False Arrest

A character is mistakenly arrested for something they didn't do.

Sanford and Son

Appearances

• The Odd Couple: Season 3, episode 19, "My Strife in Court" (1973). Oscar and Felix are arrested for ticket scalping when Felix tries to invite a woman to be Oscar's date for a play.
• Sanford and Son: Season 2, episode 24, "Rated X" (1973). When Fred, Lamont, and Rollo audition for a film that turns out to be a porno, they're all arrested in a raid.
• The Bob Newhart Show: Season 5, episode 9, "The Slammer" (1976). When Bob and The Peeper try to buy some football tickets from two women in a bar, they end up getting arrested for trying pick up prostitutes.
• Rhoda: Season 3, episode 17, "Somebody Has to Say They're Sorry" (1977). Rhoda is arrested for solicitation when an undercover cop investigating her neighbor goes to her apartment instead, and she mistakes him for a potential new client.
• Soap: Season 1, episode 14 (1977). Everyone is shocked when Chief Tinkler arrests Corrine for Peter's murder, but it's not long before the Chief absolves Corrine and arrests someone else.
• Soap: Season 1, episode 16 (1978). The Tates and Campbells are shocked again when all the evidence from Peter's murder points to Jessica as his killer, and Chief Tinkler arrests her. Eventually, someone else will confess to the crime.
• What's Happening!!: Season 3, episode 4, "The Creep Detective" (1978). When Rerun gets tricked into holding stolen merchandise in his and Roger's apartment, their new detective neighbor arrests them and Dwayne for burglary.
• WKRP in Cincinnati: Season 4, episode 16, "Circumstantial Evidence" (1982). A woman Venus is dating turns out to be a criminal, and when she gets caught with stolen jewels, she claims Venus is the ringleader of a string of robberies in the area, and he's arrested and put on trial.
• Newhart: Season 3, episode 6, "Tickets, Please" (1984). Dick gets arrested for unpaid parking tickets that Stephanie secretly racked up with his car.
• The Golden Girls: Season 2, episode 2, "Ladies of the Evening" (1986). While the house is being fumigated, the gang stays at a beachside hotel that Blanche chose because it had the most men in the lobby, and it turns out to be a hotbed of prostitution, and Dorothy, Rose, and Blanche all get arrested when the police raid the place.
• Newhart: Season 5, episode 18, "Jail, Jail, the Gang's All Here" (1987). Officer Shifflett arrests Larry, Darryl, and Darryl, for stealing a cow from a neighboring farm, but it turns out to be a setup so the farmer could take their land.
• Seinfeld: Season 3, episode 10, "The Stranded" (1991). A guy Jerry met at a party shows up at Jerry's apartment while he's on his way out the door, so Jerry lets him hang out while he's gone. When he comes back, he finds an angry prostitute demanding to be paid. As Jerry is handing her $50 in cash, two police officers come in and arrest him for patronizing a prostitute.
• The Nanny: Season 2, episode 6, "The Nanny-Napper" (1994). When a woman leaves her baby with Fran on the subway, she's mistakenly arrested for kidnapping.
• Seinfeld: Season 8, episode 11, "The Little Jerry" (1997). Elaine's new boyfriend, Kurt, is miserable because he just discovered he's going bald, so George gives him a pep talk. When Kurt goes to George's apartment to thank him, the police show up and arrest him for harboring a fugitive (George's girlfriend escaped from jail).