Top 10 TV Moments That Only Get More Emotional With Age
Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re looking at TV scenes that take on more meaning as years pass. For this list, we’re only looking at live action shows. Also, here’s a spoiler alert. What’s a TV moment that took on more meaning for you as you got older? Tell us in the comments.
#10: Ben’s Funeral
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“Scrubs” (2001-10)
Look, we can’t lie. This one was devastating even as it happened. Dr. Cox’s best friend, Ben, is revealed to have been a figment of his imagination throughout this season 3 episode. He actually died of the leukemia he had been diagnosed with earlier in the series. But there’s something about seeing actor Brendan Fraser in the role of a hilarious, wide-eyed, camera-carrying adventurer that’s especially sad. This was just before his career began to stall out. The true and heartbreaking reason for that slow down wouldn’t be known for years, but Fraser was one of the biggest stars of the late 1990s and early 2000s. It really did feel like he was here one minute, and gone the next.
#9: “Class Dismissed”
“Boy Meets World” (1993-2000)
As Cory, Topanga, Shawn, and Eric prepare to venture out into the jungle of adulthood, they come back to Mr. Feeny, the teacher whose wisdom they’ve come to rely on. Watching it as it aired, a young viewer would probably relate more to the kids’ experience. They’re about to venture into the unknown. But as an adult, it’s Mr. Feeny’s care and professionalism that rings truer. He knows, just as a more mature viewer does, that they’re saying goodbye to a time in their lives that will only get more precious to them as they get older.
#8: Leo’s Heart Attack
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“The West Wing” (2000-06)
White House Chief of Staff Leo McGarry was President Bartlet’s best friend, right hand, and in many ways, the person who kept him grounded. When he had a near-fatal heart attack in the woods during the show’s sixth season, it threatened to destabilize everything. But this heartbreaking and terrifying episode would take on new meaning in the last season. John Spencer, the actor who played Leo, would suffer a fatal heart attack himself. It led to a complete overhaul of the latter half of the show’s final season, and made Spencer’s performance a strange and gut-wrenching premonition of his own death.
#7: Mr. Hooper’s Death
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“Sesame Street” (1969-)
For almost sixty years, the friendly humans and puppets of the friendliest block on TV used their hour of airtime to entertain and impart life lessons on its young and impressionable audience. The classic, and devastating, episode where Big Bird learns about grocery store owner Mr. Hooper’s death is one for the books. The death of actor Will Lee brought an opportunity to talk about grief. Not every childhood is the same, and some kids experience loss long before they should. But “Sesame Street” probably prepared its audience for an inevitable, albeit tragic, fact of life that only became more relevant with age and experience.
#6: “I Demand to Go First”
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“Gilmore Girls” (2000-07)
Emily Gilmore was a woman who insisted on having things her way. After her husband, Richard, has a heart attack, she makes one more demand of him. To spare her a life without him, she demands to be the first one to die. Despite his promise to let her go first, real-life intervened. Actor Edward Herrmann passed away in 2014. When the show was revived for a brief, four-episode run in 2016, Richard’s absence was deeply felt. Emily was living out the fear of being alone, and while it made for incredible drama, it made this season 1 scene all the more tragic in hindsight.
#5: “When There’s Only One of Us Left”
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“The Golden Girls” (1985-92)
At the time, it was a simple and heartfelt moment between best friends. When considering what life might be like as they age, the four “Golden Girls” make a pact to look after each other for the rest of their lives. But it’s Rose who asks the fateful question. Well, it turned out to be prophetic. Actress Betty White, who passed in 2021, would be the last surviving regular cast member upon Rue McClanahan’s death in 2010. Not only that, but the four actresses are even sitting in the order they would pass away in real life.
#4: Will’s Absent Father
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“The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” (1990-96)
Will Smith began this classic sitcom as a lovable goofball disrupting his posh Beverly Hills family’s lives. But as Smith proved his dramatic chops, his storylines became more emotionally demanding. This unforgettable episode finds him getting his hopes up once his absent father comes back into his life, only to be let down when he leaves again. Will’s breakdown is still one of the show’s best moments. However, as time goes on, its viewers get older and have children of their own. Having to identify with Will’s dad makes the scene even more emotionally complicated, and maybe even more devastating.
#3: Joyce Summers Dies
“Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (1997-2003)
Given that it was a fantasy show aimed at young adults, many of “Buffy’s” storylines were pitched to the unreal. But any fan will tell you it never skimped on the emotions. So when Buffy Summers finds her mom, Joyce, lying on the sofa with her empty eyes staring at the ceiling, it was not just a shocker. It was a gut punch. To see a character who is so strong, even in the face of the supernatural, be utterly powerless in the face of unexpected death is a sobering realization. Not even the vampire slayer is safe from the random tragedies of life. It’s an episode many viewers have returned to once they’ve lost their own parents.
#2: The Truth About Finn’s Dad
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“Glee” (2009-15)
Finn Hudson’s death is never explained within the universe of the show. The actor, Cory Monteith, was pronounced dead from substance issues in 2013. While the episode surrounding the character’s death is a tearjerker for sure, it’s a season 3 moment that really takes on new meaning considering the circumstances of Monteith’s death. In the episode “Yes/No,” Finn finally learns the truth about his father’s death. He was not killed in action, but from substance issues after returning home from his time in the military. The revelation sends his character spiraling. In retrospect, it becomes a haunting bit of meta-foreshadowing.
#1: “If I Die Young”
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“Glee” (2009-15)
If the episode celebrating Finn Hudson, and actor Cory Monteith, weren’t sad enough, Naya Rivera’s tribute to him in “The Quarterback” became even more devastating a few years later. The actress drowned in Lake Piru in July 2020. She was only 33. Compounding the tragedy was that she was enjoying a day on the lake with her son, whom she managed to lift into their rental boat before disappearing beneath the surface. With imagery of a riverside funeral and the tragedy of young life snuffed out too soon, the melancholy, prescient lyrics of “If I Die Young” became an unexpected tribute to Rivera herself.
