Coin of Destiny - On episode No. 616 "The Coin of Destiny" of the sitcom MAD ABOUT YOU/NBC/1992-99 filmmaker Paul Buchman (Paul Reiser) and his wife, Jamie (Helen Hunt) begin to use a coin (a quarter) to make common decisions like what restaurant to go to or whether or not to eat muffins of breadsticks. After a series of good fortune follows each use of the coin, Paul, Jamie and the new producers of "Hard Edition," Lou Bonapart (Larry Miller) are convinced that they possess the "Coin of Destiny." Soon friends and strangers alike are asking the coin for advice. Unfortunately, Jamie loses the magical coin when she accidentally inserts it into a washing machine while doing the laundry. In the meantime a bogus coin used in place of the original guided people to lose money gambling, get food poisoning and have an accident in a minivan. When the Coin of Destiny was retrieved (along with 5,000 other quarters) the magic had vanished.