The 30 Best TV Moments of 2016

Outlander costume designer Terry Dresbach knew the stakes were high when it came time for Caitriona Balfe to don Claire's red dress, a key moment in the second Outlander novel, Dragonfly in Amber. As she told her husband — and series showrunner — Ronald D. Moore, if they didn't get it absolutely right, fans would "burn us at the stake." Fortunately for their continued survival, viewers' jaws dropped even further than Jamie's when Claire descended that staircase clad in resplendent red. Simply put, that dress is the hottest in haute couture. —Ethan Alter
(Photo: Starz)

Theirs was a love for the ages — one particular age, actually. When Jake (James Franco) traveled back in time to stop the assassination of JFK, it wasn’t in his plan to meet a fetching, clever schoolteacher named Sadie (Sarah Gadon), let alone fall in love. But when Jake’s plan goes wrong — both in 1963 and the present day — he has to make the heartbreaking choice to travel back in time and redo everything, but this time without Sadie. He makes sure to say one final goodbye in 2016, though, visiting Sadie — now in her 80s — for a bittersweet last dance during a party in her honor. “Who are you?” asks Sadie, to which Jake replies, “Someone you knew in another life.” It’s a beautiful, poignant moment that perfectly illustrates our endless fascination with what might have been. —Kristen Baldwin
(Photo: Hulu)

She's not called the Unburnt for nothing. Daenerys re-earned that title after her capture by the Dothraki. When the khals gathered to decide her fate, she turned the proceedings around on them. She decided their fate — death by fire. She declared that only she was fit to lead the Dothraki and then set the hut ablaze, emerging unharmed and triumphant. —Kelly Woo
(Photo: HBO)

Sometimes you realize you’ve become invested in a freshman series by the amount of delight you take in a tiny callback. In the previous episode, Traveler and mind reader Penny informed us that Quentin was singing a Taylor Swift song in his head. In this episode, Quentin is trapped in a psychiatric hospital in his own mind and needs to get Penny’s attention. He launches into a full-blown “Shake It Off” production number in his music-therapy class, and it’s the best kind of character moment: wonderfully unexpected but entirely earned. —Mandi Bierly
(Photo: Syfy)

Jane the Virgin — no more! She may have gotten accidentally inseminated and given birth to a child, but Jane still hadn't had sex. And then she married Michael, and it seemed their wedding night would change that — except that Michael got shot. Luckily, he survived, but his recovery delayed the deflowering further. But finally, finally, finally, they did the deed, and … it was just OK. But practice makes perfect, so cue another clever cartoon, with plenty of wink-wink imagery. A sexy sex scene without actual sex seen? Only on Jane the Virgin! —KW
(Photo: The CW)

President Frank Underwood is a longtime gamer, but it's his political challenger, New York Gov. Will Conway, who brings gameplay into a meeting between the rivals in Season 4's "Chapter 48." The pair battle in a game of the addictive Agar.io on Conway's cellphone — Joel Kinnaman told us he and Kevin Spacey really played the game for the scene — but what starts as a pissing match between the men turns into a bonding session when they both realize they actually kinda like and respect each other. —Kimberly Potts
(Photo: Netflix)

The mic drop moment in Insecure's series premiere arrives when Issa takes her rap game from the bathroom mirror to the club stage. Using her friend Molly's relationship troubles as fodder for some impromptu rhymes, the undervalued nonprofit worker bee flexes her dormant artistic muscles, finding a new sense of self — and creating a viral hit — in the process. To borrow a lyric from Eminem, she lost herself in the music, the moment, and owned it. —EA
(Photo: HBO)

Even after 13 seasons, fans weren’t ready to see Michael Weatherly’s Tony leave NCIS, but producers made the exit as bearable as possible: He learned Ziva had been killed, but she left behind a daughter — his daughter. His priority was no longer being a "very special agent." It was being everything to little Tali, because that's what she'd lost. Turns out, seeing Tony grow up is as satisfying as watching Gibbs slap him on the back of the head. —MB
(Photo: CBS)

After Selina loses the presidency for good, she runs into a tour group in the White House. They applaud her, and she keeps repeating, "Thank you, thank you." And for once, there's no punchline — she means it. “It was a scene that was much discussed on our end,” showrunner David Mandel, who helmed the episode, told us. “You're never 100 percent sure how these things are going to go. No. 1, we got really lucky with the wonderful woman who plays the woman on the tour line who was just so real and gave Julia [Louis-Dreyfus] someone to play off of. To me, it was Julia's A Star Is Born, "Mrs. Norman Maine," Judy Garland moment, if you will. We were half tearing up at the monitor, just watching her again absorb those cheers and, in some way, almost feeling like these are the last cheers she's ever going to hear. She's not going to be president of the United States. It was wonderful and heartbreaking. I loved directing that entire [documentary] episode, but it's my favorite scene that I got to do just because, for one little moment, I felt like a real director.” —MB
(Photo: HBO)

