18 Powerful TV Moments of 2017

We're back with some powerful moments from the year that that really packed a punch.

Surprising scenes, exciting news, and even a shirtless reveal that moved one dad to the top of Riverdale's finest.

Find out what we're talking about when you scroll through the gallery below!

1. Enjoying Henry and not Cinderella on Once Upon a Time

How much I like older Henry. Or really, the reboot of Once Upon a Time. I have read so much terrible reviews about this season but I think it is refreshing. I was never a fan of young Henry so you can imagine my surprise when I thought old Henry was actually attractive. I fully expected a season without Emma Swan to be a complete waste but it has actually been quite a fun departure from Storybrooke. Seeing all the actors portray new characters was also awesome. The only downside is Henry’s love interest Cinderella. Not only is she a complete whiner, there is no chemistry between them. I would gladly see him falling for Drizella and turning her good!

2. Earth-X Prometheus is Tommy Merlyn

While it might make total sense from an in-universe perspective, the reveal of Earth-X's Prometheus as that world's Tommy Merlyn during the Crisis on Earth-X four part crossover event took me off-guard in a good way. Colin Donnell is a regular on Chicago Med, which is filmed quite a ways from the Vancouver studios of the Arrowverse. Even though he only appeared for a couple minutes, he still made an impact and elicited quite the emotional response from Oliver, who got to witness his best friend die again. (And that's not even remotely the most messed up thing Ollie ended up doing in the crossover, either!)

3. Linda Reagan dies between seasons

The Reagan family on Blue Bloods has endured more than its share of grief, to be certain, with the latest example coming in the tragic death of Danny's wife Linda after her actress decided to leave the role after seven seasons. While we wish Amy Carlson all the best, and killing her character was quite possibly the most understandable way to write her out, it still came as something of a surprise that Linda died off-screen between the seasons.

4. American Gods sex scenes

American Gods has impressive cinematography, but nothing prepared me for their sex scenes. How does someone portray a goddess consuming someone with her hoo-ha? Well, American Gods nailed it. They also had one of the most psychedelic, intimate gay sex scenes, and sadly, it surprised me that it was portrayed so beautifully.

5. JJ Shooting Theo on Days of Our Lives

I was expecting to hate this whole JJ shooting Theo storyline on Days of Our Lives. I'd gotten used to JJ getting garbage writing designed to manipulate viewers into hating the character (which obviously didn't work in my case). But this story is well done and allows viewers to make up their own minds and JJ is actually sympathetic!

6. Death of Security Chief Landry on Star Trek: Discovery

ST: Disco has been a wealth of surprises in its first half-season. Breaking with established Trek form, it's been a dark and unpredictable war-time narrative focused on a main character with no rank within Starfleet. Of the many unexpected twists, killing off Commander Landry, an established senior crew member of the title ship in what was really the second episode (since the two-hour premiere was more of a prologue) was the first sign that no one (except maybe Burnham) is safe in this new Trek. The fact that she died provoking a giant space bug she'd named "Ripper" was really only surprising for its level of dumb.

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14 Scenes That Should Have Landed on the Cutting Room Floor

Chances are if you were Tweeting while watching any of the below unbelievable TV moments, you used the #SMH at some point.

It's hard not to when you wonder how in the heck these scenes ever made it to air.

If we missed any of the moments you think should have landed on the cutting room floor, add them to our list!

1. A Wedding Hijack

There's stealing your moment and then there's flat out copyright as we saw on The Flash. If Oliver and Felicity were going to get married, that should have been addressed in a separate plot strand on Arrow. It felt like a cheap way for the writers to overcome the burden of having Oliver and Felicity at odds leading up to their own wedding.

2. Betty's Serpent Dance

Betty doing the sexy, seductive serpent dance in front of Jughead, all the Serpents, and her MOTHER was one of the most "WTF?! Why?! Make it stop!" Moments on Riverdale to date and they could have just not did that at all. It actually made me uncomfortable. How many alter egos does Betty have? Was that Dark Betty or a new 50 Shades Betty? Do they forget that these teens are supposed to be like 16-years-old?

3. Reeves and Torres Getting Competitive

While NCIS Season 15 Episode 9, "Ready or Not," was otherwise mostly entertaining, Torres and Reeves giving an (almost literal) Abbott and Costello routine over a ticking bomb about what to do made me want to scream at the writers, editors, and producers who thought that scene was a good idea. Sometimes there can be a fine line between comedy and idiocy, but this one drove right over it and through a brick wall. Guys: it's a bomb. Leave the room and let the bomb squad handle it. See? Not that tough a call!

