TV's Best of Prom Episodes

I can neither confirm nor deny my presence in this picture...
Having just come off of my own prom, and having an unexpected blast, I thought I'd take a look at some of TV's famous attempts to capture that most anticipated of teen events. So here's some of my favourite prom episodes from recent memory that stand out in the slow dance of televised pop-culture; full of drama, angst, laughs and of course, glamour:

(In no particular order)

Smallville
"Tempest"/"Spirit"
One was the pivotal, high stakes season 1 finale, the other marking the end of an era and featuring an axe-wielding, psycho-ghost murderer, but both have major parts to play in the Smallville lore. The draw here wasn't the big catastrophes looming (the tempest itself and the aforementioned psycho prom queen possessor) but instead the small, personal dramas of Clark and Chloe. In "Tempest", Clark finally asked Chloe for a slow dance (to the series theme tune, "Save Me" no less) which was romantic and all, but it was of course interrupted by the storm blowing into town and Clark's responsibility to stop it, especially as his real love interest, Lana, was at risk. He never did return to the dance with Chloe and we could all feel her pain at being so close to what she wanted, but then being harshly reminded that it was never going to happen.

Skip ahead to season 4 and it was time for the senior prom, where amongst all the supernatural peril, "Spirit" saw the gang's high school years drawing to a close. Again, Clark gets his slow dance on, but this time with Lana despite his fears of rejection. Chloe looks on, admitting how the events of the last prom (in "Tempest") still hurt, although reminded by the glowing Lois that Chloe's future may be even greater than Clark's himself. Neatly tied into each other, both looking fabulously Prom-like, a great music selection and the dramatic, emotion driven beats made these two super promisodes gleam brightly amongst the sci-fi and action elements surrounding the show's mythos. 



How I Met Your Mother
"Best Prom Ever"

Still in its first season, it was important for HIMYM to find its feet by taking classic trope episodes like the Prom in a different direction, as to drift away from the Friends clone that many would label it as. So instead of going flashback style (Lily's moments notwithstanding), we saw the gang, at their current adult ages, crash a senior prom. There was everything in this one; Lily's character is developed through the realisation of her failed dreams, Barney sneaks into the prom via Turtle outfit and Ted and Marshall fight a kid with Nunchucks. Seriously, what else would you need to prove that How I Met Your Mother was a fresh, original sitcom that stood on its own two hilarious legs? 


Glee
"Prom Queen"/"Prom-asaurus"
Say what you will about those folks down at McKinley High, but they sure can throw a prom. Multiple, it would seem, and manage to keep both different enough from one another to justify its inclusion in the series. Whilst neither of these were ground-breaking in their prom portrayals, both certainly had their highlights, whether it was the surprise performance of Rebecca Black's "Friday" and the turmoil Kurt went through in "Prom Queen" or the bizarre Brittany "Dinosaur" number, the cute Becky/Puck stuff and that ever-hilarious Jar-Jar binks line in "Prom-asaurus". Cheesy, yes, but there was also a lot of the emotional high notes being struck throughout reminding all us Gleeks why Glee still rules the teen-drama scene.

Friends
"The One with the Prom Video"

'Twas a simpler time

Often hailed as one of Friends' greatest episodes, "The One with the Prom Video" is one of those moments in a sitcom's run where you watch it and just think "I friggin' love this show". And how could you possibly say otherwise? Because it was at that point when the critics began to say that this could well be the comedy that defines a generation and will run for years and years (at the time it was only on season 2). We don't even see them at the prom, yet the heart and soul of the prom atmosphere is captured perfectly in the few parts of the prom-prep we do see. I don't think I really need to run down the events of this cultural masterpiece, because if you haven't witnessed frumpy Monica, bitchy Rachel and horrifically Geeky Ross (we're talking 80s geeky), then honestly, what are you doing here?

The Suite Life of Zach and Cody

Less than ideal...

"A Prom Story"
You can't beat some classic Disney Channel, especially when it was a pre-pubescent Zack and Cody. In all honesty, this was probably the closest the show got to resembling some kind of sincerity between Maddie (Ashley Tisdale) and Zach. In hindsight with that particular relationship, even though it was just a kids' show, there were some poignant themes of tragedy and inevitability of heartbreak involved. So when the two dance, you know that for the significantly younger Zach this is his only realistic shot with the crush of his life. Bet you never thought Zach and Cody could be rich in humanised subtext, eh? Plus the Cody-Mime subplot here was a genuine funny highlight of the series.

Community

Yep, that's Community for ya. 

"Pascal's Triangle Revisited"
While not strictly speaking a prom, out of all the dances Greendale holds (some for the most obscurest of reasons), the "Transfer Dance" in this episode was pretty much the show's homage to the classic Prom episode. In true Community (and Greendale) style, it's not prom queen they're running for, but "Tranny Queen", while a love triangle then becomes a line, back to a triangle, and then a quad, and there is some very impromptu and inappropriate rapping going on courtesy of Professor Duncan. Add to that with Dean Pelton's developing Dalmatian fetish and Abed toying with the TV tropes themselves to deliver some genuine heart-warming stuff that rounds off the terrific first season, and you've got a sort-of-prom episode that won't be forgotten in a hurry.


