The perfect TV-episodes

[Kraig]

The date in my above post is a clickable link to the WKRP episode.

[Satai with Punsch]

October 30, 1978, Season 1, Episode 7: Turkeys Away

The plot of "Turkeys Away" is based on a true story. WKRP in Cincinnati creator Hugh Wilson — who adapted Carlson's character from Jerry Blum, a general manager of radio station WQXI in Atlanta from 1960 to 1989 — recounted that the episode was inspired by a similar live turkey giveaway promotion by Blum, who tossed turkeys out of a pick-up truck at a Dallas shopping center parking lot.

According to the The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Blum said in 1996 that following the disastrous promotion, he quipped, "I didn’t know turkeys couldn't fly," almost word-for-word what Carlson says at the end of the episode.

"The public went nuts fighting over the turkeys and it was a mess," Blum said. "That was about the whole story... To my knowledge, the turkey drop was never repeated."

Other aerial turkey drops have also been documented in Yellville, Arkansas, where the local Chamber of Commerce has over the years sponsored the Turkey Trot Festival and featured turkeys being dropped from a low-flying airplane.

Thanks! I have edited the list. I have not seen this episode but it sounds like mayhem. But perhaps hilarious mayhem.

[Kraig]

-WRKP in Cincinnati: The Thanksgiving Episode (?)

October 30, 1978, Season 1, Episode 7: Turkeys Away

The plot of "Turkeys Away" is based on a true story. WKRP in Cincinnati creator Hugh Wilson — who adapted Carlson's character from Jerry Blum, a general manager of radio station WQXI in Atlanta from 1960 to 1989 — recounted that the episode was inspired by a similar live turkey giveaway promotion by Blum, who tossed turkeys out of a pick-up truck at a Dallas shopping center parking lot.

According to the The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Blum said in 1996 that following the disastrous promotion, he quipped, "I didn’t know turkeys couldn't fly," almost word-for-word what Carlson says at the end of the episode.

"The public went nuts fighting over the turkeys and it was a mess," Blum said. "That was about the whole story... To my knowledge, the turkey drop was never repeated."

Other aerial turkey drops have also been documented in Yellville, Arkansas, where the local Chamber of Commerce has over the years sponsored the Turkey Trot Festival and featured turkeys being dropped from a low-flying airplane.

[Satai with Punsch]

Babylon 5: Sleeping in Light. Its one of the few episodes of any show that brings a tear to my eye no matter how many times I watch it.
ST Deep Space Nine: In the Pale Moonlight
ST Voyager: Pathfinder
ST Enterprise: Similitude
Buffy: Conversations with Dead People
Angel: Not Fade Away
Firefly: Objects in Space
Red Dwarf: Gunmen of the Apocalypse
Dad's Army (token non-genre show): The Deadly Attachment

A few episodes I am not familiar with here, but that is always fun. I do agree on Sleeping in Light. Even just hearing the music from the episodes starts to wring my emotions these days. I have not watched the episode since Miras passing, so I predict it will be a lot harder next time.

Interesting that you added ST:V's Pathfinder. To me it does not reach the top of the list but is still a great episode. And the addition of Barclay and Troi is great fun and does not feel artificial as some crossovers sometime does.

I've just realized that we have had "Gentlemen" in the Buffy category for a while now. But it must be Hush surely that is the correct episode.


So now we have:


