to come out of her room until the end of the episode. Laura ignores him. Muffled crying can be heard through the door.
Season/Episode: S1E9 "The Unwelcome Houseguest"
Date Aired: June 20, 1962
Anomalous Episode Divergences: Diverging from the original script, Rob refuses to watch his neighbor Buddy's dog for the weekend, causing Buddy and his wife to find a different family to do so. Rob instead spends the episode with his family in what seems to be an attempt to make up for his behavior in the last episode. He is noticeably cheery and makes no mention of his perceived circumstances.
Season/Episode: S1E17 "Punch Thy Neighbor"
Date Aired: August 15, 1962
Anomalous Episode Divergences: Over the previous few episodes, Rob has been putting less and less effort into his life, culminating in a monotone voice and subdued actions throughout this episode. Instead of hitting Jerry at the restaurant, as in the non-anomalous episode, Rob pays the bill and goes home. He locks himself in his room and cries for the rest of the episode, despite Jerry's apologies for his original behavior and his family's pleas for him to come out.
Season/Episode: S1E18 "Who Owes Who What?"
Date Aired: August 22, 1962
Anomalous Episode Divergences: Similarly to the last episode, Rob locks himself in his room. He appears depressed and does nothing but sob in his bed with the lights out. Laura knocks on the door and asks for him several times throughout the episode, getting increasingly worried, but Rob does not respond.
Season/Episode: S1E19 "The Talented Neighborhood"
Date Aired: August 29, 1962
Anomalous Episode Divergences: Rob appears to be putting effort into his life again. While small tone differences occur throughout the episode, typically a loss of patience and subsequent rudeness towards other characters, the episode remains largely the same. This behavior continues for the rest of the season.
Season/Episode: S2E1 "Never Name a Duck"
Date Aired: September 26, 1962
Anomalous Episode Divergences: Rob appears caught off guard by the fact that the plot of this episode is new. He seems overjoyed by this, and the plot of the episode proceeds much the same. The rest of the season continues similarly to this. (Notably, there were no reruns of old episodes during this time as the new season aired).
Note: After the end of Season 2, CBS began airing random reruns of old episodes while they filmed the new season.
Season/Episode: S1E11 "Forty-Four Tickets"
Date Aired: October 3, 1963
Anomalous Episode Divergences: Rob starts the episode as has been typical for the last 30 episodes, but soon realizes he is in a "repeat". Rob appears angry, and descends into a rage, destroying his house. Ritchie and Laura try to calm him down but are unable to, and after near misses with Rob's violence, flee the house. Rob collapses sobbing and remains distraught until the episode ends. Notably, this is the first episode to repeat for a second time (making a total of three airings).
Season/Episode: S1E14 "Buddy, Can You Spare a Job?"
Date Aired: October 10, 1963
Anomalous Episode Divergences: Rob spends the majority of the episode verbally and physically abusing Laura in an attempt to force her to remember any of the previous "cycles". As the episode goes on, Rob appears to direct his anger more toward Laura than his circumstances. Laura attempts to escape Rob's abuse but is unable to, eventually curling into a fetal position to protect herself from his blows. Ritchie cries in his room for the duration of the episode. This is the first time blood is spilled.
Season/Episode: S2E4 "Bank Book 6565696"
Date Aired: October 17, 1963
Anomalous Episode Divergences: Rob continues abusing Laura in a similar way as in the last episode. At one point, Laura's femur seems to audibly and visually snap. Rob continues verbally and physically abusing her. When Ritchie walks into the living room Rob threatens him with abuse, but Ritchie escapes through the front door first.
Season/Episode: S2E26 "I'm No Henry Walden!"
Date Aired: October 24, 1963
Anomalous Episode Divergences: Rob appears to have regained a semblance of lucidity. He refuses to attend the dinner party from the original plot, encouraging Laura to attend on her own. His tone is notably detached throughout all of his interactions with other characters. Once Laura leaves, Rob spends the rest of the episode pacing the house, muttering and yelling to himself about the anomaly and what he understands about it in an attempt to find a way to fix it. This continues until Laura returns home, at which point Rob interacts with her as little as possible until the end of the episode. This detached manner continues for several episodes.
