TV enthusiasts could argue that shows on television are a more compelling and superior form for media entertainment.
A story arc can be played out to its fullest potential without shortchanging the audience with a two-and-a-half hour duration of a film.
While movies are in their own category, TV shows–including short miniseries–can engage an audience over a span of seasons as long as there is more stories to tell.
Some TV shows break away from the formula and can feature anthology–or standalone–episodes that are impressive in their own right.
Whether it's a featured independent storyline or a memorable moment within a show's season, Redditor stevenpost asked:
"What's the greatest episode of a tv show ever made?"
These comedic shows offered up plenty of memorable laughs.
From "The Simpsons"
"Marge v. the Monorail"
– bloom_picayune
That Dark Mockumentary
"What we do in the shadows - 'On the Run' (the Jackie Daytona episode)"
– Bakedalaska1
Such A Snakehole
"The snake juice episode of Parks and Rec."
– GuinessForDinner
Touching Cameo
"The scrubs episode with Brendan Frasier. I didn't know a 22 min show could make me cry."
– metarinka
This classic TV show still resonates with newer viewers.
It's Hard To Choose
"The twilight zone episode monsters are due on maple street"
"The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices... to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill... and suspicion can destroy... and a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of its own—for the children and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is that these things cannot be confined to the Twilight Zone."
"Will the real Martian please stand up is also a classic"
"Incident on a small island, to be believed or disbelieved. However, if a sour-faced dandy named Ross or a big, good-natured counterman who handles a spatula as if he'd been born with one in his mouth, – if either of these two entities walk onto your premises, you'd better hold their hands – all three of them – or check the color of their eyes – all three of them. The gentlemen in question might try to pull you in – to The Twilight Zone."
– theMothman1966
Here are some hauntingly compelling examples.
Based On The Tragic Event
"Chernobyl- Vichnaya Pamyat"
– hambone10
'... they mistakenly sent the one good man. For God's sakes Boris, you were the one who mattered the most.'
"Not the best line of that episode, but definitely in the top."
Shoutout To Firefighters
"It’s difficult for me to pick a 'best episode' from Chernobyl because in my mind it’s possibly the best television ever made from start to finish. Pacing is fast and there’s literally not a wasted shot in the entire series."
"Open Wide, O Earth is my honorable mention episode just for the inclusion of the firefighters. Full-blown body horror that hits even harder because it’s based on stuff that actually happened. The show has lots of excellent horror sequences but the firefighters arc definitely stands out as the most memorable to me."
– Hefty_Tendy
Picard's Wakeup Call
"The Inner Light - Star Trek TNG"
– Doit2it42
The Gripping Tracking Shot
"'Who goes there' of True Detective is a serious adrenaline ride. Great episode from a fantastic show."
– Smoque_
The Face Off
"Better Call Saul - Chicanery."
– earhere
One of the best episodes I've seen recently was from the penultimate episode of This Is Us.
After taking a break from watching the show after being overwhelmed with being behind, I was encouraged to keep watching it. I'm glad I did.
Not only did this particular episode profoundly give the beautiful show a worthy send-off, but it also helped me process a lot of emotions as I continue to struggle to deal with a family member living with a cruel mental illness.
Who doesn't love adding to a story?
We've all watched a film, a tv show, read a book or played a game that once it was over, our hearts sank.
We wanted more!
What happens next?
You never want great stories to end.
And sometimes, the continuation surpasses the original.
It's rare, but it happens.
And I will die on this hill.
Redditor FireSwarm21 wanted to know what sequels and beyond were a step above the originals.
"What sequels are better than the original?"
I love sequels to my favorite stories. The characters never leave.
Rescue Me
the rescuers worry GIFGiphy"The Rescuers Down Under."
Kinuama
"Wow! I haven't seen this movie in likely over 20 years!! Used to be one of my favorites... does anyone know if it's on Disney+?"
FrogAnalSex69
Let's Game
"Uncharted 2: Among thieves."
FlyHigh3000
"I think is extremely common in games since the first one usually doesn't just have to set up characters and story but also the style, engine, etc... With the second the studio can invest way more into the actual game."
Version_1
"The even numbered Uncharted games are my favorites even though 1 and 3 are good too."
Loganp812
Silence
"Silent Hill 2. The game, to be clear, not the second film."
madefromconcentrate
"Even though I wouldn't call the first Silent Hill a good movie, I do really think Cristopher Gans cared about Silent Hill and tried his best."
"You can see he made some changes to the characters and story to male it a more 'palatable' movie for Hollywood. Maybe those changes shouldn't have been made but you can see the reason why it was. If nothing else that movie looked like Silent Hill."