The first time Sarah saw her clone sister Beth, the emotionally troubled cop was about to take a swan dive into the path of an oncoming train. That led Sarah directly to the Clone Club, but it also introduced her to a whole world of hurt. Pushed to the brink and seeking oblivion following an epic bender, Sarah comes face to face with Beth in ghost form and has it out with her once and for all. If you needed any further evidence as to why Tatiana Maslany deserved her long-overdue Emmy, this scene is Exhibit A. —EA
(Photo: BBC America)

It was the most anticipated character arrival from The Walking Dead comic books, and the villainous Negan's introduction to Rick Grimes and his group didn't disappoint. Well … that might be the wrong word. Fans certainly were disappointed by the crushing murder of favorites Glenn and Abraham, but it's fair to say the cruel "eeny, meeny, miny, moe" way Negan toyed with Rick's group before the deaths, with some dialogue taken verbatim from the comics, definitely didn't underwhelm. —KP
(Photo: Gene Page/AMC)

Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Jason was a walking tease, so like Julianna Margulies’s Alicia, we were really ready for this to happen. When she only half-jokingly wonders if she’s developed a drinking problem, Jason takes away her tequila bottle, asks her to close her eyes and listen to the sound of his breathing, and then kisses her. The firm’s lights turn off at 11 p.m., so the show is able to give us another of its signature cleverly shrouded sex scenes with the sound of zippers and buttons coming undone. Replacing tequila with trysts with Jason, Alicia? We’re willing enablers. —MB
(Photo: CBS)

When Capt. Holt’s beloved dog, Cheddar, goes missing, the squad goes on a Corgi hunt. Charles, who is temporarily blinded from LASIK surgery, believes he’s found him and proudly calls Jake and Amy over. “In my office, I have three pictures of my family, I have a picture of [co-creator] Mike Schur and me from college, and I have a picture of Joe Lo Truglio holding that possum,” co-creator Dan Goor told us. “It's amazing, and he was amazing. For the 35 seconds or whatever of screen time that you see, he held it for six minutes or something. And he's really petting it.” —MB
(Photo: Fox)

Lorelai had added yet another brick to the ginormous wall between her and her mother by sharing an irreverent — actually, completely inappropriate — anecdote at Richard's funeral, just one more thing that led Emily to believe her daughter didn't respect her family. But in a teary call that proved to be the reason Lorelai needed to make her Wild cross-country journey, she told her mom about her 13th birthday, when a teenage drama led her to cut school and go to the mall. Richard caught her, but instead of grounding her, he bought her snacks and took her to the movies, later covering for her with Emily. "It was the best birthday I ever had," Lorelai said, providing Emily, and viewers, an emotional payoff worth seven seasons and four seasonal-themed movies. —KP
(Photo: Netflix)

Honestly, this GG moment was somehow just as great. Never mind that Paris was, hands down, the most fashionable of the Gilmore Girls divas in the Netflix reboot, with her chic power 'do and those collarless jackets and perfectly tailored pants. Her duds also factored into our favorite fierce moment of the TV season, when the lawyer/doctor/dental technician/architecture expert did a kick worthy of a Rockette in December and held the Chilton bathroom door shut with one sky-high pump while balancing on the other. Paris Geller can be rattled, but anyone who dares to truly mess with her world will get the boot. Er, pump. —KP
(Photo: Netflix)

Truthfully, we’re still surprised by how much we enjoyed Grease Live! and its exceptional staging. It was almost too good. Thank God for the golf carts that served as transport for the big finale. To quote our recap, "In the night's best ‘OMG THIS REALLY IS LIVE’ moment (aside from some scattered mic issues), one of the cast members' golf carts hit a curb and very nearly toppled over right there on camera! Obviously, it was a relief that nobody got hurt, but who among us wouldn't have enjoyed at least some kind of live TV disaster? Truly what is the point of an overly impeccable live performance? Might as well pre-tape that junk. Give us more random accidents!” —MB
(Photo: Fox)

As her father, Robert, hilariously points out in the series finale, Edith is someone who "has hardly known a day's happiness in the last 10 years.” Which is why it’s so satisfying to see him recognize that Edith has become an interesting woman with a career and an enviable marriage with a now-wealthy man who adores and encourages her. As finale director Michael Engler told us, “What's so great, I think, about Edith's story is that she gets everything that everybody always expected for Mary. She gets it in the most accidental way. It was enjoying the fact that although she gets battered around by fate, this last round happened to be as good to her as the other rounds were bad to her.” —MB
(Photo: PBS/Masterpiece)

John Stone suffered more than his fair share of slings and arrows — and eczema — throughout the series, both personally and professionally. So when the lawyer who frequently has to go to court with Saran Wrap-ed feet gets a break and finds a cure that allows him to sit in his eczema support group wearing a beautiful pair of polished dress shoes, it's a moment that feels as triumphant as any legal victory could be. That his fellow skin disease sufferers look on in awe makes it worth every penny of the $300 he spent on the cure, and even worth the later painful realization that the cure was a temporary one. —KP
(Photo: HBO)

"When I think about what's going on in the world right now, the world is ready for a bulletproof black man," executive producer Cheo Hodari Coker told the crowd at Comic-Con, where a teaser trailer debuted showing Luke Cage under heavy fire in the hallway of a Harlem safe house. Whether you only saw that preview, or you later watched the full sequence in the show’s third episode, the message was received. —MB
(Photo: Netflix)

