I'm hearing this a lot after BSG's "Exodus, Part II", and I think you can make a decent case for it.

I'd also argue for Buffy's "Once More, With Feeling" or the Angel series finale.

What other shows are in the running for the best hour of TV ever aired?

The season finale of 'House' last spring. Also, the series premiere (pick whichever hour you want) of 'Lost.'

It's a good question. I've always thought giving awards like the Emmys to entire shows was misguided, since they can vary so much from episode to episode. The awards should be given to individual episodes. There's a science fiction award called a "Hugo" that works like this. I'll nominate "Smile Time" from Angel. As well as being funny, it's also a very well constructed episode that tells a self-contained story while painlessly explaining the fantasy background and advancing the ongoing story arcs.

My personal favorite is "Two Cathedrals", the season 2 finale of West Wing.

This may be out of left field for some, but I loved the episode of GG where, in the last 5-10 minutes, the Gilmore family aired out all kinds of angst and issues. I don't remember much else, but those last few minutes made the entire hour worth it. People were actually talking about stuff and saying how they felt. It was awesome for me.

Ahhh. Nobody's going to agree with a lot of mine, but whatever...

1. The OC S2 finale, The Dearly Beloved. BY FAR the most brilliant thing I've ever seen. The use of "Hide and Seek" is beautiful, and Kelly Rowan acts the HELL out of this episode. The end is haunting, when Marissa shoots Trey. One of my favorite episodes EVER of The OC, and the best hour of television I've ever seen.

2. Veronica Mars S1 finale.. can't remember the name. It's sad, and chilling all at the same time. It had me screaming at the television, jumping (because I was startled), crying, and laughing all in the same hour. I adored it.

3. The OC S1 finale, The Ties That Bind. If anyone saw this, and didn't enjoy it, wow. It's so sad... I will forever remember Kirsten sobbing into Ryan's sheets, just breaking down, and Seth sailing off. The wedding was also beautiful. Great acting from EVERYONE this episode.

4. Grey's Anatomy S1 pilot. I fell in love with the show then, and the end had me crying like a baby. "You were a doctor, mom." never ceases to make me emotional.

5. Grey's Anatomy, S2, It's The End of The World. Do I even need to say WHY I like this one?

6. Grey's Anatomy, S2, Break On Through. I BAWL everytime that scene with the old ladies comes on, when they're all patting the old lady who's dying, and then she dies and Meredith calls her time of death and runs out the room, and starts hyperventilating. The entire scene just hit close to home, and Meredith hyperventilating and freaking out about her mother dying alone just kills me. I also love Izzie's storyline in this episode, with her and her little girl. It's just a great episode.

7. Dawson's Creek, S2 finale.. cannot remember the name for the life of me. I loved Joey standing up to Dawson, and Joey standing up to her father.

8. Grey's Anatomy, S2, Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer. I LOVE "Because! It's what freakin' JESUS! Would do!" and just the entire episode is so good. Classic GA episode.


I have so many more, but I'll have to post them later.

Buffy has definitely produced some of the most innovative and well-crafted hours of television. To list all the possibilities would be a laundry list, but anyone familiar with the show knows which episodes I speak of.

While a lot of shows have had well crafted episodes, I think there is an important difference between great television and something that transcends that and becomes an instant classic and a true work of art. Of course your mileage may, and probably does vary.

There are so many great hours stored in my memory, and I may change my mind later, but right now I'm leaning towards the first episode of "Hill Street Blues" - it efficiently established the setting, the style/tone and a large array of characters that we would never confuse with each other after that. The surprise of discovering Frank and Joyce's true relationship - one of the most adult and sophisticated on tv for most of the series' run - wasn't even the biggest shock - that would have to be the brutal shooting of Hill and Renko, and Esterhaus's subsequent phone call telling Frank that "they're not expected to make it" [which they weren't - originally at least Renko, possibly both, were supposed to die, but they were so appealing that they were spared at the last minute].

The ones that automatically come to mind:

1. "Three Stories", House. Probably one of the funniest hours I've ever watched. I thought everything about it was perfect, and I didn't see the "one story was actually House himself" twist coming at all. Not to mention, the best use of Carmen Electra ever!

