A Brief Explanation of Television ‘Bottle Episodes’, Episodes With Limited Sets and Cast

In the second episode of the new series Secret History of Television, Vulture looks at television “bottle episodes,” which are episodes that make use of limited sets and cast to bring a show in under budget. The term originated with Star Trek, when cast and crew began referring to episodes set mainly on the Enterprise as “ship-in-a-bottle episodes.”

Many shows have made use of “bottle episodes,” and Vulture looks at some examples of times the technique has worked well and other times it when it did not.