We ranked the best TV episodes of the century, and all week we’ll be going in depth on what makes great TV, why certain episodes and shows stand out, and where the medium is going.
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August 4, 2018
The Will-They-or-Won’t-They Goldilocks Test
It’s one of the most common TV tropes of the century, but how much time did our greatest will-they-or-won’t-they couples actually spend together?
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August 4, 2018
Going Down? The Art of the Elevator Scene on ‘Grey’s Anatomy.’
No show has used confined spaces as consistently and effectively as ABC’s hospital drama
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August 3, 2018
The 100 Best TV Episodes of the Century, With Juliet Litman
Discussing The Ringer’s much-debated list
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August 3, 2018
‘The Office’: Hairacter Development
As Jim Halpert’s story evolved so, too, did his hair
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August 3, 2018
The Top 10 TV Episodes of the 21st Century
Breaking down the best episodes since 2000
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August 3, 2018
The End of Wrestling’s Monday-Night Wars Was the Best Series Finale of the Century
Eighteen years ago, wrestling ate itself. Here’s how Vince McMahon bought WCW and WWF emerged as the victor of a thrilling battle for professional wrestling supremacy.
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August 3, 2018
The Ringer’s Irrational No. 1 TV Episodes of the Century
Now that the official, well-reasoned list has been published, many staff members have scalding-hot takes on what they believe to be the best episode of television to air since 2000
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August 3, 2018
Parts Known: Anthony Bourdain and the Passage of Time While Living on TV
The late host and culinary traveler showed us, across many years and hundreds of hours of television, just what the cost of a life committed to discovery could be
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August 3, 2018
Dwight vs. Everything: A Catalog of Dwight Schrute’s Battles on ‘The Office’
In an excerpted chapter from ‘Conference Room, Five Minutes,’ Shea Serrano’s new digital collection of illustrated essays about ‘The Office,’ he takes us inside the Dwight Club
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August 2, 2018
The 100 Best TV Episodes of The Century and Mailbag Questions
Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins join to discuss The Ringer’s recent TV list
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August 2, 2018
‘The Office,’ S4E9: “Dinner Party”
Breaking down a classic episode of the iconic NBC series
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August 2, 2018
How to Kill Off a Character—and Make Great TV in the Process
The Very Special TV Death has become a hallmark of modern television, and a recurring theme on The Ringer’s 100 Best Episodes of the Century list. Here’s what makes a TV death memorable.
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August 2, 2018
What Happened in Cabo: How MTV Mythologized a Resort Town for a Generation
With the famous ‘Laguna Beach’ episode, the show peaked as a lifestyle guide—and created the pop cultural concept of "Cabo" as we know it
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August 2, 2018
How ‘Buffy’ Slayed the Musical Episode
"Once More, With Feeling" was more than a gimmick—it was an episode full of energy and real narrative stakes, and also one of the best that ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ ever aired
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August 2, 2018
The ‘Friday Night Lights’ Guide to Winning Every Close Football Game You Play
Most great coaches fare worse than usual in games that come down to the wire. Most great coaches aren’t Eric Taylor.
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August 1, 2018
‘Ringer PhD’: How Does Netflix Make Money?
The streaming giant is spending big on original content, yet it’s still cheap for consumers. How in the world does that work?
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August 1, 2018
The Official ‘Office’ Unhappiness Index
A scientific analysis of three miserable seasons of the cringey, classic workplace comedy
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August 1, 2018
American Idiots: Remembering the ‘Jackass’ Moment
Once there were skateboarders who got a cable television show. And on that show, they allowed themselves to be bitten by snakes, attacked by dogs, and subjected to all manner of olfactory terrors. And then they were gone. How did ‘Jackass’ succeed where so many other jackasses have failed?
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August 1, 2018
The Fall of the Meth King: An Oral History of the Best ‘Breaking Bad’ Episode Ever
Inside the making of "Ozymandias," the harrowing, violent end to the reign of Walter White
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August 1, 2018
The Couch Jump That Rocked Hollywood
Tom Cruise’s 2005 appearance on ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’ was an iconic episode of television—and a turning point for how we discuss and understand celebrities
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July 31, 2018
‘Lost,’ S4E5: “The Constant”
Revisiting a classic episode of the J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof show, the best episode of TV this century
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July 31, 2018
What’s the Difference Between a Great TV Episode and a Great TV Moment?
There has never been more competition for your attention, and those circumstances have forced television to adapt. But if TV tries to compete with everything else, will it lose the very thing that makes it special?
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July 31, 2018
Previously On: How Recaps Changed the Way We Watch Television
The last Golden Age of Television was also the Golden Age of television criticism, in the form of long, episodic reviews of almost every show imaginable. What did the form teach us? The great recappers of the era reflect.
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July 31, 2018
When Do TV Shows Peak?
Every television series has a high point. To find out when and why most of them get there and why they can’t stay there forever, we crunched the numbers and spoke to the creators who craft the episodes where everything clicks.