2021 in Review: Quotes of the Year! (2024)

LAST MAN STANDING

“I’ve always found it easier to open up to the top half of another man’s face.”

Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor (Tim Allen) alludes to his many conversations with Home Improvement neighbor Wilson

PRETEND IT'S A CITY

“There’s nothing better for a city than a dense population of angry hom*osexuals.”

Fran Lebowitz touts the benefits of living in the melting pot that is New York

SUPERSTORE

“You do realize the hair care thing isn’t the end of racism? It’s not even the end of racism in the store.”

“Is this because Karen started here last week? Because she’s willing to go by Jill!”

Garrett (Colton Dunn) points out that Dina’s (Lauren Ash) blind to some of Cloud 9’s racist policies — but yes, it would probably help if Karen went by Jill

SUPERSTORE (Bonus Quote!)

“Most jobs suck 99 percent of the time, so you really, really got to enjoy those moments that don’t — those bits of fun you have during downtime… or an interesting conversation with a coworker… or something happens that you can laugh about later… or you do something that you’re actually proud of. If you’re lucky, maybe you get to be friends with a coworker or two along the way. I’m not sure what else you could want in a job.”

Garrett (Colton Dunn) makes his final announcement, as flash-forwards reveal where everyone winds up following Cloud 9’s closure

ZOEY'S EXTRAORDINARY PLAYLIST

“Girl, I don’t care that you look like Rafiki. Get out!”

An angry Mo (Alex Newell) sends Zoey packing without blending out her makeup

BATWOMAN

“I’m bulletproof, bitches!”

Ryan Wilder (Javicia Leslie), being adorable while discovering the Batsuit’s awesome capabilities

SEARCH PARTY

“I want to say that I love you… everything about you. Even the ugly parts. I don’t have much longer, so just know that I’m with you always. I just want to thank you so much for being able to see me for who I am when I couldn’t. I just want to say that I loved being your friend. You found me… you found me.”

Dory (Alia Shawkat) films a goodbye message to her friends after she’s locked in the basem*nt of a burning house

DICKINSON

“Mark my words: At the end of your time in the water cure, you won’t be the same sick, disease-ridden, melancholy women you are right now.”

“What if that’s my brand?”

Emily (Hailee Steinfeld) appreciates the advice from her Aunt Lavinia (Jessica Hecht), but she doesn’t want to risk becoming too happy

BLACK-ISH

“Oh, look at this: CVS is alerting us that Black lives matter… and there’s 20 percent off of all Tussin.”

Bow (Tracee Ellis Ross) scoffs at corporate attempts to look socially conscious

THE BLACKLIST

“I wish more people were unafraid like Glen. It’s the thing about him I’ll miss the most. And I hope it’ll be some time before all my memories of him start to fade.”

Red (James Spader) concludes a stirring eulogy for his friend and tracker Glen, which doubled as a tribute to late actor Clark Middleton

LAST WEEK TONIGHT WITH JOHN OLIVER

“Dead eyes, empty hearts, Ted Cruz.”

Oliver paraphrases Friday Night Lights‘ Coach Taylor and comes up with a potential new slogan for the GOP

WANDAVISION

“But what is grief, if not love persevering?”

In a flashback to shortly after Pietro’s death, Vision (Paul Bettany) offers Wanda some poignant words of comfort as she mourns

78TH GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS

“It is great to be Black at the Golden Globes — back at the Golden Globes.”

Presenter Sterling K. Brown “accidentally” addresses the elephant in the room

FAMILY GUY

“That’s not your normal time pad. Where’d you get that?”

“I borrowed it from Rick and Morty. They’ve borrowed plenty from us.”

Brian and Stewie’s (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) latest trip through time includes a shady little dig at an Adult Swim favorite

PENNYWORTH

“When you make someone feel bad about themselves, you feel good about yourself. You’re a self-esteem vampire!”

As Thomas (Ben Aldridge) notes Martha’s flaw, somewhere What We Do in the Shadows‘ Colin Robinson grows envious

THE WALKING DEAD

“I’m not crazy if that’s what you’re thinking. I mean, there’s the ADHD, the anxiety, the PTSD, the depression, the crushing loneliness and the active imagination that helps me cope with all of that, but like… maybe that’s the only sane response to an insane world. You know what I’m saying?”

