The best sitcom episode of all time

Few sitcom episodes have ever affected me as strongly as Henry Blake's last episode.

 

MASH is a tough one, very much a dramedy - but the episode filmed as the POV of the injured soldier was a good one.

 

I remember once, just for the hell of it, making a list of well-known actors (well-known at the time or later in their career) who had done prominent guest shots on M*A*S*H, and I always thought Swayze's performance in that episode was the best of the bunch. He was a wounded soldier who the doctors found out had leukemia and were going to send him to Tokyo for treatment, but he insisted on staying put for his als0-wounded buddy. The writers also did a great job at the end tying up that story with the other subplot of Father Mulcahy hosting and trying to impress a religious higher-up and being upset that that things weren't going quite right during his visit.

 

I changed my vote because the word "best" began to change meaning as others voted. So now I defined "best" as the one episode that has stayed in my heart, and I've thought about since it's airing. It's a MASH episode where Hawkeye reveals, through therapy, a time when they need to be silent and a woman's chicken is bawking.

 

That was part of the 2 1/2 hour final episode.

 

I think “Dinner Party” and “Monorail” (Simpsons) are my two favorite pieces of television writing.

“Dinner Party” was as close as the American version of The Office got to the cringe of the UK version without crossing the “so uncomfortable it’s unbearable” line (crossed by “Scott’s Tots” episode, which I cannot watch again.) It’s note for note perfect.

 

Gosh, I then wrongly
remembered that as probably 3/4 through the series. No matter, the reveal stays.

 

That storyline doesn't fit in with "sitcom," though. ... Epic drama, hell yeah.

 

Was hoping someone would mention that Cheers episode. All-time laughfest for me.

As for WKRP, have always liked the one where the staff does a jingle for a chain of funeral homes.

 

I'm going to go ahead and agree with that and I have no idea which episode that is (gonna look it up next), because nearly everything I saw on that show was the greatest thing I've ever seen. Wish BB would have gone on and on but at the same time I'm glad it didn't because it's absolutely perfect.

 

"Parasites Lost" is great. Reading your post, I immediately remembered Fry trying to play the Holophonor a the end.