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The Perfect Sitcom Episode


Frankie Crisp

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Either Marooned or Polymorph from Red Dwarf 3. The dialogue between Rimmer & Lister is fantastic in Marooned, but Polymorph has some pretty special moments as well. Timeslides is decent as well. 

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57 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

Honestly pretty difficult to pick one episode of anything but I'm going for Porridge's A Night In. Two great comedy actors with a word perfect script and a completely simple set-up. It established their relationship for episodes to come and also didn't shy away from a bit of drama.

 

It's crazy for me to think just how huge a star Richard Beckinsale would have become if he hadn't died so young.

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25 minutes ago, PowerButchi said:

Anyway, Mrs Peterson's Dog Gets Fucked Up (Trailer Park Boys S1E4) is the correct answer.

For pure laughs, I've never seen a better TV episode.

"I shot my daddy in the bum...."

 

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Fawlty Towers - Gourmet Night

 

I'm a wanky Fawlty Towers fanboy and would happily accept any other episode in place of this one, but this is faultless. 

Famously Fawlty scripts are tight, Swiss watch tight, with more lines per episode than anything else in the 70s and 80s. And Gourmet Night is dense with setup and pay-off (I believe we have to refer to this as Chekov's Gun now). Basil complaining about riff-raff. The chef obsessed with Manuel, hinting at a problem with drink. Putting off getting the car fixed. 

Yes it has the overexposed bashing-the-car scene but this is designed with perfection. It just doesn't work if the car isn't in a static frame, if he'd have twatted it with his hand, if Basil hadn't paused to go and find a weapon. It's underrated in how well assembled it is. 

And the scene only exists because it is a culmination of Basil's tension. The frustration with not being the class he wants to, the inability to get Sybil to understand, the growing insanity of the night falling apart. It's a volcano of suppressed rage erupting with the car the victim. 

The supporting are perfect too: Colonel Hall with his pronounced twitch being introduced to a man called Twitchen. The diminutive Mrs Hall overreacting to cold fish. Polly and Manuel put on a dreadful cabaret to kill time while the food arrives. 

It's simply perfect. 

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19 minutes ago, IANdrewDiceClay said:

Hank's Sex Tape from the Larry Sanders Show. Especially the part where Hank describes how his image is a "meat and potatos kind of guy."

I think Hank's Night in the Sun might be even better. Although truth be told any Hank centric episode is pure gold.

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48 minutes ago, IANdrewDiceClay said:

Hank's Sex Tape from the Larry Sanders Show. Especially the part where Hank describes how his image is a "meat and potatos kind of guy."

“You wash your mouth out…with Hank!”

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4 hours ago, Devon Malcolm said:

Honestly pretty difficult to pick one episode of anything but I'm going for Porridge's A Night In. Two great comedy actors with a word perfect script and a completely simple set-up. It established their relationship for episodes to come and also didn't shy away from a bit of drama.

 

It's this, it is just simply wonderful television, I honestly don't think there's a better sitcom ever been written, cast or acted. A Night In is the shine on the diamond that is Porridge. 

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