Stars, they’re just like us: transfixed by what’s on TV. Lucille Ball was a big fan of Perfect Strangers, for example. Larry David was so inspired by the 1950s program Sgt. Bilko that he worked the character into Curb Your Enthusiasm. Carol Burnett, hooked on All My Children, asked friends to telegram her hotel concierge with plot updates while she was traveling in Europe. And in a more recent century, the likes of Damon Lindelof wrote in a 2010 GQ dispatch that “I keep praying for this show [Mad Men] to start sucking because it consistently reminds me of what a shitty writer I am. Those prayers have yet to be answered.” Coming from a creative type, that’s about the highest praise there is!
It’s nice to know that the people inside our televisions—or increasingly, inside the digital streaming apps on our phones—sometimes turn their gazes the other way, that the watched men and women are watching, too. And so, in honor of The Ringer’s refresh of our 100 Best TV Episodes of the 21st Century ranking, I thought I’d reach out to some of the talent responsible for those episodes—writers, actors, and directors alike—to ask about a TV episode that they particularly enjoyed this century.
My many thanks to all the kind souls who responded. Here’s what they said, conveniently just in time to start building your holiday sofa itinerary.
The Best TV Episodes of the Century
Terence Winter
Writer, “Pine Barrens,” The Sopranos (no. 5 on The 100 Best TV Episodes of the 21st Century)
For me, the first episode of Fargo ever, “The Crocodile’s Dilemma,” is as good as television gets. The entire episode is a master class in tension, and the scene in which Billy Bob Thornton gets pulled over by a completely out-of-his-depth Colin Hanks still gives me chills when I think of how badly that could have gone. Between Noah Hawley’s brilliant writing and Thornton’s calmly psychotic delivery, I felt as if I was watching a man encounter the devil.
Michael Patrick King
Writer, “Anchors Away,” Sex and the City (no. 72)
A recent episode of TV I still think about is from the last season of Bridget Everett’s Somebody Somewhere. It's titled “Dinky Dinkies,” and it’s the one where Samantha helps Brad write a song for him to sing to Joel. It has enormous humor and heart—pathos of the best kind.
Craig Mazin
Writer, “Vichnaya Pamyat,” Chernobyl (no. 21) and “Long, Long Time,” The Last of Us (no. 61)
“Hardhome” [from Game of Thrones]. Even in a series famous for killing its heroes, this episode went from thrilling spectacle to whisper-quiet futility and failure in such a skillful way. The Night King’s little smile at the end haunts me still.
Andrew Rannells
Actor, “All Adventurous Women Do,” Girls (no. 65)
One episode of television in the last 25 years is very hard to pick. But if you are telling me it has to be just one: The last episode of Six Feet Under [“Everyone’s Waiting”] is one that pops into my head often. It was so surprising and devastating, although the vocabulary of the entire show supported the decision to show how each of the main characters would eventually die. They set up every episode that way, so why not keep that theme going for the finale? But still, it was a real gut punch as a viewer.
OK, I can’t just say one. In Getting On, which is all brilliant, there is an episode where Laurie Metcalf’s character, Dr. Jenna James, gets a perm [Season 2, Episode 5, “The Revolving Door Admit”], and Laurie plays the anticipation of the reaction (or non-reaction) of her colleagues in the most brilliant and hilarious way. As an actor, I think about that performance a lot.
Michael Schur
Writer and director, “Michael’s Gambit,” The Good Place (no. 61) and “One Last Ride,” Parks and Recreation (no. 53)
Oh God, there are too many.
"The Constant" (Lost)
"To'hajiilee" (Breaking Bad)
"The Suitcase" (Mad Men)
"Episode 8" (Twin Peaks: The Return)
"International Assassin" (The Leftovers)
But I think the episode I have revisited the most in the last couple of years is whatever episode of I Think You Should Leave has the driving school sketch [Season 2, Episode 6: “I need a wet paper towel.”]. It's my favorite two minutes of TV in recent memory.
Tony Hale
Actor, “Top Banana,” Arrested Development (no. 78) and “Kissing Your Sister,” Veep (no. 31)
As much as I love episodic TV, if I want to check out, the behind-the-scenes bloopers are my go-to. The Carol Burnett Show made it an art form, and I love them. So in addition to all The Office bloopers, Ego Nwodim’s “Lisa from Temecula” with Pedro Pascal [on Saturday Night Live] or Rachel Dratch’s “Debbie Downer” sketch from 2004 with Lindsay Lohan are my guaranteed shots of pure joy.
