The Television Critics Association aren’t the only group to have a Hall of Fame for TV series- I’ve kept an eye on the NAB Broadcaster’s Hall of Fame for a while, which has The Honeymooners, Everybody Loves Raymond and Laugh-In as inductees alongside some TCA overlap.
One I’ve also noticed is the Online Film & Television Assocation, which inducts multiple series into its Hall of Fame every year. I’ll probably never use this, as it’s far too daunting of a list, and I’m not sure if I need to see every show featured here.
But I discovered that during last year’s Television ceremony, they added a new section to their Hall of Fame, dedicated to iconic episodes. And wouldn’t you know it, there’s a lot of overlap with series meant to be a part of OTH. Let’s look at some of these episodes and see what they say about each series at large.
I Love Lucy- “Lucy Does a TV Commercial”
Season 1, Episode 30
Aired May 5, 1952
“Do you pop out at parties? Are you unpoopular?”
I Love Lucy was famous for its comedic set pieces, containing Lucille Ball’s gift for comic timing and physicality, and this may be the most famous act in the series (or at least tied with Lucy and Ethel’s chocolate packing, which I would bet money on making it in next year’s selection).
If you haven’t seen a drunken Lucy Ricardo (er, McGillicuddy- she takes her maiden name for this particular job), I highly recommend finding the time, but the entire episode is a treat even as it adheres to the show’s most frequent formula- Lucy finds wind of an opportunity to break into the entertainment industry, her husband Ricky objects, she stumbles her way in regardless and makes an ass of herself. The hows and whys are something to dig into when we discuss the iconic series at some point, but usually musical and/or dancing performances are involved, talents the legendary Ball famously couldn’t match alongside her insanely talented cast, but this time there’s no real reason, Ricky just doesn’t want her there.
The episode leads up to Lucy trying the Vitameatavegamin tonic, a mix of vitamins, meat, vegetables, and 23% alcohol, which is exactly what you’d find at your average drug store in the 50s. After a few sips, you can guess what happens. While the rehearsal sequence is undoubtably iconic, to the point that dolls, Christmas ornaments, and other bits of merchandise are still being made from this sequence, the whole episode is entertaining, even without Vivian Vance’s Ethel, who Fred explains is “away at her mothers”. Other highlights include Lucy’s attempt to prove her talents to Ricky with their own television and the climatic closing scene, all of which deserve their own discussion eventually. Why “Lucy Does a TV Commercial” was inducted is a no-brainer, as it’s probably still among the first classic sitcom episode audiences will think of today.
Star Trek- “The City on the Edge of Forever”
Season 1, Episode 28
Aired April 6, 1967
What happens when you get one of the finest science-fiction writers of his generation to hand in a screenplay to said generation’s defining sci-fi series (give or take The Twilight Zone)? Well, if Harlan Ellison’s story is any indication, it won’t come out exactly as you envisioned it (multiple crew members, including showrunner Gene Roddenberry, eventually rewrote most of the story), to say the least, but should still land as an all-timer.
This is an easy top five episode of the original Trek, in which a drugged-up Bones (or Dr. McCoy if you prefer) teleports a portion of the Enterprise crew, including Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock, to a time portal, where he enters a particular port. Hoping to catch the good doctor, Kirk and Spock follow, only to arrive in Great Depression-era New York. They take shelter in a local mission and meet with Edith Keeler, the head of the soup kitchen with a heart of gold and hopes for peace, who agrees to let the two weirdos stay in exchange for their help with work around the shelter.
Sounds good, a welcome change of pace, taking us closer to present day Earth than a far away planet (this would have taken place about 30 years before the show aired), but it takes a turn for something more enchanting when Kirk and Edith start falling in love. This is complicated by the arrival of McCoy, who Edith soon finds and nurses back to health as his side effects wear off. His time here causes a change in history where, instead of dying in a car crash meant to occur in a matter of days, Edith survives and alters world history for the worst. The only way to prevent a catastrophic change in time is for Kirk to make a grand sacrifice and give up on a love that will never work out.
Heavy stuff, which Star Trek was famous for, which helps to make this a legendary, unforgettable episode, the show’s second Hugo Award winner for Best Dramatic Presentation, as well as a WGA Award. It absolutely deserves to be on the franchise’s shortlist.
All in the Family- “Meet the Bunkers”
Season 1, Episode 1
Aired January 12, 1971
We recently lost Norman Lear, the television pioneer who kept adding to his legacy up until his 101st year of life, whose signature work will remain his first major sitcom, a reworking of the British series Till Death Do Us Part. As of now, All in the Family is the only of Lear’s numerous iconic series to be a part of the Heritage Award (here’s hoping The Jeffersons is next), and it’s the only series to be represented with two separate episodes here.
