Best and worst funeral/tribute episodes

[DRW50]

I'll always treasure Viki's eulogy...which I just assume she got off a website.

[quartermainefan]

I don't remember Esther Rolle and Lou Rawls on GH. Did they have speaking parts?

[DRW50]

I think they were just in the audience.

[DeeeDee]

Best

Katherine's "Funeral"

Ryan's Funeral

Vanessa's Funeral

Drucilla's "Funeral"

Asa's "Funeral"

Worst

John's Funeral

Colleen's Funeral

[Antoyne]

Lol it was really like nothing at all..I was sorta in awe as many viewed TSJ as one of the show's pets.

[DRW50]

What went on at Dru's funeral?

[All My Shadows]

What I really loved about Myrtle's episode on AMC was that so many of the characters on the show at that time really did have ties to Myrtle. It wasn't like Phoebe's tribute episode, where the actual funeral scenes were fantastic but the rest of the show just went on with business as usual. Just about everyone on the show was affected in some way by Myrtle's death, and they had the flashbacks/clips to back that up. The carnival stuff at the casino was a nice touch, too.

For Phoebe, like I said, I thought the actual funeral scenes were great. They could have brought back way more people, but those that were in attendance were definitely the most essential, IMO. The Dear Aggie set-up was nice, and whoever wrote them really did a good job of capturing Phoebe's relationships with the characters there. My little early AMC-loving heart adored that they chose mostly flashbacks from the late 70s, and the one of Phoebe and Myrtle having a heated discussion about Linc stands as one of my fave AMC scenes of all time on the strength of that tiny little flashback. Here it is, at the 19-second mark:

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[DRW50]

For something that was supposedly put together so quickly, they did manage to weave current story while acknowledging the past. I think my favorite part of all of it was Opal's line with the crystal ball, about "the past...Myrt's past." There was a sense of community.

[Mr. Vixen]

Robin's was awful on GH. AWFUL.

[LoyaltoAMC]

I forgot, did Jessie on GH get a funeral/tribue episode when Emily MacLaughlin died? I swear I remember some gathering in the hospital chapel, but I could be wrong. I think she died during Gloria Monty's second run as EP, if I'm not mistaken.

[edgeofnight]

Well, this goes back to 1973. Walter Greaza, the last original cast member of 'The Ede of Night,' died in real life. I, actually, attended his NYC funeral.

They had an episode dealing with Winston Grimsley's death. But, what I didn't like was that they included in the funeral scene, if memory serves me, a death threat from the mob to Laurie Ann Karr, who was Winston's step-granddaughter, due to her father, Mike Karr's work on the crime commission.

I know all too well that Edge was a crime/mystery oriented program, but they could have had an entire episode devoted, solely, to honor Winston Grimsley/Walter Greaza's memory without interjecting this death theat. I believe it was a floral arrangement, and the note was addressed to Laurie Ann.

[applcin]

Esther Rolle sat in the pews with the rest of the mourners. Lou Rawls was part of the choir singing "Take My Hand, Precious Lord." Here's the clip. You can see Lou Rawls in the back row of the choir starting around 4:26. Esther can be seen around 7:42 sitting next to Kristina Wagner.

There are also a couple of famous gospel singers in the choir but I forgot their names...possibly Bebe Winans is one?

No mention was ever made on the show of their celebrity, like there was never "oh, look, Lou Rawls is here singing for Mary Mae"--they were just blended in (which made it even more poignant) with the "ordinary folk" to honor Rosalind. And even though everybody still had to act in the context of the story of the character Mary Mae's death, you could just see it wasn't characters remembering a dead character, it was Rosalind's friends and co-workers paying her very real tribute.

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[juppiter]

I think that was brilliant because Julia unloading her gun into his corpse meant he really was dead and he would not be pulling a James, and after the previous writers had made David way too powerful the show needed that kind of finality. And although I wasn't a huge fan of Julia's descent into madness, it was fun.

[Ann]

When it was thought maybe Michael Easton would not be signing again with OLTL, McBain had a car accident, thought he was dead. So, there was an elaborate policeman's funeral for McBain. It was a great tribute to McBain. But, it seemed for days the citizens of Llanview could not get done talking about how wonderful John was. And that turned some people off who did not care for the character very much.

[DRW50]

I remember Vee talking about that. I think he called it a Viking funeral.