Oh the Drama…Our Favorite Memorable TV Moments & Quotes
March 10, 2008 by Kath Skerry
It wasn’t that long ago that GMMR readers were sharing their favorite TV quotes from the world of comedy, but now it’s time to get serious people and talk about our favorite quotes or scenes from TV’s best dramas.
There’s a lot of important moments to choose from, so I wouldn’t never expect you to add just one. Check out new quotes and memorable moments added throughout the day as they might just inspire you.
Here are just a few of my favorites to begin with:
Dawson’s Creek – “True Love”
Joey has just left a heartbroken Dawson for Pacey. A devastated Dawson returns to his bedroom to find Andie, Jen and Jack waiting for him. Jen Lindley: “This is some alternate reality where our intellects are sharper, our quips are wittier and our hearts, are repeatedly broken while faintly in the background some soon to be out of date contempo pop music plays.”
And then of course from the same episode there is this…
Joey: I think I’m in love with you.
Pacey: You think, or you know?
Joey: I know. I’ve known it since the moment you kissed me and maybe even before that. And… [exhales] … scary as it is, I don’t want to deny it any more, Pacey. I don’t want to run from it, and I don’t want to let it run from me.
Everwood – “Til Death Do Us Part”
Ephram: You gotta stop doing that.
Amy: What?
Ephram: Saying things that make me wanna kiss you.
I’ll be adding a few more of my favorites throughout the day in the comments. Now it’s your turn.
What are your most memorable moments and quotes from your favorite TV dramas?
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Michael: Why are you the way that you are? Honestly, every time I try to do something fun or exciting, you make it not… that way. I hate so much about the things that you choose to be.
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Aren’t these supposed to be quotes from dramas? Janet, I don’t think The Office counts as a drama even the Jim and Pam stuff. I like your quote though.
I know there are some Grey’s haters around here, but I still get weepy thinking about Denny’s death.
Izzie: Can you please, please, just get out? I want to be alone with Denny.
Alex: Izzie, that’s not Denny.
Izzie: Shut up.
Alex: Iz, it’s not Denny. The minute his heart stopped beating he stopped being Denny. Now I know you love him, but he also loved you. And a guy that loves you like that, he doesn’t want you to do this to yourself. Because it’s not Denny, not anymore.
Izzie: An hour ago he was proposing. And now… and now he’s going to the morgue. Isn’t that ridiculous? Isn’t it the most ridiculous piece of crap you’ve ever heard?
——————————————————————————–
Veronica: So what are you like now?
Logan: Tortured, you know… ever since I got my heart broken.
Veronica: Hannah really did a number on you, huh?
Logan: I’m not talking about Hannah. I thought our story was epic, you know, you and me.
Veronica: Epic how?
Logan: Spanning years, continents. Lives ruined, bloodshed. EPIC. But summer’s almost here, and we won’t see each other at all. And then you leave town… and it’s over.
Veronica: Logan…
Logan: I’m sorry about last summer. If I could do it over…
Veronica: Come on. Ruined lives? Bloodshed? You really think relationships should be that hard?
Logan: No one writes songs about the ones that come easy.
Awww, breaks my heart on a Monday morning.. ::tears::
I really want to quote the Buffy/Spike “When I say I love you” scene but I don’t want to ruin it for you, GMMR. So when you get to that episode (“Touched”) just know that THATS good stuff 🙂
Basically the entire series of Six Feet Under-
but especially:
The beginning of the second season when Nate is in surgery and the titles declare him dead
The end of the third (fourth?) season when David talks to his dad at the window; there’s a really great speech by the dad and rain falls outside.
Obviously, the entire last episode is brilliant and perfect.
Joey (voice over): “I used to be afraid of so many things…That I’d never grow up. That I’d be trapped in the same place for all eternity. That my dreams would forever be shy of my reach. It’s true what they say. Time plays tricks on you. One day you’re dreaming, the next your dream has become your reality. And now that this scared little girl no longer follows me wherever I go, I miss her. I do. ‘Cause there are things I wanna tell her– to relax, to lighten up, that it is all going to be ok. I want her to know that meeting people who like you, who understand you, who actually accept you for who you are, will become an increasingly rare occurrence. Jen, Jack, Audrey, Andie, Pacey, and Dawson. These people who contributed to who I am, they are with me wherever I go, and as history gets rewritten in small ways with each passing day, my love for them only grows. Because the truth is… it was the best of times. Mistakes were made, hearts were broken, harsh lessons learned, but all of that has receded into fond memory now. How does it happen? Why are we so quick to forget the bad and romanticize the good? Maybe it’s because we need to believe that the time we spent together actually meant something, that we were there for each other in a time in our lives that defined us all, a time in our lives that we will never forget. I can’t swear this is exactly how it happened. But this is how it felt.”