Artikay
The Next Generation
"Wrath of Khan."
xkulp8
"The movie that saved Star Trek. And over Gene Roddenberry's objections, I might add. Also, it still kind of blows my mind that only 5 years passed between The Wrath of Khan and The Next Generation. They feel like completely different eras."
diamond
"Wrath of Khan has a late 70s feel in a 1982 movie. What most people think of as the 80s hadn't quite hit its stride culturally yet. Meanwhile, if you look at the early episodes of TNG they feel a little dated, although not as much."
Green_Prompt_6386
Star Stories
the empire strikes back GIF by Star WarsGiphy"The Empire Strikes Back."
ImportanceBig4448
"Rewatching the trilogy with my girlfriend and the fight scenes are way waaaay better! The pacing, too!"
Lochifess
Ah the drama of the Star Wars series. A neverending saga.
Back to Gotham
the dark knight joker GIF by hero0fwarGiphy"The Dark Knight is leaps and bounds better than Batman Begins."
Boring-Pudding
The Through Line
"Terminator 2."
idkwhattoput_111
"I agree but what is interesting about T2 is that the world-building and plot of the original Terminator plays a major hand in making T2 amazing. Having the antagonist from the first become the protagonist in the second sets up for an amazing plot and throughline."
ShadoFlameX
Warriors
"𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙍𝙤𝙖𝙙 𝙒𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙤𝙧 is better than 𝙈𝙖𝙙 𝙈𝙖𝙭."
sqeptiqmqsqeptiq
"I watched mad Max recently for the first time and was so confused. I was like, 'where's all the post-apocalypse stuff?' I thought I was watching the wrong film and had to double-check. To be honest I didn't enjoy it that much but I did love all the sequels."
randomisedjew
Dreamworks Works
"Shrek 2 = better."
BigDanal123
"Shrek 1 was very good but Shrek 2 was an improvement in many ways. Shrek 3 was definitely the weakest of the series but not a terrible movie by any means. Shrek 4 was at least as good as 1 and 2."
"Actually Dreamworks does sequels pretty well as the major companies go. Kung Fu Panda 2 was just as good as if not better than the first. The third was not actually that good but they can’t all be winners. The tv shows are pretty good. How to Train your Dragon 2 tore out my heart and stomped on it but it was still a good movie. The Madagascar movies are all of similar quality to each other."
dragon_morgan
Talking to the Spirits...
Ouija Board Movie GIF by Ouija: Origin of EvilGiphy"Ouija: Origin of Evil was surprisingly better than Ouija the original. Now Ouija was pretty bad so it didn’t take much but usually these off brand horror movies go from bad to worse if they attempt a sequel."
bobbytwosticksBTS
Sometimes more of the story is always better.
As a kid, I remember being obsessed (like obsessed) with David the Gnome and his fox Swift. I was tuned in daily to watch the adventures, get all misty eyed for the hurt animals the gnomes saved, and sobbed in abject wonder when the gnomes finally lived all 400 years of their gnome life and transitioned into the trees that make up the woods they live in.
The trees are their ancestors, y'all! The treeees! They protect the trees because they're family. Trees grow intertwined because they were so in love when they were gnomes.
Fam! This show was everything ... except memorable for other people because I was in my 30s talking to someone from another country before I met the first person who remembered this show.
Which, honestly, is kind of insulting to gnomes and trees.
Reddit user itchellFamily1045 asked:
"Which show do you think you're the only person who remembers it exists?"
It was David the Gnome for me (which I found out originated in Spain and was much more popular in France than it was in the US. Apparently, I was a Euro-trash hipster as a child), but let's take a look at what got Reddit.
Classic Wheel Of Fortune
"It's funny how nobody seems to remember the early seasons of Wheel of Fortune with host Chuck Woolery."
"You didn't win any cash."
"You had to choose prizes from a selection of things set up in a room-like fashion."- opus_4_vp
wheel through the years GIF by Wheel of FortuneGiphyEerie
"Eerie, Indiana" - dammagedone
Early Edition
"Early edition- get tomorrow's newspaper today"- cmoney1142
The Garry Shandling Show
"The Gary Shandling Show."
"No, not the Larry Sanders Show - Gary Shandling Show."
"Even the theme song breaks the fourth wall."- MrNegativity78
Wonderfalls
"Wonderfalls"
"Mid-2000s show on Fox that was apparently too weird even for Fox."
"I think they canceled it halfway through the 1st season."- l8apex
Mary Hartman Square
"Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman"- Phuni44
Classic Tv Smile GIF by Sony Pictures TelevisionGiphyTerranova
"Terranova, ran for like a single season then disappeared"- codyl0611
Room 222
"Room 222" - HealthyTruck5691
Eureka’s Castle
"Eureka’s Castle"- ofmiceandmodems
Early Kids Favorites
"Pinwheel on the very new Nickelodeon and The Electric Company."
