January Jokers: Binge-Watching TV’s Classic Sitcom Episodes

By Michael Lyons

January, the Christmas Tree and decorations are back in solitary confinement for another year, the credit card bills are littering your mailbox and the news just reported that the temperature in your hometown is the same as Anchorage, Alaska.

What a great time to stay inside and warm yourself by the glow of your television, watching episode after episode of an entire TV series.  While you put together your watchlist, alongside the latest Netflix offering, or that network series from two seasons ago that’s still taking up space on your DVR, consider these classic episodes of some of television’s most classic sitcoms.

So get out the “Retro remote control” and get ready to watch some TV from a time when binge watching meant that you went to the kitchen for a snack while the commercial was on!

“The Honeymooners”: “TV or Not TV’” Originally aired October 1, 1957

This, the first of the episodes that are now dubbed “The Classic 39” is, without a doubt, one of the funniest of the Brooklyn misadventures of the Kramdens and Nortons.  In the episode, Ralph and Ed decide to finally invest in the “luxury” of a new television set and “share it,” with Ralph keeping the set in his apartment and Ed reserving the right to come by anytime and watch it.

The episode is filled with all of the staples that made “The Honeymooners” so memorable (Gleason’s “Get Out!” Explosions toward Carney are magnificent). There’s good reason Jackie Gleason spun “The Honeymooners” off from a recurring skit on his variety show to a show of their own.  This episode is what the Golden Age of Television is all about - filled with great comic timing and audience pleasing laughs.

The episode is also a perfect capsule of the time, when gathering around the TV was indeed, not just a luxury, but a communal, shared experience of entertainment.

“I Love Lucy”:  “Lucy and Superman.”  Originally aired January 4, 1957

One of the best examples of the hysterical predicaments Lucy would get herself into (and would later have some “‘splaining” to do).  In this episode, Lucy tries to make little  Ricky’s birthday party a hit by attempting to get George Reeves (at the time, TV’s Superman) to come and make an appearance.

When he can’t, Lucy attempts to play Superman herself (complete with a makeshift costume, boxer shorts and a football helmet!).  No spoilers here, but the results are classic “I Love Lucy.” 

An early example of a Guest star (Reeves), playing himself, something that would become a staple of sitcoms for decades after.  Watching two popular shows of the time collide is, like the aforementioned “Honeymooners” episode, another glimpse back in time at just how much TV was becoming part of our popular culture.

“The Dick Van Dyke Show”:  “It May Look Like a Walnut”. Originally aired February 6, 1963

Rob and Laura Petrie (Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore, who else?!?) are watching a scary science fiction movie before heading off to bed one night.  When Rob awakes the next morning, he finds that the events of the movie have come to life - an alien named Twilo (Danny Thomas) is using walnuts to take over Earth.

Is he dreaming?  Is this real?...there were several more seasons of the “Dick Van Dyke Show” and Earth survived, so you can only guess the answer from there.

What audiences are left with in this episode is a sharply written (by series creator Carl Reiner), bizarre and darkly funny show that skewered a paranoid society and science fiction movies.  All elements are in top form.  The ending sequence, involving a closet full of walnuts, has become a “Dick Van Dyke Show” classic moment.

“The Odd Couple”:  “Password.”  Originally aired December 1, 1972

Another “Guest Star” episode (and a bit of a “crossover” episode too) that provides another glimpse into TV of another time is also one of “The Odd Couple’s” funniest episodes.

New York’s most mis-matched room mates, the slovenly sports writer Oscar (Jack Klugman) and fastidious photographer Felix (Tony Randall) find themselves contestants on the then popular game show “Password.”

Felix’s cultured thinking clashes, as always, with Oscar’s common sense, for some hysterical responses while on the game show (“Aristophanes is ridiculous!”).  Then real-life wife and husband Betty White and Allen Ludden (the host of “Password”) guest star as themselves and both demonstrate impeccable comic timing.

The late, great Jack Klugman has called “Password” his all-time favorite “Odd Couple” episode and it’s easy to see why.  It’s one of those rare TV moments that gets funnier with each viewing and reveals why “The Odd Couple” remains one of the TV’s most woefully underrated sitcoms. 

“The Mary Tyler Moore Show”:  “Chuckles Bites the Dust.”  Originally aired October 25, 1975

Mary and the rest of the crew at TV station WJM receive news that the station’s own Chuckles the Clown has met with an untimely death.  They learn that while serving as the Grand Marshall in a parade, Chuckles, dressed like a peanut, is accidentally “shelled” to death by an elephant.

Mary is appalled when everyone around the news room cracks jokes and take this lightly...then, at Chuckles funeral, Mary suddenly appreciates the humor in the situation, at the most inappropriate - and hysterical - time.

Written by award winning veterans James Brooks, Allan Burns and David Lloyd, “Chuckles” consistently comes up during conversations centering on the greatest sitcom episodes ever and for good reason.  This is as giddy and dark as TV humor gets.  It’s more than appropriate that the word “chuckles” is in the title!

“Cheers,”:  “Bar Wars.”  Originally aired March 31, 1988

The rivalry between the Boston Bar “Where everybody knows your name” and Gary’s Old Towne Tavern was often the subject of “B plots” in many episodes, but in this one, it takes center stage.

The two bars’ extensive practical jokes keep both the characters and viewers guessing throughout and a guest appearance by famed Red Sox player Wade Boggs cements the show in a nice, Boston back drop.

What’s nice about this episode is, at this point, “Cheers” had been on since 1983 and had experienced a pretty significant change-out in cast (Kirstie Alley for Shelly Long), but the caliber of this episode shows that the sitcom was able work through these changes solidly (some would say even stronger) and remain one of the greatest shows of the ‘80’s.

If you’ve never watched any of these shows, or vaguely watched them, these episodes may just turn you into a fan.  Start binge watching them all now and before you know it, Spring will be here!

Sources: IMDb

Wikipedia