story

Lots of great episodes here. I haven't seen all of these series (Mad Men, Lost) but I agree with many (Groucho, dstrauss, CCGoldRush, coli, etc.).

My favorite TV episode ever is The Simpsons, season 9, episode 1, 1997 - "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson." It's got great moments in Springfield, Duffman, travel to a new location, satire, moments for everyone in the family to shine, classic Homer, big musical numbers, MAD Magazine, and on and on and on. Plus, it's got the great line from Bart when he finds out about the bus fare: "Nine bucks?! This one's on me!"

I remember when it went out of syndication after September 11, 2001, because of scenes and dialogue at the World Trade Center but it's back in syndication again. I remember watching it with friends in college in that interim time and everyone still loving the episode, even though that moment was a little weird. You can read more about that at Wikipedia, and I recall there's a bit about it as a separate feature on the DVD release of season 9.

rocket1312

That's a tough one. I don't think I could narrow it down to just one. The Simpsons (at least the first 9 or 10 seasons) is my favorite show of all time and I've easily seen those episodes more than any other episodes of tv ever, but naming a favorite would be impossible. Some episodes from other shows that do stand out:

Community: Critical Film Studies
There are flashier episodes of Community for sure, but this one just hits all of the right notes for me.

The Cosby Show: Pilot
Of course the legacy of this show is completely destroyed now, but despite everything that has happened in recent years, I can still watch this episode and laugh.

Twin Peaks: Episode 14
All of the Lynch directed episodes are amazing, but the scene in this one where the giant appears and tells Cooper "It is happening again" might
be my favorite tv moment ever.

Battlestar Galactica (2004): Exodus pt.2
I haven't rewatched this since original airing so I have no idea how this one holds up as an episode, but the climax absolutely knocked me on my ass when I first saw it.

OldBoy

this is my favorite Scrubs ep. as well. up there with the best...

cleaver

Favorite one I didn't have so far

Paff

If I'm gonna go with a Seinfeld episode, rather than choose "The Contest" (which admittedly is a classic), I'd go with "The Strike" which is more commonly referred to as "Festivus". Not just the Festivus concept itself, but the way in which all four characters have completely independent plotlines that all intersect. It was something Seinfeld did a lot and never seemed convoluted or too ham-handed. To do that frequently in a 22 minute episode says a lot about the writing talent.

Also gonna throw out a rarely mentioned sitcom: That 70s Show. For a best single episode, "Donna and Eric Get Caught". Like the title implies, it begins with the cops catching Donna and Eric having sex in the Vista Cruiser. It gets better from there, with them trying to explain to Eric's parents what happened. Then it goes into utter hilarity as they explain it to Donna's parents. Don Stark should have won an Emmy for the way he kept a straight face in that scene.

davidh777

For sheer number of views, probably Chuck vs Santa Claus, though I've also watched the pilot a ton of times.

Many episodes of Game of Thrones.

The two-part arc of Family Ties in which Alex meets Ellen.

HIMYM 200th episode

printerati

"Favorite" might be a stretch, but damned if I can't sit down and watch any of the following at any time and still crack up:

Arrested Development - Good Grief!
Seinfeld - The Comeback
The IT Crowd - Return of the Golden Child

wirefan

Boss - Stasis S1E7 (the one before the finale)
The Wire - Middle Ground S3E11
Seinfeld - The Contest
Star Trek TNG - Lower Decks (the one about the junior officers)
The Shield pilot

dstrauss

Okay, thought about it, and if I'm gonna include a comedy episode, Community's "Remedial Chaos Theory." It was just so different then any comedy episode I'd ever seen.

Canis Firebrand

Friends: "The One with the Embryos"
Season 4 Episode 12
Original air date January 15, 1998

The reason for this was the quiz game that Ross set up for the bet between Monica/Rachel and Joey/Chandler. I wanted to see more of the questions.. but what they showed was pure comedic gold.. I laughed so hard during the episode.. I break it out every now and then to watch and skip to just the question parts. Phoebe's parts were good too.. but the quiz show made the episode.

Raul3

This my favorite Friends episode, and I think it's for most fans.

dom56

Can't pick just one but these are my personal favorite.

Band of Brothers - Why We Fight (very emotional every time I watch it)
True Detective Season 1 - Form and Void
Game of Thrones -The Dance of Dragons
Star Trek TNG - Cause and Effect
M*A*S*H - The Moon is Not Blue (very funny episode)
Lost - The Constant
The Simpsons -Burns Verkaufen der Kraftwerk (land of chocolate )

Paff

It's a good one, no argument there.

