# The moment a TV show "won you over" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 21, 2010, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-a-tv-show-won-you-over/525773 "2010-01-21T00:51:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-a-tv-show-won-you-over/525773/21 "2010-01-21T06:55:25Z")
I didn’t have much interest in watching **Twin Peaks**. A little, because it was David Lynch after all, but I wasn’t paying all that much attention to the lead up publicity. Luckily friends kept saying “It’s gonna be great, I’m sure of it” and kept reminding me when the first pilot episode was going to be on. I turned the “television” on a few minutes before it was going to start. At that time we had our computer in the living room, with our 4’x7’ big screen (ceiling-mounted projector). I was going to be on the computer and kinda half-ass watch the show at the same time. The computer was soon forgotten. [One second. One second was all it took. That first note.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oDuGN6K3VQ) Then the bird. Then the foundery, and the waterfall… By the end of the opening credits, I was so enthralled that the house could have been burning down and I wouldn’t have noticed. Thank goodness the show lived up to the opening and I stuck with it all the way to the very last episode. It’s the only series in my life where I watched every single episode from the beginning of the series to the end. Immediately after that first pilot episode was over I jumped on the computer and looked for someone to discuss it with since my husband was working. I eventually found alt.fan.twin-peaks, where people were busy putting together things like [this character list](http://www.textfiles.com/media/twinpeak.txt) and [this quotes file](http://www.textfiles.com/media/tpquotes.txt) and so much more. It was my first inkling of the power that the internet could have on shows because people would immediately be dissecting clues and giving background on subjects they knew about. What we do every day here at the Dope was new (certainly to me) then. We’d already been on the internet for a while and loved it, but that’s when I knew that the internet was the wave of the future. Btw, here’s the [original vocal version](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBdH6SjBEX8) by Julee Cruise, with scenes from the show. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-a-tv-show-won-you-over/525773/22 "2010-01-21T07:44:00Z")
“And that’s how I met your… Aunt Robin” “WHAT!?!” ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-a-tv-show-won-you-over/525773/23 "2010-01-21T13:43:23Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Odd that you should ask. Tonight ABC reran the premeiere of _Modern Family_ and I realized I was hooked when Cam introduced the Vietnamese daughter to the family with the opening from Lion King. “I know your mother isn’t coming. Last time she was here the refrigerator magnets rearranged themselves into a pentagram.” ---
**Author:** ![infinitii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e8c25b/32.png) [@infinitii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/infinitii)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-a-tv-show-won-you-over/525773/24 "2010-01-21T13:56:41Z")
I was already going to watch “Prison Break” based on the premise alone, but the reveal that he had tatooed the blueprints (I don’t recall that being mentioned on promos for the show, but it’s been a while) on his skin made me a dedicated viewer . ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-a-tv-show-won-you-over/525773/25 "2010-01-21T14:02:18Z")
I first got into **The Office** (US) the episode that Dwight had the concussion and Michael burned his foot on his George Foreman grill. For some reason, Jim squirting Dwight in the face with a water bottle had me rolling. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-a-tv-show-won-you-over/525773/26 "2010-01-21T14:28:29Z")
> [@interface2x](#): > > I first got into **The Office** (US) the episode that Dwight had the concussion and Michael burned his foot on his George Foreman grill. For some reason, Jim squirting Dwight in the face with a water bottle had me rolling. That \*would \*be a really good episode for introducing people to the show. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-a-tv-show-won-you-over/525773/27 "2010-01-21T14:43:02Z")
I fell in love with Babylon 5 (I just bought the first season on DVD and have been plugging away at it) in the episode (maybe six or seven) where Catherine the planet surveyor sees something spectacular and inexplicable (which renders her ship inoperative) and G’Kar, who up until then had been something of a jerk, saves her life for no particular reason and then gives a very moving speech about there still being unexplainable things in the universe and how that’s a very good thing. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-a-tv-show-won-you-over/525773/28 "2010-01-21T14:47:40Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > I didn’t have much interest in watching **Twin Peaks**. A little, because it was David Lynch after all, but I wasn’t paying all that much attention to the lead up publicity. Luckily friends kept saying “It’s gonna be great, I’m sure of it” and kept reminding me when the first pilot episode was going to be on. I turned the “television” on a few minutes before it was going to start. At that time we had our computer in the living room, with our 4’x7’ big screen (ceiling-mounted projector). I was going to be on the computer and kinda half-ass watch the show at the same time. The computer was soon forgotten. > > [One second. One second was all it took. That first note.