**Seinfeld ** (The Marine Biologist episode)
George: “The sea was angry that day my friends, like an old man trying to return soup at a deli!”
Star Trek TOS: (**The City on the Edge of Forever ** episode)
Last scene when Kirk lets Edith (Joan Collins) die to change history back to its original timeline.
Star Trek movies: KHAN!!!
Star Trek TNG: Too many great moments, but my favorite is the ending of “The Inner Light” after Picard lived a lifetime on a planet when barely 25 minutes have passed in real time. Picard playing the flute was incredibly poignant.
I Love Lucy: One word says it all: ** Vitametavegimin**!
**The Office (UK): ** David Brent getting fired.
**The Office (US): ** (1) The basketball game; (2) When Jim told Pam.
Great thread - I thought of a moment, I’m not sure if it was Mama’s Family or one of the sketches from the Carol Burnett show, but it included Carol Burnett.
Eunice, Mama and Eunice’s husband (at least those 3 maybe more) were supposed to have dinner at an extremely fancy restaurant. The family misbehaved so badly, they were thrown out and there is a tiny, beautiful moment as Eunice lingers at the doorway of the restaurant staring wistfully at a world she can’t be a part of. I saw it as a kid and it really stuck with me. Probably hits me so hard because my mom and Carol Burnett looked a lot alike.
The Carol Burnett Show had a lot of those wistful little moments, as I recall. The ending of the episode where Eunice goes on The Gong Show pretty much ruined the Gong Show and similar shows for me. I don’t even care if people are in on the joke, I haven’t found that joke funny since.
ETA: But the defining Carol Burnett moment is from the Gone With the Wind parody: I saw it in the window and had to have it.
Star Trek: The Next Generation: A hearing is occcuring to determine if Data can be considered sentient. Riker shuts him off.
[QUOTE]
Riker: “Pinnochio is broken, his strings are cut.” That one got me, but…
TNG: Picard: “Darmok and Gillad at Tenagra. Darmok and Gillad on the Ocean.”
Fraiser: Niles, finally getting the courage to ask Daphne out, only to have her show up at Cafe Nervosa with Donnie. Donnie tells Daphne her hair smells terriffic, and asks what shampoo she uses, and Niles turns away, very quietly, and whispers, “Cherry bark and almonds.” Cried buckets, yeah, I did.
How I Met Your Mother , Nothing Good Happens After 2AM, pretty much that entire episode is a train wreck in slow motion, with Ted dead-set on making a very stupid decision while his girlfriend is in Germany. It ends exactly how you expect it to, blowing up spectacularly in his face, but the whole time you watch hoping he’ll change his mind in time to avoid disaster.
I Claudius: the pregnant Drusilla’s baby being delivered by her mad brother Caligula. I don’t recall that anything much was actually shown. The gruesomeness was left to the viewer’s imagination.
I forgot how good that show used to be when Sorkin was writing it.
For me the scene that comes to mind was at the beginning of “In The Shadow of Two Gunmen”. The first ten minutes of the episode were amazing because it showed how all these people in public service reacted to the news of the shooting. Their lives just became about ten thousand times more difficult and yet they all immediately went to work at the top of their game. Imagining people like that running my country gives me goosebumps.
The scene I like is when the hospital staff realize they are going to have to treat The President.
Frasier: Niles ironing his pants, and Niles fighting with Maris’ fencing instructor, especially him swinging from the chandelier. I hadn’t realized David Hyde Pierce was such a gifted physical actor.
Sports Night: Gordon, you’re wearing my shirt was a good scene, but the one that always gets me is where they find Jeremy sleeping on the floor, with the wine and the Chinese food, waiting for Natalie.
Also, “I will dedicate the rest of my life to ruining the rest of yours.”
Oh, and speaking of Sports Night, Casey’s phone conversation with Charlie at the end of the first episode is what made me decide it might be worth a second look. “Oh, he’s not doing much…” Sorry, I might need a tissue here.
I’d put the moment when Vic arrives to find Lem’s body and Dutch tells him not to touch him, as its a crime scene, up there too.
From the TV adaptation of The Tripods, there’s a moment when our heroes think they’ve escaped from the Tripods (massive walking transports for aliens, three legged AT-ATs but a bit bigger basically) until they see the foot of one right beside them and they realise they’re standing right underneath it, oblivious to it moments before.
There was the Frasier at the cabin where everybody misread signals and kept getting into the wrong beds. And the one where Fraiser brings a coworker home for Daphne, not realizing he’s gay and thinks Fraiser is too:
Niles: I have something to tell you. Dad wanted to, but I won the coin toss.
Frasier: What is it?
Niles: Tom is gay and thinks you are too.
Fraiser: Tom is not gay.
Niles: Well, he is under the impression that he is.
The Wire: Brother Mouzone and Omar and the showdown with Stringer. It’s definitely not the best scene in the series (not even close), but still quite memorable. I love how Stringer didn’t have a traditional death speech, and he didn’t even finish his last sentence… (McNulty’s reaction to this is a fantastic coda)
Friends: The Christmas scene with Joey dressed as Santa, Chandler as (the Easter Bunny??) and Ross entering as… the Holiday Armadillo!
Firefly: Malcolm gets the jump on Jayne, knocks him out, and then almost vents him out the airlock, but changes his mind when Jayne asks him not to tell the others about his treachery.
Buffy:
*HERE LIES
BUFFY ANNE SUMMERS
DEVOTED SISTER
BELOVED FRIEND
Dick VanDyke–Dick discovers that anothe baby was born the same time in the same maternity ward to a patient who had a name similar to his wife. So he is convinced the hospital switched babies. He calls the other father and explains the situtation. The father agrees to come over to discuss it.
The door bell rings. Dick opens the door, but from a side angle so you can’t see who is there. His jaw drops and he points. He looks away, looks again, and points. He goes into convulsions, looking away, point, dropped jaw. It was hysterical.
Golden Girls - Rose brings home the man she’s dating - a dwarf. Trying very hard to act normally, Blanche walks out of the kitchen with a tray of hors d’oeuvres and says cheerfully, “Shrimp?” and then walks straight back into the kitchen.
My So-Called Life - Brian’s inner monolgue at the World Happiness Dance: “Her hair smelled just like this orange grove we passed when I was nine on the way to my grandmothers.”
Friends The TV Guide label: “Chanandler Bong.”
Cosby Show - Cliff to Theo: “I am your father. I brought you in this world, and I’ll take you OUT.”
Roseanne–Roseanne and Dan are worried about all the time DJ is spending by himself in the bathroom. They are talking about it as Darlene’s adolescent boyfriend David, who is living in their basement. comes into the kitchen and sits down.
Roseanne: It’s not a big deal, Dan. We’re talking about masturbation.
David gets up and walks out without a word.
WKRP: Someone is running a test on the DJs about how alcohol impairs their abilities to function. They have to hit a bell on a box when they hear a sound. Fever gets better with every drink.
That scene at the dance, more than any other scene in a work of fiction, sums up my high school years (even though I never actually went to a school dance). Brian standing there, unable to enjoy himself, but seeing how much fun Rickie and Delia are having, but he’s not quite sure why or how… that was SO me in many social situations.