After beating the living daylights out of her captor, suddenly Princess (Paola Lázaro) is all of us in 2021

AMERICAN IDOL

“You’re still going to FedEx me one of your chickens, right?”

“You want dead or alive?”

“…Surprise me.”

Claudia Conway and Hannah Everhart’s duet may not have gone as planned, but at least it left us with this truly bizarre moment to chew on

MANIFEST

“What year do you think it’ll be when we land?”

Mick’s face says it all, Ben (Josh Dallas) — TOO SOON!

LAW & ORDER: SVU

“You were the most, single most important person in my life, and you just disappeared.”

“I know. I was afraid, if I heard your voice, I wouldn’t have been able to leave.”

Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Stabler (Chris Meloni) finally talk about his departure a decade ago

WYNONNA EARP

“And you lot! Letting Wynonna mess up her life, again! For us? F—k you, f—k you, f—k you, f—k you! [To Nicole] Not you, sweetie pie.”

Newlywed Waverly (Dominique Provost-Chalkley) has choice words for her sister’s enablers

GREY'S ANATOMY

“What do you want me to promise?”

“To torture yourself less.”

Meredith (Ellen Pompeo), offering to make Derek (Patrick Dempsey) an impromptu “wedding” vow on limbo beach

GREY'S ANATOMY (Bonus Quote!)

“You OK?”

“It’s hard to say. But… it looks like I’m moving to Boston, so… fingers crossed for new horizons.”

“Fingers crossed for new horizons.”

Jackson (Jesse Williams) and a newly single April (Sarah Drew), giving us a big hint that Harriet’s parents will wind up reuniting

ALL RISE

“Don’t be mad at me. Be mad at those thin little lips of yours.”

Lola (Simone Missick) reminds Mark that while she might have spilled the beans, he’s the one who kissed someone other than his girlfriend Amy

THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER

“I’m a Black man carrying the stars and stripes. What don’t I understand? Every time I pick this thing up, I know there are millions of people out there who are going to hate me for it. Even now, here. I feel it. The stares, the judgment. And there’s nothing I can do to change it. And I’m still here. No super serum. No blonde hair or blue eyes. The only power I have is that I believe we can do better.”

Sam (Anthony Mackie) schools a GRC member on what “hard decisions” really look like

THE CIRCLE

“I believe that he’s a psychic because he knows all the psychic words. Like ‘Capricorn.’”

Chloe is impressed that “psychic” John knows… the basic astrological signs?

B POSITIVE

“Looks like I’m walking into a scene from Get Out.”

Eli (Terrence Terrell) has his suspicions when the dialysis group is all smiles

THE ROOKIE

“For every WASPy name you pick, I’m going to pick something so Mexican you’ll never be able to spell it.”

“OK…. If it’s a boy, Thatcher.”

“I’ll raise your Thatcher to a Cuauhtémoc.”

Angela (Alyssa Diaz) and Wes (Shawn Ashmore) play the baby name game

LEGENDS OF TOMORROW

“Tell me everything that you know about this ship.”

“Well, when you first met, you butt heads. But any fool could tell you were meant for each other.”

“This spaceship, Gary.”

“Avalance” fanboy Gary (Adam Tsekhman) misinterprets Sara’s (Caity Lotz) request

MOM

“My name is Bonnie, and I’m a grateful alcoholic — and if that pisses you off, just keep coming back.”

Bonnie (Allison Janney) ends her final share of the series with words of encouragement for Alcoholics Anonymous newcomers

PRODIGAL SON

“Sorry, Viv. It’s gonna take more than two martinis and a couple of Valium to take me down. That’s breakfast in this family.”

Jessica (Bellamy Young) reveals to Vivian that she’s not quite as incapacitated as Vivian had hoped

S.W.A.T.

“The mayor’s going to have your head for this.”

“I know. Let’s see if the union defends me as well as my racist brothers in blue.”

