It doesn’t necessarily have to be attached to a good episode, or be from a good TV series. It could be a phrase that somehow encapsulates the the action of the episode, or the series, or even an entire state of mind; then again, it could just be a memorable play on words.Knowing our crowd, feel free (as the post title suggests) to divide your lists into Sorkin and non-Sorkin episodes. I'll offer two of each: "The Crackpots and These Women" from The West Wing and Sports Night's "The Six Southern Gentlemen of Tennessee"; MSCL's "In Dreams Begin Responsibilities" and Lost's season three finale "Through The Looking Glass," which worked on more levels than I can count.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
WHAT KIND OF DAY IT WILL BE: For Snowpocalypse III: Snow Hardest day for much of our audience, a time-suck courtesy of our friends at PopWatch -- name your favorite television episode titles. As Darren Franich sets forth the rules:
"Loss"--Law and Order--the episode where Claire dies.
ReplyDelete"Motherboy XXX"--Arrested Development
"Hush"--Buffy
Love's Labour Lost--ER
ReplyDeleteOops, it's me.
ReplyDelete"S.O.B.s" - Arrested Development Season 3
ReplyDelete"Gay Witch Hunt" - The Office Season 3
"My Bed Banter & Beyond" - Scrubs Season 1
"My Old Friend's New Friend" - Scrubs Season 4
"Chuck Versus Tom Sawyer" - Chuck Season 2
I don't think the episode works very well, but M*A*S*H's "Point of View" came first to mind.
ReplyDeleteCrackpots is definitely one of my favorite WW episodes and titles ever. Also from WW I really like "Institutional Memory" and "20 Hours in America".
ReplyDeleteOther favorite titles: from Veronica Mars, "You Think You Know Somebody" and "Weapons of Class Destruction", and from HIMYM "The Pineapple Incident".
I always liked "The Cut Man Cometh" from Sports Night. And if I'm allowed a cartoon or two, "A Room with a Moose" and "Walk for Your Lives" from Invader Zim, and "Bubblevicious" from The Powerpuff Girls.
ReplyDeleteWW--Shibboleth always gets me every time and Two Cathedrals
ReplyDeleteI went to MASH first too. "Sometimes You Hear The Bullet" (for an episode that showed the first death on MASH) and "Abyssinia, Henry" (you think it'll be an irreverent goodbye until Radar walks in to the OR, then an irreverent goodbye montage).
ReplyDelete<span>
ReplyDelete<p>"El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer" - The Simpsons
</p><p>"Homer vs. the Eighteenth Amendment" - The Simpsons
</p><p>"You Only Move Twice" - The Simpsons
</p><p>"Pilot" - Lost (After all, who's fault was it that they were hundreds of miles off course?)
</p><p>"Tricia Tanaka is Dead" - Lost
</p><p>
</p><p>Does any show use it's episode titles better than It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia? (The teaser sets up the situation for the episode and ends with the title card, which also serves as a joke)
</p><p>
</p><p>"Frank Sets Sweet Dee on Fire"
</p><p>"The Gang Solves the North Korea Situation"
"The Gang Exploits the Mortgage Crisis"
</p><p>"Paddy's Pub: Home of the Original Kitten Mittens"
</p><p>
</p><p>Reviewing the list of The Office (US) episodes, no episode titles jumped out at me, but I did note the directors who've come in to direct an episode or two, who include Harold Ramis, Joss Whedon, JJ Abrams, Jason Reitman, Stephen Merchant, Jeffery Blitz (who Thing Throwers might know best as the director of Spellbound).
</p></span>
Coupling - Sex, Death and Nudity and The Cupboard of Patrick's Love
ReplyDeleteWW - Shibboleth and The Indians in the Lobby, because they really did nail it that it sounds like an opening of a joke.
Grey's- Into you Like a Train
Buffy: Döppelgangland
ReplyDeleteDöppelgangland
ReplyDeleteBuffy: Döppelgangland
ReplyDeleteHard to beat Sorkin for episode titles:
ReplyDeleteThe Fall's Gonna Kill You
Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc
Keep this Sabbath Day
Mr. Willis of Ohio
Jefferson Lives
The Quality of Mercy at 29k
Dana and the Deep Blue Sea
The Giants Win the Pennant, The Giants Win the Pennant
And of course:
What Kind of Day Has it Been?
