The Best TV Episodes Of All Time, Ranked
There’s so much TV choice these days that folks can waste hundreds of hours of their lives just contemplating what to watch, according to a 2021 study. On top of that, the average American will still fit around three hours of TV into their schedule every single day. That’s why we want to make sure that show you’re binging is absolutely worthy of your precious time. So grab that remote, and hand out those snacks… These are the very best TV episodes ever made.
FYI, this ranking is based on IMDb user ratings for individual TV episodes. Each episode must have had at least 5,000 votes, and any ties were split by the number of votes received. TV series were limited to five episodes each in the interest of building a more diverse list.
Honorable Mention: Dark
Episode Title: An Endless Cycle
Year Aired: 2019
Director: Baran bo Odar
No. of Votes: 13,647
IMDb Rating: 9.5
This episode of the Netflix original series Dark narrowly missed out on a place on our official ranking. But it’s worthy of mention because one viewer hailed “An Endless Cycle” as the Grimme-Preis-winning thriller’s “greatest masterclass.” It’s the sixth episode of season two, in case you want to hit the skip button.
40. House M.D.
Episode Title: House’s Head
Year Aired: 2008
Director: Greg Yaitanes
No. of Votes: 9,456
IMDb Rating: 9.8
Director Greg Yaitanes picked up a 2008 Primetime Emmy for his work on the penultimate episode of House M.D.’s fourth season. And if you seek out the behind-the-scenes footage of how they created the spectacular bus crash from this episode, you’ll see that the win was well deserved.
39. Person of Interest
Episode Title: return 0
Year Aired: 2016
Director: Chris Fisher
No. of Votes: 10,235
IMDb Rating: 9.8
The very last episode of CBS’ Person of Interest could hardly have gone any better, if the critics are to be believed. It was “a pathos-filled and near-perfect end,” according to a glowing review in Entertainment Weekly. The high user rating on IMDb shows audiences largely agree.
38. BoJack Horseman
Episode Title: Time’s Arrow
Year Aired: 2017
Director: Aaron Long
No. of Votes: 10,406
IMDb Rating: 9.8
“Time’s Arrow” earned a Writers Guild of America award for Kate Purdy and inspired rave reviews from Vulture, The Atlantic, and The A.V. Club. Polygon even called this season four story — which is centered around dementia — “TV’s best episode of 2017.” You can catch it on Netflix.
