21 Emotional Gut Punches In TV Comedies No One Was Expecting
The best sitcoms* are filled with sweet moments and lovable characters. They manage to tug at the heartstrings and make us cry as much as they make us laugh.
Fox
*If you can't tell, no, I don't like Seinfeld.
A while back, we asked the BuzzFeed Community to tell us the saddest TV scenes, and a lot of people submitted some great sweet scenes from comedies — here are 21 times sitcoms went for an emotional gut punch.
1.In Brooklyn Nine-Nine, when Rosa's family cancelled her family game night after she came out, so the gang came over for game night instead:
"I can’t type it out without tearing up."
2.On Fuller House, when Jackson got upset that DJ was giving away his father's suit, so Steve had it altered and gave it to him instead:
"I bawled like a baby."
3.On Community, when Abed revealed he'd created the chicken tenders mafia (it makes sense if you watch the episode, LOL) because he wanted to be able to connect with people, and Jeff asked Abed to help him become a better person:
"Abed learns how to connect with people by finding a way to give them chicken fingers, but that is only temporary. ... Abed said 'he was almost close,' which is inferred to understanding people. This scene is more bittersweet than sad...but also kinda somber in the way that Abed has finally been able to connect with people. ... He's not ready to go back to how he was before, where he felt semi-alone."
4.On How I Met Your Mother, when Ted imagined going to see Tracy 45 days before they ended up meeting, because after her death he wished he had those extra days with her:
"It truly never fails to make me tear up."
5.On Full House, when Michelle was supposed to bring her great-ngrandfather to class to teach a Greek dance but he died, so she decided to teach the class the dance on her own...but she forgot it, so Jesse stepped in and finished the dance with her:
Suggested by a42d2dc837
6.On New Girl, when Jess impersonated Elvis at Nick's father's funeral after the original impersonator passed out drunk:
I know this was played for laughs, but that face Nick makes when he comes back from sobering up to give his father's eulogy and sees Jess just kills me. It's such a sweet moment in a really sad situation that shows just how much Jess is committed to caring about her friends, and how much Nick loves her for it.
7.On The Middle, when Mike told his mother-in-law that she was the only mom he had and then danced to "Dancing in the Moonlight" with her at the gas station:
"It’s such a sweet moment and always makes me tear up."
8.On How I Met Your Mother, Marshall finally decided to listen to the voicemail from his father after his funeral, hoping to have a last message from him, but it was just a pocket dial...and then it turned out not to be after a minute of static:
Suggested by feliciadelacour
9.On The Good Place, when Tahani and Kamilah's parents finally came to the Good Place and told Tahani and Kamilah they loved them and also apologized for all they'd done:
Suggested by zeilerra
10.On Futurama, when Fry was able to visit his mother's dream and hug her:
Suggested by rdh29
11.On Community, when Jeff said goodbye to Annie and Abed at the airport, and went in for a second hug with Abed:
"Jeff's second hug with Abed in the Community finale emotionally destroyed me."
12.In The Office, when Erin finally met her birth parents:
Suggested by migyyyyyy0315
13.When Michael left on The Office and Pam ran after him to say goodbye:
Suggested by Sakshi
14.On Boy Meets World, when Cory hugged Shawn after he joined a cult:
Suggested by a42d2dc837
15.In Friends, when Chandler convinced Erica to let him and Monica adopt her baby:
"I always cry in that episode of Friends when Monica and Chandler are trying to adopt and are mistaken for a reverend and a doctor and go along with it because they so desperately want a child. And when they come clean they almost don’t get the baby until (the part that makes me cry) Chandler gives that speech to Erica about how when he becomes a dad he will learn how to be a good father, and then he says, 'But my wife, she’s already there. She’s a mother without a baby'...that line has me sobbing every time. Even just thinking about it makes me emotional.
Sending love to all those mothers who are still waiting for their children, whether it’s through natural, adoption, surrogate, IV, whatever means. Don’t lose hope."
16.On The Good Place, when Chidi said goodbye to Eleanor:
Suggested by RealNeverWaits81
17.And when Janet said bye to Jason:
Suggested by bethw41d9ffb62
18.In Community, when Jeff said goodbye to Annie:
"Jeff started out as this jaded cynical man who didn’t believe in love or marriage, but we see in his pitch he would want that with Annie. But because she’s really leaving to go off and live her dream, he doesn’t know if she’d really be happy to finally be with him. And he chooses to let her go. The whole scene from the pitch until she tells him...to kiss her goodbye for no regrets, is gut-wrenching... Seeing how much growth Jeff has had, from someone who didn’t want to be there in the first place to getting left behind after realizing how much he’s always loved her."
19.Also in Community, when Troy said goodbye to Abed:
"Abed saying he spliced his DNA with a homing pigeon so he’ll come back made me tear up. Their friendship is the best thing on the show, and no one talks about it as a sad moment."
20.In Gravity Falls, when Dipper and Mabel went back home at the end of the summer:
"The last five minutes of Gravity Falls! I'm not ashamed to say my sister, and I stayed up live watching the last episode, and when it came to the part with the bus and saying goodbye to everyone, I ugly cried."
21.And finally, on Schitt's Creek, when Ted and Alexis broke up:
"When Alexis and Ted have dinner for the last time. She says, 'I’m not going with you,' Ted says, 'I wouldn’t let you.' Such a beautiful moment and arc for Alexis that she loved someone so deeply, [then found] she loved herself more deeply and...made her own way."
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
