The TV IV:IVy Awards/2006/Best Individual Episode of a Comedy Series

Candidates to be considered the Best Individual Episode of a Comedy Series which first aired in the United States between June 1, 2005 and May 31, 2006. Please read carefully the Definitions and Guidelines before putting a candidate up for nomination.

Definitions

comedy

Any live-action (non-animated), scripted (non-documentary, talk or news) episodic (airing on a recurring basis), non-limited series categorized as a Comedy on the TV IV. In the case of shows which are categorized as both Comedy and Drama (and only in those cases), the show will be categorized on the basis of runtime: Less than 40 minutes should be considered a Comedy, 40 minutes or more should be considered a Drama.

individual episode

Any episode of an episodic series listed as a single episode on the TV IV, or a multi-part episode. (Example: The 3rd Rock from the Sun episodes "Dick's Big Giant Headache (1)" and "Dick's Big Giant Headache (2)" should be treated as one episode, provided both halves aired within the eligibility period.)

Guidelines

Please feel free to propose as many or as few candidates as you like in each category. If you change your mind or wish to retract a candidate, don't worry about editing the page, as it could cause some confusion down the road. (If you propose one unworthy enough, it will most likely not make it past the nominating process, anyway.) Feel free to discuss yours or others' proposals as much or as little as you choose. Tell us why you feel a candidate should be considered, or why someone else's candidate is a horrible choice and should not be considered. (Just remember to follow standard TV IV discussion rules regarding civility.)

Please mark all proposed candidates in bold, and link the show titles, even if the linked articles are empty or stubs. Try to avoid using bold elsewhere in the discussion. (To mark a candidate in bold, surround the name with two sets of three apostrophes, and use double brackets for linking, '''[[like this]]'''.) Please also indicate the series to make it easier for us to track. (e.g.: "Turkeys Away, WKRP in Cincinnati.)

Candidates Discussion

• Development Arrested, Arrested Development (3x13): When it was announced not only that Arrested Development would be cancelled after the third season, but that its episode order would be cut in half, it seemed impossible for the series to tie up all its various plotlines in just four episodes. Not only did it accomplish this, it did so spectacularly. "Development Arrested" brings the series full circle back to its Emmy-winning pilot and gives the series, the fans and the Bluth family the send-off they deserved and desperately needed after three of the funniest, most ground-breaking seasons in television history. The series will certainly be dearly missed, but if it had to go, it simply could not have found a better way to leave—both the perfect swan song, and a reminder to us all what it is we're losing as this series sails off into the sunset. Its final episode is as brilliant, hilarious, inventive and unique as its entire 53-episode run, and simply put, easily one of the finest half-hours of television to air this year.
• Episode Six: Patrick Stewart, Extras (1x06): Ricky Gervais wraps up his first season with an episode that verges on autobiography, as series hero Andy Millman finally gets his big opportunity—his own sitcom about office workers. Meanwhile, the peculiar platonic relationship between Millman and Maggie—a running throughline of the season—is explored in a way that is both surprising and touching, while still leaving room for plenty of tragedy in future seasons, and Patrick Stewart has one of the series' most hilarious guest-starring roles as he pitches his plan for a movie, a thinly veiled excuse to see nude women.
• Joy's Wedding, My Name Is Earl (1x08): For a series which is so much about redemption, "Joy's Wedding" is significant in that it presents a chance for redemption for even the series' most seemingly irredeemable character, Joy, and also reveals the sweetness at the core of her character. It also shows just how far Earl has to go to correct the error of his ways, and is absolutely hysterically funny.
• My Way Home, Scrubs (5x07): For my money, this was generally a weak season for Scrubs, but that absolutely, postively does not apply to this episode. The series' take on The Wizard of Oz is a stand-out of the entire series, and a fantastic illustration of everything that makes us fans of the series so enamoured with the show. Rarely is an episode of any TV series so good, it encourages you to watch it again within days of having seen it the first time, but "My Way Home" is just that good. It is as funny and heartwarming as any episode of any television series in history could ever hope to be, and as JD walks off into the sun to the hauntingly beautiful strains of a variation on Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's hauntingly beautiful arrangement of the classic song "Somewhere over the Rainbow," that is a moment that stays with you for a long, long time. This is simply a fantastic episode of any series this year—comedy or drama.
• The Ocean Walker, Arrested Development (3x06): The episode in which Michael almost marries his mentally retarded girlfriend but learns the truth in the last moments is one of the funniest of the season, and the "Next Time on...," with David Cross as Dr. Tobias Fünke's hair catches on fire, and he tries unsuccessfully to douse it in GOB's illusion swimming pool is one of those giggle-for-several-minutes moments for which this series is noted.

