Single best TV show. (One show only) That you have ever seen.

Recently......the `pool party' episode of HBO's short-lived `Hello Ladies'.
Just about perfect.

 

First one comes to mind is the SCTV episode where the USSR hijacks the SCTV network feed.

 

In that case you probably know that the plot of this Outer Limits episode was heavily plagiarised for The Terminator, and was later the subject of a successful copyright lawsuit by Ellison against the makers of said movie.

 

Star Trek (original series) - "The Ultimate Computer" (the source of my user name). I could name several other episodes, but I think "City on the Edge of Forever" is overrated.

Futurama - "Hell Is Other Robots"

 

If we are talking the original Star Trek series, then my vote might go to the episode, whose title I forget, where the captain and others end up in an alternate universe - and the one that inspired the name of the band Spock's Beard.

 

Yeah, I know -- I helped Harlan get some video copies of the movie that were played back at the hearing. He got an additional settlement when they released the movie on Laserdisc and forgot to give him the credit, "Acknowledgement to the Works of Harlan Ellison." I think that was another $50K. James Cameron was absolutely incensed about it and has bad-mouthed Harlan for years, but the truth is that Cameron gave an interview to Starlog magazine right before Terminator came out where he admitted that part of the inspiration for the film were "his childhood memories of classic episodes of Outer Limits," which was enough for the judge to rule in Harlan's favor. (Actually, it was a settlement, so there wasn't a formal trial per se.)

Movie Legends: How Harlan Ellison Got an Acknowledgement on Terminator

Ironically, Harlan told me if Cameron had come to him before the film was released, he would've let the rights to "Demon with a Glass Hand" and "Soldier" go for a pittance. I don't think Cameron had any malice in mind, but it's kind of like a songwriter getting influenced by a riff of an older song.

I also helped Harlan in court for the Brillo lawsuit against Paramount over Future Cop. And he did very well with that case, winning about $350K:

Plagiarism, the Sincerest Form of Flattery

Outer Limits has a number of brilliant episodes, but I have to admit, "Demon with a Glass Hand" really stands out. I've never gotten around to visiting the Bradbury Building in downtown LA, where it was shot, but I gotta do that someday.

 

That would be "Mirror, Mirror".

 

Bambi episode of The Young Ones

 

The Soup? Where Jerry goes out to dinner with Banya?

 

Wife and I watched the Pilot episode, thought it was incredibly bad, and never went back.

 

Great call! I was going to post that one, and even had the "University Challenge" clip all picked out on YouTube.

 

"I've been working out, I'm HUGE."

 

Pine Barrens (Sopranos S03E11) Pure genius.

 

The pilot was quite rocky. However, the first season got significantly better after the pilot episode. Once of the best seasons of a television show I've seen. However, season two went way down in quality (imho), so I'll just stick with season one.

 

yess

 

I will submit 3 Episodes from ‘Homicide-Life on the Street’, as hard for me to choose among them:

“Three Men and Adena" (March 3, 1993)

This show won executive producer Tom Fontana an Emmy for writing. He should have won three. Fontana came to TV from the theater, and his playwriting prowess infuses every minute of this landmark hour. It introduced the interrogation room that came to be known as "The Box." It put Andre Braugher's Detective Frank Pembleton in that box with a suspect (Moses Gunn), another cop (Kyle Secor) and a few sticks of battle-scarred, municipal-green furniture and somehow managed to show us the human soul and the heart of darkness. The next time some elitist know-it-all tells you TV has nothing to do with art, ask him/her to watch this episode.

“Bop Gun” (Jan. 6, 1994)

It is hard to believe this is a first script for any writer, but that's the case as Simon teamed up with David Mills, a friend since their days together at the University of Maryland. The newbie screenwriters got some help from Fontana, who wrote the storyline of an Iowa tourist whose wife is killed when the couple and their children wander off their tour of Camden Yards. Robin Williams was brilliant as the tourist, and the direction by Stephen Gyllenhaal ("Paris Trout") was as good as anything he's done on the big screen. The episode also made you stop and listen to the music -- really listen to the music -- under the direction of Chris Tergesen. For fun, the next time you view it, count the Parliament-Funkadelic references. Mills, who wrote a book last year about the group, is a P-Funkaholic. Mills and Simon got an Emmy nomination. They deserved to win.

“The Subway" (Dec. 5, 1997)

This was an unusual episode, as it did not involve the investigation of a person already dead, but was an investigation on a person still alive, although his fate is sealed once the train will be moved that will tear apart his body. As he has done so often in "The Box" Pembleton is once again asked to plumb the depths of a man's soul. Only this time, it's not to extract a confession, but to keep a guy alive. Vincent D'Onofrio is John Lange, a Baltimore businessman who falls beneath a moving subway train. Or maybe he was pushed? Whatever the circumstances, one thing's almost certain: as soon as they get him out from under that subway car he's going to die. And the man charged with keeping him calm (while also trying to piece together what happened) is Pembleton, who wrestles with his own emotions as well as Lange's. James Yoshimura won a Peabody for writing this episode, which was also featured on a PBS profile of the series. Dramas don't come any better than this.

 

CCCP Television with one of their most popular shows : ' What Fits Into Mother Russia ? '

 

OMG. My whole family dies with laughter on that bit.

 

Not everything on SCTV was great but it was and remains the funniest show on TV. Watched it religiously in the 80s
I've been watching YouTube clips of it and laughing at them even possibly more than I did then.
Watched ' The Towering Inferno ' spoof a couple of days ago . I had forgotten Johnny Nucleo.

 

Since my #1 was taken (Twin Peaks, S3E8), I'll throw in with the single best comedic episode I know: The series two premiere of The IT Crowd called "The Work Outing". The gang goes to see a play and hilarity ensues.

Honorable mention to the Bottom episode "Holy". I watch it every Christmas Eve, and have done for decades now.

 

"Don't pain the sun anymore."

 

Bonanza- The Flapjack contest

In training to win a flapjack eating contest, Joe puts Hoss on a strict diet to ensure victory. While the town is busy watching the contest, thieves attempt to rob the Virginia City bank.

 

Dr Who ‘Blink’

 

This episode of Happy Day, especially Fonzie's rant beginning around 18:56. It's hilarious every time.Every single time.

 

The episode of twin peaks where they first showed the Black Lodge. That really blew my doors and has yet to be topped.