“Meet the Bunkers” is a fairly standard pilot, one that’s light on plot- Gloria and Michael Stivic set up a nice brunch for Gloria’s parents’ anniversary, the titular Bunkers, Archie and Edith- that allows itself to set the show’s mood and tone quickly. A sharp mood with a slow, but deliberate tone. In no time do we learn the hows and whys of the show, why the newly(ish)weds are living with their parents, the kinds of people our four characters are, and why we should care.
Right away, the show is a hoot, albeit a charged one- during the first season’s broadcast, CBS aired viewer discretion warnings about the content of the series, which is evident right away. Right before the first commercial break, legendary bigot Archie drops a couple of slurs, and before long, questionable takes on Black and Jewish culture are shared, resulting in a memorable encounter between Black neighbor Lionel Jefferson questioning Mr. Bunker’s use of Yiddish expressions. But even beyond discussions of race, religion and social change, alongside a touch of sex and fashion (note a bit Archie has about his daughter’s taste in miniskirts), the episode remains entertaining due to its structure, recalling the situational comedy’s theatrical roots, sticking to one location and strict themes.
The thing to remember about All in the Family is that Archie is almost always in the wrong and his problematic perspective on culture is meant to be laughed at, not with. But despite Archie’s dated views, he’s not the only character that the show is afraid to make fun of- Mike’s dedicated cause to fight for the underprivileged comes off as self-righteous and showy, moreso in later episodes, but even earlier on as Lionel gets a good dig at his white liberalism.
All in the Family was relevant 50+ years ago as it dealt with ongoing changes in culture, and it remains relevant today as plenty of these discussions remain in stalemate. There’s a lot to unpack about the series, and I look forward to doing so in the future.
All in the Family- “Sammy’s Visit”
Season 2, Episode 21
Aired February 19, 1972
Or I can talk more about the series here! Arguably the show’s most famous episode features Archie delivering legendary entertainer Sammy Davis Jr.- which, among other comments, he refers to as “one of the good ones”- during his second job as a cab driver. When Mr. Davis accidentally leaves an important briefcase in the cab, he contacts Archie hoping to retrieve it and agrees to meet at the Bunker house as the cab owner brings the suitcase over.
Race was a popular subject on All in the Family, and featuring one of the most revered Black men of their time was an inspired way to add a different perspective to the topic. Reports conflict on why Davis was picked to appear, whether it was his idea, a suggestion from Norman Lear, or a request from friend Caroll O’Connor, but the performer offers plenty of his Rat Pack charm into what is supposedly a largely improvised performance as he reacts to Archie’s backhanded compliments and warped viewpoints.
The episode is loaded with memorable moments, from Archie calling Harry Belafonte “a white man dipped in caramel” to the legendary kiss sequence, which had its audience response cut back to not run over time. The episode would become so iconic that Davis returned a decade later to Archie Bunker’s Place, the show’s spin-off that mostly traded the iconic household for Archie’s favorite bar (am I covering that? The jury’s out, but the likely answer is no), which he now runs, and even features Mr. Bunker returning that kiss. It’s pretty good stuff.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show- “Chuckles Bites the Dust”
Season 6, Episode 7
Aired October 25, 1975
As I’ll eventually get to when I cover All in the Family, the series peaks fairly early on, while its fellow CBS Saturday night counterpart, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, stayed unbelievably consistent for all seven seasons, and it shows as the episode represented here is from its penultimate year.
Chuckles the Clown was a memorable side character over the previous seasons, a fellow WJM personality who was usually heard about but seldom seen, and that all came crashing as Chuckles wears his Peter Peanut costume while leading a circus parade. Chuckles dies in the most gruesome way imaginable, and while we don’t see it- this is primetime television in the 70s, after all- everyone has something to say about the clown’s untimely death.
Everyone except straight-laced Mary Richards, who finds her crew’s crude jokes unfunny. But she’s in the minority, as Murray, Lou, and even Sue Ann (played brilliantly by Gavin McLeod, Ed Asner and Betty White respectively) crack some incredible macabre jokes, all of which culminates in Mary Tyler Moore’s incomparable gift for body language. Even Lucille Ball complimented Moore’s talent.
“Chuckles Bites the Dust” is an unforgettable episode of television, one which finds humor in the darkness of death while staying true to the show’s inviting sensibility. The episode ranked #1 on TV Guide’s top television episodes list of all time in 1997, and moved to a still-impressive second place on their 2007 update.
M*A*S*H- “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen”
Season 11, Episode 16
Aired February 28, 1983
M*A*S*H wasn’t the first series to have an explosive, intentional series finale for American television- The Fugitive allowed itself to answer the show’s long-pursued mystery, while The Mary Tyler Moore Show arguably set up the prototypical series finale for a sitcom six years prior to “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen”.