4. The Death of a Clone

MK's death on Orphan Black was brutal, barbaric, grotesque and never should have made it on air. It was so senselessly violent that it had my blood boiling. There's kicking a dying woman while she's down and then there's Ferdinand going to town on her. The sound effects and everything just, it seriously left me wondering what they were thinking with that death scene and I'm getting mad all over again just thinking about it.

5. A Terrible, Soapy Days of Our Lives Moment

That awful re-enactment of Will's murder on Days of Our Lives. Fans were outraged and disgusted by the original, and the whole point of bringing WIll's character back to life was to correct that, so who thought we wanted to see those graphic, brutal scenes in full detail AGAIN?

6. Crazy Mona's Dollhouse

The series finale of the Freeform hit Pretty Little Liars concluded with Mona in all of her crazy glory with the mother and daughter locked below her store in France, apparently. How the heck did she get them there? It's no wonder the show is over because it became downright awful.

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14 Most Exciting TV Moments of the Year

A one-shot scene on Mr. Robot.

Endings for canceled shows.

A searing dragon battle.

These are things that make TV incredibly exciting, and you can find them in the gallery below. 

 

1. Dragons in Battle

Daenerys taking Drogon into battle on Game of Thrones was, like, the best scene of the entire series. Watching the dragon burn everyone in sight was refreshing after all of the crazy battles we've witnessed in the past. It's just a shame she took Viserion into battle with her later in Game of Thrones Season 7 and he was killed.

2. A Single Triumph for Mr. Robot

Mr. Robot's single-take episode was impressive to say the least. It was a nice break away from the usual format and the commercial-free, single shot episode was positively riveting and had me glued to the screen the entire time.

3. Josh Stewart's Shooter Arc That Hit The Target

Josh Stewart's entire arc on Shooter has been very exciting. Solotov is such a fantastic villain that it's difficult to not love him. Stewart plays off of Ryan Philippe so well, and the best moments have been when they have to face off in some way or another. Solotov is one of the reasons the second season was so thrilling.

4. Legion - A Marvel Hero Like No One Ever Thought Possible

With all the Marvel and DC adaptations on our big, small, and streaming screens, some dumbed down and others amped up for easy consumption on the network landscape, this was the show I had to rewatch on multiple occasions because it was such a mind-bender. The unreliable narrator, the crazy villain hiding IN HIS BRAIN, all the memory-visiting and psychic shenanigans. This was television that challenges its viewers to JUST KEEP UP.

5. The Hunt for Mr. Mercedes

Every episode featured Bill Hodges getting followed and harassed by the evil Brady aka Mr. Mercedes, a psychotic killer with more sick ideas than any one man-child should ever have in his mind. As the two brilliant minds eased toward one another, the tension increased until they were head to head. Every episode was a nail-biter. Beautiful performances by Brendan Gleeson and Harry Treadaway and the entire cast!

6. Supergirl's Big Team Up

Kara and Maggie fighting the clock to save Alex after she was kidnapped on Supergirl Season 2 Episode 19 made for an intense hour. Even knowing that of course Alex would survive, I still found myself on the edge of my seat as the water rose higher and higher in that tank. The stakes were high and emotions were running wild, giving viewers one of the most exciting installments of the season.

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22 Times TV Made Us Grin From Ear to Ear

Despite some writer's best desire to drive viewers to tears, sometimes watching TV makes us so happy we can't stop grinning.

We've rounded up some of our favorite, most grinnable moments of 2017 in the gallery below.

Yes, grinnable. You may now feel free to use it about the world!

1. Mark Linn-Baker as the Mayor's assistant on Blue Bloods

I LOVED Perfect Strangers when I was a kid. It was one of the first shows I was obsessed with. So it's really nice to see one of the stars on a semi-regular basis again 30 years later.

2. Stevie inheriting the motel on Schitt's Creek

Stevie is a gem of a character who felt like she was running the motel, but wondered what she would do long-term. That's when her great-aunt passed away and left the motel all to her, and she joined forces with Johnny to help fix it up and make it a success. It resulted in some of the shows funniest scenes ever.