-Babylon 5: In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum (s2:16), Severed Dreams (s3:10), Interludes and Examinations (s3:15), Intersections in Real Time (s4:18), Endgame (s4:20), Sleeping in Light (s5:22).
-Better Call Saul: Saul Gone.
-Blakes 7: Final episode
-Breaking Bad: Ozymandias (s5:14)
-Buffy: Restless (s4), The Body (5:16), Once More With Feeling (6:7), Hush (4:10), Conversations with Dead People (7:7).
-Doctor Who (new): The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances (s1:9-10), Blink (s3:10).
-Doctor Who (classic): The Talons of Weng-Chiang (s14), Genesis of the Daleks (s12), The Deadly Assassin (s14).
-Farscape: Peacekeeper Wars, Bad Timing
-Firefly: Objects in Space, Out of Gas
-Fringe: An Enemy of Fate, A Short Story About Love, An Enemy of Fate, White Tulip
-Hawaii Five-O (1968) - "Hookman", " Draw Me a Killer", "Rest in Peace, Somebody", "'V' for Vashon" (Parts 1-3)
-Jeremiah: Finale
-Lost: the Finale, Tricia Tanaka Is Dead,
-M.a.s.h.: Final episode, second half, Point of View (s7), Life time (s8)
-Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1988) - "Pod People", "Space Mutiny", "Parts: The Clonus Horror"
-Person of interest: If then else (s4), Carter (3.4), Return 0, The Devil's Share.
-Six Feet Under: Everyone's Waiting
-Sopranos: Pine Barrens (?)
-Star Trek TOS - "The Doomsday Machine", "The City on the Edge of Forever", "Mirror, Mirror", "The Tholian Web"
-Star Trek The Next Generation: The Inner Light (s5:25)
-Stargate Universe: Epilogue
-Twin Peaks: The Water & the Well (S3:8)
-The Venture Bros. (2003) - "Operation P.R.O.M.", "What Color Is Your Cleansuit?", "Blood of the Father, Heart of Stee
-WRKP in Cincinnati: Turkeys Away (1:7)
-The Wild Wild West (1965) - "TNOT Puppeteer", "TNOT Watery Death", "TNOT Bubbling Death", "TNOT Avaricious Actuary"

[G'Quan]

Babylon 5: Sleeping in Light. Its one of the few episodes of any show that brings a tear to my eye no matter how many times I watch it.
ST Deep Space Nine: In the Pale Moonlight
ST Voyager: Pathfinder
ST Enterprise: Similitude
Buffy: Conversations with Dead People
Angel: Not Fade Away
Firefly: Objects in Space
Red Dwarf: Gunmen of the Apocalypse
Dad's Army (token non-genre show): The Deadly Attachment

[Satai with Punsch]

Some new suggestions here. Many thanks!
Except the B5, Dr Who and ST:TOS episodes I have not seen any of them unfortunately. But good to know there is still a lot of classic TV waiting to be watched. The Dr Who ones are a bit hard to rate as a "perfect episode" I'd say as there are several episodes in each story. And personally I would rate some of the TOS episodes as just very good episodes rather than perfect. But as this is just for fun I have no problems including them. So, so far we have:

-Babylon 5: In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum (s2:16), Severed Dreams (s3:10), Interludes and Examinations (s3:15), Intersections in Real Time (s4:18), Endgame (s4:20), Sleeping in Light (s5:22).
-Better Call Saul: Saul Gone.
-Blakes 7: Final episode
-Breaking Bad: Ozymandias (s5:14)
-Buffy: Restless (s4), The Body, Once More With Feeling, Gentlemen
-Doctor Who (new): The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances (s1:9-10), Blink (s3:10).
-Doctor Who (classic): The Talons of Weng-Chiang (s14), Genesis of the Daleks (s12), The Deadly Assassin (s14).
-Farscape: Peacekeeper Wars, Bad Timing
-Firefly: Objects in Space, Out of Gas
-Fringe: An Enemy of Fate, A Short Story About Love, An Enemy of Fate, White Tulip
-Hawaii Five-O (1968) - "Hookman", " Draw Me a Killer", "Rest in Peace, Somebody", "'V' for Vashon" (Parts 1-3)
-Jeremiah: Finale
-Lost: the Finale, Tricia Tanaka Is Dead,
-M.a.s.h.: Final episode, second half, Point of View (s7), Life time (s8)
-Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1988) - "Pod People", "Space Mutiny", "Parts: The Clonus Horror"
-Person of interest: If then else (s4), Carter (3.4), Return 0, The Devil's Share.
-Six Feet Under: Everyone's Waiting
-Sopranos: Pine Barrens (?)
-Star Trek TOS - "The Doomsday Machine", "The City on the Edge of Forever", "Mirror, Mirror", "The Tholian Web"
-Star Trek The Next Generation: The Inner Light (s5:25)
-Stargate Universe: Epilogue
-Twin Peaks: The Water & the Well (S3:8)
-The Venture Bros. (2003) - "Operation P.R.O.M.", "What Color Is Your Cleansuit?", "Blood of the Father, Heart of Stee
-WRKP in Cincinnati: The Thanksgiving Episode (?)
-The Wild Wild West (1965) - "TNOT Puppeteer", "TNOT Watery Death", "TNOT Bubbling Death", "TNOT Avaricious Actuary"