But arguably no other final episode mattered more, before or since. Which may sound surprising- consider that the cast and crew of M*A*S*H lobbied to end the show in its prior season, thinking that much of the tenth season was below the legendary dramedy’s standards. CBS instead pushed for them to make a shorter eleventh season with a big final chapter, which they agreed to. It would be bad form to end a series about the Korean War without sending the characters we’ve grown to love for years (and at least a decade for a few members of the cast) home, right?
Compiling a murder’s row of the show’s finest writers (including star Alan Alda, who also directed the entire thing) over the years to contribute to this five-part episode (which famously was not added to syndication packages for a decade) that allowed us the honor of sending Hawkeye, Hot Lips, and co off. The result had 121.9 million total viewers tuning in, the highest rated broadcast in American history for nearly two decades, and still #1 for scripted programming.
In this movie-length endeavor, the end of the Korean War is nigh, and even before a ceasefire is approved, most of the 4077 is planning what they’re returning home to. Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan is weighing prestigious options her father is suggesting for her to pursue her nursing career, while Charles Winchester vies for the chief surgeon position at Boston Mercy Hospital (possibly inspired by Mercy Medical Center in Springfield, MA?), who Margaret has connections to. Meanwhile, B.J. Hunnicutt receives an early release form just in time for his toddler Erin’s birthday, which proves to be a red herring, necessary as Father Mulcahy, who has spent the past eleven years hearing the prayers from everyone at the 4077, loses much of his hearing from open fire nearby, which he swears B.J. to secrecy from, not wanting to return early when he’s still helping local civilians receive food and shelter.
Although the stories everyone seem to remember come from Hawkeye and Klinger. With the franchise’s de facto lead, Hawkeye is taken into a psychiatric hospital after an episode in the OR, with a disturbing twist that seemingly only M*A*S*H could get away with. On the other hand, Klinger, who spent much of the show trying to get out of Korea, falls in love with Soon-Lee, a refugee who is looking for her parents. The two marry as Klinger intends to stay in Korea until they find her family. Although personally, my favorite bit of irony in this episode comes from another Winchester storyline, where he teaches a group of local musicians to play Mozart. When they don’t return home in tact, he’s no longer able to enjoy the music that means so much to him.
This is a super-stuffed collection, but this is arguably the only way a series like M*A*S*H could have ended. When we cover the series, I’ll likely discuss how it was more or less the last of the 70s great, adult-skewing sitcoms to survive into the next decade as television largely became more sanitary. While the show did change for the Reagan age, it still had the ability to treat its audience as adults, as seen here.
Seinfeld- “The Contest”
Season 4, Episode 11
Aired November 18, 1992
An oft-repeated, yet still hard to believe, fact about Seinfeld is that it wasn’t much of a hit in its first few seasons. While critics and a cult audience sang the show’s praises almost immediately, it wasn’t until the fourth season that it really started to become the phenomenon it was known for. Being placed next to Cheers, another legendary sitcom with similarly soft ratings in its beginning, certainly helped.
“The Contest” is one of the first Seinfeld episodes that helped to make it water cooler TV, the kind of program that people would talk about around the water cooler during the next day of work. And it makes sense, as it covers a topic you didn’t see, or even hear much about on broadcast television at the time.
If you’re not familiar, in this one, George is caught by his mother… “reading” Glamour. The sight causes poor Estelle Costanza (another hallmark of this episode is that it introduces the unforgettable character as played by Estelle Harris) to fall and injure herself, as a humiliated George seemingly has no problem telling his friends. This causes Jerry, Kramer, and even Elaine to stage a bet with George to see who will be the last to give up their self-help time. One hundred bucks from the guys, while Elaine chips in an extra fifty, because fair is fair.
And the episode keeps giving the characters their challenges. Jerry is being stonewalled by Marla “the virgin” (played by a pre-Frasier Jane Leeves) as she’s not ready to give herself just yet. Elaine becomes aerobics buddies with John F. Kennedy Jr, getting a choice view of his butt. Kramer becomes enamored by a nudist woman across the street from Jerry’s apartment. And George, who swears off of the habit, soon finds himself stopping over at his mother’s hospital bed just in time for her gorgeous roommate’s sponge bath. Who wins? You’ll have to watch and find out.
The show’s open discussion of sexuality made it instantly resonate, enough so that when the series moved to its iconic post-Cheers timeslot later in the season, the episode was rebroadcast with a special intro to make sure audiences knew that they were about to see something special. And something special “The Contest” became, as co-creator Larry David won an Emmy for his teleplay, and the episode remains among the first Seinfeld fans think of to this day.
