I totally agree, but because I can’t pick one episode over the others I decided it didn’t belong in a Top Ten. Frankly it more like 1 10+ hour movie than it is a series of episodes.
This is such a hard list to do, mainly because there’s so much damn source to pull from, but I’ll try to wing it by doing my favorite episode of my 10 favorite shows, and then ranking those
The Simpsons: Last Exit To Springfield - the absolute perfect Simpsons episode.
30 Rock: MILF Island - first of all, we get a whole episode of MILF Island! Secondly, the meta humor of the characters of 30 Rock participating in reality show-type plot and not even realizing it!
Futurama: Fear of a Bot Planet - I remember the first time I watched this episode, I thought “holy crap this is the funniest half hour of TV I’ve EVER seen.”
24: 11:00 p.m.-12:00 a.m. - the one where people die, stuff blows up, and the friend turns evil.
Lost: Man of Science, Man of Faith - pretty much the biggest mind-fuck episode ever. Plus the introduction of Desmond!
Firefly: Out of Gas - such a tragedy this show didn’t last longer. This episode got me hooked more than the pilot did, with a great adventure story.
Seinfeld: The Bottle Deposit - an episode that is probably taken for granted nowadays, mainly cuz we’ve seen it so many times, but there is an INCREDIBLE amount of humor crammed into this episode!
The Shield: Pilot - this show didn’t waste any time establishing that this was gonna be a NEW kind of cop drama. Not only had the great Dutch story with the pedo who is trying to trade kids, but the episode ends with the main star, the big cop, murdering one of his partners!
South Park: Chinpokemon - it’s been like 10 years and I’m STILL quoting this episode!
Law & Order SVU: Ghost - Casey Novak AND Alex Cabot together for one hot episode. Sorry, but this show is all about the hottie lawyers.
What I can think of without thinking:
Six Feet Under - Everybody’s Waiting. Best series finale ever.
Sopranos - The Second Coming. That’s Tony in a nutshell.
**Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Hush. **
Firefly - Ariel. I liked the subtle way they handled Jayne’s guilt for his actions.
My So Called Life - Pilot. The definition of 90’s high school life and yet it looked like it existed in some far corner of your imagination.
Angel - Not Fade Away. Second best series finale ever.
The West Wing - In the Shadow of Two Gunmen. Ordinary civil servants dealing with extraordinary situations because they know they have too.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Passion. Angelus lives up to his hype.
**Seinfeld - The Contest. **
**Sopranos - Funhouse. **Big Pussy sets sail with his crew. Tony knew it all along.
In no particular order, apart from number one.
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Fawlty Towers, ‘The Germans’. As I’ve pointed out before, this episode not only has Basil’s encounter with the German guests, but also includes: the scenes at the hospital for Sybil’s ingrowing toenail, the talking Moose and the fire drill. All in about 30 minutes of television, in one more or less coherent plot. Never has so much comedy genius been squeezed into such a short time.
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House, ‘Three Stories’. Simply breathtaking concept, script, performances and delivery.
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The Shield, Season 5, episode 65, ‘Post Partum’. The final showdown between Vic and Kavanaugh (played by Forest Whitaker) didn’t come until two episodes later in Season 6, but this was still a wonderful culmination of Series 5’s truly gripping gladiatorial clash between the two, and takes some beating. I’m really nominating it as a way of nominating all of Season 5, which gripped from start to finish.
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Seinfeld, ‘The Lip Reader’. I could have chosen any one of many favourite episodes, and many have already cited ‘The Contest’ which thoroughly deserves its fame. But my own personal favourite is ‘The Lip Reader’, guest starring Marlee Matlin. It has George’s ‘It’s Not You It’s Me’ speech, Kramer’s efforts to become a ball boy, Elaine pretending to be deaf, George and Jerry trying to plot and plan at dinner in such a way that the lip reader won’t know what they are discussing, and the finale scene at the party with the lip-reading relay. Ingenious and satisfying.
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Porridge, ‘A Night In’. A technical exercise from writers Clement and La Frenais, seeing what they could do with just two characters and one set. There’s nothing in this episode except Fletch and Godber chatting their cell, having ‘decided’ to have a night in. Both funny and moving, it’s a marvellous, well-paced alloy of richly satisfying scripting and two very memorable performances.
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Friends, Ep 3.02, ‘The One Where No-One’s Ready’. I wasn’t a Friends fan and only saw a few episodes, but this was outstanding. It observes the ‘classical unities’ of time and place, packs an awful lot of funny into one half hour, and the razor sharp script was well-served by terrific performances from all. I never really warmed to David Schwimmer, but his portrayal of ever-growing frustration as he attempts to simply get five friends to a function on time was greatly to his credit. So much on offer: the fight over the chair, Joey wearing all the clothes, ‘going commando’, drinking the fat, Rachel refusing to go. And a great final line.
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Buffy, ‘The Body’. I never saw much of ‘Buffy’ and didn’t much care for the show, but fans persuaded me to catch this episode and I’m glad I did. Truly remarkable on every level.