[AstroBoy]

I'm going to suggest several episodes. 3 episodes from another show I loved (one that just got a revival) Quantum Leap.

The 1st three are really an interconnected trilogy of episodes
The Season 2 Finale M.I.A. Where Sam leaps into a ploice dective in San Diego to ostensibly previent a woman from falling in love with someone else while her husband in M.I.A. in Vietnam.
The Season 3 premier was a two parter.
In the Leap Home part 1,Sam leaps into himself as a 16-year-old boy to help his high school basketball team win the championship. He also tries to help the other members of his family including his father who died from smoking, his brother who was killed in Vietnam and his sister who married an abusive alcoholic.

In the second part The Leap Home Pt. 2 (Vietnam) Sam leaps into the body of a soldier in his brother Tom's SEAL team while they are on patrol in Vietnam. It's the day before his brother is killed but Al tells Sam that he's actually there to ensure that the next day's mission succeeds, not to save his brother. When he learns that an attractive and outgoing photo-journalist Maggie Dawson (and here's a B5 link as Andrea Thompson AKA Talia Winters Plays Maggie) is also killed on the mission, he tries to save her as well. On patrol the next day, Al suggests that Sam help free a nearby American POW but he declines and doggedly sets off to save his brother. The new version of QL stems from this episode.


From Breaking Bad: Ozymandias
Better Call Saul: Saul Gone.

[alpha128]

Babylon 5 (1994) - "Severed Dreams", "In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum", "Interludes and Examinations", "Endgame"
Doctor Who (1963) - "The Talons of Weng-Chiang", "Genesis of the Daleks", "The Deadly Assassin"
Hawaii Five-O (1968) - "Hookman", " Draw Me a Killer", "Rest in Peace, Somebody", "'V' for Vashon" (Parts 1-3)
Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1988) - "Pod People", "Space Mutiny", "Parts: The Clonus Horror"
Person of Interest (2011) - "If-Then-Else", "Return 0", "The Devil's Share"
Star Trek (1966) - "The Doomsday Machine", "The City on the Edge of Forever", "Mirror, Mirror", "The Tholian Web"
The Venture Bros. (2003) - "Operation P.R.O.M.", "What Color Is Your Cleansuit?", "Blood of the Father, Heart of Steel"
The Wild Wild West (1965) - "TNOT Puppeteer", "TNOT Watery Death", "TNOT Bubbling Death", "TNOT Avaricious Actuary"

[Satai with Punsch]

Lets see if some things have happened to the the log of the "perfect TV-episode" since 2019. Earlier we had, among others, ...