"2 of my favorites and everyone looks at me crazy when I bring them up."
"When I rewatched an old episode of Pinwheel I was blown away at how freaking weird that show was."- Teri777
pink sky GIF by ibeefaloneGiphyToo Many To Count
"Jennifer Slept Here, It's a Living, The Mullets, Teen Angel, You Wish, The Puzzle Place, and Between the Lions all stand out in my head as ones I never see anyone talk about."- alicecooper91·
Mr. Bogus
"Mr. Bogus"- PersonalRobotJesus
Summer Camp Island
"Summer camp island."- Fairknightofeden
Summer Camp Island GIF by Cartoon NetworkGiphyMix Master
"There was this one show called Mix Master: King of Cards that was basically about this video game world and this regular town merging together."
"It got so popular that it got a sequel series."
"But for some reason, I’m the only person that still remembers that series."- Delicious-Friend9026
Jojo's Circus
"Jojo’s Circus."- Blueskies_47
Forever
"Forever."
"Dang shame it didn't get a second season."- CaTastrophy427
The Kids From Room 402
"The Kids from Room 402."- OkKaleidoscope9696
Let's talk about the shows nobody remembers but you.
Are they those early childhood favorites? Or maybe a teen-drama that only got one season before Netflix pulled it, crushing your hopes and dreams of resolved plotlines about a teenage ghost band who died of poisoned hot dogs and the incredibly talented, but heartbroken, young singer who gives them a new lease on life, love, and music?
No that is not a joke and YES I am still angry about Netflix not giving Julie and the Phantoms a second season.
Maybe it's a soap opera you think you remember watching with your mom, but maybe it was a fever dream?
Whatever it is, we want to hear about it.
Not all television and movies are loved by all.
A story and its characters have to appeal to you in order for you to be engaged.
It can take next to nothing for us to lose interest and let the screen go black.
Redditor BarooTangClan wanted to compare notes on all the entertainment we've said "that's enough" to.
"What will make you instantly stop watching a movie or show and why?"
I hate bad acting, writing, storytelling... I hate bad anything.
Stop Jumping
Fight Scene GIF by Operation FortuneGiphy"Fight scenes with a million visual cuts. Gives me motion sickness. Contrast the absolutely masterful work in John Wick. long cuts, realistic use of weapons (mostly), 100% skill."
StabbyPants
Louder
"When the actors whisper the whole movie and you have to crank the volume to hear what's being said - but the soundtrack or some other misc noise starts blaring at a higher volume directly after."
Blaze*itch
"I basically had to watch Stranger Things up in my attic with the windows and doors closed. I was worried the neighbors would think something was wrong or be annoyed if I watched it downstairs in my single family home. It was ridiculous."
ForecastForFourCats
"spice things up"
"Love triangles out of no where in a second or third season to 'spice things up' because studio writers are hacks and their idea of relationship drama is 'potential infidelity' at all times. It's the most tired trope on the go**amn planet and the second I see it rear its head I dip right the hell out."
amalgamas
"The whole concept of a love triangle to begin with an incredibly juvenile. Any healthy functioning adult who found themselves in a love triangle would soon choose to find themselves single."
Ouch_i_fell_down
Save your lips...
"When couples in a movie/show have a fight and one of them instantly goes to a friend and end up kissing her/him after talking for 5 minutes. I cringe so hard i turn it off and never watch it again."
Dry-Mycologist3966
"This pissed me off so much in Manifest. Girl is desperate to get back her ex-fiancé, he finally breaks up with his wife to get back with her and she's like 'nah, it's not fair to your wife, let me do this other dude I just met through a calling and be pissed at you for being jealous.' Michaela was the worst and everyone acted as if she were a saint the entire time."
gingerisla
Talk to Me
In Love Flirt GIF by OriginalsGiphy"Shows where a single polite conversation could fix everything."
Horror_Librarian_133
We are going overboard with the witty repartee. Talk normal...
Shut Up
Scared Home Alone GIF by FreeformGiphy"Annoying main character, especially if it's a kid."
abananation
"Kids who have a quippy, sassy retort to everything, and everyone just kind of crumbles before their wit."
CarpetPure7924
Speak Good
"Shows where kids in high school talk like they are 30 years olds who have done everything, been everywhere, know it all and use a ridiculously flowery and extensive vocabulary in every conversation. Like, have any of these writers ever been to high school? Literally no one talks like that. Even worse is when, in addition to this, all the adults talk normal or are just plain stupid, like so weird parallel universe."
