Defining television one rerun at a time. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most impactful and memorable live-action TV episodes that aired before 2000.
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00:00 [Music]
00:04 "One day somebody's gonna stop you and I hope I'm there to watch it."
00:07 Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most impactful and memorable live-action TV episodes that aired before 2000.
00:16 Beware of spoilers.
00:18 "Here we go, Fonz! I'm heading for the Ram! Are you sure you wanna do it?"
00:22 [Music]
00:25 Number 10. College - The Sopranos
00:27 It's been over 25 years, so it's safe to say this HBO masterpiece belongs in the classic category now.
00:33 Feel old yet?
00:35 "Dad, stop staring while you're doing this."
00:38 "It's an exciting time. I can't tell you how proud I am of you."
00:42 This episode, which sees Tony Soprano taking his daughter on college tours, activates all the strands of drama that fueled the show.
00:49 Spotting a former associate who turned informant, Tony juggles his duties as boss and family man as he faces his daughter's growing up, and growing awareness of his job.
01:00 "Are you in the mafia?"
01:02 "Am I in the what?"
01:05 Then there's his wife, Carmella's spiritual confusion over how they make their fortune.
01:09 It's a pitch-perfect episode, full of subtext, symbolism, and humor.
01:13 "Good as Willem Dafoe was, I cannot picture that Jesus looked like him."
01:18 "Could you pass your cheese?"
01:20 If The Sopranos is what led to the new anti-hero-driven golden age of television, College is a perfect encapsulation of why it was so influential.
01:29 9. Sammy's Visit - All in the Family
01:32 Norman Lear was famous for using TV as a medium to explore social and political issues people would discuss at the dinner table.
01:40 All in the Family covered racism, sexism, antisemitism, homophobia, and dozens of other sensitive topics with ease.
01:47 "How long you know me?"
01:48 "10, 12 years."
01:50 "Yeah?"
01:51 "In all that time, did I ever mention a woman?"
01:54 Nothing was off the table. In this famous and beloved episode guest-starring Sammy Davis Jr., Archie Bunker becomes a symbol of the cognitive dissonance of white bigots dehumanizing adoration of Black artists.
02:07 "I was just saying to my family before you come in, I said Sammy Davis Jr. is maybe the greatest credit to his race."
02:14 "Well, thank you very much. I'm sure you've done good for yours, too."
02:16 Through its incisive and outrageous humor, the episode finds Davis watching Bunker's ignorant comments.
02:22 But he comes out on top, the cackling at the episode's famous punchline, which sees Davis kissing Archie's cheek for a photo, was so long it had to be edited for the broadcast.
02:33 "One, two, three."
02:35 8. The Last One - Saint Elsewhere
02:42 In the last episode of this medical drama, Saint Elegius Hospital is revealed to exist in a snow globe owned by a young autistic boy named Tommy Westfall.
02:51 "He's been sitting there ever since you left this morning, just like he does every day, in a world of his own."
02:57 The ending heavily implies that the hospital and its characters only exist in Tommy's mind, mind-blowing and frustrating in equal measure.
03:05 The series finale became emblematic of a new kind of television.
03:08 "You know, ever since beating this disease as a kid, I've always avoided hospitals. Places like this scared me so much."
03:16 It also may have foretold multiverse and fan theories coming to mainstream TV.
03:21 Given that Saint Elsewhere had a few spin-offs and crossovers with other shows, there's no telling how many characters exist only in the so-called Tommy Westfall universe.
03:31 "We're doctors at Saint Elegius."
03:33 "Saint Elsewhere? I was forced to have my kid in that mortician's delight."
03:42 7. The Chinese Restaurant - Seinfeld
03:45 "Jerry, get menus so when we sit down we'll be able to order right away."
03:48 "Can't look at a menu now. I gotta be at the table."
03:51 A trio of misanthropes waiting to be seated at a busy Chinese restaurant doesn't sound like it'd have the makings of this much humor and conflict.
03:59 Yet, their attempts to secure a table and distract themselves from their tale of restaurant woes is peak comedy.
04:05 "I know this sounds crazy, but the two men who are standing behind me are gonna give me 50 bucks if I stand here and eat one of your egg rolls."
04:13 Of course, finding the humor in everyday occurrences is what Seinfeld was all about.