2. Series premiere of Prison Break. It started off with a bang, and didn't stop for the next hour. Had tons of PB's best moments, from Michael calmly firing that gun into the air, to when he meets Lincolin in prison for the first time. Awesome ending too, when Micheal reveals that he had the outline of the prison tatooed on his body.

3. Series premiere of Friday Night Lights. I'm tempted to include all the episodes, but this really was the stand-out so far. One of the most griping and emotional hours I've seen on TV for quite some time. And I now will always know who Kyle Chandler is, and how awesome he is.

Veronica Mars, A Trip To The Dentist. Veronica figuring out the rape from everyone's altered story was incredible. It was marred a little by the S2 ret-con, but still great.

Lost, ...In Translation. I love almost everything on lost that prominently involves Sun and Jin, I completely love those characters and their relationship. And "I was going to leave you" hit me so hard.

Have to add to the Two Cathedrals love, but the Season finale of the WW first season was one of the better cliffhangers I've ever seen.

I haven't seen much Buffy, but I did see "Hush" and, wow.

Arrested Development, Pier Pressure and Public Relations. So that's actually two epidoes, but it adds up to one hour. Lessons, hot cops, Klimpy's, and Carl Weathers all combine to make a fine hour of comedy.

Buffy, "The Gift". Hands down. The most beautifully poignant hour of television I have ever seen. Kudos, Joss. Kudos.

Another excellent VM episode.

This is actually two hours of television, but The X-files's episodes Redux I & II remain my two favorite episodes of all time on any TV-series. Mulder's face when he sees Scully in the hospital and his desperation to get her well again just kill me.

That was a great one, but my personal favorite was the season 1 finale. That fade to black with "Who's been hit?! Who's been hit?!" over the walkie talkies at the end had me talking and anticipating all summer.

I'd also add to the list, the episode of ER where the team was trying to save Dr. Carter and Lucy's lives after they were stabbed. Benton's dash down the stairs to Carter's gurney, Dr. Ramono's reaction to Lucy's death, then opting to be the one to sew and clean her up....it was a great episode. The final 5 minutes of the previous episode must be included, so I'd say that was one of the best 65 minutes in TV.

I agree 1000%. Especially because of "Hallelujah" and the part where Ryan and Teresa are driving away and Ryan is looking at Marissa and it's reminiscent of episode 1. So moving.

I'll second that. I'm not sure "Three Stories" will ever be topped, by House or any other show. It was smart, fast, and tied together beautifully.

"Friday Night", Joan of Arcadia: Beautiful, emotional, and actually pretty realistic. This is the only TV episode (of any show) that has actually gotten me to full-on cry.

It's not an hour, but I consider "In the Shadow of Two Gunmen", the two-part Season 2 premiere of The West Wing to be the best thing I've ever seen on television. Seeing them deal with the aftermath of the shooting was so emotional, and I loved seeing how all these characters I loved came to work together. I just about lost my mind when we saw that Josh had been shot, even though I was watching it on DVD a couple years after it aired, and knew he wasn't going to die. There are so many great moments: CJ's speech about all the other people that had died, Toby finding Josh, Donna's reaction to finding out Josh had been shot, Bartlett meeting Josh at the airport after his father has died, and of course, Josh's "What's next?"...*tear*. And there are a bunch more I'm forgetting. This is Sorkin at his absolute best.

Also not an hour, but "The Germans" episode of Fawlty Towers, because I have never laughed harder in my life than I did at seeing John Cleese doing the silly walk while doing a Hitler impersonation.

And I'll second Veronica Mars's "A Trip to the Dentist".

The X-Files--"Jose Chung's From Outer Space." One of the best written, directed, acted, and cast episodes in sci-fi history. I'm hard pressed to think of another episode of television that was perfectly blends humor and deep-seated questions about the exact nature of truth and human existence and never missed a beat on either.



I totally agree. GA is beyond brilliant in both of those episodes. The scene in which she grabs his hand to try and hold onto him for just one moment more makes the episode; the rest of it could suck (though it doesn't) and that one moment would make it a keeper.

I'll third VM's "A Trip to the Dentist."