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oDuGN6K3VQ) Then the bird. Then the foundery, and the waterfall… > > By the end of the opening credits, I was so enthralled that the house could have been burning down and I wouldn’t have noticed. Thank goodness the show lived up to the opening and I stuck with it all the way to the very last episode. It’s the only series in my life where I watched every single episode from the beginning of the series to the end. > > Immediately after that first pilot episode was over I jumped on the computer and looked for someone to discuss it with since my husband was working. I eventually found alt.fan.twin-peaks, where people were busy putting together things like [this character list](http://www.textfiles.com/media/twinpeak.txt) and [this quotes file](http://www.textfiles.com/media/tpquotes.txt) and so much more. It was my first inkling of the power that the internet could have on shows because people would immediately be dissecting clues and giving background on subjects they knew about. What we do every day here at the Dope was new (certainly to me) then. We’d already been on the internet for a while and loved it, but that’s when I knew that the internet was the wave of the future. > Btw, here’s the [original vocal version](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBdH6SjBEX8) by Julee Cruise, with scenes from the show. Well, with me, the name David Lynch WAS a draw (not so much any more- I have not seen anything of his after “Industrial Symphony” although I do want to see “The Straight Story”.) I was into the pilot ep but certain things nailed it for me… “It’s a girl… she’s wrapped… in plastic.” The beautiful blue dead face of Laura Palmer. Cooper taking fascination in every detail of everything, and narrating such for Diane. The flickering fluorescent light of the examination room. And as disturbing as it was, it was riveting- the agonizingly long time it took for Cooper to probe for the typeprint under Laura’s fingernail. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-a-tv-show-won-you-over/525773/29 "2010-01-21T15:15:57Z")
**Buffy** got me watching with “Do I deconstruct _your_ segues?” I was hooked with _ **Buffy:** Well, I gotta look on the bright side. Maybe I can still get kicked out of school. **Xander:** Oh, yeah, that’s a plan. Cause lots of schools aren’t on Hellmouths. **Willow:** Maybe you could blow something up. They’re really strict about that. **Buffy:** I was thinking of a more subtle approach, ya know, like excessive not studying. **Giles:** The Earth is doomed._ ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-a-tv-show-won-you-over/525773/30 "2010-01-21T15:18:44Z")
> [@Miss\_Woodhouse](#): > > Episode two of Battlestar Galatica. It was so tense and very well acted. I just loved the characters from that point on. I’m guessing you’re talking about “33”, the first regular episode after the premiere miniseries. Yep, that was a seriously awesome episode; you feel every bit of the tension, the fatigue, the despair that they all feel at being attacked every 33 minutes. The miniseries gripped me, though, just after the Cylon attacks started. The show had been kinda boring up until then, but then worlds began exploding, ships started crashing, and Commander Adama got on the intercom, announced the attacks, and said, “As of this moment, we are at war.” Damn, it was great. ---
**Author:** ![Elysium](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3be4f8/32.png) [@Elysium](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elysium)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-a-tv-show-won-you-over/525773/31 "2010-01-21T17:29:54Z")
33 did it for me too. The husband and I wanted to watch the show and for some reason we didn’t realize there was a mini-series before that episode. We got halfway through 33 before we looked it up online and realized we’d missed quite a bit. But that 20 minutes was enough, I knew the show was going to be outstanding. ---
**Author:** ![fusoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@fusoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fusoya)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-a-tv-show-won-you-over/525773/32 "2010-01-21T17:30:37Z")
> [@Monstre](#): > > 24: I never caught any of season 1 when it first aired. I checked out the first episode of season 2, when they replayed it a couple nights after the season premiere first aired. And that episode hooked me – especially: “I’m going to need a hacksaw…” > > Lost: the series premiere, more or less. But was especially hooked after the first John Locke backstory in episode 4, with the reveal scene at the end. This and this. Exactly. I first got hooked on the Simpsons in the first aired episode where Bart had the gaul to say that there’s no Santa Claus. As a 9 year old, that was the edgiest thing I’ve ever seen on TV. The hook lasted a good 10 years. It took a long time for Seinfeld to hook me, but The Fire episode, with George pushing an old woman with a walker out the way in order to escape the apartment is what finally sold