# The "One Episode" TV Challange **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 6, 2009, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-episode-tv-challange/495599 "2009-05-06T22:19:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-episode-tv-challange/495599/1 "2009-05-06T22:19:52Z")
If you really love a TV show and would recommend it to others, here’s the challange. You have to pick ONLY one episode of the TV show and show it to others to convince them WHY the series you like so much is worth watching. For instance I like _the Simpsons_. I would pick the episode where Maggie says her first word “Daddy,” (voiced by Liz Taylor). Or for South Park, I’d pick the episode where they parodied the black/white thing in the town of South Park. Where the character of “Token” is black but well off, so he invites other wealthy black people into South Park. Then the poor people (who happen to be all white) discriminate against the rich people, who just happen to be black. So that’s it 🙂 If you have a favourite TV show, give me ONE episode to convince me to start watching the series ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-episode-tv-challange/495599/2 "2009-05-07T02:08:13Z")
From Babylon 5 I’d pick the episode, from the third season, “Passing Through Gethsemane” It’s my favorite depiction of people(not all of them human) and how they act on their religious beliefs. Also, the exchange between Garibaldi and Delenn, on the issue of capital punishment, is a gem. They hold diametrically opposed views, but both are shown to be good people. The writers didn’t take the easy way out and make one a villain forsupporting the death penalty, and the other wasn’t wussy for opposing it. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Hen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Small\_Hen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Hen)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-episode-tv-challange/495599/3 "2009-05-07T02:19:34Z")
For Supernatural, I’d pick “Mystery Spot.” It’s has everything that makes up Supernatural - humor, drama, sad brothers hugging, and the ripping off of other people’s ideas. For Futurama, I’d go with “Love Labor’s Lost in Space.” It’s early in the show’s run, so it’s still introducing characters, it’s a good sci fi story, and it has one of my all time favorite moments on the show - Kiff following Zapp up to the obervation deck for some ‘musing’. For MST3K, one must start with Space Mutiny. There is no other starting place. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-episode-tv-challange/495599/4 "2009-05-07T02:48:40Z")
How i Met Your Mother “The Pineapple Incident.” If you don’t find that funny, we can’t watch sitcoms together. The X-Files “How The Ghosts Stole Christmas.” Considering this is my favorite episode ever, and I watch it every year, I’ve actually made several people watch it. ---
**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:** [May 7, 2009, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-episode-tv-challange/495599/5 "2009-05-07T02:55:08Z")
What **Baker** said for **B5**. That’s the episode I used to hook my wife on the series. For **Buffy** , it’s a toss-up between “Hush” and “Pangs.” Ground-breaking episode vs hysterically funny episode. For **Angel** , I think I’d go with “Epiphany,” if for no other reason than the elevator scene between Holland and Angel. ---
**Author:** ![myskepticsight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@myskepticsight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myskepticsight)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-episode-tv-challange/495599/6 "2009-05-07T03:04:23Z")
House “Three Stories” It was the first episode I ever saw and it got me hooked. It’s in a very different style than a usual House episode, but it tells some great House backstory, it’s creative, funny, and dramatic. CSI “Butterflied” This is my favorite episode ever, probably. It’s also slightly different than most CSI episodes - there is only one case the team works. It has some great Grissom/Sara stuff and a really interesting case. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-episode-tv-challange/495599/7 "2009-05-07T03:06:05Z")
A lot of good choices from **The West Wing** , but I’m going with one from (I think) the first season, “The Midterms.” A lot of the really excellent episodes that came later, IMO, you had to have some back history on the show to really appreciate. “The Midterms” had the memorable Jed Bartlet quote: “One last thing. While you may be mistaking this for your monthly meeting of the ignorant tight-ass club, in this building when the President stands, nobody sits.” ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-episode-tv-challange/495599/8 "2009-05-07T03:34:06Z")
I actually did this, TWICE. Prison Break : Pilot 24: Pilot I told my parents about both, and I told them, “Ok, fine, just watch one episode. If you do not love it, then I wont talk about them ever again.” Well, needless to say, the family still watches both shows to this day. I got them Hooked on 24, only after we caught up with Prison Break. I more or less laid my Prison Break challenge on the line to get 24 in. * * * But. To answer your question Who Wants to be a Super Hero: Season 1, The episode that eliminates the 3rd place “Hero”. Solitary: Season 1, the episode with all of the super bouncy balls flooding the pod.\* \*It was an earlier show, and even then, you got the feeling that this show was going to be… different. ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-episode-tv-challange/495599/9 "2009-05-07T03:37:27Z")
And, before Annie X-mas gets in here to differ with me: Big Bang Theory: The Big Bran Hypothesis\* \*Real tough call here. But given the OP. I would go with this choice. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-episode-tv-challange/495599/10 "2009-05-07T04:10:35Z")