Even though its a funny line from a drama, one of my favorites is from season 1 of the west wing. A republican congressman or senator (I forget) said in a press conference that 1 in 3 white house staffers are drug users without really evidence to back it up. Deputy COS Josh Lyman walks into the meeting to discuss this development saying…
“So, five White House staffers in the room. I would like to say to the 1.6 of you who are stoned right now that it’s time to share.”
As far as a serious quote from a drama, I go back to the West Wing. At a play the “War of the Roses” (season finale of season 3) president Bartlet happens to run into the man he will face in the general election, Gov. Robert Richie. The president tells Richie about a secret service agent who was killed just earlier that night because he walked into an armed robbery. Richie’s response is “Crime. boy, I dunno.” The conversation continues on and gets alittle personal. The conversation end and the president begins to walk away, but before he’s gone he says…
“In the future, if you’re wondering, “Crime. Boy, I dunno.” is when I decided to kick your ass.”
Then he tosses the lighter he used earlier in the scene to a secret service agent.
Its a crime Martin Sheen never who an emmy for the role.
And one more that made me cry like a baby — Jen’s message to her baby:
“I thought I would give you a little list of the things that I wish for you. Well, there’s the obvious. An education. Family. Friends. And a life that is full of the unexpected. Be sure to make mistakes. Make a lot of them, because there’s no better way to learn and to grow, all right? And, um, I want you to spend a lot of time at the ocean, because the ocean forces you to dream, and I insist that you, my girl, be a dreamer. God. I’ve never really believed in god. In fact, I’ve spent a lot of time and energy trying to disprove that god exists. But I hope that you are able to believe in god, because the thing that I’ve come to realize, sweetheart… is that it just doesn’t matter if god exists or not. The important thing is for you to believe in something, because I promise you that that belief will keep you warm at night, and I want you to feel safe always. And then there’s love. I want you to love to the tips of your fingers, and when you find that love, wherever you find it, whoever you choose, don’t run away from it. But you don’t have to chase after it either. You just be patient, and it’ll come to you, I promise, and when you least expect it, like you, like spending the best year of my life with the sweetest and the smartest and the most beautiful baby girl in the world. You don’t be afraid, sweetheart. And remember, to love is to live.”
The first thing that popped into my mind when I read this was when Dr. Mark Green died on ER….that ukulele version of “somewhere over the rainbow/what a wonderful world” was playing in the background and I remember just sobbing my eyes out.
More recently, the entire “Greatest Hits” episode for Charlie on Lost.
The first thing that popped into my mind when I read this was when Dr. Mark Green died on ER….that ukulele version of “somewhere over the rainbow/what a wonderful world” was playing in the background and I remember just sobbing my eyes out.
More recently anything from Lost…the entire “Greatest Hits” episode for Charlie, when Aaron was born and Boone died, the exchange between Penny and Desmond two weeks ago, learning about Locke’s wheelchair for the first time…(“Don’t tell me what I can’t do!”)…I could just go on and on here!
My favorite quote comes from the West Wing Season 2 Finale “Two Cathedrals” The President is all alone in the national cathedral after Mrs. Landingham’s funeral. He is talking to God about how frustrated he is.
President Josiah Bartlet: You’re a son of a bitch, you know that? She bought her first new car and you hit her with a drunk driver. What? Was that supposed to be funny? ‘You can’t concieve, nor can I, the appaling strangeness of the mercy of God’ says Ghram Greene. I don’t know whose ass he was kissing there ‘cus I think you’re just vindictive. What was Josh, a warning shot? That was my son. What did I ever do to yours but praise his glory and praise his name? There’s a tropical storm that’s gaining speed and power. They say we haven’t had a storm this bad since you took out that tender ship of mine in the North Atlantic last year, 68 crew. You know what a tender ship does? It fixes the other ships. It doesn’t even carry guns. It just goes around and fixes the other ships and delivers the mail. That’s all it can do. Gratias tibi ago, domine. Yes I lied. It was a sin. I’ve commited many sins. Have I displeased you, you feckless thug? 3.8 million new jobs, that wasn’t good? Bailed out Mexico. Increased foreign trade. Thirty million new acres of land for conservation. Put Mendoza on the bench. We’re not fighting a war. I’ve raised three children. That’s not enough to buy me out of the doghouse? Haec credam a deo pio, a deo justo, a deo scito? Cruciatus in crucem. Tuus in terra servus, nuntius fui; officium perfeci. Cruciatus in crucem eas in crucem. You get Hoynes.
