# Best and Worst Episodes From Your Favorite TV Show(s) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 21, 2012, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-episodes-from-your-favorite-tv-show-s/632220 "2012-08-21T21:49:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2012, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-episodes-from-your-favorite-tv-show-s/632220/1 "2012-08-21T21:49:01Z")
Just a fun little thread inspired by [this one](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=15408696). The challenge is simple; for a TV show you enjoy, list your single favorite episode and your single _least favorite_ episode, and provide a one-sentence summary of what episode that was for those of us who don’t know our episode titles. Two-parters or multi-part episodes are OK, but please avoid snark like “All of Season x” or “Everything after season y”. I’ll get the ball rolling; **The Simpsons** Best: Two Bad Neighbors (George Bush moves in across the street) Worst: Alone Again, Natura-Diddily (Maude Flanders dies) **Battlestar Galactica (2000s)** Best: Kobol’s Last Gleaming (Roslyn’s government is overthrown, Boomer shoots Adama, Helo finds out Athena is a Cylon and pregnant) Worst: The Woman King (Helo unmasks a racist doctor) **Battlestar Galactica (1970s)** Best: War of the Gods (The fleet meets Satan) Worst: The Man With Nine Lives (A con man pretends to be Starbuck’s dad) **Doctor Who (Tenth Doctor era)** Best: Human Nature/The Family of Blood (The Doctor becomes human and is hunted by time-traveling monsters) Worst: Last of the Time Lords (The Doctor pulls a Jesus and defeats the Master with The Power of Love) **Doctor Who (Eleventh Doctor era)** Best: A Good Man Goes To War (The Doctor rounds up mercenaries who owe him favors to rescue Amy’s daughter from the Silence) Worst: The Doctor’s Wife (The TARDIS comes to life and she and the Doctor fight like an old married couple) **Torchwood** Best: A Day in the Death (Owen comes to terms with life as a zombie) Worst: Captain Jack Harkness (Jack goes back in time and gays out with the man whose identity he stole) **Firefly** Best: Jaynestown (Jayne is a folk hero on a planet he once robbed) Worst: Objects in Space (A scary black man takes over the ship and threatens to rape Kaylee) **My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic** Best: The Return of Harmony (The ponies are menaced by Q - I mean, Discord) Worst: Party of One (Everybody starts avoiding Pinkie Pie and won’t tell her why) **Aqua Teen Hungerforce** Best: The Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past From The Future (The Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past From the Future shows up) Worst: Frat Aliens (Frat Aliens show up) **Futurama** Best: Roswell That Ends Well (Fry goes back in time and becomes his own grandpa) Worst: A Taste of Freedom (Zoidberg goes to jail for eating the flag) Your turn, internet. ---
**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2012, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-episodes-from-your-favorite-tv-show-s/632220/2 "2012-08-21T22:22:40Z")
The two hour episodes of the one hour shows are the worst. ---
**Author:** ![Rollo\_Tomasi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58956e/32.png) [@Rollo\_Tomasi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rollo_Tomasi)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2012, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-episodes-from-your-favorite-tv-show-s/632220/3 "2012-08-21T22:25:19Z")
**Mad Men** Best: The Suitcase (Don and Peggy pull an all-nighter) Worst: The Summer Man (Don starts swimming and keeping a journal) **Gilmore Girls** Best: They Shoot Gilmores, Don’t They? (Dance marathon) Worst: Partings (Lorelai gives Luke an ultimatum) **Doctor Who** (Ninth Doctor) Best: The Doctor Dances/The Empty Child (The Doctor and Rose in WWII) Worst: The Long Game (The Jagrafess) **Doctor Who** (Tenth Doctor) Best: Blink (first appearance of the Weeping Angels) Worst: Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks (Daleks in 1930s NYC) **Doctor Who** (Eleventh Doctor) Best: The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone (Weeping Angels again) Worst: The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood (Silurians) **Community** Best: Remedial Chaos Theory (pizza delivery and alternate timelines) Worst: Messianic Myths and Ancient Peoples (Abed is Jesus for a movie) **House** Best: Half-Wit (Mentally challenged pianist) Worst: Now What? (House and Cuddy have lots of sex) **Lost** Best: Walkabout (Locke’s first flashback episode) Worst: Homecoming (Charlie gets a job in an office) **Life** Best: Powerless (Dani is suspicious of a guy in her AA meeting) Worst: The Business of Miracles (Frozen dead body) **Leverage** Best: The Rashomon Job (Each team member remembers a job differently) Worst: The Gone Fishin’ Job (The team deals with a private militia) **Justified** Best: The Spoil (Mags goes up against Black Pike at a town meeting) Worst: The Fixer (Raylan has to find a missing informant) ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2012, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-episodes-from-your-favorite-tv-show-s/632220/4 "2012-08-21T22:53:27Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > **Firefly** > Best: Jaynestown (Jayne is a folk hero on a planet he once robbed) > Worst: Objects in Space (A scary black man takes over the ship and threatens to rape Kaylee) It doesn’t truly matter, but you can almost reverse those for me. “Objects in Space” was the template for Serenity and was my favorite episode. “Jaynestown” I’ve switched off everytime I try to re-watch it, although I’d probably put that pregnant prostitute episode below it. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2012, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-episodes-from-your-favorite-tv-show-s/632220/5 "2012-08-21T23:05:44Z")
**Drew’s Line is it Anyway** Best: Melissa (Party Quirks) episode or Hitler (Title Sequence) episode Worst: David Hasselhoff ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2012, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-episodes-from-your-favorite-tv-show-s/632220/6 "2012-08-21T23:14:05Z")
**Futurama** : Best: Godfellas. Worst: Most any with Hubert and Hermes’ son. ---
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2012, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-episodes-from-your-favorite-tv-show-s/632220/7 "2012-08-21T23:29:17Z")
**I Love Lucy** BEST: Vitameatavegimine - Lucy get drunk while filming a commercial. _“do you pop out at parties?”_ WORST: The Black Eye - Lucy accidentally get a black eye and hilarity ensues as everyone assumes Ricky punched her. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2012, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-episodes-from-your-favorite-tv-show-s/632220/8 "2012-08-21T23:32:03Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > **Drew’s Line is it Anyway** > > Best: Melissa (Party Quirks) episode or Hitler (Title Sequence) episode > Worst: David Hasselhoff I’d like to ammend my picks: Best:Any episode that produced a call-back joke Worst:Guest stars (save the Salute to TV) ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2012, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-episodes-from-your-favorite-tv-show-s/632220/9 "2012-08-21T23:33:12Z")
The Simpsons: Best - when Mr. Burns fell in love with Marge and Tom Jones made a cameo. The theme, the imaginings, even Tom Jones’ song melded together beautifully. Worst - the three-eyed fish. Yucky. Macgyver: Best - Mac’s homecoming to his college where he helped judge a barricade competition. Most awesome… Worse - Pete Thornton’s son got into the wrong side. Cheese. The Professionals: Best - “Mixed Doubles” where a pair of anti- Bodie-Doyle squared off with the real duo. Worse - Bodie’s death wish (the one with the dirt bikes.) I hate “human element” in an action series. The Night Stalker: Best - “The Trevi Collection;” Kolchack’s final kiss-off was simply brilliant. Worse - “The Legacy of Terror;” poor introduction for Eric Estrada. Hawaii Five-O: Best - “‘V’ for Vaccion” I liked the grandfather best. Worse - the cop-rapist. The Thin Blue Line: Best - “Kids Today” great dramaticals by Atkinson. Worse - any episode featuring the Mayoress. ---
