“Yes, let’s not jump to conclusions.”
“I didn’t jump! I took a tiny little step, and there conclusions were.”
The one TV moment for me was from back in the 70’s, from All in the Family. I’ll probably not get it exactly right, it’s been a long time.
It was several seasons in, and we had had years of bickering about Viet Nam between Archie and Meathead. The war was officially over by the time of this episode.
In this particular episode, an old friend of Archie’s was visiting; this friend had lost his only son in the war. Also, unexpectedly, an old friend of Mike’s was visiting; he was a draft dodger who had gone to Canada, and who was back in the States secretly.
They’re all having dinner (it’s Christmas Eve, 1976), when the secret of the draft dodger comes out. Archie gets upset, and Mike starts yammering at him again about how wrong the war was. Archie explodes:
“I ain’t talkin’ about that war! I don’t want to talk about that goddamn war no more! I’m talkin’ about somethin’ else! And what he done was wrong!”
Hearing him swear on network TV, and the way this man who was always a buffoon suddenly became majestic in his anger, burned this in my memory. Although the comments say they made him overdub without the actual swearing, but I was sure I remembered it. Maybe I was only reading his lips.
I found it on YouTube, of course; here it is, the fireworks start at about 18:00.
Roddy
My current favorite is from The Big Bang Theory.
“Women. Can’t live with 'em, can’t successfully refute their hypotheses.”
Out of respect for Czarcasm, I will refrain from posting a long list of quotes from Fawlty Towers.
Also from “Life.” Charlie and Dani are on a stakeout (or at least they are in the car) and Charlie, like always, starts talking. This time, about reincarnation:
“I’d like to come back as a giant Flemish rabbit. 15 pounds of pure bunny.”
God don’t make no mistakes. That’s how he got to be God!" - Archie Bunker
mmm
Another Simpsons quoter here.
Homer: “Lisa, in this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics!”
I prefer Norm Peterson’s line on “Cheers!”:
“Women! Can’t live with 'em … pass the beer nuts, Woody!”
An entire thread could be devoted to “Cheers!” quotes.
My all-time favorite is from the brilliant Herman’s Head, a short-lived FOX sitcom from the early 1990s:
Hedy: Herman, do think this skirt is too tight?
Herman: Not if you’ve been shot in the ass and you’re trying to stop the bleeding.
I liked Vork’s version in The Guild:
(delivered in a wonderful deadpan) “Women. Can’t live with them … and they won’t go out with me.”
I came here to post my favorite TV quote, and it was right there in the damn OP!
Favorite Non-sequitur (Twin Peaks):
“The Owls are not what they seem”