Buffy the Vampire Slayer
"The Prom"
As a show having always been a very close portrayal of teen life (despite the whole demons and vampires thing), Buffy's Prom episode was damn near perfect, encompassing everything you could want from it. The hype and build-up, the preparation, the fun, the raw emotion, the hell hounds of doom -- oh right, that too. Yet even with its trademark slayage of creatures from the nether, each part of this episode somehow sprung from the prom ideal. These dogs were being set upon people in tuxedos and dresses, which seems daft on face value, but is given meaning from the lonely, prom-hater kid who trained them. Xander and Cordelia's friendship is restored through his generosity of buying her dress in her struggling financial times, and even Buffy gets recognition from her peers as being "Class Protector", in a truly eye-watering moment that culminated the past 3 years.

"Soul" Mates

   However, with all the joys and highs, there also came the huge, crushing lows. Angel came to the heart-breaking conclusion that to be with Buffy wasn't fair on her because of all the things he just couldn't give. So there it was, laid bare, the end of the Buffy/Angel romance as it came to a sad but necessary and realistic end. For one final time, the two shared an intimate moment in what would become the slow dance of the century when Angel turned up unannounced to the prom. "Wild Horses" played them out as we witnessed  those touching moments of doomed love at its peak of both tragedy and beauty; possibly the most powerful of all prom scenes going.

                                                                                                                                               

By no means a comprehensive list, of course, so sorry if I missed one of your own favourites. However, one thing that does remain clear throughout all of these is the theme of endings and beginnings, all resting on one night of living in the moment; and if these beloved characters can do it, then you bet that the rest of us (past, present and future) can too.

ATR

The Sunday Supdate: 11/09/11

Wassup home dogs!? Would you like me to start over in a less douchey way? Well touch luck, cause I'm sticking with it! Late night Sunday = tired blogger = rough post (?), so try to stick with me for this.

In Remembrance
We all know what the date at the top says and we all know it's been 10 years. That fateful day of heartache and destruction, immortalised by this haunting date. So let's all spare a thought to those who lost loved ones and have since as a result of the tragic events that took place that day. When people say it was one of those "where were you?" moments, they're really not wrong. Even me, as a 5 year old can remember my Dad's urgency to get home after picking me up from school, and then seeing all this stuff on the TV. It was as if an image of two burning towers had been etched into every screen for the next few weeks. And then being there, in New York itself a couple years ago, I could still sense this feeling of tragedy around the Ground Zero site, despite the fact it was mostly blocked off for construction purposes. RIP Victims and Heroes of 9/11.

A Photo of Epic Proportions (and Questions?)
Anyone on Twitter earlier today may have noticed a whole load of Nerdgasm coming from one image tweeted by Nathan Fillion:

For those not in the know, that's (from left to right) Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Serenity), Felicia Day (The Guild), Simon Pegg (Shaun of The Dead, Paul), Edgar Wright (Writer/Director of Shaun, Hot Fuzz) and Anthony Head (Buffy, Merlin, Little Britain). And they're in Joss-Freakin'-Whedon's house! So much awesome in one place!

     It's no surprise then that my head (along with many others out there) has been buzzing about what this meet up could mean. My theory? Well, Edgar Wright has recently finished writing the script (along with Attack The Block creator, Joe Cornish) for a movie adaptation of Marvel hero, Ant Man. This links into the rumours that Nathan Fillion could be the one to play him (YES PLEASE), and that Joss is writing and directing The Avengers, another Marvel property. So, could this be a meeting to discuss plans on working Ant-Man into the Marvel Cinematic continuity, with possibly the other actors involved. Pegg as villain, perhaps?

Or maybe something else from the many Whedon properties? Dr Horrible related? Buffy? Dare I say, Firefly!? Or something new entirely? If it was any of these, I don't think I'd really care what because the thought of seeing all these guys working together makes my head explode. Fillion and Pegg, two of my favourite actors teamed up with Wright and Whedon, two of my favourite writers/directors, with some Felicia thrown in: I don't think I could take the amount of happiness that it would fill me with.

  But this kind of wild speculation always gets me kind of depressed when it turns out not to be nought but that. So for now let's just assume that it's a bunch of Hollywood (and Geekdom) A-listers hanging out together just for the sake of awesomeness. (Ah but come on, that "Shhh" expression from Edgar's gotta count for something?) Still the sweetest thing I saw today!

School's Back

Of course, this being September, the old school routine had kicked back in and is live and swinging. Final year of secondary school, GCSE's and all that. Big year ahead, or so I've heard (from pretty much EVERYONE). Will it all affect the blog? Hopefully not, if I can effectively maximise my time management (working on it!) then we may see a rise in some enjoyable writing. RE:Views incoming, and maybe a new "RE:Commend" section, devoted to suggesting some great things in life. Be it a TV show, book series, food, activities, websites or whatever, RE:Commend could be like a mini review feature, minus all the hard hitting critique, and a place with me just trying to introduce you to something I believe is awesome. Cool beans, eh?

So until next time, my intrepid viewers. Stay safe, stay smart, stay reading and most importantly, stay awesome. Over and Snout.

ATR

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