Also have to throw in "Top Banana/Bringing up Buster" from AD. These two episodes build upon the groundwork established in the pilot, and in doing so encapsulate the eccentricities of the Bluth family perfectly. Additionally, some of the series defining lines come from these episodes: "No, I'm withholding it, look at me getting off," "oh my god, we're having a fire sale," "Steve Holt"... There will never be another AD and these two episodes prove why.

"Three Men and Adena" from Homicide: Life on the Streets

Innocence - just flawless. SMG played it perfectly - with her self doubt and her pain. Angelus was chilling (+ he was wearing leather!).

The end scene, where it's Buffy's birthday and she just lets the candle burn down with her head on her mother's shoulder - the end of innocence right there.

I think this episode is perfectly crafted - it is emotional, makes you cry every single time. It's horrific, with your worst, even unthought nightmare coming true. It deals with betrayal, it deals with innocence lost. At the same time it is funny, it is romantic, with some amazing lines.

And it was a good hour of television, with pivotal events happening at the same time.

Plus, you know, a rocket launcher.

Nothing has ever touched me as much as "Innocence" has, and still continues to, so many years down the line.

But if I must consider other runner ups: Passion (the shot of the floppy falling), The Body (I can't stop crying, it was so real, just the numbness before the pain hits), Hush (again, amazingly crafted, both creepy and hilarious at the same time), Prophecy Girl (I'm 16, I don't want to die - but she goes to die anyway, and her best friend brings her back). And how could I forget Becoming Part II (What's left? ...Me)

Can you tell I'm a Buffy fan?

I'd also cast a vote for runners up for Two Cathedrals (The West Wing). And The Way We Weren't (Farscape). And An Echoll's Family Christmas (Veronica Mars).

Veronica Mars Season Finale takes the cake IMO. Every second of it was dead on. Plus the futon critic voted it #2 episode of 2005.

Honourable Mention: "Phase One" of Alias. Syd in lingerie then jumping out of a plane, the kiss heard round the world, taking down the Aliliance, the introduction of Francinator. Can it get any better?

Damn, y'all picked my favorites already!

I was a casual Buffy viewer and I think I was around 14 when I first saw Hush and oh my God! It was one in the afternoon, a very bright day and I was scared to death after the episode ended it!

As for The West Wing... That show had some brilliant episodes. ITSOTG, Two Cathedrals, In Excelsios Deo and so much more. But one of my personal favorites is Twenty-Five. The scene with Toby and the twins alone makes the episode great, but when you combine everything else... Wow. Also: 17 People. From that teaser with Toby pounding his ball until the end with him entering The Roosevelt Room with that look on his face.

I also absolutely love the Doctor Who episode The Doctor Dances.

And it's gonna be hard to top Exodous pt. 2 (I kinda think it's BSG's Two Cathedrals) but 33 comes damn close. I very much enjoyed the mini-series but it was 33 that got me hooked. The tension, man! The same reason why I love Ressurection Ship pts. 1 and 2. Not to mention that scene between Roslin and Adama. Yeah, you know what I'm talking about.

Hey, I was just coming in here to say that! Never, before or since, have I been more emotionally drained after an hour of viewing television. You feel like you've been with Frank and Tim the whole twelve hours of the interrogation. Powerful, powerful stuff.

1. Gotta take part in the chorus about "Exodus, Part 2"

DAMN. That episode made me hunch up in my easy chair, stand up in said chair and WHOOP with joy at the Psychotic Act of Badassery(™Hugin). Galactica. Falling through the atmosphere and launching Vipers. Then jumping out. Holy. Shit.

2. Star Trek: TNG's "Best of Both Worlds, Part 1" While Part 2 didn't quite live up to the promise, part one ended with the cliffhanger that made all Trekkies shit in their pants: "Mr. Worf...[dramatic ass music]...FIRE."

3. The Joan of Arcadia episode that wound up with Joan stopping a would-be school shooter by going to the Prom with him. When Teacher God started telling Joan about the people he would have shot, I started bawling.

I forgotten to mention another one I love:

The Series Premiere of Everwood. I remember tuning, not even sure I would like it. Instead, I watched the first hour of what ended up being of my favorite shows of all time. Everything about it was great, but the fight between Andy and Eprham at the car was defintely the highlight, when it comes to drama and emotion. Still get chills after the "I hate you! Well, I hate you too, you little bastard!" exchange. Treat Williams and Gregory Smith owned that scene.

