So many to choose from. If I close my eyes I can practically stream certain episodes of the The Simpsons and King of the Hill. Other series have had such touching scenes they can still bring a tear to my eye 30 years after originally airing.

But, today I’m thinking about the perfect episode of a series about absolutely awful people… Seinfeld.

I understand why today someone wouldn’t watch that show (2 of those mains really showed their true colours and the main jas somehow avoided some deserved scrutiny), but when it was airing on my channels it was the thing to watch and talk about. Stupid Friends was just something to watch to make sure you didn’t miss the start of Seinfeld.

One amazing episode, The Marine Biologist, ended with a scene at Monk’s diner as George recounted his adventure.

That episode managed to have multiple arcs with a unique denouement and simple gag at the end.

The next day at school we couldn’t shut up about it.

There’s a million scenes from the show that I could cite, but the first one that came to mind for me was Aang and Roku confronting Jeong Jeong in AtLA.

I still remember the opening of Jericho with the mushroom cloud. That and the ending to Six Feet Under that had me crying for days.

i don’t remember it exactly, but i remember really, really loving the final scene in the first episode of the haunting of hill house. that episode remains one of my favorite episodes of tv, since i think it stand alone well even without the rest of the series.

There are soo many to choose from…!
Off the top of my head, the phone shot scene from Danger 5 cracks me up every time. But ask me again tomorrow and I’ll tell you something completely different…

Really almost any scene from Arrested Development, but I’m particularly fond of the mock trial episode’s scenes.

In one, Judge Reinhold (from Fast Times at Ridgemont High) is appearing as himself getting ready to launch a court show called “Mock Trial with Judge Reinhold”. One of the main characters is talking with him about appearing on the show and asks if they’re only doing the show because of Judge’s name, at which Judge gets upset and stomps off declaring “we’re going with my original idea and calling it Mr. Reinhold’s courtroom”.

In another, Michael (the main character from the above scene) is talking to his brother Gob about appearing on the show and Gob has nothing but bad ideas.

Michael: I’m not going to let you turn this mock trial into some kind of a …(trails off)

Gob: you were gonna say mockery, weren’t you?

Michael: I was in trouble like three words in

There’s a scene from a comedy series called Soap. It was a spoof/parody of soap operas in the 1970s. It starred Katherine Helmond and Billy Crystal to name just two of it’s absolutely stunning cast. If you’ve seen Benson, it’s the show that Benson spun off from. And it’s so much better.

In the scene, Jessica (Helmond) has just discovered that the rumors are true, and her husband has been cheating on her.

It’s one of the most heartbreaking and painful scenes in TV history, and one of the best examples of acting I’ve ever seen. But the writing. My God. Here’s a short of the scene

That last line of dialogue is why I wanted to be a writer as a kid.

The first episode of Supernatural season 4. Hooked me right into the series. It was possibly my first time seeing that show. It did a lot of what Cinema was doing at the time. Depicting deities, arch-deities, and various horrific supernatural creatures in very subversive fashion. But the chemistry of the actors made the story so personal. That show only grew on me after that point.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer spoilers.

The opening scene of The Body. It’s not the first time the show intentionally subverts its own identity, but it’s certainly the most powerful.

For a show that has by this point in season 5 shown it’s fair share of dead bodies, even just the unglamorous, undramatic image of Joyce’s body spilled across the couch is off-putting. Then the brief fantasy of Buffy imagining that she saves her mom’s life, and the stark transition of fantasy Joyce expressing relief at being saved snapping back to to a shot of her llifeless, expressionless face. The overstaurated color in the cinematography, the unnatural emphasis of atmospheric sound as Buffy’s senses short circuit under the mental strain of processing the moment. The childlike fear and uncertainty when she accidentally breaks Joyce’s rib administering CPR under the 911 operator’s instruction. It’s brutal reality manifested in a world that has trained it’s viewers to expect (quality) melodrama even at its most sincere.

It’s important to note that the episode follows one of the silliest episodes of the entire show (though not without its own gross implications), wherein a lifelike sex robot tears through Sunnydale looking for her creator. The first few seconds of The Body overlap with the last few seconds of the previous episode, intentionally creating a major tonal whiplash.

I think Drew Goddard once described The Body as 45 minutes of the best TV ever filmed and I still think that stands.

Edit: found a short clip on YouTube. Can’t believe I forgot about “Mom?..mom?..mommy?”

My favourite “broken telephone” (or whatever you wanna call it) scene.

I think the only context you need is that Nick and Cece work in the same bar, and Nick is talking about potentially adding a popcorn machine to the bar (he is against it), but Jess thinks Cece is in love with Nick and that’s what she is talking about. Also, Wiston (first guy you see) is just making stuff up for a reason I can’t remember.

A classic from IT Crowd

wow. so… this question sent me down a fun rabbit hole! thanks for posting/asking :-)

these are The Scenes I stumbled upon while hopping through TV channels, that then ended up being among my favorite shows:

• Utopia

The show is crude, and the soundtrack reinforces that impending sense of threat. This scene encapsulates that: sure… it’s just two strangers talking at the airport. :::

• Miraculous Ladybug

I didn’t know it at the moment, but this interaction is quite meaningful for both characters and fitting the overall show’s theme of compassion and community: up until that point, the blonde had been setup as an antagonist but decides to own her mistakes and be an ally. :::

onto the spirit of the question: for a singular scene that stands out from any show:

• Black Mirror

Ratings and bureaucracy make a beautiful match. :::

• and... a classic!

I promise this is not a rickroll. :::

Minor spoiler for Breaking Bad

!Jesse was involved in the murder of a child, now he’s at rehab.!<

clip

I don’t kiss and tell

So you admit there was kissing?