I was recently rewatching the IT Crowd, which is one of my favourite shows and after finishing Season 2 Episode 1, “The Work Outing” for the hundredth of time I realized this is probably my favourite sitcom episode of all time. I just can’t get bored of the jokes and the delivery. The writing is gold, and the story escalates from funny to absolutely insane hilarious. Makes me laugh every time. Half the dialogue I quote to this day.
There are many good episodes I love, and could put here as close seconds: probably most of the Futurama series, a dozen of episodes of The Office or some classics from the Friends, I could think of.
So I would like to hear what episodes of any TV show is your favourites and why? Doesn’t needs to be necessarily comedy, anything from television is fair game.
Think of it as a “what single item would you bring to a desert island with you” question, just with an episode of a TV show :)
Samurai Jack - The Scotsman
One of the best episodes of one of the best animated series of all time.
The Late Philip J Fry in Futurama. It’s a really sweet but sad episode, and I loved how they explored all the different eras. Episodes which involve Farnsworth’s wacky inventions are always my faves!
What We Do In the Shadows, “Baron’s Night Out”. Absolutely hilarious. The vampires getting high drinking the blood of high people is great comedy.
This is a tough one. My go-to is usually that episode of the IT Crowd. Second on my mind is Breaking Bad’s Ozymandias, but someone already said that.
So, I have to pick two to tie for first.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia S3E1 - “The Gang Finds a Dumpster Baby”
There’s a lot of perfectly written IASIP episodes, but this is probably my favorite. Every little detail is perfect, and I think it’s better than the pilot at showing the characters’ personalities. We have Mac and Dee trying to take care of a baby together, Charlie and Frank becoming homeless because they can’t stop collecting garbage, and Dennis seeking revenge on a hippie because he got called out.
Tap for spoiler
This episode really has some of the best Dennis moments. I think about Mac and Dee trying to tan the baby a lot, but the funniest part of this episode to me is when Dennis is trying to act more environmentally conscious than everyone else, so when the hippie long-windedly calls him a poser, Dennis just runs over to the gang and tries to use that insult on them. It shows their dynamic perfectly.
The Office S6E9 - “Murder”
This is a much-needed break in the middle of a tense overarching plot about DM’s finances. It’s not the best Office episode, but it’s probably the best Michael episode. There are episodes like “Scott’s Tots” that are iconic because he learns a lesson the hard way. But this episode is one of the few where we see Michael take action. The entire office is miserable so what do we do? Play a game and do funny voices. It’s a Michael activity through and through, but he uses it to help the office take their minds off a bad situation. It’s also one of the only times during the comanagement arc that Jim and Michael really synergize. Really funny, super sweet, and some of the best lines in the series.
I think about these jokes almost daily:
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Dwight: Voodoo Mama Juju, explain your dalliance with the Dark Arts.
Angela: It’s not my fault, I was exposed to Harry Potter.
Dwight: I know you did it!
Dwight: I know she didn’t do it. It’s never the person you most suspect. It’s also never the person you least suspect, since anyone with half a brain would suspect them the most. Therefore, I know the killer to be Phyllis, AKA Beatrix Bourbon, the person I most medium suspect.
Tap for spoiler
Oscar: [tries to speak in a high-pitched southern accent] This plantation, we’re running low on greenbacks. We’re having problems paying the people who give us the seeds and the dirt. We can’t pay… [in regular voice] – Michael, I can’t – Basically it could mean a lot of things, but it is unprecedented, so its cause for concern.
For some reason, my mind went to first episodes/pilots. Of these, I’d say that Suits and The OC are up there with some of the best.
As for the actual best episode, I’d go for My Lunch, the Scrubs episode where there’s a rabies outbreak amongst organ transplant patients. Alongside this, probably Tracy does Conan from 30 Rock, and the musical episode of IT Crowd.
That rabies one is good. Also the one with Brendan Fraser is a classic.
Yes, Scrubs is so good. I honestly believe My Lunch and My Screw Up are the two best written episodes of any TV show.
Brooklyn 99 - “The Pontiac Bandit” & all subsequent Pontiac eps.
Family Guy - “Mr. Saturday Knight”
I don’t know about my favorite ever, but the episode I rewatch and love the most from the last few years is the Jackie Daytona (On the Run) episode of What We Do In The Shadows. It’s just perfection from start to finish. It’s ridiculous, hilarious, it’s endlessly quotable, and it doesn’t matter how many times I have seen it- I will always be up for another rewatch. The show is great in it’s entirety but that episode was just pure gold!
