The Moments That Make Me Watch TV

Tonight's Grey's Anatomy rerun in Lifetime TV was the first one I had ever watched. And the reason I keep watching. It was the second part of a two-part episode. The one when Meredith has her hands in a guy's chest, holding still a homemade bomb that could blow up at any minute. At the end of the episode, after Meredith is home again, recovering from almost dying, Derek comes to the door to check on her. She says, "You know what I was thinking about today, today when I almost died. I kept trying to remember our last kiss." (or something to that effect) And Derek says, "It was a Thursday morning" and proceeds to describe their last kiss. Like Meredith, I found him irresistible.

It made me think about the best parts of other TV shows.

For Friends, for me, it's the proposal scene. Chandler has been running around New York trying to find Monica, who he's been trying to throw off the scent that he's going to propose. He comes home, thinking that he's lost her. The lights are dim. There are candles everywhere. He walks in, distraught, and Monica says to him "You wanted it to be a surprise."

Ask the average Buffy the Vampire fan which episode that makes them watch, and the likely answer would be when Buffy and Angel finally get together, and he goes bad again. That's certainly a seminal moment for the series. But for me, the one I remember is the episode where demons take everyone's voices. For 22 minutes of the 45 minutes of airtime, there is no spoken conversation. The first time it aired, I had to call my mother and get her to watch because it was so odd. No speaking, no music, nothing. Silence. I hadn't realized how much I didn't actually look at the screen when I was watching an episode. Until I had no choice. For 22 minutes, I had to look at the screen because all conversation was either through gestures or using chalk tablets. If you didn't watch, you didn't know what was going on.

There are others. For all the schlock and garbage on television, there are moments that are brilliant. And those are the moment that make me watch TV.