The original post: /r/television by /u/abacus-wizard on 2025-01-04 16:05:59.
Every time I watch a show, I love to pay attention to episode titles. If an episode has a good title, my enjoyment of the episode can raise a couple of points.
I’m really not sure why. It doesn’t matter. But a memorable episode title that rolls off the tongue is just really satisfying to me.
For example, an episode title that’s always stuck with me is “And Maggie Makes Three” from The Simpsons. I haven’t watched an episode of The Simpsons in years, and especially not that one, but it’s always stayed with me because the title sounds nice.
I especially love when a show has a theme with the way they title their episodes. The most obvious example is Friends, with their naming convention being "The One Where ______" and describing what happens in the episode.
I’m also fond of the way Survivor names their episodes, with every episode being named after a quote from the episode itself.
However, My favorite example of the above is Community, which names it’s episodes as though they were a college course. I’ve always thought that was really cool.
My girlfriend’s favorite show is Doctor Who, and I’d never seen it until she showed it to me, but I have noticed that a lot of the episode names from Doctor Who are pretty literal. “Daleks in Manhattan” pretty much tells you all you need about the episode. But I suppose the British don’t have time for that kind of nonsense.
Anyway, what are some of your favorite episode titles? Or naming conventions? I’d love to know!