StretchArmstrong74
Nonsense
"If the movie is too dark. Not graphic, just literally dark. I lose all sense of intensity in dark scenes and I'm not straining my damn eyes trying to figure out what the hell is going on."
TheShadowOfKaos
"I've seen about 10 percent of all DC movies recently. I've seen all of the individual films in full, just actually saw 10% of each of them."
Mortlach78
"Movies in the late 80s had a lot of dark but you could see the depth because of different shooting techniques. Now you cant see crap because its a CGI fest drowned in black color so you can't see crap because you have no depth in a scene. Compare night scenes in dark alleys in 80's movies and movies now. Utter crap show in the new ones."
Bombzey
Pay Attention Storytellers
"Bad editing would be a big one. A lot of modern horror movies can't help but edit the movies like they're trailers, with added noises to scare the audience because they are afraid the script alone isn't enough to keep people watching."
ThisIsCreation
"I remember this is where the first transformers movie lost me. When the transformers are fighting at the end, it's all a big, jumbled mess of metal and I can barely tell what's going on or who is who."
1840_NO
Drama
will devry soap opera GIF by General HospitalGiphy"When they go straight to relationship drama right away when it wasn't the selling point of the show."
LightInthewater
Unreal
"If they start using dialogue to explain the plot. Basically, any unnatural conversation that would never happen in real life."
Graceland1979
"'Hey bro, how's my oldest brother doing this morning?'"
surreal-seclusion"
"'I'm still pretty messed up since our mother was murdered in an alley while walking home from work 3 months ago.'"
glazedfaith
Fix It
"When the main conflict is due to misunderstanding between the characters which they could've just resolved by talking to each other. It happens a lot in romance/drama movies and annoys the crap out of me. Especially when it's super petty misunderstandings that lead to huge dramatic conflict."
PsychologicalLaw3017
Letter Issues
"Lack of closed captioning or if the captioning is very laggy or grossly misspelling words. I'm hard of hearing and refuse to jack up the volume just to hear it. And sometimes some movies are very dim/dark so lip reading isn't always an option."
harleyqueenzel
"And with captions, if it's a summary of what the character is saying but not word for word it drives me up the walls."
rorylikesbees
Stop It
"Substantial amounts of cringey teenage drama. Looking at you Resident Evil on Netflix, couldn't even finish the first episode."
Psyblade0_0
"They started doing the same thing with animal kingdom. Ruined the fourth season for me. They have been doing it in the fifth and six season as well. The six season is decent and the flash back to the earlier time period is at least watchable. What is with shows doing this now?"
SeaTac_City
You Stink
"Crap acting. I don’t have enough imagination to compensate for bad acting."
I_like_big_bugs
"Sometimes poor directing or editing will sabotage the work of a normally decent actor as well. It's uncomfortable watching a competent performer trying to do their job when clearly everything is working to make it suck as much as possible.
"That said, someone turning in a genuinely compelling performance in the middle of an absolute flaming sh**show is its own kind of wonderful."
MostExaltedLoaf
What?!
Hear Season 10 GIF by One ChicagoGiphy"When the volume is f’ked. If I have to strain to hear the dialogue, and then am almost deaf from the action, car, background noise I’m done."
Pascalle112
It's All Wrong
"Hacking scenes. I’m no hacker but any IT person has an idea of how those things work. Sometimes it’s ok if you can tell that the writers did some research."
gogogadgetroy
"Yeah, mostly it's shi**y AH but there are some really good movies/series... Like 'Mr Robot' - it's freaking accurate to real hacking, at least in the first season, second, I don't know."
Apprehensive-State59
"With Mr Robot I believe they actually replicated hacking being performed and turned it into essentially an animation that the actors could interact with. There was a talk at maybe DefCon about it."
CubicMuffin
BOO!!
"Bad writing. Writing a plot that is entirely dependent on the characters making poor decisions and avoiding obvious solutions, getting challenged not by anything external, just by their own stupidity. It's boring as hell to watch and it takes any interest I had in characters and zeroes it out."
Iamaleafinthewind
Not Sexy
No Way Beer GIF by BuschGiphy"Forced romance or unnecessary sex scenes. I will admit the Halo show wasn’t great, but it had just enough to keep me interested. And then that sex scene happened and I lost all hope in the show being redeemable."
Orliosis23
Do better, Hollywood. It's not that hard.
TV leaves a special impact on the viewer, sometimes more than movies.
It's because we live with these characters.
We take several journeys with them, not just a quick two hour ride.
That's why the finales are so special.