My first hour of Ugly Betty made me a convert. I just love betty to pieces and I grew to love her family. I was pleasantly surprised by Vanessa Williams. She's still got it. I love the villians too. So far I loved all the episodes and Thurday can't come soon enough.


Ditto to that.

Deep Space Nine - Duets. Usually First season episodes are on the weak side, but this one hit it out of the ballpark. I loved Kira's reaction to the cardassian war prisoner's confessions and when she broke down after he died.

Glad to see so many people that are fans of VM in here, and someone who enjoyed S1 finale of The OC! Yay! Haha.



Oh, definitely. I was crying like a baby when Delia told Andy he had a "distraught heart". What a sweet child...

"Love's Labor Lost" or something like that from the first or second season of ER. That was one of the most nerve-wracking hours on television.

The Prisoner: Once Upon a Time. For the most part purely a two man show as Leo McKern's Number Two locks himself in a room with Patrick McGoohan's Number Six for a week, making Six retrace the steps of his entire life to attempt to find the reason why he resigned. Eventually Six is able to turn the tables on him, with disturbing and glorious results. Both men just give spectacular performances, and the knowledge that McKern got so into character that he actually suffered a heart attack during his death scene adds so much.

Star Trek: The City on the Edge of Forever. In what seems like it may be the inspiration for Quantum Leap, Kirk and Spock must travel to Earth in the 1930s to stop a temporarily insane McCoy from changing history. It turns out that his history-changing act was preventing the death of a woman they have come to know well, whose only "crime" was being so successful at war protests that Germany developed the atomic bomb before America. The right idea, but the wrong time.

Babylon 5: Severed Dreams. In the exact halfway point of the series, the show as we knew it is turned upside down as the station personnel battle against everything Earthforce can throw at them to achieve independence from Earth until the evil president is removed from power. "Only one human captain has ever survived battle with a Minbari fleet. He is behind me. You are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else!"

Nip/Tuck season two finale. I just sat stunned for ten minutes after asking myself "What just happened?" Not just Christian getting carved, but the whole Ava thing, and her son. It was just an all around insane hour of tv.
We won't talk about how it was handled in season three.

My So-Called Life: "Life of Brian." Almost every episode of this show is fantastic, but, oh! I just love Brian Krakow and his awkward pauses so much (and I really love the recap of this episode and how it deals with Brian's awkward pauses). Plus, it's got Ricky and Delia Fisher dancing wildly to "What Is Love" and the fantastic, ridiculous, ultra-hot Angela/Jordan fence moment."Why are you like this?" "Like what?" "Like, how you are..." "How, how am I?"

Plus, the dance is called the World Happiness Dance! Ha!

I agree with the above statements, but I want to add the series premiere of DH.

It actually happened this season for me, with the series premiere of Heroes. Never before have I been so instantly drawn into a story, or the characters populating the story. Other than that, it would have to be "The Body" from Buffy The Vampire Slayer. A stunning and deeply moving episode. Anya's fruit punch speech touched me to the point that I tear up a bit just typing this.

Absolutely. I can't believe I forgot about that one!

Once More with Feeling.

The musical episode of Buffy, anyone?

Spike: First I'll save her, then I'll kill her!
Willow: I think this line's mostly filler...

I loved how it was so aware of how ridiculous it was.

I'd have to say the Angel episode where he is turned into a puppet. "Smile Time" oh so awesome. They even made a Vampire Angel puppet. Hee.

Have to go with a lot of people on the Buffy episodes. So many great ones but I think the Thanksgiving one when they are in college is ten degrees of amazing.

Have to add to the VM love "A Trip to the Dentist", the S1 finale and "A Very Neptune Christmas" are the best.

And no one's mentioned Deadwood yet? Start to finish, I think that season had the most "This is amazing TV" realizations for me of any show ever. As for a particular episode...Boy The Earth Talks To comes to mind. Wolcott's hanging, Mose doing his breathing exercises, Alma and Ellsworth's wedding, Trixie in a pretty dress...we think things are crazy, just at the end of the second season...little do we know.

Ah, I miss it so much.