This is the latin translation: “I give thanks to you, O Lord. Am I really to believe that these are the acts of a loving God? A just God? A wise God? To hell with your punishments. I was your servant here on Earth. And I spread your word and I did your work. To hell with your punishments. To hell with you!”
Oops!! I missed the “drama” part!! Sorry!! LOL
My absolutely, most favorite quote, from a drama, is from the end of season two of Alias…
Vaughn [to Sydney]: This watch belonged to my father. It’s broken now, but it used to keep perfect time. And when he gave it to me, he said, “You could set your heart by this watch.” It stopped October 1st — the day we met.
I was going to put the “Two Cathedrals” speech as well, but I also love the beginning of The West Wing second season premiere. The beginning, when you think the President is fine and he’s ranting and raving and suddenly you notice a little blood coming out of his mouth. The secret service agent’s face just goes white, he reaches around the President and his hand comes back red. “GW! BLUE! BLUE!” and the limo squeals into a 180 and speeds to the hospital. I always cry.
Also a lot of Veronica Mars. The climatic scene in the first season finale, when Keith saves her from the fire. Logan and Veronica’s first kiss, and the look they give each other right before Veronica drives away. The final Logan scene in the series finale. “Someday.”
Speaking of Veronica Mars, how about in “Not Pictured” when Veronica grabs the gun and points it at Beaver (um Cassidy) and screams “He killed my father!” I wanted to bow down and pray to the God that is Kristen Bell. So raw.
I’ve always liked this one from the Dawson’s Creek episode Guerilla Filmmaking. Dawson’s talking about how the movie he is making has a sad ending and Joey says “Hope dies last.”
From Veronica Mars, I’ve always loved:
Troy: Flat?
Veronica: Just as God made me.
Troy: I’m Troy, by the way.
Veronica: I’m Veronica.
Troy: Really? Veronica. Okay, yeah, that does make a lot more sense.
Veronica: Makes more sense how?
Troy: Ah, it’s nothing. I just should never listen to those guys. I mean, really, who names their daughter Trampy McBitch?
Lorelai: I was just trying to remember the first time we met. It must have been at Luke’s, right?
Luke: It was at Luke’s, it was at lunch, it was a very busy day. The place was packed. And this person…
Lorelai: Oh, is it me? Is it me?
Luke: This person comes tearing into the place, in a caffeine frenzy…
Lorelai: Ooh, it’s me!
Luke: I’m with a customer, she interrupts me, wild-eyed, begging for coffee. So I tell her to wait her turn. Then she starts following me around, talking a mile a minute, saying God knows what. Finally I turn to her, and tell her she’s being annoying. Sit down, shut up, and I’ll get to her when I get to her.
Lorelai: You know, I bet she took that very well, ’cause she sounds just delightful…
Luke: She asked me my birthday. I wouldn’t tell her, she wouldn’t stop talking, finally I gave in. I told her my birthday. She went and got the newspaper, opened it up to the horoscopes page, wrote something down, tore it out, handed it to me. So I was looking at this piece of paper in my hand, and under Scorpio, she had written You will meet an annoying woman. Give her coffee, and she’ll go away. So I gave her coffee.
Lorelai: But she didn’t go away!
Luke: She told me to hold onto that horoscope, put it in my wallet, and one day it would bring me luck.
Lorelai: Boy, I will say anything for a cup of coffee! I can’t believe you kept this. You kept this in your wallet? You kept this in your wallet…
Luke: Eight years.
Lorelai: Eight years…
Wow, that still chokes me up. The Denny stuff was BRUTAL above. I MISS Veronica Mars so incredibly much. Reading Logan quotes about killed me but it will always be The Gilmore Girls for me…just finished rewatching 6/7 seasons. I love that show more than most.