Hondo (Shemar Moore) has no regrets about leaking to the press the LAPD’s barely punished bad cops

LUCIFER

“To Mazikeen, Queen of Hell.”

“I was thinking Maziqueen. But whatever.”

Maze (Lesley-Ann Brandt) appreciates a devilishly good portmanteau

FRIENDS: THE REUNION

“It was time for Marcel to f—k off.”

David Schwimmer makes his feelings about Ross’ monkey abundantly clear

NEW AMSTERDAM

“I miss you. I can’t get you out of my head. It’s very distracting. We said things to each other that were just the beginning, and we never quite… Anyway, now you’re gone, and it just feels like it’s been forever. And I need to see you. I need to talk to you. I need to be with you in all the ways that I’ve been dreaming of.”

Max (Ryan Eggold) leaves Helen quite the voicemail message!

FEAR THE WALKING DEAD

“I watched Athena’s father die from radiation exposure. It was long, it was painful, and there’s no escaping it. I’m not going to watch that happen again, not to someone else I love. [Beat] Yeah, Morgan. That’s the problem with me: I never tell anyone how I feel until it’s too late.”

“That’s you and me both.”

Grace (Karen David) and Morgan (Lennie James), about to share their first kiss before dying… or so they think

BOSCH

“She’s an unusual woman. Looks like a banker, kind of a female Stringer Bell. You watch The Wire…?”

“Yeah, I binged it.”

One might even say that J. Edgar (played by The Wire alum Jamie Hector) has a “history” with Stringer Bell

EVIL

“We can’t believe a word that comes out of that f—ker’s mouth!”

While discussing Leland, Kristen (Katja Herbers) revels in her show’s newfound home on a streaming (read: non-censored) service

THE BACHELORETTE

“You told me things I wanted to hear. But what I learned about you tonight is you’re selfish, unkind and a liar. Your Bachelor audition ends tonight. So get out.”

In a mic drop moment, Katie puts an end to Thomas’ self-promotion tour

LOKI

“You’ll do well to respect the boy. This is his kingdom.”

“Right. What was your nexus event, Your Majesty?”

“I killed Thor.”

Kid Loki (Jack Veal) drops the proverbial Mjölnir on his skeptical counterpart (Tom Hiddleston)

LOKI (Bonus Quote!)

“I’ve been where you are. I’ve felt what you feel. Don’t ask me how I know. All I know is I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want a throne. I just… I just want you to be OK.”

Loki (Tom Hiddleston) tries to reassure a skeptical Sylvie that he’s not going to betray her in their fight against He Who Remains

THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF BEVERLY HILLS

“I know that I need to move on, and I will. But it’s hard for me to sit there and pretend like everything’s great and hunky-dory when it’s not.”

“Who is Hunky Dory? Is that a nickname for someone?”

We know that Kathy Hilton isn’t great with names, like when she referred to Connecticut-born Dorit Kemsley as simply “my English friend,” but did she seriously think Sutton Stracke was referring to an actual person here? What a treasure that woman is.

AMERICAN HORROR STORIES

“There’s another therapist here, so I’m just fighting for office hours.”

While we would have rather seen Dylan McDermott’s character in all his ghostly glory, we’ll settle for this cheeky reference from fellow Murder House resident Dr. Grant (Merrin Dungey)

THE HAVES AND THE HAVE NOTS

“Die, motherf—ker!”

After discovering that Jim has murdered Candace, Hanna (Crystal R. Fox) expresses her road rage before running him down

THE FLASH

“I created you! I taught you everything you know! Everything you are is because of me! What did you do?!”

“I got faster. Didn’t you?”

Barry (Grant Gustin) runs proverbial circles around Thawne (Tom Cavanagh)

TED LASSO

“Back home, if a team was playing poorly, we don’t call ’em unlucky. What do we call ’em, Coach?”

“New York Jets.”

Coaches Lasso (Jason Sudeikis) and Beard (Brendan Hunt) still have a few American football jokes up their sleeves

DAVID MAKES MAN

“Promises get broken. Toys and mirrors and clocks get broken. Bread gets broken. Not people. People get hurt, and then they get healed.”

