Tag: the simpsons

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The best sitcom episodes of the last 25 years (Pt 2)

10. Friends, “The One With The Embryos” (1999)

Monica’s fiercely competitive streak is the engine in some of Friends’ finest moments (“The One With The Ball” also comes to mind), but never more than in “Embryos.” The only thing funnier than the fast-paced trivia questions—“He’s a transponster!”—is Monica’s banshee wail when she realizes they lost. 

9. Party Down, “Steve Guttenberg’s Birthday” (2010) 

Steve Guttenberg’s relentless, slightly clueless positivity throughout is thoroughly delightful, and the setup gives everyone a chance to shine, like when Ken Marino’s Ron takes typically disastrous steps to try and fix The Gute’s priceless iceberg water art.

8. 30 Rock, “Rosemary’s Baby” (2007)

For as much as “Rosemary’s Baby” stands as a sharp satire of how network influence shapes the work of television writers, it also stands as an exemplary character piece for 30 Rock’s ensemble, a combination that all sitcoms strive for.

7. The Office (U.K.), “Training” (2001) 

The Office hit a major milestone as early as its fourth episode, when Brent hijacks an employee learning session (kicked off by a fantastic faux-’80s training video) from the hapless group leader. Somehow Brent works into the proceedings that he was once in a band, pulls out his guitar (“he went home to get it”), and entertains his employees with anti-classics like “Free Love Freeway.”

6. NewsRadio, “Complaint Box” (1997)

The 1990s were awash in workplace sitcoms, but NewsRadio was one of the few to embrace the inherent absurdity of the entire genre, and was the absolute best at using the limited space of the TV screen, often by stripping elements away and finding the humor in their absence.

5. Arrested Development, “Pier Pressure” (2004)

This first-season episode marks the debut of one-armed “scare toy” J. Walter Weatherman as well as the series’ first hit off the “Big Yellow Joint.” But Arrested Development builds half-hour puzzles, too, and “Pier Pressure” is one of the most intricate, a wild farce involving drugs, deceit, and the words that should be on the Bluth family crest: “I need a favor.”

4. Community, “Remedial Chaos Theory” (2011)

The show’s biggest strength is injecting genuine sweetness into high-wire ideas that could easily come across as formalist exercises. “Remedial Chaos Theory” is no exception, with the ragtag clique concluding the darkest timeline is the one in which Greendale never brings them together.

3. The Office (U.S.), “Dinner Party” (2008)

“Dinner Party” becomes the mockumentary version of Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?,with Michael (Steve Carell) and Jan (Melora Hardin) trading barbs over her unemployment, his excessive enthusiasm, her funky scented candles, and his tendency to run into glass doors.

2. The Simpsons, “Marge Vs. The Monorail” (1993)

“Marge Vs. The Monorail” represents The Simpsons at its best because it’s the story of a town, a town representing a raging American id that’s too stupendously stupid to recognize Lanley’s Music Man schtick.

1. Seinfeld, “The Chinese Restaurant” (1991)

Debuting at a time when the show was still a struggling fill-in, maintaining the Cheers audience but not yet building one of its own, “The Chinese Restaurant” gave Seinfeld an identity—and helped define the sitcom for the next 25 years.

To see more about each episode, video clips, and the full list of 25, visit avclub.com