Oh and one more note….if Charlie’s greatest hits list could be considered a quotation, I’d say that. But I’ll have to say that Lost has some of the greatest quips ever.
MULDER: Dana, if, um… early in the four years we’ve been working together… an event occurred that suggested or somebody told you that… we’d been friends together in other lifetimes… always… wouldn’t it have changed some of the ways we looked at one another?
SCULLY: Even if I knew for certain, I wouldn’t change a day. Well, maybe that Flukeman thing. I could’ve lived without that just fine.
I’m huge on quotes, but this one stuck out in my mind.
It’s not all that serious of a quote but i love the quote from “the west wing” where donna is telling josh about the real reason she came back to him and the end of the conversation goes something like this
Josh- if you were in an accident i wouldn’t stop for a beer
Donna- if you were in an accident i wouldn’t stop for redlights
there are others of course but i just LOVE this josh and donna moment and i think it really does tell a lot about their friendship/whatever you want to call it
I love the scene in Buffy season two when Buffy doesn’t realize yet that Angel has lost his soul and he’s being really evil to her. That scene gives me chills every time I watch it.
Tim: Julie, I just can’t stand the thought of losing you.
Julie: Tim, you won’t. As long as you keep wearing your football uniform in the bedroom.
Tim: This isn’t a joke, this is my life, you are my life. Julie please marry me. Forget Lila, forget everyone…marry me and have my children. You are so wonderful – it kills me at the thought of you being with anyone else but me.
to be continued
One of my favorite Buffy quotes is from the Season Two finale:
Angelus: No weapons . . . no hope . . . no friends. Take all that away and what’s left?
Buffy: Me.
Since Battlestar Galactica has yet to be represented–
Commander Adama: So say we all!
Colonial Fleet: So say we all.
there really are 1000s of quotes from the west wing that could be put in the comments. The first 4 seasons of that show have not been equaled by any other TV drama. Aaron Sorkin can be a genius when he wants to be.
in saying that I wanted to put another one. the exchange between jed and leo at the end of bartlet for america (season 3)…
PRESIDENT
Well, well, well. Dodged a bullet.
LEO
For the moment.
PRESIDENT
Which is more than I can say for me
at Rosslyn.
LEO
Yeah.
PRESIDENT
Did you get a date with her?
LEO
It’s none of your business. I just
came back to catch up on some work.
See how badly you screwed up this
church thing in Tennessee.
PRESIDENT
I did the church thing in Tennessee
okay. I did it without you.
LEO
You mind if I make some calls make
sure Tennessee’s still one of the
states and stuff?
PRESIDENT
So anyway, I have a present for you.
Merry Christmas, Leo. That was
awfully nice of you.
Seeing the present, the “Bartlet for America” napkin, now framed, Leo is overcome, sinks into his chair, and begins to cry.
I can’t count how many times i’ve watched this episode and I still cry at the end of that episode every time. Get teary eyed just thinking about. John Spencer was such a brilliant actor and combined with Martin Sheen and Sorkin’s writing it was magic week after week.
Another X-Files quote…
SCULLY: One day, you’ll ask me to speak of a truth – of the miracle of your birth. To explain what is unexplained. And if I falter or fail on this day, know there is an answer, my child, a sacred imperishable truth, but one you may never hope to find alone. Chance meeting your perfect other, your perfect opposite – your protector and endangeror. Chance embarking with this other on the greatest of journeys – – a search for truths fugitive and imponderable. If one day this chance may befall you, my son, do not fail or falter to seize it. The truths are out there. And if one day you should behold a miracle, as I have in you, you will learn the truth is not found in science, or on some unseen plane, but by looking into your own heart. And in that moment you will be blessed – and stricken. For the truest truths are what hold us together, or keep us painfully, desperately apart.
I could relate so much to it:
Normally you ask someone how they’re doing and they tell you. Except I never told anyone the truth. I didn’t want people to worry. So I got used to people thinking that I was fine. Then I got used to people leaving me alone. And then I was. Woke up one morning and I was completely alone. That was my fault, Ephram. I put myself there. Out of pride or stupidity – probably both, but I did it to myself, man.
Reid, Everwood
Okay, my quote is from Designing Women, which is a comedy, but the quote is from a dramatic moment:
Julia and Suzanne are at some beauty pageant and a contestant or some young pretty thing is making fun of Suzanne (who was a past pageant winner–Miss Georgia or some such) for having grown older and plumper.
