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Best single episode in TV history

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by Versatile, Oct 17, 2012.

  1. Liut

    Liut Well-Known Member

    "The Day the Running Stopped." Conclusion of "The Fugitive" was a two-parter, but the final episode lives on with me.

    Norrin mentioned "City on the Edge of Forever." Man, that WAS good. Spock had his head caught in a ricepicker.
     
  2. PCLoadLetter

    PCLoadLetter Well-Known Member

    Two that haven't been mentioned:

    Fawlty Towers, "The Germans." My favorite episode of the most tightly written comedy ever.

    Just Shoot Me, "Slow Donnie." I wasn't even a Just Shoot Me fan, but this episode killed me. David Cross plays a guy pretending to have a brain injury because he's incredibly lazy.

    From the Seinfeld division, I love The Marine Biologist.
     
  3. dooley_womack1

    dooley_womack1 Well-Known Member

    Another mention of Love's Labor Lost. I think it's getting props in part because Entertainment Weekly about a decade ago called it the No. 3 all-time TV episode. Others for me (many would say my list is flawed because I've seen very few HBO/Showtime/AMC series):
    --The Friends episode where Rachel finds out Ross was going to step in and take her to prom.
    --The Seinfeld with the Beef-a-Reeno and the marble rye on the fishing line.
    --The M*A*S*H where Hawkeye and B.J. argue all episode about the bird imitations joke and Mulcahy plays the antiwar song on the piano at the end.
    --The Dexter season finale where Dexter kills his brother
     
  4. Quiet Man

    Quiet Man Active Member

    Stopped here to nominate the WKRP Thanksgiving episode. Since that's already been mentioned, I'll add another Thanksgiving episode that I've always loved - The Bob Newhart Show (moo goo gai pan).
     
  5. Care Bear

    Care Bear Guest

    PC just reminded me of a "Just Shoot Me" episode that had me laughing as hard as I have ever laughed at anything on network television. And I rarely watched that show. It was also a Thanksgiving-themed episode. I need to go look that up. It killed.
     
  6. Armchair_QB

    Armchair_QB Well-Known Member

    http://www.kewego.com/video/iLyROoafYtDe.html
     
  7. Matt1735

    Matt1735 Well-Known Member

    The best for me was M*A*S*H -- Abyssinia, Henry. Blake's final episode. When Radar comes into the operating room to announce his death, just stunning.

    But the Law and Order episode mentioned above (Claire's death, Lenny off the wagon) was also great TV.
     
  8. ColdCat

    ColdCat Well-Known Member

    I'm not saying you have to be depressing to be great, in fact other episodes I'd nominate from serialized dramas would be West Wing's Thanksgiving episode when the President calls the Butterball Hotline and the Bartlett vs. Richey debate episode.
    I went with "The Body" because I think that is the best any TV show or movie has dealt with death and the way survivors deal with it. On a show where death and the threat of death was a constant, it rarely went into mourning. It shows Buffy finding her mother's body and being unsure of what to do about it, Buffy having to tell Dawn what happened, and their friends trying to figure out how they could be there for Buffy. It was just an extremely powerful and emotional episode.

    I also see a lot of nominations for Lost's "The Constant." I would nominate "Through the Looking Glass" the season 3 finale. The Survivors fight back against the Others, Hurley is the hero, Sawyer gets to deliver the great badass line "I didn't believe him" after shooting Tom Friendly, Charlie dies, Penny finds out Desmond is still alive. Then the next year the boat people arrived and everything jumped the shark, but "Through the Looking Glass" was Lost at its best.
     
  9. Double Down

    Double Down Well-Known Member

    Ok, thought about this shit forever. I only have time for my first answer.


    Serialized drama: "All Prologue" Season 2, The Wire

    Spoilers below...

