Summing up your favorite TV shows in one scene

[DRW50]

You like a show for a lot of reasons, but if there was one moment that, in your mind, summed up most of what the show represented (not necessarily your favorite scene, but that's OK too), what would that be?

The scene I would choose for St. Elsewhere is not on Youtube, but it's an extended monologue from the epic Birdman arc of the first season (a man with serious psychological problems thought he was a bird, and he fell in love with Laraine Newman, who also thought she was a bird, until with professional help she realized she was human - she tried to get him to assimilate, but he couldn't, ending in his suicide). Newman had this long speech about how he was a beautiful bird, flying away, and on the one hand, it was absurd, but on the other, it was heartbreaking, and poignant, beautifully directed, exquisitely written and scored. I've never forgotten it. And it represented the core of St. Elsewhere - absurdity with tears.

Continuing on that bird theme, here is Twin Peaks. The attack on Laura Palmer right before her murder was witnessed by a myna bird. The bird was in police custody, but placed near a window, leading to one of the main suspects shooting and killing the poor creature. As the police listen to a tape recording left of his final words, he repeats Laura's final words, "Hurting me. Hurting me. Stop it! Stop it!"

Again, the image is a little ridiculous, but the scene is dark, foreboding - a punch to the stomach in some way you can't quite describe.

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[quartermainefan]

This scene with alexis and blake epitomized Dynasty and everything it was about when you get right down to it.  I love the melodramatic way she talks to the camera at the end.

 

 

 

 

[Gray Bunny]

Can I choose a whole episode? I think the Sex and the City episode where Carrie works the runway and falls flat on her face was the quintessential SATC episode. I believe it's in the 4th season.

I feel the epitome of Roseanne is shown in the season 2 Thanksgiving episode when Roseanne's parents, Dan's father, mother (and her new boyfriend), and Crystal all join. It was a hilarious and realistic display of family dysfunction without it being over the top.

[DRW50]

I'm just happy someone replied.

[allmc2008]

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[marceline]

Everything I would grow to love about WKRP in Cincinnati is in this clip.

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[All My Shadows]

For me, the final scene of "Little House on the Prairie" basically sums up the series. The love of family, the support of friends, the strength of a community, and hope for the future.

[Khan]

Not to mention, hundreds of rabbits roaming over the remnants of Walnut Grove after the townspeople have blown it to bits.

[All My Shadows]

I was gonna go there, but then I couldn't think of a way to make it sounds heartfelt LOL. That last underscore, though, and the slow zoom on the house as the wagons roll by, knowing that Walnut Grove will never be Walnut Grove again...argh! I do not care at all that this was not at all grounded in any sort of reality from Laura's real life. It was just a big, melodramatic heartstrings-puller, which makes it even better as a summary of the series.

[Khan]

For me, fourteen seasons of KNOTS LANDING could be summed up in this very powerful montage (just pretend she's singing on-key, okay?):

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[Khan]

No worries, lol. I agree with your assessment of that scene. I'm just glad you didn't pick Sylvia and the mime who raped her.

[Cheap21]

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[JackPeyton]

Joey's VoiceOver in Paris in the finale of Dawson's creek (before the finale movie)

"And now that this scared little girl no longer follows me wherever I go, I miss her. I do. 'Cause there are things I wanna tell her... to relax, to lighten up, that it is all going to be ok. I want her to know that meeting people who like you, who understand you, who actually accept you for who you are, will become an increasingly rare occurrence. Jen, Jack, Audrey, Andie, Pacey, and Dawson. These people who contributed to who I am, they are with me wherever I go, and as history gets rewritten in small ways with each passing day, my love for them only grows. Because the truth is... it was the best of times. Mistakes were made, hearts were broken, harsh lessons learned, but all of that has receded into fond memory now. How does it happen? Why are we so quick to forget the bad and romanticize the good? Maybe it's because we need to believe that the time we spent together actually meant something, that we were there for each other in a time in our lives that defined us all, a time in our lives that we will never forget. I can't swear this is exactly how it happened. But this is how it felt."

I think that sums up the series well.

[Khan]

You know, there wasn't much about MELROSE PLACE that I enjoyed -- and frankly, I felt blowing up the complex was an even bigger, over-the-top, shark-jumping, point-of-no-return plot twist than the "Moldavian Massacre" on DYNASTY -- but I must admit, Kimberly's last lines before the earth-shattering kabooms get me every time, lol.

[Cheap21]

"Guys, its not what you think.......it's worse." That line was PERFECTION. I just think the season 3 finale sums up MP for me and it was Kimberly's craziness. Seasons 2-4 were on fire bc of her. 1 was a bore and it all went downhill when she left