io9's 10 episodes that changed television

[EvilSpaceAlien]

So I was just browsing the web when I came across this io9 article, about ten tv episodes which apparently "changed" television.

http://io9.com/5913850/10-tv-episodes-that-changed-television

Anyway, here's the list:

10) The Outer Limits, "Demon With a Glass Hand"
-I haven't seen it so I can't really comment. However from the description it is clear that it obviously inspired some very popular movies and other mediums.
9) Max Headroom, "Blipverts"
-Haven't seen it, so I can't comment.
8) The X-Files, "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose"
-I think I remember this ep, it was one of show's best ones. But did it change television at all? Nah.
7) Blakes 7, "Pressure Point"
-I Haven't seen it so I can't comment.
6) Lost, "The Constant"
-Okay, granted I gave up on Lost after the first season, but I seriously cannot picture any single episode of acurrent day tv show (well relatively current day. it just ended 2 years ago) changing the whole of television for the foreseeable future. Granted Lost did influence the whole wave of half-assed conspiracy shows we've seen recently, and then there's the whole non-linear flashback storytelling thing, but that wasn't exactly a new thing. Lost just took the idea and went crazy with it.
5) The Twilight Zone, "Walking Distance"
-I haven't seen this episode, but the Twilight Zone as a series did have a major culture impact which effected the tv business as a whole, however I don't know if this episode had any major long lasting effect.
4) Star Trek, "Balance of Terror"
-Unfortunately this isn't one of the few episodes of TOS that I've seen, but I think we can all agree that Star Trek had a major cultural impact as a whole, however I can't really comment on this specific episode.
3) Battlestar Galactica, "33"
-I will say that this was an excellent episode of sci fi television, but did it change television??? Hell no!
2) Doctor Who, "City of Death"
-This is probably my favorite episode of classic 'Who (I know most people would pick 'Caves of Androzani", but not me) because of the very clever plot, but I can't see how it changed television.
1) Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "The Body"
-Okay, this is an amazing episode just because of how it treats the death of a character. When watching this for the first time I actually got truly uncomfortable because everything in it just felt a bit too real, and kind of brought back some uncomfortable memories from when my grandfather died. So I think that this could very well have had some major effects on tv in general since it was a groundbreaking tv episode, and Btvs had several of those ("Hush" and "Once More With Feeling" come to mind).

 

[SciphonicStranger]

I would have voted for South Park, Season 5 episode 1 - It Hits the Fan. That one seemed to break the proverbial seal for profanity in US cable programs.

 

[Graybrew1]

First of all........Kudos to ESA.

You have posted some great threads as of late.

Now, for the meat and potatoes:

I think I disagree with Lost, it really did change the way some writers WRITE, that itself did kinda change television.
As to the rest, I would suggest that any uber popular rating or cult giant causes the industry to rethink the limits they have and how hard to push. I think this also changes television. Television itself is an evolving animal. If it were not it would have died out completely many years ago such as most other things.

 

[Bluce Ree]

SGU - Cloverdale

This episode changed my television forever. About 10 minutes into it, I picked up the empty vase from my table and threw it at the screen in a fit of rage at the absolute banality of this episode, damaging it beyond repair.

 

[Graybrew1]

SGU - Cloverdale

This episode changed my television forever. About 10 minutes into it, I picked up the empty vase from my table and threw it at the screen in a fit of rage at the absolute banality of this episode, damaging it beyond repair.

 

[SciphonicStranger]

SGU - Cloverdale

This episode changed my television forever. About 10 minutes into it, I picked up the empty vase from my table and threw it at the screen in a fit of rage at the absolute banality of this episode, damaging it beyond repair.

You really need to learn how to use your remote control. :cheerup:

 

[Overmind One]

SGU - Cloverdale

This episode changed my television forever. About 10 minutes into it, I picked up the empty vase from my table and threw it at the screen in a fit of rage at the absolute banality of this episode, damaging it beyond repair.

joemalllozzi01:smiley-laughing024:

 

[EvilSpaceAlien]

First of all........Kudos to ESA.

You have posted some great threads as of late.

Now, for the meat and potatoes:

I think I disagree with Lost, it really did change the way some writers WRITE, that itself did kinda change television.
As to the rest, I would suggest that any uber popular rating or cult giant causes the industry to rethink the limits they have and how hard to push. I think this also changes television. Television itself is an evolving animal. If it were not it would have died out completely many years ago such as most other things.

Hey thanks!

Yeah you might actually have a point there. However when it comes to individual episodes I still think that Lost didn't really change anything. Sure, the style of the show have had lasting effects on the television industry as a whole, but I don't at all agree with the article in that any one single episode of the show had any major impact which will be remembered for years. The show as a whole, sure, single episodes, nope.

 

[shavedape]

The Twilight Zone didn't just change episodic television, it created it in many ways. The series as a whole was transformative in terms of storytelling.

 

[Joelist]

Interesting list but transformative? Not sure I buy that.

Balance of Terror was the "Trekisation" if the WW2 movie classic "The Enemy Below". 33 was good but hardly transformative. And City of Death was not the first Who episode to play out that way - Doctor Who has always had a more "urbane" flavor to its SciFi than a lot of other shows.

Now if you want transformative, I might offer up:

1) License to Steele (premiere of Remington Steele from back in the 70's): This premiere and its whole series broke a lot of new ground as it was the first "dramedy", one of the first with a really strong and independent female character and basically paved a lot of new ground in hour long shows.

2) Stargate SG-1: Yes some parts were formulaic but it also broke a lot of new ground in having a coherent backstory for its universe and setting it in a modern day world sort of behind the scenes.

3) Doctor Who: When you start to analyze history's longest running SciFi show you see that a great many ideas we saw in feature films and other series came from Who (like the Borg, time travel scifi that looks at repercussions of time travel, the notion that ancient myths have spacefaring origins and on and on).

4) The Prisoner: The great granddaddy of the dystopia genre.


Just off the top of my head.

 

[Gate_Boarder]

Walking Distance was brilliant for a 1959 show. Gig Young as Martin Sloan being thrown back into time and almost killing himself was pretty audacious and started a whole stream of time travel shows for TZ.

The Body, yeoow! What can you say about finding a dead body and all the repercussions that it entails. The Constant, good show if you don't like having answers being spoon fed to you.

Most of the early Trek shows were well thought out. All the other ones I can barely remember or have not seen.