04:18 A review in Time magazine described the Chinese restaurant, and the show it came from, as the "anti-sitcom," where nothing actually happens, but the laughs don't stop.
04:27 This and the boundary-pushing "The Contest" are often cited as game-changing episodes in a genre that heavily relies on convention.
04:34 "You don't think I can?" "No chance!"
04:37 "You think you could?" "Well, I know I can hold out longer than you."
04:41 "Care to make it interesting?"
04:43 6. Plato's Stepchildren - Star Trek
04:46 Despite the decades of media it inspired, the original Star Trek series may also be the original definition of a cult classic.
04:53 "Anyone can, at any moment, be or do anything he wishes, even to becoming ruler of Plutonius, if his mind is strong enough."
05:03 Plato's Stepchildren is famous for a scene that is often considered to depict one of the first interracial kisses ever shown on American television.
05:10 Though it's only brought about by the telekinetic powers of an evil alien race, the smooch between William Shatner's Captain Kirk and Nichelle Nichols' Uhura was a landmark TV moment.
05:22 "Horman, let's get on with it." "You are so impatient, my wife."
05:28 This was 1968, a time when physical contact between members of different races was still taboo to an extent.
05:35 What it did prove is that even a science fiction show could have a huge social impact.
05:40 "Alexander, where I come from, size, shape, or color makes no difference."
05:47 5. Showdown - Part 2 - Cheers
05:50 "Sometimes a man and a woman are so afraid of being vulnerable to rejection that neither one of them will take the first step of admitting their true feelings."
05:59 The first season of this classic sitcom had teased and practically tortured us with the delayed romantic connection of bar owner Sam Malone and his highfalutin employee, Diane Chambers.
06:09 Will they or won't they romances are a dime a dozen on TV now.
06:13 Back when Cheers premiered, this wasn't the case. In the two-part season one finale, Sam and Diane are in the middle of what seems like a standard argument.
06:22 "You honestly believe you were happier before you met me than you are now?"
06:25 "Hell yes! I mean, how do you think it feels to be attracted to someone that makes you sick?"
06:30 As it gets increasingly more hostile, they let their passions take over, and they kiss.
06:35 Our cheers are as much about rooting for the couple as they are about the relief that it finally happened.
06:41 "Maybe I'll feel better after I say this. I... I..."
06:47 "I got it. I got it. You're hot for Sam's chili."
06:51 Number four - Abyssinia, Henry, M*A*S*H
06:54 "So long, Hawk."
06:55 "I'm afraid just a handshake won't do it, Henry."
07:02 When actor McLean Stevenson left this hit Korean war set series, it signaled a huge change in the show's tone, and what viewers would accept from sitcoms in general.
07:13 The revelation that the beloved Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake was killed on his way home to the States ended the episode, and the third season, on a heartbreaking note.
07:22 "Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake's plane was shot down over the Sea of Japan."
07:32 TV viewers of the '70s were not used to getting such hard-hitting human drama on their sitcoms.
07:38 Abyssinia, Henry started the formerly laugh-track-heavy show on a track that would culminate in its barn-burner of a series finale.
07:46 "When they tell us we have to do time in purgatory, we can all say, 'No, thanks. I've done mine.'"
07:52 Number three - The Judgment, The Fugitive
07:55 "There's no point in asking you again, is there?"
07:58 "No, I'm afraid not. I don't need three days, only 24 hours."
08:02 Many today might be familiar with the story of Dr. Richard Kimball because of the critically acclaimed film adaptation, but that doesn't even account for half of the original series' impact.
08:12 The Fugitive told the story of Kimball's wrongful conviction for his wife's murder, and the ensuing search for the real culprit.
08:19 His confrontation with the killer in an abandoned amusement park, and exoneration in the finale broke viewership records.
08:26 "You won't shoot me. You need me alive."
08:32 There's a reason.
08:33 TV wasn't generally considered a mode for good storytelling, as shows often ended without notice or closure.
08:40 That the audience would get to follow a story through to the end even may seem like a no-brainer, but it wasn't in the mid-late 1960s.
08:47 The Judgment changed the way TV was written and watched.
08:50 "What are your immediate plans, Doctor?"
08:52 "Well, I'd see some of my family and go back to work, I guess."