    There are a lot of reasons why I think the people who bag on Season 2 of The Wire are clueless, and this is the main reason. It fits in the context of the the serialized drama because it ties up two huge plot lines from the first season (the Gant murder; D'Angelo's fate) and it manages to be everything you could ever ask for in a drama: Funny, sad, suspenseful, surprising, powerful, unpredictable. This is the episode when David Simon truly made you understand that in The Wire, the characters served the story, not the other way around. It starts off with Omar testifying against Byrd in one of the most memorable scenes the show ever did. "Day at a time, I suppose." Then you have Nick and Sergi meeting with Prop Joe over the dept Ziggy owes Cheese, and Prop Joe sympathizing with the stupidity of family. "I got motherfucking nephews fucking all my shit up, and it ain't like I can pop a cap in em and not hear about it come Thanksgiving," and "If it wasn't for Sergi here, the two of you would be "cadaverous motherfuckers." You have D'Angelo leading a prison book club discussion about The Great Gasby where he's helping us understand that you can't change your fate, that you can pretend to be someone else, but in the end, you're the same person you always were. (And Richard Price is moderating!) Then you have D'Angelo's amazing scene with his mom with prison glass between them. "You brought me into this world, but I got to live in it." You have Bunk and McNulty getting drunk by the train tracks and Bunk is so hung over the next morning, he has to puke in a trashcan while he's in a meeting with Daniels where Lester and Beadie are explaining how cans disappear in the computer system. You have Frank and Ziggy walking by the docs (after Frank catches Ziggy lighting $100 bill on fire in the bar), talking about what it meant to grow up in a union family, the blessings and the burdens of that fate. D'Angelo telling Avon to fuck off (without saying a word) when he passes him in the hallway of the prison. Jimmy humping his ex-wife one last time. Then at the end you have Stringer's hit on D'Angelo, made to look like a suicide. I was so used to watching "normal" TV, I refused to believe D'Angelo was dead until the next episode when Bodie was buying flowers for his funeral. I just didn't believe they'd off one of their best characters (and really the co-lead from Season 1) like that. The episode is remarkable for so many reasons, but the main theme is really about our different perceptions of family. McNulty is trying to get his family back (both his police family and his real family) while D'Angelo is trying to escape his own people, while Frank and Ziggy and Nick are all trying to sort out what it means to be family, and where your loyalties lie, with your blood, your union, or your wallet. You have Omar pointing out to Maurice Levy that one man carries a briefcase, another a shotgun, but there is no moral difference between them. You have systems that are corrupt and inflexible, and reformers who are quashed, one by one, for trying to change or walk away from them.

    This episode, for me, was encapsulates everything The Wire wanted to be.
     
  10. Bubbler

    Bubbler Well-Known Member

    Breaking Bad -- Half-Measures.

    The Windy intro ...

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cm-Li_yL03U

    Jonathan Banks' Half-Measures speech, which is the greatest thing bit of acting I've ever seen on TV ...

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3u-6UFLubI

    And ... "Run"?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YVis0HwZdM&feature=related

    Unbeatable. That's the one I take with me to the desert island.

    Along with Mr. Plow for laughs.
     
  11. Sam Mills 51

    Sam Mills 51 Well-Known Member

    I don't think anyone knew that part of the script until the last possible moment, which made the reactions all the more genuine.
     
  12. Versatile

    Versatile Active Member

    OK, I'm about to go long-winded on this shit because I was thinking about it at various points throughout my 10-hour work shift and have a lot of thoughts that no one will read. I avoided spoilers, though.

    If you want to avoid the rambling, just read the lists.

    Serialized drama

    1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "The Zeppo" (in which Xander Harris becomes a man)
    2. Mad Men, "Shut The Door. Have A Seat." (in which Sterling Cooper is no more)
    3. The Walking Dead, "Judge, Jury, Executioner" (in which a main character dies)

    I don't watch many dramas. I have a select few that I enjoy greatly, but for the most part stay away. Drama translates better to the big screen, for one. So take my list with a grain of salt.

    But I think the key for a great episode in a serialized drama is more than finality. Many of the best episodes in serialized dramas are the ones that advance the plot at a proper pace while having something awesome happen at the same time. The best shows get to the turning points as well as they deliver those turning points. It'd be easy to load this list up with the biggest deaths, and "Judge, Jury, Executioner" fits that bill. There's nothing wrong with that bill. I get why Buffy's "The Body" is a popular choice.

    "The Zeppo" is my favorite Buffy episode because it breaks free of some of the series' conventions, such as focusing on the title character, to tell a really fun story about Xander, the show's best character in the high school years. But the brilliance is that, while we're following Xander around and he's taking out some demonic types himself, Buffy and the others are saving the world and the show is developing in super-fast pace behind him. Initially, I wondered if this episode would fall under the one-off category, but it's remarkably serialized. So many key things happen and so many allusions are made to the serialized plot, but it never seems bogged down.

    "Shut The Door. Have A Seat." and "Judge, Jury, Executioner" are episodes that feel enormous. They're game-changers, very different from "The Zeppo" in that regard. I think what I love about "Shut The Door. Have A Seat." and "Judge, Jury, Executioner" is how they fit into their shows, in context. Mad Men had been really bleak in Season 3. Things were not good for business. Things were not good at home. And the season ends with a celebration. It's perfect. Meanwhile, The Walking Dead hit stride at the end of last season, but the stakes never seemed real until "Judge, Jury, Executioner." Then, they seemed all too real. I also loved that they completely fucked with the nerds reading the comics.