Sam Healy has displayed his share of jerky attitudes in the series, but then there's this exchange during a walk around the prison track with inmate Lolly in Season 4's "Piece of S***" episode. Healy shares his vulnerabilities, born of his painful childhood with a mentally ill mother, and gives Lolly the gift of knowing someone gets her and the world(s) she's trapped in. It's a lovely moment of connection, complete with Twilight Zone references and talk of "little Lolly-pops," especially when things take a heartbreaking turn later in the season for both characters. —KP
(Photo: Netflix)

We all knew the wild-card cop with a death wish from Mel Gibson’s portrayal in four Lethal Weapon movies — but it took Rectify's Clayne Crawford only about three minutes of screen time to, as the saying goes, make the character his own. Strolling onto the scene of a bank robbery-turned-hostage situation, Riggs is all quips and cavalier charm — until he presses the barrel of the bad guy’s assault rifle against his own forehead and whispers fiercely, “Don’t miss.” Hidden pain? Yep, this guy has hidden pain for days. Fortunately for us, the bad guy never gets a chance to take a shot — and Riggs lives to entertain us (and torment his permanently exasperated partner, played by the equally excellent Damon Wayans) for the whole season. —KB
(Photo: Richard Foreman/Fox)

Bee delivered a number of epic takedowns about Donald Trump and his polarizing campaign, but here she’s at her fiery, incandescent best. She rips NBC for normalizing Trump and his racist, misogynistic views by inviting him both to host Saturday Night Live and to sit with Jimmy Fallon for a fluff interview on The Tonight Show. "I guess because ratings matter more than brown people," she says with a sarcastic shrug. The more you know. —KW
(Photo: TBS)

The presidential candidate made a brief, but shining cameo on the show after Ilana landed a job with the campaign. Ilana attempted to cold-call voters, but soon learned this was a nonpaying gig. And just as she and Abbi were about to leave the office, in sailed HRC. The two totally lost their minds and even got a hug. #BroadsWithHer. —KW
(Photo: Comedy Central)

There’s no way anyone would have predicted that the first SNL episode following the presidential election would begin with Kate McKinnon's singing the late Leonard Cohen’s signature song in her Hillary Clinton costume. Just reading that sentence, you wouldn’t believe that it’d work. But there we were, tearing up at the performance’s striking expression of mournful resilience and the sense of a heart simultaneously aching and being healed. —MB
(Photo: Will Heath/NBC/Getty Images)

Setting up your roommate with a guy can be awkward, and it's even more awkward when that guy is someone you kinda like and who kinda likes you back. Those reciprocated feelings are precisely why love-challenged Mickey forces her geeky suitor Gus into a dinner date with her roomie from Down Under, Bertie. At least the two make the best of a bad situation, both going out of their way to tank the date as hard as possible. Their battle to see who can be the worst dinner companion may just be the most lovable scene of Love's first season. —EA
(Photo: Netflix)

The Boogie Down Bronx is alive with the sound of gospel-funk music when aspiring disco queen Mylene Cruz steps up to the mic and belts out The Get Down's defining anthem. And when the church choir and full orchestra kick in, look out — it's a sonic wall of pure, pleasurable sound. If music be the food of love, then "Set Me Free" provides a swell affair. —EA
(Photo: Netflix)

SPOILER ALERT: Bullies never win, but it’s touch-and-go for a few moments when Mike and Dustin are cornered by the school knuckleheads at the quarry. After taunting them both, the bullies threaten to cut out Dustin's teeth unless Mike jumps off the cliff — a jump he could not survive. He leaps, sending our hearts straight into our stomachs, but Eleven arrives just in time to save him with her telekinetic abilities. That's what friends are for. —KW
(Photo: Netflix)

SPOILER ALERT: In hindsight, the Delos board should have known that Robert Ford would never have gone quietly into the good night of retirement. But thanks to their willful ignorance, he was able to plan a farewell they'd never forget. By constructing a new narrative that finally helped Dolores reach the center of her mental maze, he activated the "Kill all humans" side of her developing consciousness. And she repaid him by putting a bullet through his brain before turning the gun on the crowd. It's a stunning act of robotic rebellion that heralds more bloodshed to come. —EA
(Photo: HBO)

Things got X-rated in the second episode of Silicon Valley's third season, with Richard becoming an accidental witness to an intense horse-breeding session. “They cut around even more gross stuff,” Thomas Middleditch told us about the on-camera horseplay. That means that Silicon Valley could be the first HBO sitcom to win an AVN Award. —EA
(Photo: HBO)

May 12, 2016 was a dark day for Nashies. (Yes, Nashville fans call themselves Nashies — you gotta problem with that?) ABC announced it would not go forward with a fifth season, despite previously indicating that a renewal was in the cards. But fans barely had time to belt out a weepy chorus of “Don’t Put Dirt on My Grave Just Yet,” because less than a month later, CMT announced it was joining forces with Hulu to bring Nashville back to the land of the living. We haven’t been so happy since that god-awful emancipation story wrapped up. —KB
(Photo: CMT)