TV Land Lists 100 Greatest Catchphrases
 

TV Land Lists 100 Greatest Catchphrases

Sometimes it takes only a word, or just a few, to become immortalized in television history.

The TV Land cable network has compiled a list of the 100 greatest catchphrases in TV, from the serious — Walter Cronkite's nightly signoff "And that's the way it is" — to the silly: "We are two wild and crazy guys!"

The network will air a countdown special, "The 100 Greatest TV Quotes & Catch Phrases," over five days starting Dec. 11.

"We have found that television is such a huge part of baby boomers' DNA that it makes sense that so much of America's pop culture jargon has come from TV," said Larry Jones, TV Land president.

The greatest number of moments, 26, come from the 1970s. TV Land identified nine moments from this decade. Ten are from commercials, and 28 from comedies, including six from "Saturday Night Live."

In alphabetical order, TV Land's list:

—"Aaay" (Fonzie, "Happy Days")
—"And that's the way it is" (Walter Cronkite, "CBS Evening News")
—"Ask not what your country can do for you ..." (John F. Kennedy)
—"Baby, you're the greatest" (Jackie Gleason as Ralph Kramden, "The Honeymooners")
—"Bam!" (Emeril Lagasse, "Emeril Live")
—"Book 'em, Danno" (Steve McGarrett, "Hawaii Five-O")
—"Come on down!" (Johnny Olson, "The Price is Right")
—"Danger, Will Robinson" (Robot, "Lost in Space")
—"De plane! De plane!" (Tattoo, "Fantasy Island")
—"Denny Crane" (Denny Crane, "Boston Legal")
—"Do you believe in miracles?" (Al Michaels, 1980 Winter Olympics)
—"D'oh!" (Homer Simpson, "The Simpsons")
—"Don't make me angry ..." (David Banner, "The Incredible Hulk")
—"Dyn-o-mite" (J.J., "Good Times")
—"Elizabeth, I'm coming!" (Fred Sanford, "Sanford and Son")
—"Gee, Mrs. Cleaver ..." (Eddie Haskell, "Leave it to Beaver")
—"God'll get you for that" (Maude, "Maude")
—"Good grief" (Charlie Brown, "Peanuts" specials)
—"Good night, and good luck" (Edward R. Murrow, "See It Now")
—"Good night, John Boy" ("The Waltons")
—"Have you no sense of decency?" (Joseph Welch to Sen. McCarthy)
—"Heh heh" (Beavis and Butt-head, "Beavis and Butthead")
—"Here it is, your moment of Zen" (Jon Stewart, "The Daily Show")
—"Here's Johnny!" (Ed McMahon, "The Tonight Show")
—"Hey now!" (Hank Kingsley, "The Larry Sanders Show")
—"Hey hey hey!" (Dwayne Nelson, "What's Happening!!")
—"Hey hey hey!" (Fat Albert, "Fat Albert")
—"Holy (whatever), Batman!" (Robin, "Batman")
—"Holy crap!" (Frank Barone, "Everybody Loves Raymond")
—"Homey don't play that!" (Homey the Clown, "In Living Color")
—"How sweet it is!" (Jackie Gleason, "The Jackie Gleason Show")
—"How you doin'?" (Joey Tribbiani, "Friends")
—"I can't believe I ate the whole thing" (Alka Seltzer ad)
—"I know nothing!" (Sgt. Schultz, "Hogan's Heroes")
—"I love it when a plan comes together" (Hannibal, "The A-Team")
—"I want my MTV!" (MTV ad)
—"I'm Larry, this is my brother Darryl" (Larry, "Newhart")
—"I'm not a crook" (Richard Nixon)
—"I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV" (Vicks Formula 44 ad)
—"I'm Rick James, bitch!" (Dave Chappelle as Rick James, "Chappelle's Show")
—"Is that your final answer?" (Regis Philbin, "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire")
—"It keeps going and going and going" (Energizer Batteries ad)
—"It takes a licking" (Timex ad)
—"Jane, you ignorant slut" (Dan Aykroyd to Jane Curtin, "Saturday Night Live")
—"Just one more thing" (Columbo, "Columbo")
—"Let's be careful out there" (Sgt. Esterhaus, "Hill Street Blues")
—"Let's get ready to rumble!" (Michael Buffer, various sports events)
—"Live long and prosper" (Spock, "Star Trek")
—"Makin' whoopie" (Bob Eubanks, "The Newlywed Game")