08:56 "What's the first thing you plan to do?"
08:58 "Get out of here."
09:00 Number 2. A House Divided - Dallas
09:04 Long before Succession aired, the 1980s were the height of primetime soaps full of petty, wealthy people fighting over money, power, and resources.
09:13 "Come on, Jordan, you know this business? It's a crapshoot. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose."
09:19 "Especially when you're playing with loaded dice."
09:21 These power struggles often led to outlandish storylines and violent scuffles.
09:25 But when J.R. Ewing was shot at the end of Dallas' third season, it set the pop culture landscape ablaze.
09:32 All across America, TV fans were asking who shot J.R.
09:36 "With such intense interest, producers worried the killer's identity would leak. So they spent a day filming each cast member pulling the trigger."
09:44 It became such a hot topic that people began taking bets on who the shooter was, and the cliffhanger was even mentioned by the year's presidential candidates.
09:54 If you want to know why practically every TV season ends with a dramatic cliffhanger, "Who shot J.R." is probably the answer.
10:02 "It was presented to the Queen Mother, and she says, 'I don't suppose you could tell me who shot J.R.?' I said, 'No, ma'am, not even you.'"
10:10 Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
10:13 Time Enough at Last - The Twilight Zone
10:16 A shining example of Rod Serling's knack for weird and tragic tales with twist endings.
10:22 "That's not fair. That's not fair at all. There was time now."
10:33 Maud's Dilemma - Maud
10:35 This two-part episode brought a woman's right to choose to primetime TV.
10:40 "I think it would be wrong to have a child at our age. Oh, so do I, Walter. Oh, Walter, so do I."
10:53 The Puppy Episode - Ellen
10:55 Guest stars Oprah Winfrey and Laura Dern helped Ellen Morgan come out.
11:01 "I mean, why can't I just say the truth? I mean, be who I am. I'm 35 years old. I'm so afraid to tell people. I mean, I just... Susan, I'm gay."
11:12 The $99,000 Answer - The Honeymooners
11:16 Ralph Cramden got his just desserts in this classic episode.
11:20 "All right, Mr. Cramden, for $100, who is the composer of Swanee River?"
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11:48 Number 1. Lucy Does a TV Commercial - I Love Lucy
11:53 Premiering in 1951, I Love Lucy saw Lucille Ball and company throw down the gauntlet for every comedy series to come.
12:01 From her desperate attempts to get into her husband's nightclub act to her various domestic disasters, Lucy Ricardo was the foundational sitcom heroine.
12:10 "There. Darn it, I sewed up the top."
12:20 Her chocolate factory job and taboo-breaking pregnancy were iconic, but her most defining moment had to be when she landed a TV commercial for a new supplement.
12:29 "Lucy, what have you got to say for yourself?"
12:31 "Hello, friends, I'm your Vitamita Vegeman girl. Are you tired from that?"
12:35 "Never mind, never mind."
12:36 "You fool, ball at party."
12:37 "Never mind."
12:38 The commercial was followed along by Vitamita Vegeman's secret ingredient, alcohol.
12:43 The scene was essentially an uninterrupted demonstration of Ball's flair for clowning.
12:48 Over 70 years later, it remains a monument to comedic genius.
12:52 "So everybody get a bottle of this stuff."
13:00 What classic episode do you think changed the game? Let us know in the comments.
13:05 "Don't. What do you mean get out? Get out of the cab. What, I'm not getting out of this cab. No, no, you can't get out."
13:13 Do you agree with our picks? Check out this other recent clip from Ms. Mojo.
13:17 And be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.
13:21 "I'm not getting out. I'm not getting out."
13:22 "I'm not getting out. I'm not getting out."
13:23 "I'm not getting out. I'm not getting out."
13:24 "I'm not getting out. I'm not getting out."
13:25 "I'm not getting out. I'm not getting out."
13:26 "I'm not getting out. I'm not getting out."
13:27 "I'm not getting out. I'm not getting out."
13:28 "I'm not getting out. I'm not getting out."
13:29 "I'm not getting out. I'm not getting out."
13:30 "I'm not getting out. I'm not getting out."
13:31 "I'm not getting out. I'm not getting out."
13:32 "I'm not getting out. I'm not getting out."