10 Greatest TV Episodes Of All-Time

9. "The Contest" (4.11) - Seinfeld

"The Contest" is often regarded amongst Seinfeld fans as one of - if not the - best episodes of the entire show. Written by creator Larry David of Curb Your Enthusiasm fame, the ingenious concept inherent to this episode is as such: Jerry, Elaine, Kramer and George decide to have a contest to see who can go the longest with masturbating. The twist stems from the fact that the entire thing was implied and never clearly stated, meaning theepisode still remained "friendly" enough to be cleared by TV censors.

But a smart gimmick like that wouldn't mean anything unless the episode that it clung to had all the makings of a classic. Thankfully, "The Contest" does, and the resulting Emmy award speaks for itself. David's script, which manages to take a controversial subject and render it harmless fun, deserves an endless amount of praise, but the success of the episode also stems from the performances offered up by the four leads. In terms of iconic TV episodes that you can watch again and again, "The Contest" wins.