Julia puts her in her place by telling her of how Suzanne won the crown due to her talent with the batons and how when she tossed them she tossed them so high that they broke the lights, and as sparks were flying down she caught those batons:
“And THAT is the night the lights went out in Georgia!!”
I love that quote. I thought it a beautiful display of sisterly love and support.
From ‘The Wire’
Marlo: “You think its one way. But it’s the other way.”
For fear of spoiling the rest of Season 5 of Buffy, I won’t say the entire quote. But Anya’s fruit punch speech kills me every time I watch it. Damn, now I really wish I could go to Paley this year.
Ok, I am going to cheat and give a great dramatic monologue… from a comedy.
In the Scrubs episode “My Bad Banter and Beyond” J.D. and Elliot finally get together. And all the doctors give interviews with a psychologist. Here is Dr. Cox’s take on relationships:
“Relationships don’t work the way they do on television and in the movies: Will they, won’t they, and then they finally do and they’re happy forever — gimme a break. Nine out of ten of them end because they weren’t right for each other to begin with, and half the ones that get married get divorced, anyway. And I’m telling you right now, through all this stuff, I have not become a cynic, I haven’t. Yes, I do happen to believe that love is mainly about pushing chocolate-covered candies and, you know, in some cultures, a chicken. You can call me a sucker, I don’t care, ’cause I do…believe in it. Bottom line…is the couples that are truly right for each other wade through the same crap as everybody else, but, the big difference is, they don’t let it take ’em down.” And as this happens, we begin to see that Turk and Carla are right for each other… and J.D. & Elliot are not. Then Dr. Cox mentions that when great couples fight, “someone will say something,” as we watch J.D. and Elliot stare at each other, like they want to say something, but then just walk away from each other.
Firefly- Serenity
Wash: I am a leaf on the wind – watch how I soar.
Dead Like Me-
George: So, my whole life, everything, all I get to keep are thoughts and memories?
Rube: That’s all we ever have peanut.
“Here we are, all of us, basically alone, separate creatures, just circling each other, all searching for that slightest hint of a real connection. Some look in the wrong places. Some — they just give up hope because, in their mind, they’re thinking, ‘Oh, there’s nobody out there for me,’ but all of us we keep trying over and over again. Why? Because every once in a while…every once in a while, two people meet and there’s that spark, and, yes, Bones, he’s handsome and she’s beautiful and maybe that’s all they see at first, but making love…making love…that’s when two people become one.” ~ Bones
Third season of “Grey’s Anatomy” after George’s Dad died:
Cristina: There’s a club. The “Dead Dads” club. And you can’t be in it until you’re in it. You can try to understand, you can sympathize but until you feel that loss . . . My dad died when I was nine. George, I’m really sorry you had to join the club.
George: I. [pause] I don’t know how to exist in a world where my dad doesn’t.
Cristina: Yeah, that never really changes.
Well, I was going to post mine but somebody already got to it — the Bartlet for America napkin scene from The West Wing. I still remember that’s the episode that actually ran the week I was on my honeymoon…Watched it after I got home in the pre-DVR era. We actually “taped it.”
The season finale of Season 5 of BTVS, when she dives off the building, I was bawling!!!!
Buffy: Dawn listen to me. Listen. I love you. I’ll always love you. But this is the work I have to do. Tell Giles I… I figured it out. And I’m okay. Give my love to my friends. You have to take care of them now — you have to take care of each other. You have to be strong. Dawn. The hardest thing in this world is to live in it. Be brave. Live. For me.
And then her tombstone (sob!!!) and us not knowing if the show was coming back!!!:
BUFFY ANNE SUMMERS
1981-2001
BELOVED SISTER, DEVOTED FRIEND
SHE SAVED THE WORLD
A LOT
Man, chica, I want to fill this board up with BTVS quotes, but most are from seasons 6 and 7…frustrating much?
OK, I’ve got one from season 2…heartbreaking! When Buffy has to stab Angel and send him to hell…
Angel: What’s happening?
Buffy: Shh. Don’t worry about it. I love you.
Angel: I love you.
Buffy: Close your eyes.
Loved every minute of The West Wing, Sorkin’s dialogue combined with brilliant acting made for some amazing worthy-of-a-theater TV moments. Always wondered what Pres. Bartlett meant by “You get Hoynes.” at the end of the 2 Cathedrals speech.
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