Greatest scenes in TV history

Oh no. You won't be bummed for a couple days.

You'll be bummed forever.

Actually, once you see the finale, I think you'll see there was nowhere else to go. Of course, who knows how it would have ended if the show was renewed?

 

Excellent choices here. I'd like to propose three more:
1) "Chicago Hope" -- Mandy Patinkin going round 'n' round (at least the camera was) while jawing with another actor (Adam Arkin perhaps) in heated dialogue that went on and on for several minutes without a break in the action. The words just flowed out of their mouths and you practically held your breath to the bitter end. Can't really remember the topic (a woman doc, I think); I was just mesmerized by their abilities and the camera technique.
2) "St. Elsewhere" -- Scene in Ronny Cox's lone episode when he plays Dr. Gideon, head of the corporation now running the hospital. Dr. Westphall, who took a powder several episodes earlier, is hopeful of returning to the place where he had spent much of his adult life. But Dr. Gideon lays out a series of do's and don'ts that Westphall must agree to obey if he's to be rehired. At that point, Westphall, played by Ed Flanders, says, "Let me put this in words you'll understand ... " and turns away, drops trou, reveals his bare butt and says " ... kiss my ass." I damn near fell out of the chair watching it.
3) "LA Law" -- Client sues a funeral home for losing her husband's body, a horror discovered when pallbearers drop the coffin on the way to the funeral and the wrong stiff rolls out. Judge rules that the funeral home must recover the right dead body and give it a proper burial. One problem, the judge is told: Sid's body has been donated to science and, as such, has been cut up and dispatched to various research hospitals around the country. Judge gives the funeral home time to gather up the various body parts before giving Sid his proper burial. Turns out all the parts have been retrieved except the head, which was at some university hospital in Florida. The scene: Widow and her two brothers-in-law wait in McKenzie Brackman office on the day the head is due to arrive. One of the attorneys -- I think it was Arnie Becker -- opens the box it comes in, then opens the cryogenic container holding the head. All four of them look in. Widow faints dead away. One brother says, "Hey, Sid looks pretty good." Other brother: "Why shouldn't he look good? He just got back from Florida!"

 

Good Times ... Florida ..."Damn, DaMN, DAMNNN!"

 

the last guy to reference that one at least had a link.

 

Several I haven't seen mentioned, least-obscure to most-obscure:

Star Trek: Next Gen -- The first time the Borg appeared. Next Gen hasn't aged well, and I wasn't a fan at the time anyway, but the first time the Borg appeared was a bad-ass episode. Great concept for a villian.

Law & Order -- Paul Sorvino's finale. It was about the Columbian drug trade, sort of a tribute to Scarface. It ends on a downer, when (if memory serves) the case is lost, and everyone connected to the cartel, including the informant's family, is being killed off.

The ending was a chiller.

Adam Schiff: The gun dealer was in the yard at Riker's, and had his throat cut. Mr. Buenaventura was strangled in the kitchen at Dannemora. And the grandmother fell down a flight of stairs.
Paul Robinette: What about the little girl?
Adam Schiff: An uncle picked her up from school.
Ben Stone: She doesn't have an uncle.

The Prisoner -- Checkmate. It's the one famous episode in the series with the human chess board. After the Village successfully pulls a ruse on No. 6 and he is caught trying to escape, while simultaneously exposing several "unmutual" Villagers, the final scene is the midget manservent putting a pawn back on the chess board. Obvious metaphor, but an effective one from a great show.

 

What I would do to be able to watch Freaks and Geeks for the first time just once more.

 

It shares company with James Dean in the respect that we never had a chance to see it get old... or jump the shark.

There is definitely something to be said for that.

 

How about Rosalind Shays and the elevator?

 

bubbler's cite of the L&0 about the Colombian drug cartels is a great grab, including the greatest Adam Schiff moment of all time. I'd go back a little further to "Torrents Of Greed," the Masucci two-parter where Stone gets played by a witness. At one point, the great Christine Baranski slaps her Mafioso brother outside a restaurant -- for killing her husband -- and we get a great Mike Logan moment.
"I love that woman!"
Classic.
Lennie and Anita playing gin on the stakeout, and Lennie quoting Langston Hughes at her, and her response -- "Works on girls from Washington Heights, too." -- is a personal fave, too. Merkerson has been the best thing about that show for a couple of years now.

 

I don't think this has been mentioned yet, but the scene from Family Guy when they all beat the hell out of each other comes to mind. At one point Lois hits Peter over the head with a painting of a horse. She sees that his head is sticking through the canvas where the horse's ass would be. She starts laughing and the fight seems to be over....until Stewie hits Lois and they all start going at it again.

 

Just off the top of my head:
Final scene of MASH

Last scene in Newhart, that and when the Darrell's speak.

The contest on Friends when they ask Chandler's job and lose the apartment.

Ellen's coming out scene

When Sammy Davis Jr. kisses Archie Bunker

Vitavetavegamin. Have no idea if this is spelled correctly.

Too may to mention for Seinfield.

LA Law — When chick falls down the elevator shaft.

Thats all for now.

 

Three funny funnies I'd forgotten.

1) The Honeymooners with "The Chef of The Future."
2) Barney Miller with the werewolf.
3) The Honeymooners in which they all try to be young, and Ralph quotes George Bernard Shaw at the end, which always makes me swing my head around.
And, Bob, it's "Vitameatavegemin."