Unforgettable TV shows or moments

[ghost of miles]

Found myself thinking again this morning about the fifth episode of MAD MEN's Season 1--"5G," the show in which Don Draper's brother finds him. I was in a daze after watching it for the first time... it hit me quite hard. (For anybody who's a fan of the show, the director's commentary on this particular episode is very good.) Just curious to hear what particular episodes of TV shows have stayed or lingered with other posters here.

[Dan Gould]

I was going to post a "favorite Law and Order" thread after the cancellation was announced. But this is a good place to pay proper respect to a simply awesome acting performance in an episode titled, I believe "Identity". Its the story of an elderly black man who has his identity (and home) stolen online, and he finds and kills the thief. (Oops, I just realized I defined him by his race - so shoot me.)

Its the rare occasion when a story-driven show gave a terrific actor a lengthy monologue. Paul Benjamin plays Lonnie Johnson, and its simply one of the most moving and effective speeches I've ever seen on television. Honestly, I have an emotional reaction every time I see it.

"I took back me! Me!"

[ghost of miles]

Here's another one from MAD MEN's season 1 (episode 13, the season finale):

The Carousel

...some context: the man who gets up and walks out at the end has been exiled from his home by his wife after having a one-night stand with a secretary. And part of what makes the scene so moving is the dissonance between the genuine beauty Don finds in his slideshow vision of his family and the messy, screwed-up, complex reality of his situation. It's a very Fitzgerald/Gatsby kind of note that Matthew Weiner strikes (and I think GATSBY is one of the touchstones for the series in general).

[Larry Kart]

Terrific, darkly serio-comic 1972 episode of "Hawaii Five-0," "I'm a Family Crook -- Don't Shoot!" starring Andy Griffith as the leader of a family of grifters (more or less from "Mayberry" country) who get in over their heads while working their scams in Hawaii and eventually kill several of their victims:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0598072/

Asked by Steve McGarrett (Jack Lord) at the end whether he feels any remorse over the killings, Griffith's character replies (IIRC): "Well, they weren't kin."

[Quincy]

The Body from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It concerns what happens when someone you love is found dead (and not murdered) in your house, from what runs through your mind about what could have been done, all the other emotions, along with the boredom of it all.

[Larry Kart]

The Body from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It concerns what happens when someone you love is found dead (and not murdered) in your house, from what runs through your mind about what could have been done, all the other emotions, along with the boredom of it all.

An astonishing episode. I'll never be thankful enough to the friend who told me about "Buffy" -- this at a time when early seasons were in re-runs while new episodes were still arriving; I think the show as a whole still had about two seasons to go.

[BillF]

On a slightly different tack, my most unforgettable TV moment was seeing the drunken Brendan Behan, whom Malcolm Muggeridge was attempting to interview live on television in 1964, rise unsteadily to his feet and stagger out of the studio, muttering "Where's the gents?"

[Quincy]

The Body from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It concerns what happens when someone you love is found dead (and not murdered) in your house, from what runs through your mind about what could have been done, all the other emotions, along with the boredom of it all.

An astonishing episode. I'll never be thankful enough to the friend who told me about "Buffy" -- this at a time when early seasons were in re-runs while new episodes were still arriving; I think the show as a whole still had about two seasons to go.

I didn't catch the series at the beginning either, as I foolishly judged "the book by the cover," or rather a TV show by the title. I just assumed it was some sort of silly romance show for teen girls. Nope.

[Noj]

Not a show I watched religiously, but there was an episode of The Sopranos in which the mobsters killed the son's girlfriend for being an informant, and she figured out she was about to get wacked in the car ride. Horrifying. In fact, even as realistic and palpable as that drama was, it's the sort of thing that made me not want to watch the show. No thank you.

[Jazzmoose]

Terrific, darkly serio-comic 1972 episode of "Hawaii Five-0," "I'm a Family Crook -- Don't Shoot!" starring Andy Griffith as the leader of a family of grifters (more or less from "Mayberry" country) who get in over their heads while working their scams in Hawaii and eventually kill several of their victims:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0598072/

Asked by Steve McGarrett (Jack Lord) at the end whether he feels any remorse over the killings, Griffith's character replies (IIRC): "Well, they weren't kin."

That was a good one! It kind of took me by surprise, seeing sheriff Andy as a conman; I hadn't seen A Face in the Crowd yet.

[kinuta]

The original BBC version of Quatermass And The Pit, the scene where the engineer forgets his tool box and goes back into the object alone. Scared the life out of me.

[Matthew]

Excuse the nerdy Star Trek: The Next Generation reference, but I still think that The Inner Light is one of the most amazing, moving episodes ever on television.

[Dave James]

There were more WTF moments in Lost than I can count. One that stands out occurred at the end of the first season when they finally popped the hatch and that light shot straight up in the air. Then you had to wait six months to see what was going on. Very compelling.

I also recall an episode of the X-Files that was particularly memorable. It had to do with Mulder finding a buried box car in the middle of the desert filled with alien bodies. I think that may also have ended a season.

The very last scene of the final episode of The Sopranos spoke volumes about the series. That's still the best television I've ever seen or probably ever will see.

[BruceH]

Here's another one from MAD MEN's season 1 (episode 13, the season finale):

The Carousel

...some context: the man who gets up and walks out at the end has been exiled from his home by his wife after having a one-night stand with a secretary. And part of what makes the scene so moving is the dissonance between the genuine beauty Don finds in his slideshow vision of his family and the messy, screwed-up, complex reality of his situation. It's a very Fitzgerald/Gatsby kind of note that Matthew Weiner strikes (and I think GATSBY is one of the touchstones for the series in general).