I wouldn’t say this is my favorite TV episode ever, but my favorite episode from a specific show that I don’t see mentioned elsewhere: Corporate “Natural Beauty” (Season 2, Episode 3). It pokes fun at the different expectations, etc., that men and women face, particularly in the workplace.
The opening scene shows the female character going through her long morning routine, with occasional cuts to the male character repeatedly hitting the snooze button before rolling out of bed and spending 30 seconds getting dressed. When they each arrive at the office, he’s complimented on his appearance, and she’s told that she looks tired.
Corporate is an amazing and underrated show. Hoping it gets the Detroiters treatment, soon.
Babylon 5: Severed Dreams
IYKYK
“Blink” Episode 11, season 3, Sep 3, 2007 Doctor Who
Edge of your seat. It was so enjoyable.
The Tales of Ba Sing Se from S2E15 of Avatar: The Last Airbender.
It is an incredibly poignant, albeit beautiful tableau about the loss of a child in a filler episode of a Y-7 Nickelodeon show. On top of that, the voice actor whose character is at the center of this incredibly painful story was dying of esophageal cancer during the recording and the episode ends with his in memoriam.
Ed, Edd, n Eddy
The Eds break reality
The episode focused on the Eds breaking physics by dismantling the perspective of certain objects. At one point Ed stands on what’s supposed to be a silhouette of a house far in the background, grabs the sun, and takes a bite out of it before putting it back in the sky. Eddy at one point grabs Jimmy’s outline and pulls it off causing him to melt and slip down a sewer grate.
It’s always stuck with me because that’s where my love of learning physics came from and it exemplified a lot of the tricks artists use to convey a 3d world in a 2d animation.
If you can’t beat em, eat em!
Great episode.
That episode is an extremely close second place for me. Such an amazing episode.
Life has many doors Ed boy!
I know we’re being asked for our favoritE, not favoriteS, but it’s too difficult to pick just one. Both of them had me unashamedly bawling my eyes out. The first (aired) is the fourth episode of the third season of Black Mirror – San Junipero. The second is the third episode of the first season of The Last of Us – Long, Long Time. I couldn’t keep my cool during either of them or for quite a while after.
Honorable mention is the series finale of Six Feet Under. The show, by and large, I’m just not a fan of. Like, pretty much at all. But that finale. Good god.
I don’t care about The Last of Us at all but I’ve watched that episode a few times.
It’s just such a perfect love story. Regardless of your orientation or views, it should hit home.
I agree that it’s a beautiful love story in a vacuum, but in the context of a larger society I think Nick Offerman’s character was a psychopath. With so many people suffering around him, he chose to hoard weapons and resources, and set up booby traps to avoid having to share with anyone. That’s essentially what the ultra-rich are doing today in response to the climate crisis, and nobody is romanticizing it.
I have very strong opinions about flashback episodes (ask me some time, I’ll tell you), and I haven’t changed my mind, but holy crap, that was just one of the most beautiful loves stories I’ve ever encountered.
That’s also why I can say I didn’t care about the show that episode is a part of.
It stands on its own, and it could have been a footnote, or a few lines. A heartfelt scene, some light sorrow.
I’m so glad they chose to give it a full episode.
I don’t know the game, but from what I understand, the relationship between those two men could’ve been completely skipped in the show and the story wouldn’t have been affected at all. That’s just what I’ve heard, though.
I don’t cry anymore except when I hear Linda Ronstadt
Pick between the good place season 1, 3, 4 finales.
But I don’t really look at shows as by episode generally.
“I’m disabled!” Is a classic reference in my house that cannot be used in pleasant / uncultured company. It’s great to see my people are out there!
I’m not the biggest Seth MacFarlane fan, but the American Dad episode “Joint Custody” is pure classic.
I really want to pick an episode of Community, but I’m having a hard time nailing down just one. There’s the obvious answers like Remedial Chaos Theory or Modern Warfare. I just love the whole series. Maybe Basic Intergluteal Numismatics, The Asscrack Bandit episode, just because it’s so layered it really lends itself to rewatches.
Master of None has its issues, but there’s some standouts in the first season. Parents and Mornings always get me.
Also oftem my wife asks me the question: what happened I just reply in a high pitched voice: “Acid!”