The Constant - Lost
ReplyDeleteThe Body - Buffy
Once More With Feeling - Buffy
Smile Time - Angel
Excellent Coupling choice.
ReplyDeleteI always liked the title "In the Shadow of Two Gunmen," which I thought perfectly evoked the episode without overdoing it.
ReplyDeleteI liked the way Friends titled their shows, i.e., "The One With..." but I can't think of a standout example.
Agreed on "In Dreams Begin Responsibilities" and "Love's Labor Lost."
Others:
House - "Not Cancer"
Sex and the City: "One, "My Motherboard, My Self"
I agree on the Friends' titles. A personal favorite has always been "The One with George Stephanopoulus"
ReplyDeleteBlack Books - Moo-Ma and Moo-Pa
ReplyDeleteDoctor Who:
Turn Left
Human Nature & The Family of Blood
The Next Doctor
The Girl in the Fireplace
Blink
Forest of the Dead
Bad Wolf (crappy episode, but the title is damn important)
from Psych: The Greatest Adventure in the History of Basic Cable; Disco didn't Die. It was Murdered!
ReplyDeleteSopranos: "The Knight in White Satin Armor," "Pax Soprana," "I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano," "Full Leather Jacket," "Enmployee of the Month" (this one really only works in connection with what the story is about), "All Happy Families..." (other than The Wire, is there any other show that could pull off a Tolstoy analogy?), "The Blue Comet"...
ReplyDeleteGalactica: "Lay Down Your Burdens," "Six of One," "Daybreak."
Oh, and of course "Made in America," which was a simply perfect title for the Sopranos finale.
ReplyDeleteLot of great ones covered so far, VM seems a little under-represented:
ReplyDelete"Cheatty Cheatty Bang Bang"
"Rashard and Wallace Go To White Castle"
"The Wrath of Con"
"Weevils Wobble But They Don't Fall Down"
and my personal favorite:
"The Rapes of Graff"
BtVS: Once More, With Feeling
ReplyDeleteBattlestar: A Disquiet Follows My Soul
Grey's: I like you so much better when you're naked
WW: 7A WF 83429
<pre></pre>
<p><span>Moonlighting:</span>
ReplyDelete</p><p><span> </span>
</p><p><span><span><span>Gunfight at the So-So Corral</span></span></span>
</p><p><span>Brother, Can You Spare a Blonde?</span>
</p><p><span>The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice</span>
</p><p><span>T'was the Episode Before Christmas</span>
<span>Poltergeist III – Dipesto Nothing</span></p>
more:
ReplyDeleteToodle-Fuckin-Oo
The Happy Wanderer
Pine Barrens
Whoever Did This
Mad Men: Guy Walks Into An Advertising Agency
ReplyDeleteThe Wire season 5 got off to a slow start, but "More with Less" and "The Dickensian Aspect" are winners.
ReplyDeleteI also like from Mad Men, "New Amsterdam," "Meditations in an Emergency," and "Love Among the Ruins."
Agreed on It's Always Sunny -- I'm partial to "Charlie Goes America All Over Everybody's Ass" and "Dennis Looks Like a Registered Sex Offender"
I really love the song I like you so much better when your naked, but I also liked that ep.
ReplyDeleteDr Who: The Doctor Dances!!
ReplyDeleteThe episode where Claire dies is actually called "Aftershock"? Which is certainly evocative, too, on many levels - one, that if the beginning execution is the earthquake then the drunk driver is the random and (often more destructive) aftershock of that event; two, that by breaking formula ONCE, it sets up enough character development to last L&O for years - literal aftershocks.
ReplyDeleteMad Men: "Shut the door. Have a seat."
ReplyDeleteArrested Development: "Ready, Aim, Marry Me"
Big Love: "Come, Ye Saints"
Weeds: "The Punishment Light" "The Whole Blah Damn Thing"
24:
ReplyDelete8:00 pm - 9:00 pm
3:00 am - 4:00 am
12:00 am - 1:00 pm
I don't know whether anyone's noticed, but 24 reuses the same 24 episode titles every season, but not in exactly the same order (the progression is the same but they often start at a different place in the cycle).