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Have I Got News For You, 1993, with famed impressionist Mike Yarwood on Paul Merton’s team. I was visiting friends on the south coast and we happened to watch this. I can’t remember having laughed so hard at a single episode of this show. Non-stop brilliance. During one round, points were on offer for doing a Harold Wilson impression (the very thing that made Yarwood famous). Paul Merton said that for his team, he’d have a go: ‘We need the points’.
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Planet Earth (2006). The zenith of natural history TV programming, with photography that is simply out of this world. If I had to choose one episode, it would be the one devoted to ‘Fresh Water’, with breathtaking views of some of the greatest waterfalls in the world (which I happen to like). But many will more fondly remember the thrill of the snow leopard chase from ‘Mountains’, and the accompanying ‘making of’ insert that showed just how patient the camera-man had to be to get extraordinary sequence.
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Hill Street Blues. Season 1, Episode 1. Quite simply, it changed television forever. We had never seen anything like it before, and it was mesmerising: the realism and lack of glamour or easy endings; the hand-held off-perfect camera work; the cross-cutting dialogue; the pacing and taut story-telling; the ensemble approach; the emphasis on cops as people with troubled, private lives; the open acknowledgment of corruption, compromise and imperfection at the heart of the criminal justice system - sometimes good guys go down and bad guys get away with it. All this, plus that wonderful Mike Post theme tune. Glorious television, and often very moving.
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Dr Who, ‘Blink’. Already widely praised, and rightly so. Writer Stephen Moffat came up with a superbly ingenious and very scary idea. Carey Mulligan, as Sally Sparrow, turned in a superb performance (and was a joy to watch). Kudos to the producers for allowing the episode to be what it was, with only incidental parts for The Doctor and his companion, rather than insisting they be given more to do (as many producers would have).
Okay, so it’s 11 rather than 10. Bite me.
Nobody has mentioned Whose Line is it Anyway guest starring Richard Simmons. The funniest seven minutes of television ever. The rare chance to see Ryan Stilles almost lose it. The chance to see the rest of the cast totally lose it. Drew Carey down for the count. Greg Props curled up into a ball, tears streaming down his face.
I read an interview with Colin who said this was the funniest segment ever. The audience was falling off their chairs.
The Prisoner - a tie between episode number 16 Once Upon A Time and episode 10 Hammer Into Anvil.
As with Firefly, I prefer that the show had only a small number of episode, they didn’t have a chance to run it into the ground.
“Could I BE wearing any more clothes??” I laugh just thinking about that line.
From TV.com, not worth spoilering:
You’ll get more of an idea of just how wild the episode is by reading the Wikipedia notes.
For your consideration:
NCIS, Season 2: Call of Silence (Guest Star Charles Durning as Ernie Yost)
Oh, nice one! I have to agree–I thought I was going to hurt myself the first time I saw that. It still makes me laugh every time I see it.
I was actually going to list the Tonight Show episode where Karnak did “Sis Boom Bah” (“Describe the sound made when a sheep explodes”), but I figured one sketch didn’t make a show. I remember seeing that one when it was new, and the audience laughed for what seemed like forever.
Although even that doesn’t give you the stuff that makes it really crazy, like the way swaths of dialogue are repeated by different characters. And Mulder interrogating a cook while eating sweet potato pie.
That does it. I’m watching this one tonight. 
I thought I was the only person in the universe that loved this show. Thanks zamboniracer
I don’t have a list. I’ll second The Germans and Planet Earth though. The episode I would pick would be From Pole to Pole, if only for the super slow-mo shot of the Great White leaping entirely out of the water with a sea-lion in its’ mouth. Amazing series.
I don’t think I could ever pare the list down to ten. But for episodes of The Sopranos, I have to nominate “Unidentified Black Males” and “Soprano Home Movies” for consideration.
Good episodes, but “Pine Barrens” and “Long Term Parking” are better.
MTM Chuckles the Clown
ST TOS Doomsday Machine
ST TOS City on the Edge of Forever
ST DS9 ‘Computer, erase the last log entry’ (not sure of the title but one hell of a show)
ST TNG The Inner Light
MASH Finale
Twilight Zone The After Hours
Coupling (I’m Susan the Happy Trotting Elf) unsure of title
South Park The one with the Family Guy writers
WKRP The one with the Tornados is a little better than the ones with turkeys.
South Park-biggest douche in the universe
My list was almost all comedy, so I’m surprised I didn’t mention Mystery Science Theater 3000. Overdrawn at the Memory Bank probably makes me laugh the hardest, although the one time I saw it, I thought Jack Frost was the funniest one I’d seen.
This is the episode that prompted my husband and I to get into this series. Great TV.
My favorite part of this one is the very end: “So SUE ME!!!” and then the credits roll.
May I also throw into the ring “The Return of the King” from The Boondocks?
Are you thinking of “In the Pale Moonlight,” the episode where Sisko widens the Dominion War through a deliberate deception?