-Babylon 5: Sleeping in Light, Intersections in Real Time, Severed Dreams
-Fringe: An Enemy of Fate, A Short Story About Love, An Enemy of Fate, White Tulip
-M.a.s.h.: Final episode, second half, Point of View (s7), Life time (s8)
-Blakes 7: Final episode
-Firefly: Objects in Space, Out of Gas
-Buffy: Restless (s4), The Body, Once More With Feeling, Gentlemen
-Person of interest: If then else (s4), Carter (3.4)
-Lost: the Finale, Tricia Tanaka Is Dead,
-Stargate Universe: Epilogue
-Jeremiah: Finale
-Farscape: Peacekeeper Wars, Bad Timing
-Six Feet Under: Everyone's Waiting
-Doctor Who: The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances (new s1:9-10), Blink (s3:10).
-Twin Peaks: The Water & the Well (S3:8)
-Star Trek The Next Generation: The Inner Light (s5:25)
-Breaking Bad: Ozymandias (s5:14)
-The Sopranos: Pine Barrens (?)
-WRKP in Cincinnati: The Thanksgiving Episode (?)


How is it on the TV-front these days? There are so many show out there I dont know where to start. Are there any new episodes out there that are not just good but perfect? You know ... you start to watch an episode and suddenly you forget everything else and afterwards you find you did not even eat the now melted icecream-perfect.

[Satai with Punsch]

From TNG I would rank The Inner Light higher than Darmok, but yes, Darmok is still excellent.

That are some good suggestions.
As far TNG goes both are good. The Inner Light is maybe a better Patric Stewart piece? I recently re-watched The Lower Decks and was surprised that it still was a very good episode.

[babylonlurker]

I just found this thread, and in addtion to the ones already mentioned, I have to add:

Breaking Bad: Ozymandias. One of (if not) the best episode of the series. Possibly one of the best episodes ever on TV.
Star Trek TNG: The Inner Light or Darmok (TIE IMO)
The Sopranos: Pine Barrens
WRKP in Cincinnati: The Thanksgiving Episode.

From TNG I would rank The Inner Light higher than Darmok, but yes, Darmok is still excellent.

[AstroBoy]

I just found this thread, and in addtion to the ones already mentioned, I have to add:

Breaking Bad: Ozymandias. One of (if not) the best episode of the series. Possibly one of the best episodes ever on TV.
Star Trek TNG: The Inner Light or Darmok (TIE IMO)
The Sopranos: Pine Barrens
WRKP in Cincinnati: The Thanksgiving Episode.

[Satai with Punsch]

The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances really stand out, so does Blink.

A little (personal) anecdote about Blink. I gave the DVD with Blink on it to a young friend (14 at that moment), and told her not to watch it just before bed time. Later she came back and told me I was right, she had watched it with a friend and had to walk back home in the dark. I had to chuckle a bit at that story.

lol Why am I not surprised in the least. That is a scary story indeed.



Oh, I have not seen any of the new Twin peaks yet, so your suggestion Ubik sounds very intriguing.


Midnight is indeed a very good and uncomfortable Dr Who episode. I would not put it in my personal top 10 perfect episodes though, as it is uncomfortable, but not in the good way. Maybe 'cos it hits to close to home with the kind of xenophobia we see everyday nowadays.

[Ubik]

Finally watched the show a while ago, and while the overall thing is frequently quite flawed (getting better as it goes), that episode is fantastic. What really got to me was Harold speaking about how chess isn't a good metaphor for human life. Beautiful.

And, in a show that's not very funny, a couple of laugh-out-loud moments, too.

Wow, I'd forgotten I worked through this show. It really improves as it goes.

[Jonas]

Okay, I'm going to add one from a series I'm currently watching. I've been ill as a dog all weekend with norovirus, so binge watched a good chunk of Person of Interest on Netflix. Have been casually watching the series as 'chill out' viewing and it's held my attention quite well.

I just hit the S4 episode 'If Then Else' and wow, it had me choking up at two points. The final scene just left me in tears. Didn't realise how much I'd grown to love the characters. Good TV. Definite high point of the show so far, in terms of writing and direction.

Finally watched the show a while ago, and while the overall thing is frequently quite flawed (getting better as it goes), that episode is fantastic. What really got to me was Harold speaking about how chess isn't a good metaphor for human life. Beautiful.

And, in a show that's not very funny, a couple of laugh-out-loud moments, too.