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The 10 Best Sitcom Finales in TV History

By Jason Bailey on

Last night, NBC brought down the curtain on The Office in rather a lovely fashion, with a series finale that was warm, nostalgic, and plenty funny. Bringing a long-running sitcom to a close is a tricky bit of business (how ya doin’, Roseanne), but The Office joins a handful of shows that have done it very, very well. Here are some other examples. … Read More

Television

Should ‘Community’ Stay In Session — Or Is It Time to Graduate?

By Jason Bailey on

For the past 12 weeks, in this space, Flavorwire has recapped the abbreviated, delayed, and frequently problematic fourth season of NBC’s Community. As you certainly all know by now, the third year of the often brilliant series concluded with the abrupt sacking of creator/showrunner Dan Harmon, whose distinctive, idiosyncratic sensibility gave the show much of its voice, and whose comic genius was reportedly matched only by his inability to suffer suits gladly. The transition to new showrunners Moses Port and David Guarascio was certain to be bumpy, and it was. But now that Community‘s senior year has come to a close, it’s worth asking: should the show carry on, or is it time to send the Greendale crew (and the gifted actors who play them) out into the Real World? … Read More

Web

What’s On at Flavorpill: The Links That Made the Rounds in Our Office

By Alison Nastasi on

Today at Flavorpill, we appreciated these hairless movie villains. We gazed at photos of baby animals, because science told us it would make us more focused. We read Iggy and The Stooges’ snarky tour rider. We memorized all the Twitter info for our favorite fall TV shows.… Read More

Television

20 of the Best Closing Scenes in Television

By Michelle Rafferty on

After recently taking a look at some of our favorite TV pilot opening scenes, we decided it would only be fitting to look at some of our favorite closers across history. Some are wholly satisfying for their sense of closure after a long ride with characters we came to know and love, while others are equally poignant for their ambiguity, often thanks to early cancellation. Although these are just the final moments, revisiting these scenes has been enough to make us laugh, cry, and get thoroughly freaked out all over again, and we hope that perhaps they can provide you some healthy catharsis, too. Have a favorite we missed? Let us know in the comments — and beware that this post is, for obvious reasons, full of spoilers. … Read More

Television

A Collection of Great Art Made by TV Characters

By Michelle Rafferty on

We’ve done a fair amount of coverage on the burgeoning field of TV pop art in recent years, but we haven’t yet looked at the art directly from these fictional universes. From Jesse Pinkman’s Kanga-man and James Franco’s inexplicable self-portraits as “Franco” to Lily Aldrin’s nudes of both Marshall and Barney, we’ve rounded up the TV character art that has shocked, delighted, confused, and left us downright heartbroken. Have some professional criticism? Were Jesse Pinkman’s “lines” as great as Jane said they were? Is there a piece we didn’t include (and that you may or may not have facsimiled for your own wall)? Please share in the comments!  … Read More

Television

The Actors Behind the Most Important TV Characters We’ve Never Seen

By Jennifer Lewis on

Ah, the elusive TV character we never see. Many sitcoms have one. You know, a person who is often integral to the show, but whose face or body is left to the imagination. In many cases, there isn’t even a voice or a silhouette associated with the unseen character at hand — for example, Bob Sacamano on Seinfeld, Diane on Twin Peaks, or Tino on My So-Called Life. Occasionally, however, there’s a distant voice or an obscured body associated with these mysterious characters. We’ve always been curious about these folks, so we decided to put some unseen characters side by side with the actors who played them. Check ‘em out after the jump, and hit the comments to let us know who we missed. … Read More

Television

10 Great TV Crossover Episodes

By Margaret Eby on

Television crossover events, like this week’s buzzed-about meeting between Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice, are by nature complicated. Sending the characters of a lesser-known series into a more established hit (or vice versa) is a time-honored move for studios, but making the grammar of two shows mesh isn’t always easy. Take the notorious episode of The Simpsons that crossed over with The Critic, a FOX-arranged partnership that Simpsons creator Matt Groening considered enough of an imposition on his creation that he removed his name from the credits in protest. But at their best, TV crossovers encapsulate that marvelous feeling you get when two pieces of pop culture wink at each other from across the room. When they’re done well, crossover episodes are tiny links in the sprawling fictional universe of television, from Kramer’s turn on Mad About You to Detective Munch’s appearance on Arrested Development. We count down ten great crossover television episodes, after the jump. … Read More

Television

Ranking TV’s Nightlife Destinations from Worst to Best

By Romy Oltuski on

The cities and settings and streets and apartments we see on television become, over time, our own; who doesn’t sometimes get the feeling they could actually stroll through Pawnee or buy coffee at Central Perk? These places become our second homes, each as filled with nostalgia as our old classrooms, friends’ houses, and playgrounds. But we’re not going to fool ourselves — some of the dingy joints our favorite TV characters spend their time in are just as bad as the worst ones we get dragged to in real life, which is why we’ve put together an honest tourist’s guide to onscreen nightlife. Below the jump, browse our ranking of ten TV hangout spots, in order, from the ones we wouldn’t step foot into to the ones we’re trying to book for our next holiday party. Which TV bar, club, or lounge would you head to on a night out? … Read More

Television

Flavorpill’s Zagat-Style Guide to TV’s Best Thanksgiving Episodes

By Jason Bailey on

Thanksgiving is upon us, and it’s high time to enjoy all of our favorite yearly traditions: the turkey, the stuffing, the pumpkin pie, the awkward family encounters, pretending to care about football… and, most of all, that venerable standby of episodic television, the Thanksgiving show. As best as we can determine, the first weekly series to do a Thanksgiving-centered episode was The Burns and Allen Show, back in 1951; Ozzie and Harriet, Father Knows Best, Make Room for Daddy, and Mr. Peepers quickly followed suit, realizing that a Thanksgiving show offered plenty of fodder for conflict, resolution, and warm holiday cheer. We’ve selected ten of our favorite Thanksgiving episodes — and in the culinary spirit of the holiday, we present them in the ever-popular Zagat’s dining guide format, because why not? Check ‘em out after the jump and add your own in the comments. … Read More

Television

The 10 Most Memorable '80s TV Theme Songs

By Jason Bailey on

Sad news this week: Singer/songwriter Andrew Gold died of a heart attack at 59. Film fans will most likely recognize his biggest (and, frankly, kinda only) hit “Lonely Boy” from its use in Boogie Nights. Okay, and in The Waterboy. But that pop epic was not Mr. Gold’s pop culture legacy; it seems that back in 1978 he wrote and recorded a little number called “Thank You For Being a Friend,” which was re-recorded by Cynthia Fee and used as the theme song to The Golden Girls. And if I threw a party, etc.

In memory of Mr. Gold, we contemplated a list of the best 1980s TV theme songs — a notion only slightly complicated by the fact that, well, by most reasonable standards, “Thank You For Being a Friend” isn’t actually a terribly good song. What it is, however, is catchy — if you hear it once, it lodges itself in your brain forever, ready to be trotted out at a moment’s notice for spirited sing-alongs during Lifetime re-runs, drunken parties, and Golden Girls-themed drag shows. And let’s face it, that’s what a lot of those ’80s theme songs were — maybe not good, but certainly not easy to get out of your skull. So that’s the list we put together, limiting ourselves to shows that premiered in the 1980s — so, as painful as it was to leave them out, there’s no Rockford Files (its final regular episode aired in January 1980), Taxi or Diff’rent Strokes (both premiered in 1978), WKRP or Dukes of Hazard (1979). Take a peek after the jump, and add your own in the comments. … Read More