Earlier this year, Vanity Fair compiled a list of eight perfect TV episodes from the 2022–2023 season. It's a killer collection, spanning comedy, drama, and whatever category The Bear belongs to. But after it was done, they couldn't stop thinking about more of TV's best episodes—the stand-alone chapters that push an ongoing narrative to new heights, the self-contained but sweeping stories that best exemplify what makes TV so special.
So, which classics most deserve to be labeled perfect episodes? Let's start with these 25 unforgettable titles, culled from the past quarter century of TV—including canonical series like The Sopranos, Mad Men, Lost, Friends, and Breaking Bad, as well as instant standouts like Atlanta, Reservation Dogs, and Insecure—and presented in chronological order. These are the gems we're still debating and swooning over and giddily rewatching, even years.
The past quarter century's best TV episodes, from Mad Men and The Sopranos to Succession and beyond.