God, yes, I love that scene! And while on one level it's so very moving, on another he's talking about the cynical manipulation of our most powerful and intimate human emotions in order to sell a gadget.

I've been watching that 90's show, Homicide, again lately. Lots of great moments from that series. One in particular: When a middle-aged detective, Crosetti, turns up drowned in the bay, his young partner Lewis is determined that what looks like a suicide will be ruled a homicide (though everyone but Lewis is pretty sure it's suicide.) Well finally the M.E. report comes in, saying that Crosetti had massive amounts of tranquilizers, pain-killers, and whatnot in his blood at the time of death. So Lewis breaks down and cries! I don't know why, but this really shocked me the first time I saw it.

[BillF]

The original BBC version of Quatermass And The Pit, the scene where the engineer forgets his tool box and goes back into the object alone. Scared the life out of me.

Yes, Quatermass was riveting stuff for adolescents (which I presume you were at the time). I used to make a nuisance of myself going to a neighbour's house (not yet having a television set in my own home) in 1953 at the age of 13 to see the original six episodes - and I'm still with science fiction today!

[porcy62]

Twin Peaks, the whole series...except the last episode. It created such expectations and tension along the weeks that even Lynch couldn't find an appropriate end.

[Tom Storer]

One of the season 1 Mad Men episodes where a crusty old tobacco tycoon tells off a young adman (Pete) who has proposed a fancy psychological spin to an ad campaign. Referring to tobacco and/or the land it's grown on, he says, "The Indians gave it to us, for shit's sake!" Something about his performance of that particular monologue struck me as exceptional.

The episode of The Wire where sociopathic killer Snoop is held at gunpoint in her van by Michael, her younger apprentice. She knows he's about to kill her. She sort of absent-mindedly looks in the side mirror, and despite a total absence of coquettishness in her character as seen until then in the series, reveals something when she says "How my hair look, Mike?" He tells her she looks good, and shoots her.

[Man with the Golden Arm]

Twin Peaks, the whole series...except the last episode. It created such expectations and tension along the weeks that even Lynch couldn't find an appropriate end.

That would be mine as well. The insanity of the pilot alone and the feeling after was almost unshakable.

The graphic scene of Maddy Ferguson's murder at the hands of Leland / Bob sticks with me to this day ... completely out of the blue and most startling and I have not rewatched that episode since. A crouching Bob still makes the hair stand on end!

Truly some shocking TV at the time twenty years back. Unfortunately it's now become a daily necessity of today's programming.

[Teasing the Korean]

The episode in the 5th season of "Hell's Kitchen" when someone burned a wellington and Ramsay called him a donkey. I'm getting teary-eyed just thinking about it.

[gmonahan]

Excuse the nerdy Star Trek: The Next Generation reference, but I still think that The Inner Light is one of the most amazing, moving episodes ever on television.

No apology needed--that is a marvelous and moving episode, especially the ending. Old(er) timers among us will remember "Hill Street Blues," what I still think of as the first sort-of-realistic cop show. I don't remember the specific episode, but the beginning had a shoot out suddenly break out in the station, and at the end of that scene, everybody just slumps down in exhaustion. I still remember feeling the same way.

There's also Sullivan Ballou's letter home to his wife in Smithfield one week before the first battle of Bull Run, with David McCullough's marvelous narration, from the first episode of Ken Burns' Civil War series.

gregmo

[Jazzmoose]

Twin Peaks, the whole series...except the last episode. It created such expectations and tension along the weeks that even Lynch couldn't find an appropriate end.

From what I remember, it wasn't supposed to be the end. But yeah, that show had it's share of moments. Unfortunately, it influenced me to the point that I still quote from it, and for some reason, I get the strangest looks when I look at someone and say, in all seriousness, "the owls are not what they seem!"

[Dave James]

Two thumbs way up for Twin Peaks. So weird, so bizarre, so unpredictable. There were times I was sure they were handing newly written pages of the script to the actors while the cameras were still running. The first season was somewhat grounded at least in comparison to the second season which was completely off its nut. Too many ancillary characters to keep up with. Andy, Lucy, the Log Lady, Bob...the list goes on and on. Not to mention some pretty hot women. That sure was one damn fine cup of coffee wasn't it.

[Quincy]

(Twin Peaks)...and for some reason, I get the strangest looks when I look at someone and say, in all seriousness, "the owls are not what they seem!"

I got a good deal on the gold box full set last year and loved going through it again. I hadn't watched since it had aired and bailed on the show during the second season. I ended up enjoying the show after the murder was solved way more than I expected. Probably just because it was such an odd little world to settle down in.

[kinuta]

The original BBC version of Quatermass And The Pit, the scene where the engineer forgets his tool box and goes back into the object alone. Scared the life out of me.

Yes, Quatermass was riveting stuff for adolescents (which I presume you were at the time). I used to make a nuisance of myself going to a neighbour's house (not yet having a television set in my own home) in 1953 at the age of 13 to see the original six episodes - and I'm still with science fiction today!

I was 12 in 1958. I'd tried to watch the previous Quatermass 2 but I think my dad decided it was too scary for me and sent me to bed ! Also remember that the Sheffield Star ran a front page recap of the last episode of 'The Pit' for ' our readers who were unable to watch'.

[JSngry]