3. Joe coming full circle on the series finale of Halt and Catch Fire

When it was revealed where Joe had gone after Gordon's death, and the camera slowly panned around his office where he now took up residence as a professor and it held all the things he held most dear, I smiled so great my heart grew three sizes. Not only was it a retrospective of the best that was Halt and Catch Fire, it proved to all the non-believers how far Joe had progressed through the seasons. And he stood before a classroom of students as he did in the premiere saying the same words once again, as a completely different man, "Let me start by asking you a question." Amazing.

4. Mike Franks's comments from the peanut gallery on NCIS

In an episode where the team pondered the existence of ghosts, one might expect the reasonably-grounded NCIS to come down on the position that ghosts don't actually exist. Hilariously, the apparition of Mike Franks (in a delightful cameo by Muse Watson) also stopped by to offer his opinion on the topic to Gibbs at the end of NCIS Season 15 Episode 8.

5. The synergetic timing of The Orville and Discovery

There are those who think that the freshman Seth MacFarlane-led series The Orville is more Star Trek than the esteemed franchise's latest offering, Discovery. The Orville presents a dramedy that contrasts distinctly with the darker, more morally ambiguous serialized war story of Discovery.

However, it's clear from the rather energetic discussions and forum threads that many viewers actually watch *both* series; the fact that Discovery and The Orville both premiered around the same time provided an unexpected opportunity for an even more unexpected synergy between the two series, despite their obvious differences. It's a good time to be a fan of sci-fi.

6. Matt and Jessica's relationship on The Defenders

The relationship between Matt Murdock and Jessica Jones during The Defenders had me smiling from beginning to end. It's a pairing for the ages. Their humor matches one another and their begrudging respect for one another was reminiscent of two siblings who occasionally bicker but always have one another's backs when it counts. They made The Defenders a worthwhile watch.

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15 Times TV Shows Brought Us to Tears

The key to writing great characters is viewers investing in them.

What better way to determine how invested we are than when we break down into tears if they feel threatened, sad, or if one of them (God forbid) shuffles off this mortal coil?

Scroll through the gallery below for the moments that caught us by surprise and left us dabbing out eyes.

Share your sullen memories in the comments!

1. This Is Us Season 1 Episode 16, "Memphis"

The "Memphis" episode of This Is Us, especially William's line, "The two best things in my life were the person in the very beginning, and the person at the very end." I can't even think about it without bursting into tears all over again.

2. Abby Dying on Ray Donovan

Ray Donovan has been struggling creatively for a few years now, but I never thought it would try to right the ship by offing the female lead. It was a heartbreaking season, and it only made it worse that we got to witness her struggle through flashbacks.

3. Mack and Hope in the Framework on Agents of SHIELD

Poor, poor Mack. In the real world, his daughter Hope only lived for a brief four days following her birth. In the Framework's illusory world, she grew and thrived. Despite the fact that this Hope wasn't actually real flesh and blood, Mack formed such a connection with her that he actually refused to leave the virtual reality on Agents of SHIELD Season 4 Episode 20. It's only after the Framework started shutting down two episode later and the virtual Hope vanished that a heartbroken Mack could bring himself to return to the real world.

4. Jackson's speech/Ellis' return on Grey's Anatomy

Who wasn't bawling when Jackson gave his speech on behalf of Meredith after she won the Harper Avery? All of Grey's Anatomy Season 14 Episode 7 was a throwback for the fans, but in his speech he mentioned all the hardships and loss that Meredith has suffered over the years, and how she overcame it all. If we weren't crying enough after mentions of Derek and Lexie, the surprise cameo of Kate Burton as Ellis standing in the gallery clapping her hands would have pushed anyone over the edge.

5. Martin Stein's Death on Legends of Tomorrow

No one could have prepared me for the devastation I felt when Martin Stein died on Legends of Tomorrow. He was the pretentious guy that occasionally got on my nerves but had the sweetest paternal relationship with Jax. Firestorm is barely on my radar most of the time, but then he had his final moment with Jax and I was a mess. I'm still mourning.

6. Jesus' Sad Moments on The Fosters

Jesus has been having the absolute worst time on The Fosters and that's saying something given he lives with Callie, but finding out the truth about Emma's pregnancy and abortion after being lied to for so long was a sad moment. It was one of many sad moments for the teenager currently struggling with a TBI and other siblings who need their attention too.

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19 Times Laughter Got the Best of Us

As you're scrolling through the gallery below, note that some of the television that made us laugh was genuinely played for laughs.

Some of the other moments may have been meant to come off a little differently, but darn if we could take it that way.

Looking back at the year in review, are there any specific moments you remember as particularly funny as they were meant to be or even if they were meant to be otherwise?

