My Favorite TV Moments Part 1

I'll admit it. I've watched a lot of TV in my life. And there have been A LOT of moments that have stuck with me. How does one count down one's favorite TV moments. Well, it wasn't easy. I had to make a few executive desicions. Specifically, I did not want to include moments that are too brief, and I also wanted to be as specific as possible. In fact, there are so many choices, I'll have to divide this into 2 lists. So, here's my list. And since it's hard to rank these, I have opted to list these alphabetically.

Breaking Bad “The Crawlspace” Walt's money is gone: The fourth season of Breaking Bad was so unbelievably good that I kind of want to do a countdown of favorite moments just from that. Without giving too much away, there’s a moment from the finale “Face Off” that a lot of people would expect me to include. I will admit it, that moment was amazing. However, I can only pick one so I am choosing this one. Building up to this episode, Walter White is being pushed to his limits: Gus has explicitly threatened to murder Walter and his family. Gus has also put a hit on Hank and is threatening Jesse. With the sword of Damocles dangling over him, Walt realizes the only thing he can do is pay one of Saul Goodman’s men to make his family disappear forever. Unfortunately, it comes with a price that must be paid in cash… and Schuyler has given said cash to her former lover to pay his taxes. Walter has officially been pushed to his limit and he… laughs. Walter starts laughing pretty maniacally while Schuyler gets the call and learns about the hit that’s been put on Hank. The combination of Walt’s non-stop laughter with the music that sounds like a heartbeat make this a truly unnerving moment. Couple that with the fact that EVERYTHING was falling to pieces before the characters’ eyes and you have one of the true “Holy you-know-what” moments of TV. I can honestly say I can’t think of too many times where I felt I NEEDED to see the next episode of anything as much after this.

Curb Your Enthusiasm “The Survivor” Survivor Meets Survivor: You know, some of Larry David’s mishaps aren’t always his fault. Larry’s rabbi tells him he’s bringing a survivor to Larry David’s party. Problem: Larry David assumes he means Holocaust survivor. In reality, the rabbi is bringing a former contestant from the SHOW Survivor. Suffice to say, the two do not get along. The former survivor contestant tries to impress people with stories about enduring hardships of the jungle. Under normal circumstances, these would be some pretty big hardships. But compared to the Holocaust survivor, they seem like small potatoes. But does that stop this guy from trying to compare his problems to the Holocaust survivor’s? Of course not! The scene is so hilarious in how outrageous and awkward this situation is. As a viewer it’s hard not to laugh at these people for absurd this situation, but also kind of laugh with them in sympathy. Something like this could only come from the twisted mind of Larry David.

Duck Tales “A Whale of a Bad Time” “A Sea Monster Ate My Ice Cream!” In an attempt to thwart his arch nemesis Flintheart Glomgold to become the richest duck in the world, Scrooge hides half of his loot in ice cream. Unfortunately, during the shipping, a sea monster eats his ice cream. Or should I say sea monster EATS HIS ICE CREAM! A sea monster EATS HIS ICE CREAM! A sea monster EATS HIS ICE CREAM! Yeah, Scrooge flips out at this news, and this becomes the only thing he can say. And this scene has some truly hilarious animation: Scrooge hops up and down on his head, throws a pancake at Mrs. Beakly, and tries to eat his tablecloth. All things being considered, if I lost half my money, I’d probably flip out as well.

Family Feud “September” What, thought they’d all be written/episodic moments? In a classic Family Feud moment, Richard Dawson asks a contestant to name the month when women begin to look pregnant during fast money. Her answer? September. Dawson laughs so hard that it puts a halt on fast money. He somehow gets through the rest of the questions and maintains his composure… until the next contestant. Dawson can’t even finish the question without bursting into hysterical laughter. He keeps this up for over a minute. He eventually composes himself enough to ask the rest of the questions… until he asks her to name a noisy bird. After she says cuckoo, Dawson loses it again. There have been a lot of other funny goofs on this show – such as the “alligator” man – but for me, this is the most memorable.

Family Guy “Peter’s Two Dad’s” Stuck behind Robert Loggia: Admittedly, I’ve gone pretty sour on this show and honestly haven’t watched it since about 2009. And to be totally honest, I'm not the world's biggest fan of Seth MacFarlane. So let that speak for how much I LOVE this moment. Peter recalls an incident where he was stuck in line behind Robert Loggia at airport. When asked to spell his name, Mr. Loggia tediously spells it out with every letter standing for some form of Robert Loggia’s apparent vanity (“R as in Robert Loggia”). This scene also resulted in one of my best reactions to a moment. After nearly dying of laughter, I turned to my mom and asked “Who’s Robert Loggia?”

Family Ties “A, My Name is Alex” Okay, I’m kind of cheating with this one since it is, after all, two-thirds of a double episode. But it is structured like one long scene so it counts. In the episode, Alex Keaton is at a crossroad: A friend of his has recently died in a car accident. The problem is that he was invited to come along on the trip that his friend died on. But he chickened out because he did not want to help his friend move. On one hand, he bailed on a friend. On the other hand, his cowardice saved Alex’s life. After going through a personal crisis, Alex decides to finally see a therapist. And this is a unique moment – rather than being structured like Alex just talking to the therapist, it becomes like a stage play. The set is relatively barren and we never see the therapist. Alex goes through an emotional rollercoaster where he examines his relationships with his family and friends. He reenacts his childhood, uncovers his closet fondness for rock music and reveals a lot of insecurities. Having to go through all of these emotions shows what a terrific actor Michael J. Fox really is. And like a lot of times on Family Ties, it doesn’t lose control of its comedic edge.

Garfield and Friends “Jukebox Jon” Jon Arbuckle’s job interview: Jon’s trying to rid himself of his nail-biting habit so he listens to records. Garfield accidentally breaks the records. Not knowing what they are, Garfield figures any records are just as good and replaces them with random records from Jon’s collection. The next day, Jon is speaking only in terms of sound effects, Spanish, and ‘50’s doo wop songs. Common logic says that the interview would go down in flames and that would be the hilarious outcome. Instead, everything falls into place so perfectly it’s hard not to laugh at its utter absurdity. I nearly die laughing every time I see this and want to go around singing “doo wah doo wah doo wah doo” every time.

I Love Lucy “Lucy Does a TV Commercial” Vitavetavegamin: I Love Lucy has scored two classic moments that are perennial favorites on lists like this: Lucy at the chocolate factory and this scene. While the factory scene is incredibly funny, I find this one funnier. Against Ricky’s wishes, Lucy takes part in a commercial for a miracle tonic that uses alcohol. Obviously, there’s a bit of suspension of disbelief as no commercial would use the real alcoholic product in the commercial for the exact reason demonstrated here. Obviously, Lucy has a little has a trouble saying the tongue-twister of a name. And matters are not helped as she keeps drinking the stuff and getting more and more plastered. My favorite is the end when she’s so smashed that she doesn’t even bother with the name. “Get yourself a bottle of… this stuff.”

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia “Night Man”: Most people remember this episode for “Day Man,” and it’s hard not to since that one did get a full-fledged song. Granted, that is a classic moment, but I think “Night Man” was slightly funnier. The first hilarious part is when Charlie presents his incomprehensible lyrics to Mac (“What is this, a page from a coloring book?”). Then we are treated to the actual song. It starts off on a strong note, but Charlie is a little too thickheaded to realize he’s accidentally written a song about a man raping him. You think he’d stop once the rest of the band did, but no he keeps going. And it just gets worse and worse. Considering this episode has both “Day Man” and “Night Man,” it just shows what a classic episode it is.