They can complete us or leave us broken for life.
Let's discuss the good.
Redditor KvK_07 wanted to discuss some of the best endings to television shows we love.
"Which show had a proper satisfying ending?"
My favorite endings for my shows? The list is long. But The Golden Girls & Buffy are up there.
Goodbye
Cbs Cheers GIF by Paramount+Giphy"Cheers."
atahualpaFX
"Sorry, we’re closed."
livefast6221
"Ok. So the end itself was good but in the final episode they never once said NORM and it just hurts me a little when I think about it."
Maleficent_Ad_7617
Onward Story
"Avatar, The Last Airbender."
Frosty_Connection867
"Love how they continued the story in The Search and The Promise comics though. I know there are more Avatar comics but I haven’t gotten around to reading those yet. Plus it was recently announced that Avatar Studios’ first project would be an animated movie about Aang and the others as young adults. We’ll probably be seeing him and Zuko build Republic City."
Flat_Weird_5398
Genius
"The Good Place."
diphappy
"I came to say the exact same thing - I absolutely adored this show and and while I’m sad it’s over I’m also so glad they ended it when they did instead of letting it go on for too long and ruining the show."
acrossthestreetinthe
"I was told over and over to 'just watch the show for the ending.' From lots of people. So I hesitantly did so, and was like 'Yeah this is okay, but not mind blowing or anything. It's cool.'
"But holy s**t. That ending is the best ending to a TV show that's ever been made, I think.Everyone was 100% right. It was worth it. It's hard to explain without watching the show. But they did it flawlessly.I think about that show's ending all the time."
appleparkfive
A Few Issues
"Star Trek: The Next Generation."
TheriousMind101
"I liked where they left it with Picard's development - but me and my partner recoiled in horror seeing Q appear. By far our worst part of the series, such an OTT obnoxious character, with lazy storytelling. Loved the series as a whole, but to have Q end it seemed like a punch in the gut. He seemed like growing pains of the first season but just had to come back lol."
glennok
Life is Over
Six Feet Under Drinking GIF by HBOGiphy"Six Feet Under is yet to be topped."
DarthDregan
"It really was such a great and satisfying ending."
beard_lover
I can't even think about Six Feet Under without tears.
Fresh
Season 2 Dancing GIF by The Fresh Prince of Bel-AirGiphy"Fresh Prince of Bel Air. The way the cast said good bye to each other in the empty mansion to how Will turns out the lights at the end of the episode. Just an amazing series."
Musicgeek117
This War is Over
"M A S H."
Toes14
"Absolutely. As a young child in the beginning of the 1980s I distinctly recall hearing the theme melody late at night when the TV was airing reruns and sometimes catching a glimpse of the intro.That melancholic tune just touched me in ways I didn’t understand as a 4 yr old."
"When I got a bit older I was flipping through the channels and suddenly there it was: the theme melody that I had moved me when I was so little. I had stumbled upon one of the many reruns that would air for 20-40 yrs.I was a European kid growing up in the 80s and 90s."
"I didn’t know anything about the Korean War. But the show really showed the horrors, depravity and injustice of war no matter who is doing the fighting. And it did so in a way that mixed humor with tragedy without making light of the tragedy.It was brilliant.I must have seen all episodes by now. I have a terrible memory for books, movies and shows but the last episode will stay with me forever."
anewfaceinthecrowd
Too Soon
"The Sopranos. I know what I said."
DrOliverReeder
"I know what they were trying to do there and I agree that it is brilliant once you actually analyze what happened and what led up to it, but that takes hindsight and rewinding the episode and rewatching it once, maybe twice. But on the first, cold viewing, I think it was a teeny bit TOO clever and kind of toyed with the audience."
amerkanische_Frosch
Forget 9
"Scrubs. Before anyone says it, the '9th season”'(Scrubs: Med School) is 100% a spin-off. I don’t care that they tried to staple it to the original series, that was a stupid move to ride the ratings. It was entirely meant to be and written as a spin-off and you cannot convince me otherwise."
Dan*uckingSchneider
"I still get a lump in my throat when I see JD take that final walk down that hallway, seeing the faces of patients and other loved ones that passed on during his tenure, all of them wishing him well on the next step of his journey. When I retire I always imagine I'll do the same... seeing customers and co-workers I lost over the decades as I take that final walk to the front doors."
Jorro_Kreed
Phoebe
cheers champagne GIF by FleabagGiphy"Fleabag."
jubjubbirdsarefine
"Same same. I wished it could have gone on only because I enjoyed it so much, but the final season was beautiful and perfect and I cried so much during the final episode."
jubjubbirdsarefine
All great choices. I love you Fleabag.