Season/Episode: S3E1 "That's My Boy??"
Date Aired: September 25, 1963
Anomalous Episode Divergences: Despite the start of season three, Rob's detached, distant manner continues throughout this and several recurring episodes. Due to the fact that Rob's personality differs greatly from that of the non-anomalous show, the plots of several episodes veer significantly, often resulting in much more reasonable solutions to problems and removing inciting incidents from many. This behavior is likely a symptom of Rob dissociating from his environment due to extreme emotional stress.
Note: After the end of Season 3, CBS began airing random reruns of old episodes while they filmed the new season.
Season/Episode: S2E22 "Don't Trip Over That Mountain"
Date Aired: July 29, 1963
Anomalous Episode Divergences: Rob breaks his neck and dies while skiing. The camera remains focused on his body for the rest of the episode. His friend Jerry goes offscreen to get help and does not return for the remainder of the episode. Notably, this marks the first death to occur.
Season/Episode: S3E24 "How to Spank a Star"
Date Aired: August 5, 1963
Anomalous Episode Divergences: Rob shows significant emotion for the first time since the August 24th airing. He locks himself in his room and appears to be in a state of panic, checking his pulse and testing his bodily functions, presumably due to his death in the last episode. Roughly 5 minutes before the end of the episode he enters the kitchen and makes a significant cut in his arm with a steak knife, causing Laura to panic. This is assumed to be a method to test the permanence of injuries. This "testing" continues over the next several episodes. After this, Rob returns to the dissociative behavior shown previously and exhibits symptoms of continually worsening depression. This continues for the entirety of Season 4.
Note: After the end of Season 4, CBS began airing random reruns of old episodes while they filmed the new season.
Season/Episode: S1E5 "Oh How We Met on the Night That We Danced"
Date Aired: June 26, 1965
Anomalous Episode Divergences: Rob shoots himself in the head. The camera remains trained on the body. Others around him, particularly Sol Pomeroy, attempt to resuscitate him and several leave to get help. They do not return. Rob continues to kill himself as soon as possible for several episodes in a row until the beginning of Season 5, when he stops committing suicide but appears to enter a deep depressive state.
Season/Episode: S5E32 "The Last Chapter"
Date Aired: June 1, 1966
Anomalous Episode Divergences: Notable only for being the last original episode filmed. Rob behaves as typical for the past season, interacting with other characters as little as possible while in a detached and depressive state. After Alan buys Rob's manuscript and turns it into a TV show, Rob breaks down in tears and sobs for the rest of the episode. Alan fires him for this behavior, upsetting Rob more. Alan leaves the room and Rob cries for the rest of the episode.
Season/Episode: S4E12 "The Death of the Party"
Date Aired: May 24, 1973
Anomalous Episode Divergences: Rob attacks the other guests of the party from the original plot, following a recent pattern of violence, killing several and injuring more. This marks the first time Rob has intentionally killed another character. The surviving attendees flee the scene.
Season/Episode: S5E15
Date Aired: December 7, 1989
Anomalous Episode Divergences: Rob locks himself in his and Laura's room and spends the duration of the episode talking to himself. Based on this evidence and a trend of increasingly erratic behavior, Rob presumably has lost his sanity and entered a state of hallucinatory delusions prompted by distressing circumstances. Rob's voice is too low to hear what he is saying.
Season/Episode: S2E23
Date Aired: May 4, 2006
Anomalous Episode Divergences: Rob displays behavior and attitude typical to that of his "normal" state. Notably, Rob interacts with unseen people throughout the episode in addition to the non-anomalous characters, suggesting that he has accepted his delusions as a natural part of his world. Laura expresses concern over this.
Season/Episode: S4E14
Date Aired: Feburary 13, 2020
Anomalous Episode Divergences: Rob commits suicide at the start of the episode. This becomes a pattern over the next few years. No change in this pattern has been observed to date.
