Retroactive Post - Best Episodes of TV Shows on DVD

I promised it in an earlier post, so here it is: my picks for the best episodes of all of the TV show seasons I've watched on DVD so far. It's something I'm adding to future posts on TV DVDs and I didn't want previous posts to miss out.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force - Volume One
I don't know if I have a favourite on this one... Maybe "Revenge of the Mooninites", because I enjoyed Carl's expression of his love for 80's rock band Foreigner, which of course culminated in his head becoming a Connect Four board. Bonus: I didn't review the Volume Two DVD because I didn't really know what I could say about it that I didn't say about the first one, but my pick for best episode on that one is "Super Trivia", because watching the characters sit around a bar playing trivia turned out to be a lot of fun and really funny.

The IT Crowd - Season One
I almost chose "Calamity Jen" because of the hilarious fire brigade commercial, but I'll go with "Fifty-Fifty" because I loved the storyline about Roy wanting to prove that women love bastards. That is an age old debate that may never be settled.

The IT Crowd - Season Two
"Moss and the German", which may be one of my favourite IT Crowd episodes ever, because everything about it is classic - the anti-piracy ad, the weird cannibalism story (which, even weirder, was based on a true story), Roy desperately trying to avoid movie spoilers, and Jen's smoking habit evoking depressing Russian visuals. Definitely one of the most memorable episodes.

The IT Crowd - Season Three
I said in the post for this one that it was the strongest season, and really I could choose any of the six and be fine with that decision, but on a personal level I'd have to go with "Are We Not Men?". As someone who has no interest in sports, I found the conversation bluffing idea to be funny and probably true, though I've never tried it because even in that context I still wouldn't want to discuss sports with anyone.

Chappelle's Show: The Lost Episodes
I don't think the episodes have titles, but my favourite on this set was the second of the three lost episodes, in which Dave plays "Black Howard Dean" and security guard Gary Coleman, and puts George Castanza's "sex trifecta" to use. It's also the one with the controversial "stereotype pixies", but I don't care so much about that one. If only the Tupac sketch were in this episode instead. And as a bonus, Wikipedia says this episode originally aired on my birthday!

Dexter - Season One
I already mentioned in the post (although not as officially as I'll be doing in the future) that the best episode here was "Return to Sender", because it brought the tension and excitement from about a 4 to an 11, and solidified my enjoyment of the series. I would later be pleasantly surprised to find out that the entire second season is like that one first season episode.

The 4400 - Season One
The 1.5 hour pilot is what sold me on buying the complete series, but I think I'll have to go with "White Light", the season finale, because it had some cool stuff and really showed us where the show was going. Plus, you know, the trees were bending.

Breaking Bad - Season One
I said the first three episodes were the best, so that narrows it down, but I think my favourite is episode three, "...And the Bag's in the River", because the whole Krazy 8 situation was handled amazingly, and the moment where Walt puts the yellow plate back together is one of my favourite parts of the entire series so far.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Volume One

Aqua Teen Hunger Force is crazy, fun, and hilarious. I got to see their debut on Space Ghost and probably the only thing that carried over from that was Meatwad's voice. They were originally a superhero team but that was just for the sake of pitching the show because studio execs didn't "get" a show about food items doing random things, so a lot of the first episodes are about them solving crimes (usually pyramid schemes) brought on by Dr. Weird's experiments. But I'm happy to say that the first episodes are still as funny as any of the others, and having structure in a show that later had no structure does not subtract from the overall enjoyment. My one complaint, however, is that the early episodes had some rapper guy as a narrator, which I found to be completely useless and unfunny. All he does is say stuff like, "Come on, Meatwad, y'all should know better den dat!" or "Shake, you one cold mofo!" Actually he's less a narrator and more a commentator. But luckily that element was eventually removed from the show.

My favourite characters are Shake and Carl (who you can see in the banner at the top of the page) because I find them the funniest. Shake because his selfish douchebag shtick projected by whoever his awesome voice actor is just delights me; and Carl, the Aqua Teens's fat loser neighbour, because pretty much everything about him makes me laugh: his sweatpants and thick mustache, his permanent hands-on-hips pose like everything is annoying him, his funny voice and accent, and the way the Aqua Teens are always destroying Carl's pool, car, or house, or sometimes even Carl himself. And who can forget the time he used the magic belt from 80's rock group "Foreigner" to accidentally turn his own head into a Connect Four board. Classic.

Recommendation
It's not for everyone. I'm sure there are those who would just find it weird (and it is weird), but if you have a bizarre sense of humour and enjoy randomness to the max then give it a shot. It's also a great show for those suffering from A.D.D., because the episodes are just over 10 minutes long.