Farscape; [Revenging Angel](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMByfozpl-M) - D’argo is in a bad mood (again!), accuses John Crichton of frelling with his ship, and knocks him unconscious, putting him into a coma, a good percentage of the episode is HeadCrichton discussing his strategy of how to wake up/defuse things with D, the other part takes place in a Warner Brothers-esque Road Runner cartoon world, with D as Wile E. Coyote, Super Genius, and John Crichton as the Road Runner Stargate SG-1; 200- the entire episode pokes fun at the entire sci-fi/fantasy genre, and it even includes the inevitable [Farscape parody scene](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCNDdlCo4rA&feature=related) (Ben Browder and Claudia Black were the lead actors in 'Scape) [Sledge Hammer!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSr_3E7VWmo&feature=channel_page); the old '80s Cop show parody, specifically the Hammeroid episode, Hammer gets catastrophically injured fighting off an android that’s stealing the police pension fund, and is turned into a cyborg to hunt down the android thief, a parody of Robocop ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-episode-tv-challange/495599/11 "2009-05-07T04:16:20Z")
FLCL/Furi Kuri/Fooly Cooly: Oh, any of them will do, if I had to pick I’d say episode 5 because at least then if they don’t like it I can be smugly convinced their brain will never operate the same way again. Episode 2 was a close second and deserves an honorable mention, just for the giant Canti-cannon™ ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-episode-tv-challange/495599/12 "2009-05-07T04:28:18Z")
I want to pick a new Doctor Who, but the best stories have all been two-parters. If I could bend the rules and pick one, it would be “The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances.” If I had to pick a single episode, it would be “The Girl in the Fireplace.” (“Blink,” being a Doctor-lite episode, is not sufficiently representative for a new viewer.) The Sopranos: “Employee of the Month” ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-episode-tv-challange/495599/13 "2009-05-07T08:34:53Z")
> [@Small\_Hen](#): > > For MST3K, one must start with Space Mutiny. There is no other starting place. Naw. _Teenagers From Outer Space_! ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-episode-tv-challange/495599/14 "2009-05-07T09:07:15Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > FLCL/Furi Kuri/Fooly Cooly: Oh, any of them will do, if I had to pick I’d say episode 5 because at least then if they don’t like it I can be smugly convinced their brain will never operate the same way again. Episode 2 was a close second and deserves an honorable mention, just for the giant Canti-cannon™ I came in to mention this show. But, I had the idea of showing them the first episode while pretending that it was a later episode. I saw it randomly one night on Adult Swim, and thought " I have to watch the earlier episodes, because there’s surely something I am missing here." Nope, it was the first episode. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-episode-tv-challange/495599/15 "2009-05-07T09:24:20Z")
**Firefly** - Ariel - I think the A-Team reference would lure in non-fen, and it gives a good overview of most of the setting and characters. It’s not my favourite episode, but I don’t think “Out Of Gas” would work for everyone, as it’s light on the main River/Simon arc. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-episode-tv-challange/495599/16 "2009-05-07T14:21:41Z")
For **Firefly** , what’s wrong with the pilot? The damn show only has 13 episodes, it’s not like there are huge drops and gains in quality that you want to ignore/point out. For **Buffy** , I think I’ll say Dopplegangland. Yeah, there’s a lot of backstory someone wouldn’t get, but it’s not that hard to pick up on. (Like, why is Cordelia so happy to see Willow in the bookcage? OH, because she stole her boyfriend. Okay.) It’s really everything you could want in a Buffy episode: there’s some ass-kicking, some laugh-out-loud lines, and straight guys especially might be intrigued by Alyson Hannigan in a leather catsuit. I wanted to pick apart **Small Hen** ’s nomination of Mystery Spot for _Supernatural_, but the more I thought about it, the more I liked it. It’s funny, sad, not only does it rip off ideas from someone else, they’re totally honest about the fact that they’re ripping off ideas from someone else, Dean dies and Sam goes crazy. It’s the whole show in one episode! ---
**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:** [May 7, 2009, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-episode-tv-challange/495599/17 "2009-05-07T14:30:58Z")
Whose Line is it Anyway?–The one with Richard Simmons. ---
**Author:** ![Claire\_Beauchamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ec9cab/32.png) [@Claire\_Beauchamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claire_Beauchamp)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-episode-tv-challange/495599/18 "2009-05-07T14:35:56Z")
_Lost_ - “Walkabout” _WKRP in Cincinnati_ - “Turkeys Away” ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-episode-tv-challange/495599/19 "2009-05-07T15:19:30Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > For **Firefly** , what’s wrong with the pilot? The damn show only has 13 episodes, it’s not like there are huge drops and gains in quality that you want to ignore/point out. I agree. The Firefly pilot is the best series pilot I’ve ever seen. It does everything you’re required to do in a pilot: introduce the characters, introduce the universe, set up the relationships, set up the conflict. But it also has tons of action, witty dialog, and is completely engaging the entire way through. I’d recommend this episode not just because it’s so great, but because it best meets the requirements of the challenge. What better way to get a new viewer hooked than to start with the pilot episode? [sub]you hear that Fox? It’s fucking common sense![/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-episode-tv-challange/495599/20 "2009-05-07T15:23:33Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > [sub]you hear that Fox? It’s fucking common sense![/sub] Oh, don’t be silly. Why show episodes _in order_ when you could air them _out of order_? Obviously, it’s the best way to gain an audience. Fox knows what they’re doing. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-episode-tv-challange/495599.md?page=2)