2. Friends, "The One With George Stephanopoulos" (Season 1, Episode 4)
If you haven't seen an episode of Friends in syndication by now, you probably don't own a TV. There are literally dozens of great episodes to choose from here, and if you're picking from among the first five seasons, it's almost impossible to go wrong (For my money, things can be pretty hit-or-miss from Season 6 on, but that's a debatable point). This is just one in a huge pool of choices, but the Season One episode "The One With George Stephanopoulos" really embodies so many of the qualities that made Friends such a comedy juggernaut. It features the guys taking Ross to a hockey game to help him forget about his lesbian ex-wife on their anniversary, and the girls accidentally getting George Stephanopoulos' pizza and discovering he lives across the street. Naturally, they end up spying on him. Beneath the surface comedy of the episode, though, we get a real taste of the themes that made early seasons of Friends resonate. The struggle to find a plan for the rest of your life, or even just next week; the difficulty of dealing with the loss of a relationship; and the importance of your friends in helping you do all of these things and more.