me. I watched the first episode of The Shield, thinking that it was just trying to be a darker cop show. And then Vic shoots his partner Terry in the face during the middle of a gang bust, and my jaw fell open, and I knew I was here to stay. For Nip/Tuck, I thought it was gonna be a girly medical show. But the contrast in characters between Sean’s family man and Christian’s ladies man seemed like an interesting and unique angle to me which kept me coming back. For The Office (I already tried and failed to get into the UK series), it was the diversity day episode, where Michael refused to let role play as middle-eastern, because it was “too soon” Curb Your Enthusiasm took a long time to grow on me (I hear it’s pretty common with that show) but the episode with the parking attendant, the elevator and the doctor’s waiting list made me realize that this comedy was SMART. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-a-tv-show-won-you-over/525773/33 "2010-01-21T17:57:02Z")
Mystery Science Theater 3000: My first episode was Leech Woman. I liked it, but really it was the following episode of The Mole People which really got me hooked: Scientist reading a clay tablet: “And we floated upon the waters of the flood until we came to the land of Ishtar…” Mike: “…Gotta run. Say hi to Mary and the kids.” John Agar holding a carved head statue: “Wait’ll I show Paul this!” Crow: “He’s gonna blow chunks, man!” During a prolonged descending into the cave scene: Mike: “This movie is just ropes and asses!” And of course the whole “Load” running gag. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-a-tv-show-won-you-over/525773/34 "2010-01-21T18:42:27Z")
For me it was the first Buffy show I saw, season’s 1’s “The Pack”, when the pack of boys that were being turned into hyenas first ate the school mascot, a tiny pig, and then ate the principal who tried to discipline them. It was horrific, but the show had this exchange too: Giles: Xander’s taken to teasing the less fortunate? Buffy: Uh-huh. Giles: And, there’s been a noticeable change in both clothing and demeanor? Buffy: Yes. Giles: And, well, otherwise all his spare time is spent lounging about with imbeciles? Buffy: It’s bad, isn’t it. Giles: It’s devastating. He’s turned into a sixteen-year-old boy. ‘Course, you’ll have to kill him. Buffy: Giles, I’m serious. I was hooked. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-a-tv-show-won-you-over/525773/35 "2010-01-21T19:10:43Z")
I am not a TV watcher, but I was fliping channels one day and I stopped dead at a scene with two people talking. I was mermerized, thinking “You don’t see acting this great on TV.” I wished that someone had put a gun to my head and forced me to watch whatever program it was from the first day. It was _House_. ---
**Author:** ![Ol\_Gaffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Ol\_Gaffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ol_Gaffer)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-a-tv-show-won-you-over/525773/36 "2010-01-21T19:15:48Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > [The opening scene of _The Wire_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmIvu1yg3bU) (NSFW), when the kid explains to McNulty why they kept letting Snotboogie in the craps game even though he always tried to snatch the pot. No kidding. They completely encapsulated the entire series in the first couple of minutes of the first episode. Simply brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-a-tv-show-won-you-over/525773/37 "2010-01-21T19:27:07Z")
_Buffy_, Once More With Feeling. (Yeah, my wife and I were late to the show. Sue us.) _The Wire_. It was one of the first episodes and was really a minor thing… just one of the characters saying “It’s just The Game, y’all.” I think _The Wire_ is the best show I’ve seen on TV. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-a-tv-show-won-you-over/525773/38 "2010-01-21T19:36:40Z")
For the Simpsons, I think it was the line “Eh, making teenagers depressed is like shooting fish in a barrel.” from Homerpalooza. For Arrested Development I really can’t remember, but I think it might have been “A trick is something a whore does for money. (Cheerily) Or cocaine!” ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-a-tv-show-won-you-over/525773/39 "2010-01-21T19:50:12Z")
> [@interface2x](#): > > I first got into **The Office** (US) the episode that Dwight had the concussion and Michael burned his foot on his George Foreman grill. For some reason, Jim squirting Dwight in the face with a water bottle had me rolling. Mine was where Micheal tries to fire Creed, and then they flip to a clip of Michael telling an unrelated story about how when he went hunting and had to slowly bash a deer to death over a period of two hours. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-a-tv-show-won-you-over/525773/40 "2010-01-21T20:19:55Z")
_House_: The first time House himself was on the screen, I was hooked. Sarcastic arrogant British geniuses who happen to be hot–yeah, I’m there. _Lie to Me_: Ditto, with Lightman. _Father Ted_: The [“Spider Baby”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4g5dtcH6hsA) routine with Ted and Dougal. I almost hurt myself laughing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-a-tv-show-won-you-over/525773.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-a-tv-show-won-you-over/525773.md?page=3)