An occasionally lucid Mx. Elijah (Travis Coles) imparts wisdom on David

THE WHITE LOTUS

“Mom, good news. I’ve been looking around the hotel and it seems like all of the white straight men are doing just fine. They’re still thriving.”

Olivia (Sydney Sweeney) lobs a sarcasm grenade at her mother after she labeled Caucasian men an oppressed minority

BURDEN OF TRUTH

“I love you, and I would like to argue with you for the rest of our lives, if you’ll let me.”

Billy (Peter Mooney) proposes to his lawyer girlfriend Joanna

BIG BROTHER

“Does that mean, outside of the house, the two of you might start dating?”

“Expect the unexpected.”

Derek X. invokes the reality series’ longtime tagline when Julie Chen Moonves asks about his romantic future with fellow houseguest Hannah Chaddha — and in a real-life twist the show would appreciate, Derek went on to date a different houseguest, Claire Rehfuss, after the season concluded

WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS

“‘Bazinga!’ is the war cry of Sheldon, their tall leader.”

Nandor (Kayvan Novak) introduces us to the heroes of his favorite casino game: the Big Bang Theory slot machine

BROOKLYN NINE-NINE

“I guess in the end, we rubbed off on each other quite a bit. Title of your sex movie. [Takes a beat] Did I do that right?”

“It was perfect.”

Holt (Andre Braugher) botches a “title of your sex tape” joke, but Jake (Andy Samberg) is just happy for the onetime “robot captain” to have made one

LAW & ORDER: ORGANIZED CRIME

“Who’s your friend over there with the sexy buns?”

Flutura (Lolita Davidovich) asks Reggie about Eddie aka Stabler and manages to make a nod to the tush that has the Internet talking

NCIS

“You still chasing a serial killer? With that reporter who you’ve not yet introduced me to? Mindy, is it?”

“Marcie.”

Shazbot! What was Tobias (Joe Spano) thinking?

NCIS (Bonus Quote!)

“What I’m feeling, this sense of peace…. I have not had this since Shannon and Kelly died. And I’m not ready to let it go.”

Gibbs (Mark Harmon) explains to McGee, best he can, why he won’t be leaving Alaska

HOME ECONOMICS

“Oh, my God! I brought the macaroni salad. The white is coming from inside the house!”

Marina (Karla Souza) realizes, in horror, how white her husband’s family is — and that she’s partially responsible for their behavior

THE VOICE

“I’m a little bit offended that ‘Boy, you’ve got me walking side to side’ did not earn me a spot on your top lyricists [list].”

Ariana Grande, after Mega Mentor Ed Sheeran was told that he was one of Sasha Allen’s two all-time favorite songwriters

STATION 19

“Miller! Miller! You saved my life! I love you. You’re my brother, and I love you, OK?”

“Yeah… I love you, too. I love you, Hughie.”

Not quite the “I love you” that Dean (Okieriete Onaodowan) was hoping to hear from Vic (Barrett Doss)

YELLOWSTONE

“Do you want nice things? You want the best? There is only four ways to get rich, kid. Four — that’s it. One: Inherit it. That ain’t happening for you. Two: Ya steal it. You do not have, my friend, the patience, the power or, quite honestly, the intellect to steal anything of substance and keep it. So three: Work really, really f—king hard. OK? You’ll learn. You fail. Learn more, fail more, and don’t let anyone outwork you — ever.”

“What’s option four?”

“Learn how to suck a d—k like you lost your car keys in it.”

“Is that how you got rich?”

Carter (Finn Little) somehow manages to get in the last word on Beth (Kelly Reilly)

SAVED BY THE BELL

“You think she’s safe because she’s dating a nerd? Ever heard of Joss Whedon?”

Daisy’s little brother (David Miranda) knows better than to blindly trust a nerd like Gil

LIVE IN FRONT OF A STUDIO AUDIENCE

“Hey Willis, how come Vernon always smell like weed?”

Diff’rent Strokes‘ Arnold (Kevin Hart) has a fourth wall-breaking question about Willis’ classmate (played by surprise guest star Snoop Dogg)