JCaesar 06:15, 3 June 2006 (EDT)

• Game Night, How I Met Your Mother (1x19): There's several episodes of this new series that I think qualify for this category. I ended up choosing what I thought was the funniest episode. After viewing an embarrasing tape handed off by one of Barney's ex-girlfriends, the gang must tell Barney about their most humiliating experiences to get him to explain it. The episode is part flashback episode, part origin story. We finally find out why Barney is Barney, and learn some other secrets about the night Ted told Robin he loved her. While giving a ton of background information, we get a ton of laughs, and a classic moment from Barney that proves he's one of the best characters on television.

--mangler103 22:12, 4 June 2006 (EDT)

• Y2K, My Name Is Earl (1x19): A major reversal of the show's formula in that this episode spends basically the entire episode in flashback with only a couple quick scenes in the present instead of the other way around. This allowed for a great fleshing out of the characters in ways not entirely possible in the present. The flashback allowed a nice look at the motivations of the main characters and showed some of the roots of Earl's drive to be good. Silas Wier Mitchell revives his role as Earl's old crook buddy, Donny this time showing their friendship before he went to jail for Earl's crimes helping to illustrate just how good of friends they were and why it was so bad that Earl let him go to jail. We learn how Darnell and Catalina arrived in Camden County and both are quite fitting. Darnell and Earl's first meeting and the origin of "Hey Earl, Hey Crabman" is near perfect. Plus the whole idea of this particular group of people thinking they are the only people left in the world and deciding the best place to live is in the Walgreens, which despite "the end of the world" still has power and running water, is hilarious. The-jam 16:39, 5 June 2006 (EDT)

• Higher Education, Weeds (1x07): A hilarious episode in which Nancy recruits some college students to sell her pot on a college campus. It's unfortunate that this show has to be pigeonholed into comedy at all, because it'll have a tough time in a category with mostly slapstick. --MateoP 20:06, 14 June 2006 (EDT)

I agree with your description of the episode, but I think it's premature to guess how people will vote. That Weeds is so different from some of the other nominees may prove to work to its advantage. Besides, I wouldn't want to make any self-fulfilling prophecies about defeat at this early stage. JCaesar 03:06, 15 June 2006 (EDT)

• My Lunch, Scrubs (5x20): While certainly not the funniest episode of the series, it probably one of, if not the most, power one. The first part of the episode is pretty average, but provides an exceptional setup to the ending. Everything in the last 5 minutes of the episode is fantastic, the music, camera work, and most importantly the acting. It all meshes in a way that's just, well, perfect. It's the only episode I I can watch repeatedly and still be affected the same way.

• Casino Night, The Office (2x22): Steve Carell himself helped write the season finale, which not only hilariously brought new twists to all the major characters' story arcs (especially Michael, of course), but also set up some great new developments for next season. And, oh, yeah. "The kiss."
• His Story III, Scrubs (5x19): For the third episode to be taken from another point of view than series hero J.D. Dorian, His Story III focuses on a character who has always been one of the funniest high points of the series, the janitor. JCaesar 22:54, 26 June 2006 (EDT)