About 25 shows from the original list were featured during a special week on
Nick at Night on
Nickelodeon and TV Land. On the original list several shows, including
I Love Lucy,
The Mary Tyler Moore Show,
The Dick Van Dyke Show,
Seinfeld,
Cheers, and
The Odd Couple had multiple entries, but none did on the 2009 list. The original list included 35 episodes from the 1950s and 1960s, while the 2009 list only included 10. Over one-third of the new list first aired in the twelve years since the original list, including 14 from the most recent two years. The June 2009 list included episodes as recent as the April 12, 2009, "
Peekaboo" episode of
Breaking Bad and the April 7, 2009, "Baptism" episode of
Rescue Me, while the 1997 list included a two-month-old episode of
The X-Files.
CBS was the original broadcaster of 35 of the 1997 list members, including both of the top two: "
Chuckles Bites the Dust" of
The Mary Tyler Moore Show and "
Lucy Does a TV Commercial" from
I Love Lucy. Several television series were represented by a different episode in 2009 than they were in 1997. The 2009 top rated show was "
The Contest" from
Seinfeld although in 1997 the show had been represented by "
The Boyfriend" (number four) and "
The Parking Garage" (number 33), instead of "The Contest". Three of the top 10 1997 episodes were removed although the series continued to be represented by other episodes: "
The $99,000 Answer" (number 6) from
The Honeymooners, "
Thanksgiving Orphans" (number 7) from
Cheers; and "Coast-to-Coast Big Mouth" (number 8) from
The Dick Van Dyke Show. The 1997 list included detailed show descriptions for all episodes, while only a select few were accompanied by more than a single sentence in the ascending order 2009 list. Only one of the thirteen contributors to the 2009 list was involved in the 1997 list. ==Top 10==