—"Mom always liked you best" (Tommy Smothers, "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour")
—"Never assume" (Felix Unger, "The Odd Couple").
—"Nip it!" (Barney Fife, "The Andy Griffith Show")
—"No soup for you!" (The Soup Nazi, "Seinfeld")
—"Norm!" ("Cheers")
—"Now cut that out!" (Jack Benny, "The Jack Benny Program")
—"Oh, my God! They killed Kenny!" (Stan and Kyle, "South Park")
—"Oh, my nose!" (Marcia Brady, "The Brady Bunch")
—"One small step for man ..." (Neil Armstrong)
—"Pardon me, would you have any Grey Poupon?" (Grey Poupon ad)
—"Read my lips: No new taxes!" (George H.W. Bush)
—"Resistance is futile" (Picard as Borg, "Star Trek: The Next Generation")
—"Say good night, Gracie" (George Burns, "The Burns & Allen Show")
—"Schwing!" (Mike Myers and Dana Carvey as Wayne and Garth, "Saturday Night Live")
—"Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy" (Lloyd Bentsen to Dan Quayle)
—"Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids" (Trix cereal ad)
—"Smile, you're on `Candid Camera'" ("Candid Camera")
—"Sock it to me" ("Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In")
—"Space, the final frontier ..." (Capt. Kirk, "Star Trek")
—"Stifle!" (Archie Bunker, "All in the Family")
—"Suit up!" (Barney Stinson, "How I Met Your Mother")
—"Tastes great! Less filling!" (Miller Lite beer ad)
—"Tell me what you don't like about yourself" (Dr. McNamara and Dr. Troy, "Nip/Tuck")
—"That's hot" (Paris Hilton, "The Simple Life")
—"The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat" (Jim McKay, "ABC's Wide World of Sports")
—"The tribe has spoken" (Jeff Probst, "Survivor")
—"The truth is out there" (Fox Mulder, "The X-Files")
—"This is the city ..." (Sgt. Joe Friday, "Dragnet")
—"Time to make the donuts" ("Dunkin' Donuts" ad)
—"Two thumbs up" (Siskel & Ebert, "Siskel & Ebert")
—"Up your nose with a rubber hose" (Vinnie Barbarino, "Welcome Back, Kotter")
—"We are two wild and crazy guys!" (Steve Martin and Dan Aykroyd as Czech playboys, "Saturday Night Live")
—"Welcome to the O.C., bitch" (Luke, "The O.C.")
—"Well, isn't that special?" (Dana Carvey as the Church Lady, "Saturday Night Live")
—"We've got a really big show!" (Ed Sullivan, "The Ed Sullivan Show")
—"Whassup?" (Budweiser ad)
—"What you see is what you get!" (Geraldine, "The Flip Wilson Show")
—"Whatchoo talkin' 'bout, Willis?" (Arnold Drummond, "Diff'rent Strokes")
—"Where's the beef?" (Wendy's ad)
—"Who loves you, baby?" (Kojak, "Kojak")
—"Would you believe?" (Maxwell Smart, "Get Smart")
—"Yabba dabba do!" (Fred Flintstone, "The Flintstones")
—"Yada, yada, yada" ("Seinfeld")
—"Yeah, that's the ticket" (Jon Lovitz as the pathological liar, "Saturday Night Live")
—"You eeeediot!" (Ren, "Ren & Stimpy")
—"You look mahvelous!" (Billy Crystal as Fernando, "Saturday Night Live")
—"You rang?" (Lurch, "The Addams Family")
—"You're fired!" (Donald Trump, "The Apprentice")
—"You've got spunk ..." (Lou Grant, "The Mary Taylor Moore Show")


Just reading thru this list - so many of them I say on a regular basis - I thinkI watched entirely too much television in the 70s - -and I'm really old too
But Kiss My Grits isn't on the list? Come on now... :D

"I love this razor so much, I bought the company." (Victor Kiam on Remington Electric Shavers Commercial)

"I'm in hot pursuit!" (Roscoe P. Coltrane on The Dukes Of Hazzard.)

"Let's Rock!!!" (Al Bundy on Married With Children)

"No Problem!" (Alf on Alf)

"I'm Chevy Chase and you're not." (Chevy Chase on Weekend Update/Saturday Night Live)

"We are two wild and crazy guys." - Dan Akroyd & Steve Martin

"Well excuuuuuuuuse me..." Steve Martin

and yeah "Kiss my grits!" is a good one.

