WKRP: The softball game episode, Del’s stereo and sound, the aforementioned “Oh my God they’re turkeys!”
Futurama: Jurassic Bark, Where No Fan Has Gone Before, Fry & the Slurm Factory, all Anthology of Interest episodes
TNG: Cause and Effect
Jonny Quest: Invisible shrieking monster, giant spider-thingy
This one is pretty good, but I prefer the one where Johnny thinks he’s being chased by the phone police (the episode where the station’s transmitter gets blown up by terrorists).
Also to add to this list is any Barney Miller episode.
Father Ted: Speed 3
My So-Called Life: So-Called Angel
Runners up:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Body
Mission: Impossible: Zubrovnik’s Ghost
Mary Tyler Moore: Chuckles Bites the Dust
Outer Limits: The Sixth Finger
Twilight Zone: Nick of Time
Star Trek: The Trouble with Tribbles
Newhart: The Last Newhart (the series finale)
Arrested Development: Missing Kitty
“The X-Files” episode “Jose Chung’s ‘From Outer Space’”.
Brilliantly funny episode that worked as a self-referential parody of the series itself, the network it ran on, the stars, the entire alien/gov’t conspiracy phenomenon, and TV show fanboys. And it actually worked as an interesting story as well, instead of just being played for laughs.
Plus it had Alex Trebeck and Jesse Ventura appearing as Men In Black.
“But Ted,…she was in the nip!” Bless!
The **Barney Miller ** episode with the hash brownies.
All the music of life seems to be
Like a bell that is ringing for me!
The Dick Van Dyke Show - Laura opens Rob’s mail. Or the one where Laura lets it slip on a game show that Alan Brady is really bald.
Comedy: WKRP in Cincinnatti: “As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.”
Drama: The West Wing “In the Shadow of Two Gunmen”
Sci-Fi/Fantasy: The New Twilight Zone (1986) “The Cold Equations”
Hill Street Blues: “Grace Under Pressure” – Bochco & Co. deal with the real-life passing of actor Michael Conrad by providing his character with a most memorable exit episode. Capt. Furillo informs the Hill that their Sarge has passed away. Over the course of the day, word leaks out concerning salient details of how the sarge passed on (while having sex with Grace Gardner), culminating in a bittersweet but hilarious bar scene at the end of the episode, when Andy Renko calls Furillo at home to confirm the rumors.
Seinfeld: “The Contest”. The foursome bet on who can remain the “Master of His Domain” the longest… only to individually confront unprecedented temptations.
Another vote for Fawlty Towers’ “The Germans”… (“However did they win?”)
Spongebob Squarepants: I don’t care if you don’t like cartoons. The episode in which Squidward organizes a band, and then Spongebob pulls it together at the last minute, is absolutely inspiring. “The winner take all…it’s the thrill of one more kill…” Hilarious.
And an oldie: the episode in the aged Nickelodeon show The Adventures of Pete and Pete in which Artie (the strongest man…in the WORLD!) moves a neighbor’s house a tiny bit to one side, so when the guy comes home he misses the lock with his key. It seems like anyone who has ever seen P&P remembers this episode. Man…that show was ahead of its time.
If it ever happens, the last Ken Jennings/ Jeopardy show should be a good one.
One (or two) of the ER shows that were set in Africa (actually Hawaii). Very well done and evoked the Congo extremely well.
This thread is making me so sad because I know I will never be able to experience half of these shows. There really should be some way to get old tv shows out to the public if they just collect dust in a studio some where. Such a shame.
I’m not even going to try to list just one…
X-Files - Jose Chung’s 'From Outer Space
Red Dwarf - Backwards
Fawlty Towers - The Hotel Inspectors
Speed Racer - The Fire Race
The Goodies - Kitten Kong
WKRP - The Phone Cops episodes… or maybe that’s cheating.
Moving this from IMHO to Cafe Society.
Another great Just Shoot Me episode was the special “Biography” episode about Nina VanHorn.
Oh, and JThunder, let me add that very special I Love Lucy episode where Lucy devises a hare-brained scheme to be a part of Desi’s show. Ethel is a part of it and a lot of people laugh. A classic if there ever was one! 
Seriously, though, I’ll also nominate the Twilight Zone episode “It’s a GOOD Life”.
I found a website that has TV Guide’s list on this subject from March 2001 - their top 100. Here’s their top ten, many of which have already been named, and more of which probably would have had the list been contemporary (or maybe not, considering the number of classics and sitcoms in the top ten):
The next 10 of the top 20 include another Dick van Dyke episode, the awesomely depressing “Abyssinia, Henry,” “To Serve Man,” and the first regular episode of “Columbo,” “Murder By the Book,” which features a director and writer who became household names between then and now.
…but, but, but, those were my choices! Sleeping in Light is my favourite too…
:: sniffs ::
…Hush was my favouite Buffy episode as well…
I’ll add something unusual-the Veterans Day episode of “Hey Arnold”
http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/GuidePageServlet/showid-1626/epid-55067/
A remarkable tale on the true meaning of heroism. Remarkable for a kids cartoon.
“Freaks and Geeks” was just a momentary flash in the TV universe (one season, 18 episodes), but the pilot episode, where Sam must deal with his bully nemesis Allen and Lindsay asks Ely the retarded kid to the school dance, is brilliant. Equally brilliant is the season finale where Lindsay discovers the Grateful Dead.
Another vote here also for the “Taxi” episode introducing Ignatowski.
Whuuuuut. Dooooooes. Aaaaaa. Yelloooooooow. Liiiiiiiiiight Meeeeeeean?!?