Also, because I loved it and not because I necessarily think others would heap the same critical acclaim I would upon it, Devil's Trap from Supernatural. It just was a wonderful, wrenching, fluid shocking and emotionally scarring finale and brave to cliffhang without the net at that time of a pick-up for the next season. Because I already loved the characters and loved their story, Devil's Trap really was a Best! Hour! of TV Ever!

Many a West Wing episode has received a mention here already, but I'd like to nominate Celestial Navigation. It was chock full of would-be classics: CJ after her woot canaw, Josh giving the press briefing, Charlie trying to wake the president up, and Sam and Toby lost in Connecticut. I still think the episode is hilarious, and of course, it has its awesome darker, dramatic moments, too.

Early Law & Order is full of great stuff. My all-time favorite is Heaven from Season 2. Seeing all those bodies lined up on the sidewalk before the intro credits is so disturbing. I thought it was a great mystery on the whole, and everybody acted the hell out of everything -- even I was a little afraid of Phil during the interrogation of Cheuy Bodillo. And of course, it ends with all the names of the victims being read off in the courtroom. All around, it's a kick-ass episode.

Oh, I forgot about the episode of Angel when he became a puppet. That was about the most amazing thing ever.

My favorite line: "My nose comes off." *takes off felt nose*

From upthread, I'll second Exodus Part Two from BSG. My God. It definitely qualifies as one of the best hours of television I've seen in a while. The death of Ellen Tigh, the resistance, and Adama dropping Galactica right into the atmosphere- nine kinds of fucking awesome.


To add another- The Pilot episode. It balanced exposition well and managed to be kick-ass, chilling, and funny at the same time.

Good choice, though I've always loved '"Yesterday's Enterprise" just a little bit more. Plus, I've never been that big a fan of ass music, dramatic or otherwise.

"Come on, guys. This is a serious situation. I'm a puppet, and there are children's lives at... Hey, it's Smile Time!"

Just his facial expressions... I still just giggle constantly throughout the whole episode.

Oh yeah, and add the Buffy musical to my list as well. Greatest hour of my life.

I'm going to give mad props to my favorite Star Trek: TOS episode "Balance of Terror".

What I love about it starts off with a rare moment (up til then) in Trek - Kirk is performing a wedding. Which gets interupted when they discover several Starfleet bases have been destroyed. And the introduction of a classic Trek adversary - the Romulans. And a navigator with a grudge against them (and Vulcans as well.) And did I mention Mark Lenard as the Romulan Commander?

It's my favorite episode because it shows Kirk as a CAPTAIN and not as "loverboy of the universe" as he later became.

I'll fifth or sixth Exodus, Part II and also throw in the pilot of Friday Night Lights. Everything was perfect, from introducing the characters in a way that made you understand them immediately yet want to know more, to the music, to the build through the episode toward Friday night. And then the agony of Jason's injury and everyone's immediate reaction to it. Perfect.

I can't decide between the pilot or the second episode of Friday Night Lights. They were both wonderful.

First, definitely gonna agree with "Three Stories". Blew my mind, and still does. Also, I agree with whoever said "The Doctor Dances", but add "Father's Day", "Bad Wolf", and "The Parting of the Ways".

And, from season 2: "School Reunion". Seriously, what episode can best that? (Unless it's one later on that hasn't aired here yet, then don't tell me about it! :-) ) Pretty much perfection. I watched it three times the night it aired, and it only got better.

Also, I have a strong fondness for "Angel", from s1 of Buffy. Sorry, can't comment on the other ones constantly mentioned here, since I haven't seen them yet.

I nominate the second. It had me bawling.

I kind of dither around when it comes to best! ever! There are some episodes that cap off a perfect arc so well that they have an unbelievable impact-see: both "The Parting of the Ways" and "Doomsday" from Doctor Who and "Kobol's Last Gleaming II" from BSG-yet they probably wouldn't stand alone so well because of the arciness. Then there are the ones that can stand alone-"Three Stories", "Smile Time"; you could watch either of those, never having seen a bit of either show before and still be completely entertained( Smile Time was one of the first Angel episodes I'd ever seen. I barely knew who half these people were and I laughed like a lunatic).

Angel: Season 1 Episode 9 "Hero"
It was the episode where Doyle died and passed on his gift to Cordy. I still can't watch it without crying.