Edit....I obviously cant read before coffee in the morning, Mine was in the list

Dating myself as ancient here....."Dyn-no-mite" by JJ Walker on "Good Times" was really a lot of fun to use.....:D These sayings are great! "How sweet it is!":suave:

Supposedly, Ed Sullivan never said 'We've got a really big show'-that line was created and used by an impersonator of him. He has said, 'We've got a great show here tonight' with variations.

—"Denny Crane" (Denny Crane, "Boston Legal")
Thats awesome! I would never have expected that to make it onto a list like this.
Then again, I think allot of that would fall into more of a pop slogan area and not catch phrase. Still good though.

Many of those in the list are post-Boomer shows. How about these instead?

"Little Luke! Little Luke!" - The Real McCoys
"Ricochet Rabbit - ping Ping PING!" - Rocochet Rabbit
"Uh oh Chongo!" - Danger Island
"Leave your name and number and I'll get back to you." - Rockford Files
"Sit on it." - Happy Days

Gimme more time....

oooh that's a good one...


or my Name is Charlie...

I just thought of the one that most people know but it isn't a show but a vanity production plate at the end of the show.

"Sit Ubu Sit. Good Dog" - seen after credits of Family Ties

I've also liked...

"Good Night Mr. Walters" - seen after credits of Taxi

I'm not sure how to read this list, but to me some of the phrases (I'm not near TV-experienced enough to recall even half of them) make me remember the tone and voice of the one who said it.

In that light I'd like to add the following to this list:

- "Yes, Michael" - (KITT, "Knightrider")
- "Transform and roll out!" - (Optimus Prime, "Transformers")

I thought I had some more, but they were all from movies.

Btw, when I was reading through the list and got to "Hey, hey, hey" I immediately thought of the Flinstones, did anybody else have that?

Bam Zoom to the moon Alice - from the honeymooners

Wilmaaaaa - from the flintstones

Smarter than your average bear

These are left off, too. Who can name the program/commercial?

"Always after me Lucky Charms"
"Mama mia. Thats-a spicy-a meat-a ball-a."
"Cut that jibba jabba"
"Engage!"
"Get your pets spayed or neutered."
"Great Ceaser's ghost!"
"I've fallen and I can't get up."
"Hey good-looking, we'll be back to pick you up later."

"Always after me Lucky Charms" Lucky charms cereal
"Mama mia. Thats-a spicy-a meat-a ball-a." Alka Seltzer
"Engage!" Battlestar galactica
"Great Ceaser's ghost!" Bewitched
"I've fallen and I can't get up." that commercial for the contraption you wore around your neck to call the police or fire department

"Ha Ha!" Nelson Muntz, The Simpsons

Captain Jean Luc Piccard-Star Trek TNG

Turn in your geek card, and your secret decoder ring.

I've never watched star trek in my life... :D

Don't worry because I erased the one that I wanted to keep and kept the one on the list...

"Cheebugah, cheebugah, cheep, cheep, no coke, Pepsi."

Great Ceasar's Ghost is from the editor of the Daily Planet, can't remember his name, but here's my Decoder ring just in case.

percy white.. :D I'm a dork

"Hey boo boo"

"I'm hard rock, I'm Coco, I'm Joe" Garfield goose

"What's up doc" Bugs Bunny

So much more, great thread Mal!

Oh god! :D "Hey good lookin, we'll be back to pick you up later!" :lol: The Mr. Microphone commercial..... Wow...that was some high tech stuff! :lol:

Only two Seinfeld quotes? None from Kramer?

"Giddy up" is classic.

More cowbell!

Here's one not all will remember, "Lookin' good". Freddy prince(Chico and the man)

"Silly rabbit Trick are for kids" Trix cereal ad.

I realize how annoying it is but, where the hell is "you are the weakest link. Goodbye."

you also can't make a list without... "It needs more cowbell"

It's Perry White (of course)

"What's Up, Doc?"
"You realise, this means war!"
"Be willwy willwy quiet"
"I tink I saw a puddy cat"

"He's dead, Jim"
"Do not adjust your set"
"Just the facts, mam"
"Hi Ho, Silver"

"A wonderful, a wonderful"
"Good night Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are"