# Greatest episodes of television ever **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 19, 2019, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-episodes-of-television-ever/835764 "2019-06-19T18:37:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-episodes-of-television-ever/835764/41 "2019-06-20T00:43:05Z")
While many of these are fine choices (I am haunted by the end of Dexter S4 still…), I’m going to go lighthearted and simple with my favorite episode of my favorite show: Friends - The One With the Embroys… aka “Miss Chanandler Bong.” ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-episodes-of-television-ever/835764/42 "2019-06-20T00:51:24Z")
Fawlty Towers- Basil the Rat ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-episodes-of-television-ever/835764/43 "2019-06-20T01:07:35Z")
[_ER_ Love’s Labor Lost.](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0568033/?ref_=fn_al_tt_5) Mark Greene deals with a minor complaint from a pregnant woman, and things go downhill quickly. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-episodes-of-television-ever/835764/44 "2019-06-20T01:13:21Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Some of you dicks are not including links. Why is that? [link](https://www.reddit.com/r/Metalocalypse/comments/5im34u/just_finished_reading_skwisgaar_is_ams_dick_for/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share) ---
**Author:** ![Personal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Personal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Personal)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-episodes-of-television-ever/835764/45 "2019-06-20T01:15:40Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Some of you dicks are not including links. Why is that? Google. ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-episodes-of-television-ever/835764/46 "2019-06-20T01:25:22Z")
**Andy Griffith** _Mr. McBeevee_ and the previously mentioned… **Mary Tyler Moore** _Chuckles The Clown_ **Fawlty Towers** _Basil the Rat_ ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-episodes-of-television-ever/835764/47 "2019-06-20T01:27:43Z")
> [@Personal](#): > > Google. I’M A BUSY MAN. I have no time to waste when I want to waste time! ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-episodes-of-television-ever/835764/48 "2019-06-20T01:30:35Z")
I was trying to think of the best episode of the Fargo series, and came to the conclusion that the entire second season (with Jesse Plemmons, Kirsten Dunst and a brilliant cast) is the answer. ---
**Author:** ![Personal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Personal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Personal)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-episodes-of-television-ever/835764/49 "2019-06-20T01:38:05Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > I’M A BUSY MAN. I have no time to waste when I want to waste time! Got me. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-episodes-of-television-ever/835764/50 "2019-06-20T01:47:54Z")
The Rockford Files: _White on White and Nearly Perfect_ ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-episodes-of-television-ever/835764/51 "2019-06-20T02:50:59Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Some of you dicks are not including links. Why is that? Well, if you have any taste at all, you already have the DVDs. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-episodes-of-television-ever/835764/52 "2019-06-20T02:53:43Z")
The aforementioned episode of _The Outer Limits_ – “Demon with a Glass Hand” _The Twilight Zone_ – “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” _Kraft Suspense Theater_ – “Once Upon a Savage Night” (later released theatrically as _Nightmare in Chicago_) _Dragnet 1967_ – “The LSD Story” _Star Trek: TOS_ – “Elaan of Troyius” _Batman_ – “While Gotham City Burns”/”The Bookworm Turns” _The Prisoner_ - “Fallout” _Night Gallery_ – “The Caterpillar” _Star Trek: TNG_ – “Conspiracy” Possibly episodes of _Monty Python’s Flying Circus_, _Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures_, _The Venture Brothers_ and\* Adventure Time\* ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-episodes-of-television-ever/835764/53 "2019-06-20T03:04:30Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > Breaking Bad - Ozymandias > Bojack Horseman - Free Churro (or Time’s arrow? hmm…) Time’s Arrow from Bojack Horseman is amazing, as is Free Churro. Other favorites: GLOW: Nothing Shattered Stranger Things: The Body Andy Griffith: The Haunted House Dark Shadows: Episode 211, The Arrival of Barnabas Collins Inspector Morse: The Way through the Woods Twin Peaks the Return: pt 8 Gilligan’s Island: Seer Gilligan Columbo: Now You See Him ---
**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:** [June 20, 2019, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-episodes-of-television-ever/835764/54 "2019-06-20T03:12:55Z")
_ **Amos ‘n’ Andy** _, toss-up between “The Kingfish Adopts Andy” and “The Kingfish Gives Andy Flying Lessons.” Throw in “The Kingfish Gets Drafted” for good measure. How can anybody not like this show? :dubious: ☹ ---
**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:** [June 20, 2019, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-episodes-of-television-ever/835764/55 "2019-06-20T03:21:58Z")
“Elaan of Troyius”? _Really_?!? :dubious: :smack: Seemed like my favorite episodes of _ **Columbo** _ all came around the same time: “Now You See Him,” “Candidate for a Crime,” “Negative Reaction,” “Troubled Waters,” “An Exercise in Fatality,” “Playback,” “Forgotten Lady”… :o ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-episodes-of-television-ever/835764/56 "2019-06-20T03:31:19Z")
Night Gallery has been mentioned but my favorite episode of that is “A Question of Fear”. (In which Leslie Nielson and Fritz Weaver star). And I also found the Columbo ep “A Friend in Deed” quite memorable if for no other reason than Columbo goes up against an utterly ruthless killer, who happens to be a high-ranking police official in a position to hamstring his investigation. ---
**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:** [June 20, 2019, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-episodes-of-television-ever/835764/57 "2019-06-20T03:40:00Z")
> [@Dropo](#): > > _Batman_ – “While Gotham City Burns”/”The Bookworm Turns” I was going to mention this one, just because of Roddy McDowell’s performance and the luscious Francine York as Miss Limpit, the quintessential slutty librarian. :o > [@](#): > > _The Prisoner_ - “Fallout” My personal favorites are “Many Happy Returns” and “The Chimes of Big Ben.” ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-episodes-of-television-ever/835764/58 "2019-06-20T03:40:51Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > “Elaan of Troyius”? _Really_?!? :dubious: :smack: Really. Dude, according to you, one of the “Greatest Episodes of Television Ever” is from _Gilligan’s Island_. IMO, such a claim throws an unflattering light on your aesthetic judgments of the medium in question. Do you have a favorite episode of _Hogan’s Heroes_ you would also like to mention? ETA: And then you post your comments about big Rod. How am I supposed to assess your aesthetic judgment now? Somewhere between wise and less than wise, I guess. ---
**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:** [June 20, 2019, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-episodes-of-television-ever/835764/59 "2019-06-20T03:48:26Z")
> [@Dropo](#): > > Really. > > Dude, according to you, one of the “Greatest Episodes of Television Ever” is from _Gilligan’s Island_. IMO, such a claim throws an unflattering light on your aesthetic judgments of the medium in question. > > Do you have a favorite episode of _Hogan’s Heroes_ you would also like to mention? Probably the one where the Germans bring barrels of heavy water into Stalag 13. Or maybe the one with the stolen French art treasures. Don’t knock _ **GI** _! It has great sociological value as a microcosm of 1960s white American society, along with some great one-liners. Not to mention Ginger and Mary Ann. :o ---
**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:** [June 20, 2019, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-episodes-of-television-ever/835764/60 "2019-06-20T03:50:28Z")
> [@Dropo](#): > > ETA: And then you post your comments about big Rod. How am I supposed to assess your aesthetic judgment now? Somewhere between wise and less than wise, I guess. Sorry, you lost me here. Gene Roddenberry? 😕 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-episodes-of-television-ever/835764.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-episodes-of-television-ever/835764.md?page=4)