YES for both Once More With Feeling and Smile Time, and I'd agree with Hush, as offerred above...
ReplyDeleteFirefly- "Objects in Space" and "Our Mrs. Reynolds".
ReplyDeleteDexter- "Let's Give the Boy a Hand"
The Mad Men ones already mentioned were among my favorites, also.
Doctor Who- The Deadly Assassin
ReplyDeleteLove's Labours Lost in Space - Futurama
ReplyDelete(Snowmageddon III in DC: http://twitpic.com/15abfx)
ReplyDeleteThat's right--"Loss" is the SVU where Stephanie March goes into witness protection. "Aftershock" is both a better episode and a better title.
ReplyDeleteStill one of the best moments of TV anywhere. They didn't have to kill Henry, but reminded us that war doesn't make any sense. How did I ever wind up a Surface Warfare Officer after processing that show?
ReplyDeleteI am, however, especially fond of 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m., as I'm sure you all are as well. It really sums things up, you know?
ReplyDeleteWhat about some love for "Shut the door, have a seat"
ReplyDeleteI'm just shocked there are no votes for K&R Parts 1, 2, and 3
ReplyDeleteI tweeted this picture from my window at around noon.
ReplyDeleteI liked "Born to Run", the final episode of the Terminator show. Pity they didn't have the actual song in the episode, though.
ReplyDeleteI can't remember, was "My Ox is Broken!" a TAR title?
ReplyDeleteNo. But season 2 had "I'm Not a Miner! No, You're An Idiot!" and "Follow That Plane!"
ReplyDeleteOnce and Again:
ReplyDelete"The Scarlet Letter Jacket'
"There Be Dragons"
"Won't Someone Please Help Bill Bailey Tonight?"
Absolutely Once More with Feeling. Excellent musical title!
ReplyDeleteThe first time I remember realizing that TV episodes had individual titles was watching a Star Trek rerun as a kid. The title promised much more than the episode delivered, but I've remembered it for decades: "For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky."
ReplyDeleteTwo other titles that haven't been mentioned yet that came to mind are:
Millennium: "Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me" To be honest, without looking it up, I can't remember which episode this is, but the title has stayed with me.
The Rockford Files: "White on White and Nearly Perfect," the episode that introduces Tom Selleck as the impossibly lucky PI Lance White. The title sounds like an Elmore Leonard novel.
Should have clicked through to the Popwatch article before posting; he shares my taste in Star Trek titles.
ReplyDeleteI've always been fond of "Someone's Going to Emergency, Someone's Going to Jail" when it comes TWW.
ReplyDeleteOkay, time for X-Files!
ReplyDelete"Humbug"
"Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose"
"War of the Coprophages"
"Jose Chung's From Outer Space"**
"Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man"*
"The Field Where I Died"
"Small Potatoes"
"The Post-Modern Prometheus"
"Jump The Shark"
I agree with a lot of the ones listed above. I have a soft spot for Northern Exposure, and they had a lot of good titles. Just a few: Brains, Know-How and Native Intelligence; Kaddish for Uncle Manny; Mud and Blood; The Body in Question; Things Become Extinct.
ReplyDeleteIt turns out Survivor had some great titles. E.g.:
ReplyDeleteCall the Whambulance!
I Can Forgive Her But I Don't Have To Because She Screwed With My Chickens
Snakes Are Misunderstood ... We Have an Understanding Now
This Isn't Survival ... It's Thrival
Let's Just Call Jeff on the Jeff Phone
She Obviously Is Post-Op!
Hasn't aired yet, but I know that The Wheaton Recurrence is going to make my list. Not often that the guest star's name makes the episode title.
ReplyDeleteSupernatural gives great title:
ReplyDeleteCriss Angel is a Douchebag
The Monster at the End of this Book
Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things
A Very Supernatural Christmas
If you're going to Coupling, you've got to mention "Lesbian Spank Inferno."
ReplyDelete"Dick, Smoker" from 3rd Rock.
ReplyDeleteThat Millennium episode is the one with the four old demons hanging out in a diner trading stories. Great one -- with some terrfic guest character actors (one was Bill Macy; can't offhand remember the others), and every bit as good as its title.
ReplyDeleteI had forgotten that one. Great title.
ReplyDelete