Everwood
Everwood started its second season with a bang -- or more accurately, with the drone of a heart monitor flatline -- by revealing that our beloved Coma Boy was dead. Colin's tragic end sent the Abbott children into a downward spiral of Coriolis-like proportions, one of whom we loved more and more with each passing episode, and the other to whom we can only say, "Shut UP, Amy." Season Two was, indeed, chock-full of unforgettable Abbott moments: Amy's overdose with Eyebrows, her Bangs of Sadness, and that time she ran away; Bright's expulsion from the football team and subsequent academic kickassery; Patch Abbott and The Incredibly Unsuccessful Bagel Shoppe; and who could forget Rinda Abbott? Oh, Rinda. You taught us what the Eastern way was all about. You came, you practiced "medicine," you burned incense, you broke Treat's heart with your dehydrated hair and HIV status -- and you left us when we were finally warming up to you.
As for the Brown family, they seem to have learned nothing from the heartbreak of Everwood's first season. Treat hooked up with Rinda, only to discover that all the grins in the world couldn't fix that trainwreck; Delia...zzzzzzzzz; and Ephram took up with his babysitter and got her pregnant. Oops. And here we are at the most memorable moment of Season Two: Treat telling Madison to get the hell out of Everwood. That's right, Bucky -- take your baby and blow this pop stand. Ephram? Nah, no need to trouble him. Why, he's on a plane! To New York! With Amy! Here, have some of this pretty money. -- AB Chao
Gilmore Girls
In this season of forgotten children (Davey, Gigi), in choosing the best moment of the season, we could go on and on about the Jess or Dean debate, or how Rory chose to lose her virginity to a married man. We could buy into the WB's hype about the Paris-on-Rory Spring Break kiss. It could be the surprise twist ending where Richard screwed Digger to the sound of pretty birds. But we all know the best moment of Season Four was the last moment, when Lorelai and Luke finally, finally, finally started something, which certainly means there's only one season left in this show. Thank you to everybody who made Season Four as good as the earlier seasons, so we can once again hold our heads high when we tell our friends what we do on Tuesday nights. -- Pamie
Joan of Arcadia
In a nearly note-perfect episode stuffed with memorable moments ("Jump"), it's tempting to list at least a dozen, but it can be narrowed down to two. First: Adam comes to the Girardis' sunny kitchen after spending a painful night trying to force himself to read his mother's suicide note for the first time since her death three years earlier, and admits to Joan -- no, not Joan; Jane, again, finally -- that he needs help to read it. Joan quickly realizes it's a task better suited to her mother, and Mary Steenburgen gives the suicide note -- which could have come off as maudlin in lesser hands -- a reading that is lovely and healing beyond anything Adam dared hope. Later that same day, Joan and Adam attend the school science fair together, holding hands and enjoying feeling light-hearted for perhaps the first time since they met. When the rail gun Luke and Grace have stayed up all night building suddenly triggers a Rube Goldbergian chain of events, and the science fair attendees are showered by a cloudburst of water and glass and feathers, Adam and Joan -- sorry, Jane -- share their first kiss, and it's as sweet and uncomplicated and spontaneous as we could have hoped. It's the perfect culmination of every single thing that's occurred to Joan since the season started. Unchallenged. -- Deborah
Everwood
Everwood started its second season with a bang -- or more accurately, with the drone of a heart monitor flatline -- by revealing that our beloved Coma Boy was dead. Colin's tragic end sent the Abbott children into a downward spiral of Coriolis-like proportions, one of whom we loved more and more with each passing episode, and the other to whom we can only say, "Shut UP, Amy." Season Two was, indeed, chock-full of unforgettable Abbott moments: Amy's overdose with Eyebrows, her Bangs of Sadness, and that time she ran away; Bright's expulsion from the football team and subsequent academic kickassery; Patch Abbott and The Incredibly Unsuccessful Bagel Shoppe; and who could forget Rinda Abbott? Oh, Rinda. You taught us what the Eastern way was all about. You came, you practiced "medicine," you burned incense, you broke Treat's heart with your dehydrated hair and HIV status -- and you left us when we were finally warming up to you.
As for the Brown family, they seem to have learned nothing from the heartbreak of Everwood's first season. Treat hooked up with Rinda, only to discover that all the grins in the world couldn't fix that trainwreck; Delia...zzzzzzzzz; and Ephram took up with his babysitter and got her pregnant. Oops. And here we are at the most memorable moment of Season Two: Treat telling Madison to get the hell out of Everwood. That's right, Bucky -- take your baby and blow this pop stand. Ephram? Nah, no need to trouble him. Why, he's on a plane! To New York! With Amy! Here, have some of this pretty money. -- AB Chao
Gilmore Girls
In this season of forgotten children (Davey, Gigi), in choosing the best moment of the season, we could go on and on about the Jess or Dean debate, or how Rory chose to lose her virginity to a married man. We could buy into the WB's hype about the Paris-on-Rory Spring Break kiss. It could be the surprise twist ending where Richard screwed Digger to the sound of pretty birds. But we all know the best moment of Season Four was the last moment, when Lorelai and Luke finally, finally, finally started something, which certainly means there's only one season left in this show. Thank you to everybody who made Season Four as good as the earlier seasons, so we can once again hold our heads high when we tell our friends what we do on Tuesday nights. -- Pamie
Joan of Arcadia
In a nearly note-perfect episode stuffed with memorable moments ("Jump"), it's tempting to list at least a dozen, but it can be narrowed down to two. First: Adam comes to the Girardis' sunny kitchen after spending a painful night trying to force himself to read his mother's suicide note for the first time since her death three years earlier, and admits to Joan -- no, not Joan; Jane, again, finally -- that he needs help to read it. Joan quickly realizes it's a task better suited to her mother, and Mary Steenburgen gives the suicide note -- which could have come off as maudlin in lesser hands -- a reading that is lovely and healing beyond anything Adam dared hope. Later that same day, Joan and Adam attend the school science fair together, holding hands and enjoying feeling light-hearted for perhaps the first time since they met. When the rail gun Luke and Grace have stayed up all night building suddenly triggers a Rube Goldbergian chain of events, and the science fair attendees are showered by a cloudburst of water and glass and feathers, Adam and Joan -- sorry, Jane -- share their first kiss, and it's as sweet and uncomplicated and spontaneous as we could have hoped. It's the perfect culmination of every single thing that's occurred to Joan since the season started. Unchallenged. -- Deborah