**Author:** ![goonhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ebca7d/32.png) [@goonhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/goonhead)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2012, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-episodes-from-your-favorite-tv-show-s/632220/10 "2012-08-21T23:36:07Z")
**Monty Python’s Flying Circus:** Best episode: How to Recognise Different Types of Trees from Quite a Long Way Away (features the famous “Nudge Nudge” sketch) Worst episode: The Golden Age of Ballooning **The Office (U.S.)** Best episode: Sexual Harassment (introduction of Todd Packer, and “that’s what she said”) Worst episode: Pilot (tries too hard to be similar to the UK series) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2012, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-episodes-from-your-favorite-tv-show-s/632220/11 "2012-08-22T01:28:53Z")
**Cheers!** I honestly can’t think of a _least_ favorite episode, but my all-time favorite is the early one where Coach’s daughter visits the bar with her sleazy fiance. **Star Trek** **Best:** “The Doomsday Machine.” Kirk and crew have to destroy a planet-killer left over from an extragalactic war that happened long ago. **Runner-up:** “Balance of Terror.” The first encounter with the Romulans; basically a destroyer-vs-submarine tale. \*\*Worst: \*\*“Plato’s Stepchildren.” Of all the third-season episodes that stank, this one was probably the worst. Kirk and Spock singing “I’m Tweedle-Dee, He’s Tweedle-Dum!” was just plain embarrassing. **Runners-up:** “Mark of Gideon.” “We don’t believe in birth control, so we’re giving our young people a fatal disease to solve our overpopulation problem.” “Is There in Truth No Beauty?” “If you don’t go mad from looking at the Medusan ambassador, you will from sheer boredom.” “The Empath.” “We can’t decide which race to save from impending doom, so we’re going to torture you to find out if this one is worthy of it.” “And the Children Shall Lead.” “Hmmmmm. All the adults on this planet are mysteriously dead. Let’s take their disturbed children on board the _Enterprise_ so they can try to kill us, too.” ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2012, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-episodes-from-your-favorite-tv-show-s/632220/12 "2012-08-22T09:01:44Z")
**Firefly** Best: Out of Gas Worst: War Stories > [@Rollo\_Tomasi](#): > > **Community** > Best: Remedial Chaos Theory (pizza delivery and alternate timelines) > Worst: Messianic Myths and Ancient Peoples (Abed is Jesus for a movie) Spot on. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2012, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-episodes-from-your-favorite-tv-show-s/632220/13 "2012-08-22T09:32:57Z")
**Babylon 5** Best: War Without End. (Time travel, and what really happened to Babylon 4) Worst: Grey 17 is Missing. (A weird cult has taken root in a hidden level of the station.) **Star Trek TNG** Best: The Chase. (The crew decipher a code in all the sentient race’s DNA) Worst: The ones with the Traveller. The second one is worse than the first but they are both awful. **Firefly** Best: Our Mrs Reynolds. (Mal gets “married”) Worst: Heart of Gold. (The crew defend a brothel) **Red Dwarf (I-VI)** Best: Queeg. (A military computer takes over from Holly) Worst: Polymorph part 2: (The crew escape from GELFs but let a polymorph on board) ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2012, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-episodes-from-your-favorite-tv-show-s/632220/14 "2012-08-22T09:50:15Z")
**Babylon 5** Best: _Passing Through Gethsemane_( a monk finds he’s a mind-wiped criminal) Worst: _Grey 17 is Missing_ See previous post, but don’t forget the monster! ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2012, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-episodes-from-your-favorite-tv-show-s/632220/15 "2012-08-22T09:58:44Z")
**Babylon 5** Best: Intersections in Real Time (Sheridan is interrogated after being captured by Earth forces) Worst: Day of the Dead (People from the crew’s past come back to life, and also Penn and Teller are there) ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2012, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-episodes-from-your-favorite-tv-show-s/632220/16 "2012-08-22T12:00:28Z")
> [@Mr\_Shine](#): > > **Babylon 5** > Best: War Without End. (Time travel, and what really happened to Babylon 4) > Worst: Grey 17 is Missing. (A weird cult has taken root in a hidden level of the station.) I think _Grey 17 is Missing_ gets more hate than it deserves. Yes, the idea of a “lost” deck is stupid, and that monster doubly so, and the idea of bullets being fired from a steam pipe triply so…but the B plot with Delenn being named Ranger One and Neroon trying to stop her and fighting Marcus is decent. Plus, the worst B5 episode will always be _Infection._ That being said… **Babylon 5** Best: If it counts, _In the Beginning._ If that doesn’t count, than _Endgame._ Worst: _Infection._ **The Simpsons** Best: _$pringfield_ Worst: There’s a LOT of post season 15 I haven’t seen, but of the ones I have seen, I’ll say _Kill the Alligator and Run_ wins. A close second is _New Kids on the Blecch._ **Futurama** Best: Tie between _Where no Fan has Gone Before_, and _Jurassic Bark._ Worst: Original run - _Where the Buggalo Roam_. New seasons: _Yo Leela Leela._ **Breaking Bad** Best: _Full Measures_ Worst: _I.F.T._ **Game of Thrones** Best: _Baelor_ Worst: _The North Remembers_ ---
**Author:** ![bmasters1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@bmasters1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmasters1)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2012, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-episodes-from-your-favorite-tv-show-s/632220/17 "2012-08-22T12:04:10Z")
> [@janeslogin](#): > > The two hour episodes of the one hour shows are the worst. No doubt about it! Those _Knight Rider_ “season premiere movies” were one of the worst ideas in the history of the medium. Two-hour series premiere pilots are fine (and the one for the original _Five-O_ was one of the best), but to have a movie to initiate every season seems to be stretching it. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2012, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-episodes-from-your-favorite-tv-show-s/632220/18 "2012-08-22T13:07:24Z")
My all time favorite show ever is Northern Exposure. Right up until Joel Fleishman left the show. Favorite: Joel’s uncle in NY died, and as he couldn’t leave town for some reason, Maurice tries to round up 12 Jews in the area to participate in a religious service. The final scene still brings tears to my eyes. Least favorite: Joel and Maggie finally get it on in a barn, a clumsy and ill-advised thing to do. And a few episodes after, dealing with the fallout. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2012, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-episodes-from-your-favorite-tv-show-s/632220/19 "2012-08-22T13:49:39Z")
**CHiPs** Best: one where somebody has been stealing shrubs from along the side of highways. It was more memorable because of this fat pair of psychic twins that predicted all these bad things that would happen to Ponch that day, and they all came true. (Ponch called them “Madame Butterball.”) Worst: there was one that was meant to introduce a spinoff series. It had almost nothing to do with Ponch and Jon. IIRC, the spinoff series never materialized. **The Simpsons** Best: Homer’s Enemy–Frank Grimes is tortured by Homer’s success despite his complete incompetence, and then Grimey gets killed while imitating Homer. Worst: New Kids on the Blech–Bart and friends become a recruiting tool for the Navy. **Married with Children** Best: The one where Marcy and Jefferson entrust the Bundys to take care of the arrangements for their wedding, and the Bundys get the cheapest things possible so they can pocket the rest of the money. Worst: Like with \*CHiPs, \*there was one that introduced a spinoff series. I think one of the annoying douchebags from _Friends_ was in it. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2012, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-episodes-from-your-favorite-tv-show-s/632220/20 "2012-08-22T15:02:48Z")
> [@Mr\_Shine](#): > > **Firefly** > Best: Our Mrs Reynolds. (Mal gets “married”) > Worst: Heart of Gold. (The crew defend a brothel) Finally, a Firefly fan I agree with. **Breaking Bad** (seasons 1-4 cause my dish doesn’t carry AMC anymore, fuckers) Best: Crawl Space (there are plenty of great ones but the ending of this episode blew my mind) Worst: Fly (yup, no further excoriation necessary, that is all that happens in that episode) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-episodes-from-your-favorite-tv-show-s/632220.md?page=2)