What's Your Favorite Episode?

"Those scenes in the office where they are screaming at each other while the ghosts of the past remain are some of the most powerful moments on TV I think I've ever seen. "

I saw this thread, and you just summed up what I was thinking...I remember that episode so vividly...both of them screaming at each other about their failed business...I've got chills thinking about it.

It truly was a brilliant show. Waiting impatiently for the DVD.


No, no..."cruelty." I always think that has a nobler ring to it.

I would have to say a tie between 'Ellen's Wedding' and 'Second Look'- Both these episodes have stayed with me these 15 years since I last saw the show on Bravo network. I recall the impact that 'Second Look' had on me when I first watched it on ABC - Tuesday nites were always the best, I couldn't wait for 10 o'clock!! I am hoping the DVD's will come along soon!

My favorite t-s moments: the episode where an overly-stressed out Michael is getting grilled by Drentell regarding a disagreement on an account. And Drentell quietly, but very lengthily and intensely, reminds Michael just what his job entails. The cherry on top was Drentell's capper: "I thought...you knew." Wow. For fun, I also have to go with the Bachelor/Bachelorette party episode (even if the concierge subplot seemed a bit out-of-place.), or where Michael and Elliot were playing PI during the DAA takeover attempt. Excellent and often misunderstood series.


PC

I love the New Year's Eve episode followed by Second Look.

With the 20th anniversary of thirtysomething's debut tommorrow, this is a great time to post this, and mine would have to be The Mike Van Dyke Show. I saw it on ABC the night of Tuesday, December 20, 1988, when I was 20 and during Christmas break of my junior year of college. I had watched the Dick Van Dyke Show often in syndication in the late 1980s, and was well aware this was a take off of it, but I liked that old series pretty good as well, and was just absolutely mesmorized by this thirtysomething episode as I watched it in our living room that night. I had been watching thirtysomething fairly regularly since it began in fall, 1987, and at that point really liked it, and this episode seemed to put an exclamation point on it for me. And I was thinking, it can't get any better! Unfortunately, this proved to be somewhat true, as just a few months later, in spring, 1989 I began to lose interest in it, and then stopped watching it. And this episode did turn out to be the peak of it for me, as though it is now allright, it never got near what it was for me its first two ears, and with this episode. Still, this will always be a classic TV memory and night for me.

"I happen to be a vegetarian". Lex, from Jurrasic Park

So many of these episodes were so well crafted, that they generally exceeded the ordinary standards of television drama. But I have to say that the two part episode where Michael and Elliot try to take over DAA is my personal favorite. I dont think I'm alone on this. It was once voted one of the hundred great episodes of television (I think I read it in tv guide). When Michael tells the cherubic Bob Spano of Minnisota Brands that he thought they could have done good things if they were in control of DAA, and Bob straightens Michael out, saying , "Michael, the good we do comes from our doing business...we're not in the business of doing good".....I was floored....even the guest starring roles had depth......

....probably my most memorable scene from the series occured in the episode where Michael's father had died, and Michael was going thru some of his things. He sticks his hand in his fathers overcoat and pulls out a chocolate bar, and tells someone there that his father always kept one there when he was working, for extra energy, and it just breaks Michael up.....it seems like such a little thing, but I had just recently lost my mother when that show first aired, and that scene rang of truth.....the creators of the show took such care to get those little things right.....it spoiled me....so little on television comes close in that respect...

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I have three favorites:

"A Second Look" -- Gary's death was so shockingly believable because, even in this pre-spoiler age, it was getting harder and harder for TV and movies to keep major plot developments a secret; even back when this episode aired, leaks to the media were occurring with greater frequency. But I don't recall reading or hearing even a hint of what was to come. Of course, the red herring was that we were all waiting on the news from Nancy's biopsy. No one even considered anyone else, which of course is what made it so heartbreaking.

"Closing the Circle" -- I thought they handled Michael's breakdown with amazing realism and plenty of emotional catharsis. For me, this was the true series finale. When life returned to "normal" for the main characters after this, I had a hard time watching (though I did tune in to the series finale).

"I'll Be Home For Christmas" -- This is my favorite of the early episodes for the sensitivity with which it handled religion. Prior to that time, and for the most part since then, I felt that TV shows dealt with religious issues in a very preachy, heavyhanded way. This episode didn't, and for that reason was groundbreaking . . . not to mention incredibly moving.

Agree with those who say they enjoyed Miles Drentell. Can't say I liked him, but David Clennon certainly did play one of the most memorable TV characters ever. And his presence created a much-needed antagonist for the other characters to react to.

By the way, why is Gary the only one of the main characters who doesn't have a character page on IMDb?