Personally, I’ve always found “The Contest” a touch (heh) overrated, but I understand why the frank (double heh) discussion of masturbation became such a sensation. Even when media would discuss the topic, it’s almost exclusively seen as a male activity (see: Roseanne), while Elaine is here as a reminder that women have urges that are just as strong as any men’s. And when a certain someone caves early, it’s hard to not relate to how excited the audience was when you see it.
ER- “Love’s Labor Lost”
Season 1, Episode 19
Aired March 9, 1995
ER took no time to become a sensation, as it would end its landmark first season as the second-highest rated show on television, trailing only, well, Seinfeld. Whether it was always a good show is another point one can debate, but I think the show deserved its hype for its first few seasons, a deft mix of classic soap opera staples with modern cinematic tactics and breakneck pacing that made for a constantly engaging work.
The episode that best proved the appeal of ER has to be this late season one endeavor, in which attending physician Mark Greene meets with a pregnant woman for what should be a routine checkup, only to discover something wrong. At first he thinks it’s a UTI, but the prognosis becomes more serious as he tries to save this woman and her child. Meanwhile, surgeon Peter Benton has to decide if it’s worth crossing professional lines when his mother is in the ER after a nasty fall.
It’s nothing but go when Dr. Greene begins surgery on this woman, which never relents, right down to its tragic ending. As cliched as it is to call a work an emotional roller coaster, I think that’s an accurate description of the episode, which seems to find new ways to challenge and thrill as seemingly everything that can go wrong does. Besides being intense, “Love’s Labor Lost” is a true actor’s showcase, giving Anthony Edwards an arguable best performance as haggard Dr. Greene (who, among other things, was in the middle of a divorce during this point) and an early career highlight for Bradley Whitford, who I wouldn’t be surprised if this was what made him come to mind as Josh Lyman in The West Wing.
As such, “Love’s Labor Lost” became one of the show’s benchmarks and made it among the most awarded episodes in television history, including five Emmys. Highly impressive. And I didn’t even need to bring up how Julianna Margulies is a gross Zionist.
The Sopranos- “The Sopranos”
Season 1, Episode 1
Aired January 10, 1999
Oh hey, an episode I already covered.
I don’t have too much to add this time, except that it’s immaculate how strongly the show has set its world view into stone from the beginning. Things will definitely change as the series develops, but it’s mostly evolution rather than rejection. David Chase knew his way around television and was poised to challenge it from go, and by jove he succeeded.
Friends- “The One Where Everybody Finds Out”
Season 5, Episode 14
Aired February 11, 1999
If you’re not up to date on your Friends lore, at the end of the fourth season, we see Chandler and Monica in bed when the gang is in London for Ross and Emily’s (let’s be real, doomed) wedding. The first half of the following season will have the two continue to hook up in what they hope is secrecy, but this is eventually thwarted as Joey finds out and is forced to help them come up with alibis. Soon, Rachel learns, although she doesn’t let on that she knows.
If you can’t tell, it’s this point where everyone else learns, or at least Phoebe does, as she has the misfortune of seeing the two hook up. Rather than coming clean and letting Chandler and Monica know that they know, however, the girls decide to have fun, most notably by having Phoebe flirt with Chandler. Eventually realizing that she’s onto something, Monica has Chandler call her bluff as the two plan an intimate night together.
I’d say this is one of the two most iconic Friends episodes, as that final act game of chicken remains an all-time set piece for the show as Matthew Perry and Lisa Kudrow have fun challenging each other to their highest extremes, enough so that Kudrow was nominated for an Emmy for her performance in this particular episode. I also think that one of the best calls the show made was pairing Chandler and Monica together. They’re arguably the two most stable friends in the group and compliment each other quite well, while pushing the show towards the necessary maturity implied with its concept. Ross and Rachel may have been the passionate fling that the show wanted us to root for, but Chandler and Monica were always a better fit and didn’t overstay their welcome. Now’s a good time to admit that I’m something of a Friends agnostic- give me Seinfeld any day- but I have no qualms with giving the show its roses when deserved.
As for Ross? While he’s too busy preparing to take the apartment of a favorite side character, I’d rather not spoil how he finds out about his sister’s new FWB.
The West Wing- “Pilot”
Season 1, Episode 1
Aired September 22, 1999
Another episode I’ve previously covered!
I’m still working on the next West Wing review, so I don’t intend to add much more to this, but it’s funny to see the show in its earliest stages, before President Bartlet was properly defined and put at the center, as opposed to later Bartlet fever. Even more interesting is how much Sam Seaborn features here, as the show would wisely pivot from making him the senior staff focus to Josh and sometimes C.J. Rob Lowe has never been anything but solid as Sam, but it’s clear who the MVPs were.