Hit the comments and share all your thoughts with us.

1. Alex and Sara Hookup in the Arrowverse

While it wasn't surprising to see Alex and Sara take part in a drunken one night stand, everything that occurred between them afterward was hilarious! Their awkward encounter when they realized they didn't know each other's names, Alex's embarrassment, and Kara's teasing, and Sara's total nonchalance over the whole thing made it one of the best storylines of the Arrowverse crossover.

2. Major on Teenage Girl Brain on iZombie

Major on teenage girl brain was one of the greatest, funniest iZombie moments of all time. Like, totally. There are so many GIFs from this one episode we had a hard time choosing! Selfies FTW!

3. Fiona's Crazy Tenants on Shameless

Fiona managed to defy the odds and move up in life. It's just a shame her tenants were deplorable. From people taking drugs in the hallways, to a mother letting her children put bags on their heads, it was a hilarious montage that showed the people did not want to pay any rent.

4. Diane Gets her Period on black-ish

Black-ish always brings the laughs, but there was a recent episode where Diane finally experienced her womanly rite of passage and terrorized the entire house with her PMS. It easily could have been cliche but it was quite hysterical.

5. Brockmire Narrating his Life

The Series premiere of Brockmire was funny from start to finish (as was the series), but there was a particular scene of him standing on a sidewalk narrating his life events that I had to watch again and again to keep the laughter going. More people have to catch up with this gem of a series on IFC.

6. Rebecca and Miguel Reconnect on Facebook - This Is Us

The moment we found out that Rebecca and Miguel from This Is Us reconnected via Facebook. They thought it would endear him to some of us This is Us fans. LOL. Lo siento pero NO. Nice try though.

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16 Jaw-Droppers That Left Us Speechless

Does your jaw hurt from watching too much TV?

It's moments like the ones in the gallery below that can be a pain when you have to pick your jaw up off the floor after the shock wears off.

Whether your favorite made the list or not, hit the comments and share your thoughts with us! We all love a good jaw-dropper.

1. The Good Place is The Bad Place!

The mega-twist at the end of The Good Place Season 1 when Eleanor finds out that the reason she and the other characters have been so unhappy in the good place is because it's actually the bad place, and Ted Danson is no angel, but an agent of the dark side who has been manipulating their world to torture them. This game-changing revelation took everything I thought I knew about the show and literally flipped it upside down!

2. The 100 Leap Forward in Time

The 100 has long been one of my favorite shows, and while The 100 Season 4 was a marked improvement over The 100 Season 3, the series needed another nudge in the right direction. That ending with a spaceship appearing and Clarke getting her gun gave me chills.

3. The Downfall of Tobias Fornell on NCIS

Joe Spano's FBI Agent Tobias Fornell has been a major recurring character on NCIS since its first season -- since the very first episode, in fact. In both his professional capacity as an investigator and personal as a close friend of Mark Harmon's Gibbs, Fornell proved both foil and mirror over the years. But it wasn't until NCIS Season 15 Episode 7 that we saw how the normally by-the-book FBI investigator once took the law into his own hands and suppressed evidence in order to ensure a conviction of a very dangerous and manipulative murderer.

Despite Fornell's good intentions to put away a murderer, this colossal mistake ultimately ensured the man's release years later, severely damaged Fornell's relationship with Gibbs, and quite likely destroyed his long and distinguished career in the FBI (not to mention the possibility that other criminals, guilty or not, might also challenge their convictions over this revelation).

4. Jake Proposing to Amy on Brooklyn Nine-Nine

I admit it, I did not see Jake's proposal on Brooklyn 99 Season 5 Episode 4 coming at all! Amy spent the entire episode claiming that she would win the heist because Jake couldn't surprise her anymore now that they live together, but he more than proved her (and the rest of the audience) wrong. Just when she thought she'd outwitted Jake and found the belt, she found an inscription asking her to marry him. So no one won the heist this year, but the ending couldn't have been better.

5. John Hawkes' Death on Underground

John Hawkes' death on Underground was a complete and utter shock that set the entire second season in motion. It was so unexpected and so very devastating.

6. Crowley and Castiel Both Killed on Supernatural

Crowley and Castiel both being killed on the season finale of Supernatural Season 12 was a big shock. Granted, given the series' knack for bringing dead characters back more times than I can count on both hands, Mark Sheppard confirming his character's death would stick was a huge blow to the series.

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