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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 :)

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 hours ago

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!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 hours ago

Samurai Jack - The Scotsman

One of the best episodes of one of the best animated series of all time.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

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 spoilerThis 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:

Tap for spoilerDwight: 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 spoilerOscar: [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.

[–] BonesOfTheMoon 1 points 4 hours ago

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.

[–] BigBrainBrett2517 4 points 6 hours ago

Brooklyn 99 - "The Pontiac Bandit" & all subsequent Pontiac eps.

Family Guy - "Mr. Saturday Knight"

[–] EnderMB 4 points 7 hours ago (2 children)

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.

[–] BigBrainBrett2517 3 points 6 hours ago

That rabies one is good. Also the one with Brendan Fraser is a classic.

[–] flubba86 2 points 6 hours ago

Yes, Scrubs is so good. I honestly believe My Lunch and My Screw Up are the two best written episodes of any TV show.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 hours ago

Babylon 5: Severed Dreams

IYKYK

[–] aturtlesdream 5 points 10 hours ago

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!

[–] QualifiedKitten 6 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

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.

[–] alekwithak 1 points 11 hours ago

Corporate is an amazing and underrated show. Hoping it gets the Detroiters treatment, soon.

[–] Jarlsburg 18 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 17 hours ago

"Blink" Episode 11, season 3, Sep 3, 2007 Doctor Who

Edge of your seat. It was so enjoyable.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

I don't know if it's my favorite, but the first one to immediately come to mind is the episode of The Last of Us featuring Nick Offerman. It was just heartbreakingly beautiful.

[–] Bosht 1 points 4 hours ago

Yeahp. It floored me there was lashback around that epi because it was truly beautiful writing. Love is such a complex thing that affect most on Earth and showing such a unique angle and how it can blossom from terrible situations to become something so deep...gah, yeah. Now I want to go rewatch it.

[–] ThatWeirdGuy1001 11 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 12 hours ago

If you can't beat em, eat em!

Great episode.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 19 hours ago

Pick between the good place season 1, 3, 4 finales.

But I don't really look at shows as by episode generally.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Someone already mentioned my top favorite (Community - "Pillows and Blankets"). So I'll have to go to my backup which is its equal.

Community - S3E04 - Remedial Chaos Theory.

Why? Because it's the quintesential Community episode; goofiness, intelligence, absurdity, slapstick. and it all exists in one package)

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (2 children)

S05E14 of Breaking Bad - Ozymandias.

I vividly remember watching it for the first time. I've had emotional reactions to movies and shows in the past, but not like this. This is like the immediate aftermath of everything coming to a head, and everyone's acting made the whole episode so immersive. I felt like I was there, and this was happening to my family.

::: spoiler Specifically the scene of Skylar sprinting down the street chasing Walt's car after he kidnaps Holly.. or shit, the scene where Walt is wrestling with Walt Jr. over the knife. Or shit, just the realization that Skylar and Walt Jr. have that Walt essentially killed Hank. Everything is just compounded with the immense grief of losing Hank in such a brutish, unceremonious way. :::

This is still one of my top 3 shows. I'm not good at picking favorites, but I know it's up there.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 hours ago

Came here to say this. You should know your spoiler tag is broken btw. I still have the

Tap for spoilerScene where Hank gets shot
burned into my brain.

Ozymandias is the perfect title for this episode, too.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago)

Everything about that episode is incredible. It absolutely deserved the three Emmy awards it won (best writing, best lead actor, best supporting actress).

I can think of so many more "or shit, the scene where" sentences you could add to that paragraph. It's just one incredible scene after another. So much happens in such a short time but it doesn't feel rushed—you just feel things rapidly spiraling out of control in such a visceral way.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 12 hours ago
[–] [email protected] 9 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

There's an old comedy/parody of soap operas called SOAP. SOAP is the show Benson spun oft from. It starred, among others, Billy Crystal and Katherine Helmond. Absolutely amazing show that I can and will talk about for hours.

S1e9 has a scene in which Jessica (Helmond) discovers that her husband Chester is cheating on her.

She looks to her sister and says Oh, Mary, I would faint if I knew how

It's one of the finest examples of writing, acting, direction... Everything. It's a perfect scene, so much so that it inspired me to want to write, and is the reason I decided to go for a creative writing degree.

For anyone curious, SOAP was so hated by network execs, Christian right orgs and basically all of conservative America that by the end of it's run all advertisers had pulled out except for vlassic pickles, and commercial breaks would just be pickle commercials over and over again during the break. You couldn't watch it in most areas, because locals refused to run it. It featured the first openly gay character in a major network show, a trans story (which did not age as well as it could have, but was progressive for it's time), a lesbian character, interracial relationships, suicide, race relations, crises of faith, extramarital affairs, divorce... In the 70s. It always punched up, and the black and gay characters were almost always the most clever, most witty and sharpest.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

I have no idea what caused me to watch that show like 15 years ago, but it was great! I was shocked by how funny and generally good it was.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 hours ago

So awesome to find other fans on Lemmy! It's difficult to even find them on Reddit. It's such a blast to watch through, and gold the entire way. What's your favorite episode?

[–] thegreatgarbo 2 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (1 children)

K, well the scene with drunk Bert wobbling on the edge of the coffee table makes that the best episode for me!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 hours ago

I love the invisible Bert story line. The finger snap thing was honestly hilarious

[–] 2ugly2live 11 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

I can't remember the name, but for IT Crowd specifically, when one of their coworkers thought Jen died and became a vengeful ghost. I laugh whenever I watch that episode.

Over all, King of the Hill, "Pretty, Pretty dresses." First off, hilarious, second, I found it strangely touching. Bill has good people around him, even if they don't show it. Even Dale was coming around the corner in a dress to participate. I thought that was very kind. No matter how bad it gets, they don't leave him, even if they don't know how to help him.

Runner up: "Almost got 'em" from Batman the Animated Series. All the villains were talking about how they almost got Batman, only to find out Batman was there in disguise. He was disguised as Croc. I found that hysterical for some reason.

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[–] NineMileTower 28 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The Luck of the Fryrish - Futurama

Fry spent his life thinking his brother was a dick who was stealing his personality, when all he really wanted was to be around him. And by the time he realized it, it was too late. Having a similar relationship with my brother, this hit close to home. I keep telling myself if I ever got a tattoo, it would be a 7 leaf clover.

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[–] alekwithak 21 points 1 day ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) (1 children)

"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.

[–] Macaroni_ninja 2 points 10 hours ago

Also oftem my wife asks me the question: what happened I just reply in a high pitched voice: "Acid!"

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Scrubs, Where do you think we are?

A perfect misdirection the entire episode, us as the viewer have no idea what is happening or why Dr Cox is losing it, until it all just shatters. We experience his grief firsthand, not understanding and denying it, until the world shatters around us and reality finally forces its way through. It's perfectly done, and completely gut wrenching

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 hours ago

Tied with rabies, ”i know”

[–] QuarterSwede 3 points 14 hours ago

The epiphany toilet is my fav.

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[–] hogmomma 15 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago) (6 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) (1 children)

Firefly s2e1. Because I daydream that fox weren't a bunch of dicks every now and then.

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