Ross: What does Rachel SAY her favorite movie is?
Chandler: Dangerous Liaisons
Ross: Correct. What is her real favorite movie?
Joey: Weekend at Bernies

The speed of the delivery made it so funny. Plus, the concept of someone pretending to like something just because of what others will think of them is something everyone has run into at some point in their life. I remember my sister in law used to demand that the TV be in an armoire in the back corner of the room so it would look like they didn't even own one. I go to their house, and she's in there watching TV (uncomfortably of course, due to no furniture being positioned directly at it to keep up the "no TV" illusion). What was she watching? King of the Hill.

OK, that just went way too much into my family's life...

IDrinkMolson

Robin Hood Daffy
Yoinks and away!

Or:

Duck! Rabbit, Duck!
It's fiddler crab season!

cultshock

Yeah, that's a big favorite of mine too, I've watched it tons of times, great episode!

PatD

Star Trek: Voyager's "Living Witness" (episode 4.23). I'm by no means a Star Trek Voyager fan (I prefer TOS and TNG by several light years and galaxies). *But* this episode is my favorite of the entire Star Trek canon. It's a beautiful poem that shows what has made the show an enduring cultural phenomenon. The ending is simply beautiful and I'm sad that Gene Roddenberry live to see it.

mrhan

X- Files Season 4 Episode 2 "Home"

We watch it every Halloween. It never gets old.

Canis Firebrand

I love the hunter trilogy of looney tunes. Duck! Rabbit, Duck! Rabbit Seasoning. And Rabbit Fire

davidh777

"Joey had an imaginary childhood friend. His name was..."
"Maurice!"
"Correct! His profession was...."
"Space cowboy!"
"Correct! What is Chandler Bing's job?"
"___________"

Michael Corvin

Plus the fact that the apartment switch stuck was what was so amazing at the time. 99% of other comedies, would have the apartments switched back by the next episode with no mention of it.

Lots of good mentions with Lost - "Constant", X-Files "Home", and the aforementioned Friends episode.


#1 All Time:
Cheers: "An Old-Fashioned Wedding" - An hour long wedding episode for Woody and Kelly where they never show a single second of the wedding. Brilliant. The sheer volume of jokes just leaves modern shows in the dust. Setup, punchline, setup, punchline...

..............................
Rounding out a top 5:

Cheers: "The Coach's Daughter" - Just a sweet and poignant episode that absolutely turns your perception of Coach on its head. In just the fifth episode of the first season, he goes from a punchline character to the heart of the show. Just brilliant. His speech to his daughter can nearly bring me to tears every time.

Sports Night: "Pilot" - A show unlike any other at the time. The writing, the characters, Jeremy's interview to Casey's renewed faith in sports with the African runner (and calling to wake his son up to watch) is just masterful from beginning to end which is unique for a comedy pilot.

Community: "Modern Warfare" - So legendary they tried to recapture the magic a year later with a sequel episode but nothing can quite match the original. Just balls to the wall excellent with movie references, jokes, callbacks, etc. Very unique episode for a show about going back to college.

DuckTales: the 5-part Pilot - The 100 minutes or so should have been a movie the quality is so amazing. The writing is razor sharp, the animation for television wouldn't be matched for years and just the sense of adventure was on par with Indiana Jones.

Michael Corvin

These are all theatrical shorts.

Decker

"DON'T MENTION THE WAR!"

Man, great choice! I love that one and "Basil The Rat/ Health Inspector" so, so much. How much? In the old days, before people bought TV on video tape I owned commercially-made comedy cassette tapes of episodes of Fawlty Towers (that I bought in the UK) and listened to those two episodes over and over even though I already knew every line of dialog by heart. Some episodes don't work without visuals, but despite losing Cleese's Hitler March and the puppet rat respectively, those two episodes worked in audio form.

BTW, last week I bought I great seats to see Cleese & Idle at the Venetian this Fall. Can't wait!

TimeandTide

Two recents, both on HBO:

The most recent episode of Game of Thrones ("Battle of the Bastards") and Silicon Valley's "Optimal Tip-To-Top Efficiency" episode from season one.

The former is the best episode yet of one of my all-time favorite shows, and I've never laughed harder during a half hour of TV as I did during the "mean jerk time" scene in SV.

dolphinboy

Buffy (Once More, With Feeling)
NewsRadio (The Cane)

windom

I'm confused as to why people are posting multiple episodes when the OP asked for "favorite single episode".