Throwback Thursday: A New Year’s Eve Special

Welcome to the final week of 2020 (finally)! This week our Throwback Thursday is going to look a bit different.

As many TV lovers know, the TV landscape takes a break from Christmas to New Year’s so there isn’t really any content in that week specifically. Since New Year’s Eve falls on a Thursday, we decided to look at the best of TV’s New Year’s Eve themed episodes. 

We are talking about iconic episodes from Friends, How I Met Your Mother, That 70s Show, Futurama, and The X-Files.

Fasten your seatbelts…it’s going to be a bumpy ride through TV history.

Futurama Season 1 Episode 1, “Space Pilot 3000” (March 28, 1999)

The series premiere of this iconic animated sci-fi sitcom finds the protagonist, Philip J. Fry, accidentally cryogenically frozen on New Year’s Eve 1999 and waking up on New Year’s Eve 2999. 

This episode sets up the premise for the entire series and introduces us to all the main characters — Leela, Bender, Professor Farnsworth, and of course Fry. As the year 3000 begins, these characters set off on their own space adventure in order to evade the police.

The X-Files Season 7 Episode 4, “Millennium” (November 28, 1999)

Unlike so many other shows who did Y2K episodes in 1999, The X-Files took that fear to another level with their New Year’s Eve themed episode. On “Millennium,” Mulder and Scully have to work together to stop a virus that is creating zombies. 

They are successful in their pursuit just as the new year begins. As “Auld Lang Syne” rings out, Mulder and Scully share their first kiss — the most memorable moment of the episode.

Friends Season 6 Episode 10, “The One with the Routine” (December 16, 1999)

Who can forget the time Ross and Monica made fools of themselves trying to get screen time during Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin Eve? Nobody, that’s who. And their dance routine is still remembered to this day.

The great thing about this Friends episode is that it really solidifies what makes the Geller siblings who they are. They’re competitive, but willing to work together when the chips are down. 

How I Met Your Mother Season 1 Episode 11, “The Limo” (December 19, 2005)

This episode really stands out because it shows what How I Met Your Mother is at its very core — a show about the strength of friendship through anything. The focus of this episode is on the friend group as they celebrate the new year together in a limo Ted rented.

Much like most of the series, Ted plans out their whole evening and doesn’t account for things not going to plan. This leads to some major laughs as the friends learn to roll with the punches and cast aside their “official” New Year’s plan.

That ’70s Show Season 8 Episode 22, “That ’70s Finale” (May 18, 2006)

The series finale of That ’70s Show is probably one of the only New Year’s Eve themed episodes that occurred in the middle of the year. However, looking at what this show is, having the finale take place on New Year’s Eve 1979 makes total sense.

It’s a beautiful way to close the chapter on a successful series as well as the decade they focused on.

The gang all get together for one last smoke in Forman’s basement — signaling the end of their lives as they knew it and the beginning of their new journeys.

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What are some New Year’s Eve themed episodes that you love? What TV shows are you looking forward to in 2021? Sound off in the comments below!

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