    All three of those episodes were surprising, not just in content but in tone and delivery. And they were all perfect, exactly what the shows needed and exactly how the shows needed it. They built on the existing plots and created new ones. There were major ramifications for all three — if "The Zeppo" might seem trivial, it's only because you're forgetting how big a deal getting laid for the first time is to a 17-year-old. These episodes would be terrible points to start watching these shows because you have to know the characters and the stories.

    Non-serialized drama

    1. Mad Men, "The Suitcase" (in which Don Draper forgets Peggy Olson's birthday)
    2. House, "Three Stories" (in which Gregory House reveals the genesis of his leg issue)
    3. My So-Called Life, "Life of Brian" (in which Brian Krakow tells his story)

    None of these three shows qualifies as a procedural — House had running plots in every single season — but these episodes can stand on their own perfectly. I would even recommend these episodes as entry points into each series, if you couldn't start with the pilots for some reason.

    "The Suitcase" breaks out of everything that's going on in a busy Season 4 (set up by the afforementioned Season 3 finale) to bring us closer to Don Draper and Peggy Olson. It changes everything we know about Mad Men to do so: The episode spans 24 hours, barely leaves the office and ignores every overarching plot.

    That's the key for a great one-off episode. You have to leave behind what you're doing to remember who you are. All three of these episodes provide substantial depth to their series. "Three Stories" is the best take on why House is such a jerk that the show ever had. But it does so by pulling him away from the patient of the week to tell a story. "Life of Brian" both substantiates Krakow and puts on blast Angela's one-sided narration. Imagine Sally Hayes telling the story of her date with Holden Caulfield.

    All three episodes are fun, too. House features Carmen Elektra in an absurdist spin on his story. Krakow is just a wonderful fucking character, and "finally, an erection from actual, physical contact!" Oh, and "THAT'S WHAT THE MONEY IS FOR!"

    Comedy

    1. The Simpsons, "Homer at the Bat" (in which Montgomery Burns fields a softball team)
    2. How I Met Your Mother, "Slap Bet" (in which slaps are bet over Robin Scherbatsky's secret)
    3. Arrested Development, "Hand to God" (in which Buster Bluth faces a loose seal)
    4. Community, "Modern Warfare" (in which the school plays paintball for the first time)
    5. WKRP in Cincinnati, "Turkeys Away" (in which turkeys can't fly)

    There are no Seinfeld or Cheers selections on this list. There can't be, really, because what are the best Seinfeld and Cheers episodes? I don't have favorites. Those are my two favorite shows ever, without question. But for the most part, the episode before or the episode after anything you pick from the first five seasons of those shows will be as good as the one you're picking. Case in point: "The Contest" is cited often as the best Seinfeld episode, but "The Virgin" is just as good and came the week before. Hell, "The Virgin" might be even more fucked up.

    When you discuss the best episodes of a sitcom, you start with the memorable ones. "Slap Bet" and "Turkeys Away" define this perfectly. I'd wager 75% of fans of those shows would rank those episodes as their favorites, or at least among the top three. Those episodes created mythology for those shows. "Slap Bet" continues to ripple through How I Met Your Mother's fabric to this day. The show was never funnier or better in any way. The same could be said about "Turkeys Away." It's the first thing anyone mentions when discussing WKRP in Cincinnati (possible exception: Loni Anderson), and rightfully so.

    The same could be said for "Hand to God" and "Modern Warfare," but they're parts of much better and bigger shows. Community and Arrested Development are two of the most creative sitcoms ever and earned their spots on this list through diligent risk-taking. "Hand to God" and "Modern Warfare" are ridiculous amibitious episodes with lasting consequences and wild story lines. And they delivered so that, even for shows with so much to offer, these are the memorable moments. In 20 years, I'll think of Buster's missing hand and Greendale Community College covered in paint.

    But "Homer at the Bat" takes the cake, and this is a largely personal choice. That episode stays with me. I find myself singing "Talkin' Softball" on a regular basis, particularly as baseball season starts. The ambition was insane: Nine Major League Baseball players recorded parts that largely made fun of them. And the post-text, the troubles of Darryl Strawberry, Roger Clemens and heroic Jose Canseco, only add to the joy.

    I think the best comedy episodes ever tended to swing for the fences, and maybe that's what left Seinfeld and Cheers off my list. They were so good, they never needed to swing for the fences. My favorite Cheers episode might be "What is... Cliff Clavin?" That's more or less a stunt episode, the type of thing Cheers had no use for when the Diane Chambers years were rolling smoothly. It's a joy and a candidate for this list, but it's not what made the show great.

    "Homer at the Bat" isn't what made The Simpsons great, either. It omits the family almost entirely. But that's what makes it so memorable.
     
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