Why
Exactly what I was thinkin’
I could have added Episode 8 from the new season. A truly great cinematic experience and an all-time classic episode of TV. Even if you did not watch the rest of the new season, you should check that one out.
“Got a light?”
I still think it’s one of the best. I’d add:
The Return of the Archons - an alien world that is truly alien
Mirror, Mirror - an alternative universe where the Enterprise is evil, even Mr. Spock
I know “Jurassic Bark” gets a lot of love, but personally my picks for Futurama are “The Sting” and “The Devil’s Hands are Idle Playthings”.
That episode was a mind-blower.
I’d add Scrubs season 3 episode 14, My Screw Up, to the list. Where do you think we are?
Greatest is a tough one, especially given how so many shows these days are approaching filmic quality, but the one that has stuck with me more than any other is ST:TNG S6E14 “Tapestry”. There is such a valuable lesson here – one that I never really did learn.
If I had to choose one Breaking Bad Episode, it would be S2E12 “Phoenix”. After that, Walter White was essentially irredeemable.
ETA: How could I forget? MAS*H: “Tuttle”.
It looks like I was totally off base on that one.
Thanks for the Straight Dope.
There are only 2 other specific Cheers episodes that I can remember, both kind of serious for a Sit-Com, one was when Coach’s daughter confronted her Dad, telling him that she was unhappy and thought she was ugly, and Coach told her she was beautiful, and that she looked just like her Mother (actually very poignant, I thought) and the other was when Sam, who was of course a recovering alcoholic, had the bottlecap for the last bottle of beer he ever drank, that he kept as a kind of talisman to him, reminding him of how much that alcohol had messed up his life, and then he somehow lost the cap, and was tempted to fall off the wagon, but he kept the faith, grabbed a random cap out of the garbage, and said, (to himself) “Oh, there it is…” and closed up the bar for the night, sobriety in tact.
I was going to pick season 5 episode 20, “My Lunch”.
You had to go there, didn’t you?
Seriously, this is the perfect example of how to communicate difficult subject matter to kids. They hit it out of the park with this one.
On less profound notes, I’ll add:
Columbo: “A Case of Immunity”
Columbo: “The Conspirators”
Blackadder: “Goodbyeee” (it is my sig line, after all)
It is difficult to single out one episode of The Prisoner. “The Chimes of Big Ben” was the first one I ever saw, so I’ll go with that. And “Arrival”.
aurora maire, thank you for reminding me of “Far Beyond the Stars”. Excellent.
Also excellent!
I might add the two-parter from House, House’s Head and Wilson’s Heart, to the list, but the best episode has already been mentioned:
He had objected to the creep she planned to marry out of desperation. She then decided to end the engagement because she wanted a man as good as her father.
My favorite episode too, because of that scene. It was beautifully written and wonderfully acted.
I love that whole series, but this episode FREAKED my niece out. She was about 6 or 7.
Twilight Zone (Eightie’s edition)-“Paladin of the Lost Hour” Harlan Ellison story-Danny Kaye’s penultimate performance, solid second lead in Glynn Turman.
Simply outstanding. So many great Scrubs episodes, but those two are among the best.
Before seeing either of these posts, if someone asked me for the best Scrubs episode I would have said Cox’s brother (My Screw Up), but after remembering My Lunch I think that’s the winner. Absolutely devastating.
“Yankee Doodle Doctor,” and, “The Longjohn Flap,” give, “Tuttle,” a run for the money.
Laughter usually needs company. That is one of the few episodes of tv I remember laughing historically at alone in an empty room. The beauty of that show is how the tone shifted from episode to episode.
Thought of another one. Futurama: “Hell is Other Robots,” though there are a lot of great Futurama episodes.
Tony Sinclair, I saw it last weekend, and I think “The City on the Edge of Forever” is still a first-rate piece of work. It’s a pity it didn’t use the line that James Blish used in his adaptation: “Always remember, Jim, no other woman was really offered the universe for love.”
House, “Three Stories.”
The Big Bang Theory, “The Adhesive Duck Deficiency” and “The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis”
Frasier, “Flour Child”
Doctor Who, “Blink” or “Midnight” (Tenth Doctor), “Hell Bent” or “The Zygon Inversion” (Twelfth Doctor)
Lucifer, “A Priest Walks Into a Bar”
Frasier: An Affair To Forget