My 12 Favorite Episodes of Modern Family

 

When I did my article on this show the one thing I did not do was discuss my favorite episodes. That was because then I did not know the show well enough yet. I have seen rectified thet so now I present the episodes I consider the best. 

Of course these are hard to rate because much like Seinfeld or Friends if you hate one story there is another you might enjoy. In fact as I look at other lists I find very few episodes on all of them and mine. That’s a real sign of a quality show when you can have five lists with very different episodes. So these episodes stand out for one story or even scene that I just love. They are arranged by season order and as always, just my opinion. 

Earthquake 

It may seem odd to start at season 2 but like any good show the first season was still trying to find itself. This was the first classic in my mind as an earthquake rattled the families lives. 

Ten (well,12) Favorite Star Trek Voyager Episodes

I did my favorite episodes of TNG and DS9, but never voyager! The closest I came was a crossover which covered all Trek. So since we’re celebrating the 30th anniversary I guess the time has come!

So here’s the deal. I am doing one episode per season, and then since I need 10 I add three others (plus two I couldn't resist). And before I’m asked about a worst episode's list, that’s pretty obvious to be honest. Threshold? These are favorites not necessarily great, and of course just my opinion

Top 5 Least Favorite "Diane" Episodes of Cheers

A few years ago I talked about how I was more of a fan of the Kirstie Alley era than the Shelly Long era of Cheers. So to do a best/worst list it had to be that era of of the series since I wasn't as familiar with the first five seasons. Since then I have become familiar with that era, and yeah most of these episodes are great. Not all of course. So to make things even here are five best/worst from that period.

And no they don't have to be centered on Diane to count here. I also decided to keep it to five rather than 10 because there were only five seasons.

Father Knows Least 

Some episodes just feel, off. There's no way to really describe it but this one about Carla's pregnancy (her first on the show) just felt weird to me. Especially that ending that even Carla herself seems to think is a tad odd. 

Top 10 Favorite “Post-Diane” Cheers Episodes (and Five I Hate)

For a lot of people, Cheers ended the time that Shelly Long left for the final time. And that’s fair, but for me the show didn’t really get started until Kirstie Alley walked through the door. No, I’m not saying Alley is so amazing that she saved the show. But when the Sam/Diane stuff was gone it meant that the rest of the cast were brought up and used more. I love the episodes after Diane left.

As an experiment of sorts I went back and watched every episode from that first one that began Season six. I wanted to catch up on what I had missed (I never watched regularly) and see what I had forgotten. And I discovered on simple thing–man this show is funny! And well written! It’s no shock it lasted as long as it did. So here are my ten favorite episodes from that era on the show. And since no show is perfect, we’ll do a few I hated also.



#10.One for the Road

The series finale and I did a whole article on it so feel free to find out mote there. I think the series finale, while not perfect, went out on a high note.

My 15 Favorite Episodes of “The Big Bang Theory”

So you knew this one was coming. Now that the series has been put to bed, it’s time to go through my favorite episodes. I’ve talked about this show many times including stuff I didn’t like, reviewing the pilot which is solid, a recent face-off, and a (now dated) article where I admitted I was ready for the show to end. But I had never gone through the episodes I love to watch over and over.

So these are my favorites, and there are two things to remember here. I am discussing episodes I think are solid from start to finish. A lot of episodes have great and/or funny moments in them but the episode is only OK. A great example is “The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis”. Everyone remembers the end where Sheldon gives Penny a hug, but the episode on the whole is meh. Another is the one where Leonard has an itchy shirt and Sheldon proves a point with it, but the rest of the episode is so forgettable I forgot it while reviewing the episodes. The other things is that these are in braodcast order, I will discuss my #1 favorite episode when we reach it.

Ten Favorite Valentine’s Day Sitcom Episodes

I mentioned on New Year’s Eve that I had neglected to touch on the holiday themed TV shows that were around. An even bigger over site was Valentines Day. For whatever reason, I haven’t talked about that yet Could be because I hate the holiday. Nevertheless there are toms of these episodes out there. Usually involving a romance that goes bad. And while I have no love for that holiday, I do enjoy watching these episodes on the 14th of each February.

       



The episodes are not in any specific order. And like last time every list I see online ignored TV was a thing before 1994. So I included some 80’s examples. And I’ll tell you right from the get go I am leaving a LOT off. From Fresh Prince to Boy Meets World (which had a very serious episode).  So feel free to let me know you favorites that I missed down below.


   




Here are my ten favorite Valentine’s Day episodes.