Ariana Madix
Herself, “#Scandoval,” Vanderpump Rules (no. 27) and host of “Season 6, Episode 22,” Love Island USA (no. 83)
The “San Junipero” episode of Black Mirror. The technology that is explored within this love story that you’re watching unfold is incredibly interesting, and I actually don’t think we’re too far away from it right now. And yes, there’s this beautiful, heartwarming love story in this episode, but really when you look at it, it has this element of darkness to it as well because it’s not real and it’s happening in this virtual afterlife, which feels dystopian in itself. Now I can’t hear Belinda Carlisle’s “Heaven Is a Place on Earth” without immediately thinking of this episode, and it makes me cry every time.
Julian Fellowes
Creator and writer, “Episode 1.03,” Downton Abbey (no. 45)
I was very fascinated by Presumed Innocent. I had enjoyed the film with Harrison Ford, and I didn't see why they would have made it again, but I was wrong.
David Milch (via his wonderful daughter Elizabeth Milch)
Creator and writer, “Sold Under Sin,” Deadwood (no. 46)
My dad sadly can't recall specific episodes of TV now, but I do remember that one episode he enjoyed and laughed at a lot was the "Car Pool Lane" episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Every part of it could get him going, but in particular the scene when Larry's high and talking to himself in the mirror and saying what a piece of shit he is—he LOVED that.
Jeff Garlin
Actor, “The Freak Book,” Curb Your Enthusiasm (no. 67)
Barry, Season 2, Episode 5—“ronny/lily”—is the best episode I've seen that I can remember. At all times during the episode I was thrilled and amazed.
Sam Esmail
Director, “Eps3.5_Kill-Pr0cess.inc,” Mr. Robot (no. 73)
For me, it’s easily Episode 8 of Twin Peaks: The Return. It’s a cinematic tour de force that towers over both TV and movies in ambition, execution, and sheer nerve. [David] Lynch doesn’t just break form, he pulverizes it. The episode detonates the medium, rebuilds it from radioactive ash, and dares you to keep up. It’s the rare hour of television where you can feel a director pushing into territory most filmmakers are too timid to even imagine, let alone put on-screen.
David Mandel
Director, “Kissing Your Sister,” Veep (no. 31)
I’m going to cheat and pick two: a drama and a comedy, because I find it hard to compare them. For drama, I still remember the visceral, edge-of-my-seat anxiety I felt watching the first episode of the new Battlestar Galactica series, “33.” This was the pilot episode, but it also declared that while the show may have been a remake/reboot, that didn’t matter when it was that good.
The comedy idea that I cannot get out of my mind and that I am forever jealous of is from The Unbreakable Kimmie Schmidt, “Kimmie Is Rich*!" It’s their take on the Cats musical—Titus just puts on a costume and blends in onstage. It’s the funniest thing ever, especially if you have taken your kids to see Cats.
Greg Daniels
Producer, “Dinner Party,” The Office (no. 22) and “One Last Ride,” Parks and Recreation (no. 53)
Very few episodes landed on me like Season 1, Episode 6 of Fleabag—the finale of the first series. Such a brilliant combination of tones. I remember being blown away.
Sagar Radia
Actor, “White Mischief,” Industry (no. 55)
I loved the pilot for The Newsroom. I’ve always been a fan of Aaron Sorkin’s sharp, fast, and rhythmic dialogue. But this pilot set a unique emotional tone for what was to come. Not to mention Jeff Daniels’s brutally honest, iconic monologue.
Kourtney Kang
Writer, “Slap Bet,” How I Met Your Mother (no. 69)
The Sopranos episode from Season 2, “Full Leather Jacket,” when Jeannie Cusamano’s sister won’t write Meadow a letter of recommendation to Georgetown, so Carmela brings her a pineapple ricotta pie and tells her: "I want you to write that letter." When the woman asks if this is a threat, Carmela laughs and just states the facts. She brought her a high school transcript and a pie. That’s it.
This episode and the whole of Season 2 of The Sopranos has special meaning to me because on my honeymoon, my husband and I went to Cabo, and oddly our room had the Sopranos Season 2 DVDs. So we rewatched the whole season. An episode when we woke up, two after the beach, one before dinner, it was heaven! We would laugh and sing the theme song, saying, “Nothing more romantic than The Sopranos!" We planned to have a family one day, and I remember thinking about what I would do for my daughter if I were Carmela.
And now, 20 years later, my oldest daughter is a senior in high school going through the college application process. I often think of that episode and how so many years ago, the idea of me being in this moment seemed impossible.
The power of great episodes is they stay with you, and as you look back on them, you realize how you have changed. As a newlywed, I remember siding with Meadow and feeling like Carmela should butt out. But now as I watch the episode as a mother of a daughter applying to college, I wish I had some mob connections and knew how to make a pineapple ricotta pie.
Also, fun fact: While I was in Cabo honeymooning and bingeing The Sopranos, I was also writing “Slap Bet.”
These responses have been edited and condensed.
