MovieChat Forums > Thirtysomething (1987) Discussion > What's Your Favorite Episode?

What's Your Favorite Episode?

posted 19 years ago by clockwatcher
47 replies | jump to latest

There are so many that I like but without a doubt, my fave is "First Day, Last Night." This is the episode where Michael and Elliot close up shop because their business has failed.

We are shown how they got there, from thier beginnings at another agency to having to settle for work at a department store when they close the Michael and Elliot company. Just as in past episodes, thier personalities clash here as Michael just wants to play it safe and move on, taking the job he's better than. Of course, Elliot wants to keep going, living the dream, and increasing the risk of going into even more debt. For him, anything's better than going back to being a wage slave, unlike Michael who just wants to provide for his family.

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 hope to see them again on DVD real soon.

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] katydidmo 16 years ago

I don't recall the name, but Hope and Michael are having serious problems and each is thinking the other one wants out of the marriage. They go to her parents' 40th anniversary party and she is crying because she thinks she'll never have that with Michael. They both proclaim that they want a 40th anniversary with each other and embrace all teary. I think she was pregnant with their son, Leo, at the time.

[–] nikkilynn1982 16 years ago

I like the episode where Ellyn was dealing with her boyfriend's daughter and telling her therapist about the problems she was having with that, as well as trying to come to terms with her own relationship with her mother. And the scene at Ellyn's wedding where Gary's ghost is there and he's telling what the future holds for the other characters.

[–] kokoriffic 16 years ago

The one with Gary's death still affects me to this day. What an episode.
Also, the one where Hope finds out that Nancy has cancer, so well acted.
And remember when Miles Drentell wanted to date Melissa? HAHAHA!

If any network ever runs this show again I am for sure going to tape it. Because it sure doesn't seem like it's ever going to come out on DVD.

[–] LFRibeiro 16 years ago

Its so great to see people continuing to post about this wonderful series all these years later.

I too have so many favorite episodes and I apologize for not recalling the actual titles of them. I love the Mikey Van Dyke Christmas Show. I was in a relationship where Hanukkah and Christmas were battling it out and that one so hit the right notes about religion and family. I also love the one where Hope finds the diary of the people who lived in their house during WWII. Of course the dating one with Melissa and Ellyn. All the ones with Melissa and Lee (Cinderfella?). Melissa and Gary for that matter. I loved anything Melissa did. The ones after Gary's death where Melissa struggles so and Susannah has to deal with her. And the one with Nancy and the art studio where she keeps seeing that guy and fantasizing about him. Michael and his father's death and his brother. The "Roshoman" one where one evening at a restaurant when Nancy and Elliot get into a row and we see the evening repeatedly through Michael, Hope, Elliot and Nancy's eyes (it hilarious and a perfect recounting of how we all see things our own way). The one where Michael writes a short story is wonderful (for all those frustrated writers out there) and also really funny. The one that broke my heart was when Hope and Ellyn start going in different directions and we see them in high school sharing a bonding experience as currently they are drifting apart. I was going through that with a long-time friend and it captured the despair of changes in friendships. It wasn't perfect but I'm also fond of the Hitchcock take-off. They could only do something like that once, but it worked. I relished Miles Drentell, as do many others, but to be honest, the office episodes (except where Michael cans Elliot) kind of run together. I liked the home-front and struggles of the Steadmans to finish their kitchen and the Westons finally realizing their love for each other. Memorable series and am always on the lookout for DVDs of it.

[–] afsnowbird 16 years ago

My favorite episode is "We'll Meet Again", where Hope finds the World War II-era diary of the house's previous owner.

[–] acwink 16 years ago

My favorite episode is the one where they all go on their respective bachelor/bachelorette parties.

But there is one scene that really hits me every time I watch it. All four women are having dinner together (prior to Ellyn's wedding), and Hope gets very nostalgic about the time when people first fall in love with each other and everything is just so romantic and perfect. I've been with my husband for 14 years, and I can say I really relate to what she says on that scene.

I absolutely LOVE this show, watched the whole thing when it aired for the first time and I was just 17 years old. And it's still my all-time favorite.

[–] parks8321 15 years ago

I loved any episode featuring Gary, though when I was younger (when it first came on; I am now 42) I really couldn't take him much.

I enjoyed the tenure stuff, and his scenes with Suzannah were just magical. I just loved how all of the characters were "seeing" him on the day of his funeral.

I liked how he listened to classical music and how in one episode that now escapes me, Michael yelled at Gary because the bad things that happened in the world that Gary felt were ghastly, shocking were just ordinary things to Michael (and most people) and Michael thought that Gary ought to just get over it. From that moment on Gary was, in my estimation, "marked." It did not surprise me in the least that he later died--he was just not "equipped" for the changes to come.

[–] poppyshack 14 years ago

There are a few...

Separation, when Elliot and Nancy were separating.
The Other Shoe, with Nancy's crazy Cancer friend.
Even though Second Look was an amazin episoe when Gary died, the "Closing the Circle" episode when Michael says goodbye to his spirit breaks my heart.

[–] jfales 14 years ago

I don't know the name of the episode but Elliot is talking to his son and they have some tradition of making up a story each night, another chapter to an ongoing story.
It's set in some era with knights and ladies fair and it shows he and his little sister traipsing about in period costumes. He calls his little sister: Princess Stupidhead. My husband and I howled! We still use this title for some people. Whoever wrote this has lived with younger siblings! It is exactly what sibs would call each other. too funny!

[–] Rheli 11 years ago

I haven't watched the show since the original run. These are the episodes which have left the strongest and best impression:

The wedding -- I still remember they used the song Going to the Chapel.

The one where Melanie Mayron explains the trick to taking pictures of the moon.

The one with all the Lyle Lovett references.

The samurai episode.

The writing class and the broken watch.

I like any episode that has Michael and Hope talking it out in that bed.