Golden Girls, “Valentines Day”

Well of course this show would do this. They did an episode for Mother’s Day also. It’s basically just vignettes of the girls spending different Valentine’s differently. We get a predictable gay joke, the girls at a nudist colony and apparently Sophia was at the St Valentine’s Day Massacre. The final one is a forced condom gag which isn’t really funny. So yeah, a so-so episode

Top 5 Favorite Friends Episodes

Seven years ago my friends. That is how long since I started this silly blog about nothing. Now, seven years and closing in on 900 articles, I just felt like I needed to stop and acknowledge that. True this blog hasn’t made me rich or famous, but it has been a place to go when I needed one and I love Manic Expression for that. Anyway enough back patting,

I just did my favorite Seinfeld episodes and since my very first article was the Top 5 worst Friends episodes, it’s only fair to do the opposite at long last. Yeah I used to prefer doing “worst” lists than “best” lists because very often a BEST list will have the same episodes on them over and over. But now I am older, and I say so what?





Friends was up there in my list of favorite shows and I still watch it all the time. The characters clicked, and I love how they grew and learned. The show could also be damn funny I still laugh out loud at certain jokes on the series. Ok it wasn’t the most intelligent or challenging TV show out there. And no it wasn’t perfect, and you can peruse my episode guide for more on that, but when it was good it was pretty damn good. And since I did an extensive episode guide, this will just be a short and sweet list.



Here are my favorite episodes, and as with Seinfeld this is “favorite” not necessarily “best”. Also again, in broadcast order.




“The One with the Thumb”
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 Tough call between this and “The One with the Blackout” but I choose this because all the Friends are together in this one. Unlike the blackout episode where Chandler has no scenes with the others. Which is fine they’re good scenes. This is a favorite because it was the first episode that i really started to pay attention the show, and find it good.

Top 10 Favorite Seinfeld Episodes (20 Years Later)

 

It’s been a long while since I did anything about my favorite show ever. Of course a good reason for that is because six years ago I did an episode guide where I talked about every episode. Has it been that long? Speaking of “has it been that long?”, guess what turned twenty this year? The final episode of Seinfeld aired twenty years ago in May. You know me, always first to cover a milestone. Anyway, the final episode is now twenty years old…
and I still hate it. Ok I am no longer irate about it. I am not kidding when I say that at the time, I swore to never watch another episode again. Yeah I still watch the show every day so that sure didn’t last. I’ve seen the episode enough times again that I can accept it, flawed as it is! But I did some digging and found about a dozen articles on that final episode 20 years later, and how it pissed so many people off. So I decided to do something a little different. I never really discussed my favorite e episodes. I discussed the one’s that are not my favorite, why back when, but what about the one’s I personally love?

 

So to celebrate twenty years since the finale, almost thirty years of Seinfeld, here they are. Not necessarily the “Best” episodes, just the one’s i have a real fondness for. These aren’t just episodes I can (and probably have) watched 1,000 times but episodes I still get a laugh from. They are also episodes that bring back a special memory and I can even recall watching them the first time. I did limit to ten, which was hard, at least one per season. And to make it easier on myself, in broadcast order.





The Library

No Season 1 so let’s go right to Season 2 where I can’t believe how young I was when these aired. Man do I have memories of this one. First of all, when Jerry does his bit on school says at the end I remember still being in high school and Man am I old. Second, there was a time in my English class when my teacher was talking about what people do with yearbook’s and half the class said “put it on a bookshelf” obviously recalling the scene in this episode where Jerry gets his yearbook out. It’s a memorable episode with the Library cop and of course that final scene where we find out what happened to that book after all. Clever and funny. “The Phone Message” is great too, I still remember the laugh when George announces his father wore sneaker in the pool. It just barely made it here.

Top 10 Favorite Episodes of “Full House”

Sigh. Don’t you hate it when this happens? I had this idea to celebrate Full House’s 30th anniversary with a list of my favorite episodes. The same week Channel Awesome released their list! It’s ok, I don’t agree with their choices anyway. Except one, but I’ll get to that. So let’s talk about Full House!

Premiered this week thirty years ago..and man was it bad. Yeah I have gone on and on about the corny 1st season. This is supposed to be a celebration so let’s focus on the good. And despite what some may think, there was good in this show. Was it brilliantly written comedy? No. Was it compelling drama? Heck no. What it was wholesome family entertainment, and what’s wrong with that? I managed to find ten episodes that I like the best. It was supposed to be five but…yeah, as usual that didn’t happen.

Top 10 Favorite Episodes of “The Brady Bunch”

How’s this for crazy, four years ago I did a series of Brady articles and included my list of the worst episodes. Would you believe I never did my list of the best? That’s awful and needs to fixed.

