Obviously inspired by thesethreads, what are the best written episodes of some of your favorite TV series’ ever. You can list multiple (but it’s more fun if you list your all time faves)
I shall get the ball rolling:
Futurama: Godfellas (from a comedic standpoint the super hero ep, but I love Godfellas)
Sports Night: Six Southern Gentlemen of Tennessee: Both pieces of the episode are just written beautifully, the southern football player and Casey’s tie situation
Quantum Leap: I dunno the name, but Sam leaps into a black man who is dating a white woman in the midst of a terrible riot. I was on the edge of my seat for practically this whole episode.
CSI Vegas: The Strip Strangler: There are a lot of good episodes, but I just remember the excitement I had throughout this one.
I am sure there are others, I’ll prolly post them eventually, but for the rest of you, have at it!
I’d say that my favorite episode of Homicide is “Black and Blue”. It can be watched as a standalone episode, and you can hear the room go quiet (if you watch it with multiple people) when Pembleton really digs into a guy in the box.
X-Files: Jose Chung’s From Outer Space.
Futurama: Parasites Lost
MST3K: Space Mutiny
Simpsons: Homer Badman
Supernatural: Tie: Mystery Spot/The Monster at the End of This Book
Lost: Walkabout
Buffy: Restless
I am going to have to step in here, and provide the following. Reasoning for why I put this in this thread after.
Sonic Drive Ins
There is one commercial advertising a 100% apple juice drink.
There is a series of Sonic Commercials in which a main character, (Do they have names?), the driver, always makes comments about the food offerings at Sonic. I find the commercials more funny than not.
Usually, the main character makes an obviously stupid comment, that implies he’s not the sharpest tool in the shed.
In the apple drink comemrcial;
The main character (MC) “This drink has 100% Apple Juice, That’s more than in a real apple!”
Female Passenger (FP) “I don’t think that is quite right…”
MC : “No, of course it is, I mean, with a real apple you have the stem, and the leaf, that takes up what, 5% of the apple, right?”
FP: “You know something? I think this is the best conversation you have ever had.”
Sonic cashed in ALL of their chips with the series at the time this one came out. (The still have the same guy, with different passengers, in later commercials)
And it worked. Perfectly. It assumed that watchers of the commercials had a viewing history of the older commercials.
Definately a had to be there moment. BUT.
This was the BEST WRITTEN EPISODE of the Sonic Drive in Guy commercials.
Battlestar Galactica. There are a ton of great ones, but I’m gonna have to go with “33”.
That was my first real exposure to the series, though I caught the miniseries on one of the reairings afterwards. And it still stands out as excellent. There’s palpable tension and fatigue, tons of action, the start of the impossible situations that humanity will have to face, and the unexplained menace of the Cylons who just keep coming and coming and coming.
I fully agree with you on that commercial Meeko good job bringing that in the thread too, if anyone else has anything else on TV that they feel is well written, more power to ya
For me it has to be the episode “Subway”. Vincent D’Onofrio is brilliant as the murder victim that isn’t dead yet. He was able to make a character that was both unlikable and sympathetic at the same time. And of course the work of Andre Braugher was great as usual and made better by playing off of another great actor. When I finished watching that I sat back and knew I had just watched what might have been the best performances ever on TV.
The series Frank’s Place died way too soon. It was different every week. Sometimes it was quite serious and other times it was funny as hell. But what stands out for me is the episode with the wake and the dead body. Although it borrows from what was done previously in other shows (Fawlty Towers), the way it was put together made it maybe the funniest half hour show I have seen tied with…
Basil the Rat on Fawlty Towers. From beginning to end the perfect sitcom episode in a classic series.
Seinfeld: The Contest, with Keith Hernandez/JKF a close second
Mary Tyler Moore: Chuckles bites the dust
Three’s Company: John Ritter’s dancing in a tux.
Veronica Mars – “Ain’t No Magic Mountain High Enough”
I bet most people would pick a different episode (probably one from the first season), but this one is my favourite. I think Ruggiero wrote the best episodes, and this one is the pinnacle.
Also, the “Cheater Girls” episode of Sonny with a Chance – “Check out my weightlessness!!!”