The Ally McBeal Pringles Fight That Didn’t Need to Happen

In a feature spotlighting interesting pop culture accidents, Brian examines how a fight over the last can of Pringles in an episode of Ally McBeal apparently should never have happened

Ally fights with a woman over a can of Pringles

Today, we look at the Ally McBeal fight over a can of Pringles that apparently could have been easily avoided.

This is “Won’t Repeat That Mistake,” a spotlight on interesting pop culture accidents over the years. You know, not stuff that’s not really offensive, but just a general screw-up, where it’s only interesting BECAUSE there was a mistake.

The fifth episode of Ally McBeal, “100 Tears Away,” is a strange one because it is all about Ally McBeal having to answer for all of her past strange behavior by being called before the Bar Association following an altercation in a supermarket to determine if she is fit to continue to be an attorney. Why that’s such a strange plot is because, again, it was the show’s FIFTH EPISODE. They’re already doing episodes inherently about previous events in Ally’s life in the FIFTH EPISODE? That’s bizarre, right?

Also bizarre is the fact that in the scene where the woman puts the “last” can of Regular Pringles back on the shelf at the supermarket (and then gets angry when Ally comes by and goes to purchase it, claiming that she still intended to buy it when she put it back on the shelf. After the two argue, and the other woman is very mean to Ally, Ally lets her have the chips, but when the woman walks away, Ally trips her. Freakishly, the trip really sends the woman flying into a supermarket display, with a bunch of stuff falling on her head) there is clearly ANOTHER can of the Regular Pringles on the shelf below.