I talked a couple weeks ago about how I adored He-Man growing up. Well that doesn’t even describe how much I loved The Brady Bunch. It was on every single day at dinner time and I adored it. Well, most of it. It was simple, it was sweet, and it didn’t talk down to kids. Ok it could be corny, though some people are a little to hard on that (something I discussed before).

This is one of those shows where, with a few exceptions, different people can have very different lists. It’s all about what appeals to you about the series. So here are my ten favorite episodes, in broadcast order. It was supposed to be five but became ten, anyone surprised?






“Tiger! Tiger!”

I needed one from Season One. Why did I pick this one? I don’t know, it’s better than most that season I guess. There is another Tiger episode involving Jan thinking she’s allergic, but that one is mostly filler. This one has some real heart in it when Tiger runs away. And I love how the family canvass the neighborhood to find him. It’s a well done moment, leading to the conclusion when we found why Tiger ran away. It’s stupid, but at least there’s a reason unlike other shows which don’t even give that. By the way I liked the episode where the kids get measles, but the sexism of the time hurt it foe me. A female doctor treating men? How could they know anything about men problems???? I know it made sense in 1968 but….please.

Top 10 Favorite Episodes of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe

Because I’m so timely here is my celebration of the 30th anniversary of He-man and the Masters of the Universe..about four years to late. Oops.

 

When I was a kid in the 80’s I adored He-Man. I watched it religiously every day. I went to see the “Secret of the Sword” movie which introduced She-Ra. I had as many of the action figures, vehicles, and playsets that I could. I even went to at least one “live” show they had a local mall. I simply adored this show. I know today it gets made fun from the corny opening intro to the lame PSA’s at the end, the lack of violence due to the rules at the time (Just once I wanted to see He-Man PUNCH Skeletor), the fact that it existed to sell toys, and of course the idiotic innuendo that some insist on forcing on to this character. This show gets a bad rep, but man was it awesome!

It was part of my childhood and I loved it. However one thing I have noticed is that thirty-three years later, I don’t remember a lot of it. 130 episodes and only a handful stand out. Oh sure there are bits and pieces I may recall. For instance, I talked before how I remember Dree Elle’s song from “Dree Elle’s Return” but I had no clue for years what episode that was in or that Dree Elle was singing. Because the song was an earworm but the episode was meh. I guess it’s fair to say that a lot of episodes weren’t high art. Skeletor did something, and He-Man eventually stopped it. So I guess that it makes sense that many of the episode wouldn’t stand out. Some of the goofy stuff was really silly too. For years I forgot Cringer and/or Battlecat talked. Why did they talk??

But that doesn’t mean some of the episodes didn’t rise above the rest and stand out as either well told stories or really exciting fun. Here are ten episodes I never forgot, not all are probably the best episodes though many are. And of course this is all opinion, feel free to disagree.





#10.”Diamond Ray of Disappearance” (Season 1)

Kind of cheating a little here but I figured the best way to start this was with the pilot. And it’s a damn good pilot! It introduces the characters, has high stakes, and gives us some great action. In fact we see more of Skeletor’s evil minions than just Beast Man and Trap Jaw, which was rare. Skeletor had discovered the titular diamond ray which makes people disappear just by looking at it. Skeletor almost gets into Greyskull before He-Man can get the diamond and crush it. And kudos, it isn’t easy! He-Man isn’t often given limits it’s nice to see when he is.

Analytical Episode Guide:Everybody Loves Raymond (Season 9, Part 4)

Time to wrap things up my friends……



Season 9, Episode 13
Sister-In-Law

Plot Summary-Ray doesn’t appreciate when Amy tries spending time with him

Nitpick of the episode-I’ll never get why Ray can’t sit with someone and just listen to them talk. There’s a great continuity nod I hope was intentional. In her first appearance Amy mentioned loving to eat raw cookie dough, and when Ray insults her that’s exactly what Amy eating in the kitchen!

Best Line-“We should get in there dads probably got the fondu pot on his head like Winnie the Pooh”…Ray

Episode Fun Fact –

Deleted Scenes-Robert tries to find out if Amy is still angry, Marie embarrasses Ray

Syndication Edit-The tag where Ray does talk to Amy…of course enraging Robert and Debra. Maybe Ray shuts up because he just can’t win?

Best Character-Amy, probably her best episode and she even gets angry which is nice to see. Though fondu date night? Really??

Worst Character-Ray, once again we see the simple act of sitting next to someone while watching a sporting event is too much for him to handle. The only difference is its Amy this time. Even she admits she knows Frank better than Ray!

