Whats Hot On TV

I read the following this evening on popeater.com and was immediately excited. We get to vote online and choose our most memorable moment on TV to be aired on the Emmys next month. But then, I sat there and couldn’t think of any examples. Not that there haven’t been many fine choices, so I’m apparently just overwhelmed with too many to choose from. I just don’t know where to start. Yet, I pushed myself to come up with some example before I looked at emmys.abc.com to find out the official choices that we’ll have to choose from.

I’m not going to choose any that I haven’t personally seen myself, so that leaves out things like the Beatles on Ed Sullivan as that was the year I was born. The earliest things I can think of that really stick out in my mind are from The Carol Burnett Show. She had quite a few that were memorable, but if I had to narrow it down to a few, I’d choose when Burnett played Scarlet O’Hara, wearing a dress that was made from the curtains. The other would be the dentist sketch with Harvey Korman and Tim Conway. It was truly a classic.

The Mary Tyler Moore Show was another one for several great moments. Perhaps the one I discuss more often is when Chuckles the Clown died and Mary couldn’t stop laughing at his wake. Another is Mary getting insomnia and Lou Grant spending the night with her to help her sleep without having to take sleeping pills. But the best moment ever on that show was all of them standing around together on the last episode sniffling, singing It’s a Long Way to Tipperary and walking as a group clinging to each other over to the Kleenex box, as Lou says, “I treasure you people.”

While we’re currently in times of the Olympics, I remember a lot of those magic moments. I remember Mark Spitz winning gold after gold, I remember Mary Lou Retton’s magic season, as well as Keri Strug’s courageous moments. But even though they’re really recent, I don’t think any of those prior ones could top what Michael Phelps has done the past few weeks, especially the 100M Butterfly where he won with a fingertip touch of .01 of a second.

Other moments are beginning to flash by me quickly now. What about Fonzie’s motorcycle jump on Happy Days, or when Arnold’s burned down? What about Mork from Ork’s first appearance on the show? What about Laverne and Shirley’s first appearance on the same? What about when Richie got drunk over too many little cups when he was way too young to drink?

Sadly, despite being a General Hospital fan during its height in popularity, I missed Luke and Laura getting married, but what about when he raped her? All My Children I watched from the early 70s until just a few years ago. Erica Kane would certainly want to be remembered for many of her moments, and my favorite of hers is when she had to give the baby back that she had stolen. But maybe even more memorable are all the times Susan Lucci failed to win a Daytime Emmy for the role.

What about Cheers‘ last episode? That was counted down to for a long time. What about the last episode of Seinfield? What about “No Soup For You,” “Master of Your Own Domain,” and the European Carryall? Or another from NBC’s Must See TV Night, Monica asking Rachel if she had the ke-yees on Friends. There are way too many moments on this show, but my personal favorite is the touching instead of the funny, when Rachel’s boyfriend hits on Phoebe when she’s giving him a massage, and she tells Rachel there are three things she needs to know about her. 1. Her friends are the most important things in her life. 2. She doesn’t lie. 3. She makes the best oatmeal-raisin cookies. Then offers her some cookies to break the ice before she breaks the news.

And which moment is better, once Rachel realizes Ross is madly in love with her or when they finally share their first kiss in the coffee shop as he comes in from the rain? There truly wasn’t ever a better will they or won’t they relationship on TV. You want touching? What about Ross Green’s last episode of ER when he was dying in Hawaii? It was just so … unique. What about Cybil Shephard and Bruce Willis finally getting together on Moonlighting?

How about reality TV? Could there have ever been a better moment on American Idol than when Kelly Clarkson won the very first title? Could there have been a more shocking moment than when Chris Daughtry was kicked off the show? What about Survivor? Surely Sue Hawk’s rat and snake speech is memorable. What about The Bachelor when Brad Womak turned down Deanna Pappas?

I think after a slow start, I’m beginning to get carried away. Let’s take a look now and see how many of my favorites show up on the official ballot and how many make me slap my forehead, not realizing I had forgotten all of them. I had named five of the twenty most memorable comedy moments (Kelly winning Idol is comedy?) and one of the nominees for drama. Go to emmys.abc.com and make your own picks.

P.S. I voted for Ross and Rachel’s first kiss (The One Where Ross Finds Out) and I Am Curious … Maddie. How about you? Agree with their choices? Want to suggest a few of your own? Let me know below in the comments.

Check out my other today.com blog, Pursuing Martial Arts

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