Final Thoughts-One thing I didn’t get about this episode was how quiet Marie was, did they have nothing for her to say? She did have some lines in the deleted scenes so I guess that answers that. The episode addresses something which has come up before, why the hell is Ray incapable to talking to people? It’s why his conversation with Pat last season was so nice to see. He can do it! All he has to do is sit there and let Amy prattle, why is that so hard? To be fair Amy is a talkative person but when Ray can’t seem to talk to anyone it’s hard to put the blame on her.

Grade-B-

Top 10 Favorite Deep Space Nine Episodes

 

You may have noticed that as much as I discuss Star Trek, DS9 does not get mentioned nearly enough. I was never a major fan, but did watch it and enjoyed several episodes. So since I haven’t given DS9 enough love, here are my favorite episodes. I will say up front, these are favorites and may not be literally the best episodes ever made. In fact at least one is a bottle show which wasn’t that remarkable, as you’ll see. And almost nothing from the war episodes are on here, not because they were bad it’s just those episodes were not my favorites. To me they’re like seeing a gritty war film while well done it’s not the kind of thing you pop in to watch over and over again. These are episodes I loved the first time and can watch over and over again.

And if you’re wondering why no least favorites list, it’s because I managed to avoid those episodes which sucked a lot. Except “Move Along Home” which felt more like a crappy season 2 TNG episode. And I talked about Q-Less already. Oh and that awful “Resurrection” episode which was boring but since the crew were coming off the war arc I can forgive it. And “Defiant” was a let down.



Ok, onto my favorites–




#10.”What You Leave Behind” (Season 7)

Yeah I know weird to start with the final episode, but in some ways I liked Voyager’s more. Not to mention TNG’s. Why? As I said in the opening I was not a loyal DS9 fan and this episode was definitely aimed at loyal fans as a way of saying goodbye. So while it didn’t leave the biggest impact, it was still a damn good final episode and a very strong way to end the series. Credit where credit is due.

Top 5 Favorite Episodes of "Scrubs"

When Scrubs first came around in 2002, I had no interest in it. The way the show was promoted by NBC made it look a little to weird and so I did not watch until the final episode of the first season. But I realized that the show was actually really good, and before long was a serious fan watching right through season 8. 'To be honest, I had stopped watching in Season 8 after the show left NBC but did see the final episode which was fantastic. And if you're wondering why I am not talking about that awful season 9, well I have decided that never happened!

I think this show worked the same way MASH worked in my opinion. Ok, Sacred Heart wasn't the Korean War but working as a doctor can be depressing anywhere, and this show was about how these characters cope every day and in the end come together as a family in the face of tragedy.

The show has a lot going for it, including the silly slapstick style of humor. But if you get past that you find a well written show which knew how to be serious, and gave us some very memorable characters. There was as much drama as laughs, and the way they incorporated music into each episode was fantastic. The main character is J.D. who narrates every episode, and is usually the center of the odd daydreams littered through every episode. Sarah Chalke was great in this making people forget she was ever on Roseanne, and what can you say about John McGinley and his character of Dr.Cox? His rants were hilarious and really made that character.

But rather than talk about the characters, especially since I did so in depth in a sitcom face off with Night Court, I decided to discuss my five favorite episodes of this series. One notable episode missing is the classic Season 2 episode, "My Screw Up" featuring Brendan Frasier since I talked about it in depth in a different article. Let's call that an honorary sixth spot. Here are five more episode I loved.

#5."My Butterfly" (Season 3)

Yeah this episode is a little gimmicky, but hey it still really works. It's basically a take on the Butterfly Effect. When a butterfly lands on a woman we see the events of the episode that unfold afterward. After the halfway point, the episode literally rewinds back to the start. This time the butterfly lands on someone else, which creates a totally different series of events. This is a clever idea which really works, especially in the end when we find out even with the change the tragic outcome was inevitable.

My Favorite Episodes of Star Trek-The Next Generation

So let's talk about my favorite episodes of Star Trek-TNG.Like the previous article I am going to do this season by season, and I havedecided to pick two episodes per season. A gimmicky episode and one that ismore relevant. Why? Because it's easy to say we love the gimmick episodes, it'swhy they do them so often.  If the storyinvolves cool space battles, time travel, a strange disease infecting the crew,or some other odd occurrence like possession or amnesia it's real easy to likeit. However, those shows aren't what make the series memorable. Anyone can do ashow where time repeats in a loop (and many have) for example. What makes theseries memorable is how they handle the more relevant stories. The episodeswhich you have to really watch and follow the story to appreciate.

By the way sometimes the line between a gimmick episode anda relevant one can blur. For example, "The Loss" is built around agimmick (Troi losing her powers, it's the "blind" episode) but hassome good stuff in it despite that, so these may blend a bit but will try tokeep them separate. Before I discuss my favorite episodes, let’s discuss thevery first one.