Live-Action TV/Heartwarming

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Sometimes the stuff on the small screen can be incredibly moving. Some examples...

Some series now have their own Heartwarming Moments pages:

Other Shows:

Captain Kangaroo

  • The opening sequence for Captain Kangaroo in the late 1970s with various clips where various celebrities bid the Captain good morning. In the sequence, there is such a feeling of honest affection and respect for Bob Keeshan as a television institution. See at Youtube.


Kung Fu

  • In the first episode of Kung Fu, we see the memory of Caine successfully going through all the Secret Tests of Character to join the Shaolin Monastery and is the last boy standing in front of the head monk. The monk notes that Caine is only half-Chinese and the order has never inducted a child who was not pure Chinese. When he then says, "There's always a first time," you can't help but smile at such wisdom that transcends such prejudice for something better.


Life On Mars

  • "Stay. Here. Forever."
    • "Okay. I will."
    • For this troper, it's Gene going straight to Sam when he's been accused of murder.
    • It's horribly subverted a few moments later, but Sam playing football with his father, Vince, who had abandoned their family when Sam was very young. It's one of the few moments in the series where Sam is completely safe and happy.


Millennium

  • Millennium had a surprising number of these, which served to balance out the general bleakness of the show and give Frank Black something to lose (and fight for). This troper's favorite came in the episode where Frank's daughter Jordan first manifested an ability like her father's. At the end of the episode, after Frank's sister-in-law (who had been kidnapped) returns home, we see Jordan hiding her eyes in her mother's skirt. Frank reaches down a hand and without looking, she takes it, and they take a walk together, sharing the burden of their mutual gift.


Mork And Mindy


The Office UK

  • Not to mention in the finale of the UK version, when Chris makes fun of David's girlfriend and David tells him to fuck off.
    • Tim and Dawn. That is all.
      • "Never give up." That is all.
    • Ricky Gervais' other show, Extras, manages one as well in its Christmas special. Coming off his Crowning Moment of Awesome speech telling off all of the celebrities desperate to be on TV (like he was), as well as the papparazzi who indulge them,Andy breaks down and says Maggie was always right, and he wishes she was there so he could answer one of her inane questions. He then answers the one he never did when they fought, whether he'd prefer to be a penguin or a flying fish:

Andy: I'd be the penguin.


The Office US

  • In the US version of The Office, Pam invites all of her friends to her art show, but only a few of them show up -- one of them to criticize her art, and one of them just shows up for a few seconds. She's devastated, but then Michael Scott shows up, compliments her artwork, buys it from her, and purchases it to hang in the office. He also says he's proud of her. Pam, touched by his sincere desire to make her happy, gives him a hug. Awww...
    • Or the moment when Pam is crying and Dwight puts his arm around her. Heck, The Office is full of these moments.
    • The end-all be-all for heartwarming moments in The Office is widely believed to be Michael Scott's goal in life when he was a child.

Young Michael: I wanna be married and have 100 kids so I can have 100 friends, and no one can say no to being my friend.

      • Others see it as a soul-crushing (not quite heart-warming) example of Michael's loneliness issues.
    • There's another option for be-all end-all. In Season 4 after Andy has started to date Angela, Dwight is crushed and goes and sobs in the stairwell. Jim, who has spent 98% of his time in the office making fun of Dwight, tormenting him, or both, goes in there and tells Dwight the following:

Jim: Did I ever tell you why I left Scranton? Yeah, I didn't think I had. Well, it was all about Pam. Yeah, I mean, she was with Roy...and I just couldn't take it. I mean, I lost it, Dwight. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't concentrate on anything. And then weird stuff, like, food had no taste. So my solution was to move away. It was awful. And it is something that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. And that includes you.

      • ...which is followed soon with the utterly fantastic "In fact, I'm in love with Italian food."
      • In the same episode, Jan finally shows some tenderness towards Michael after months of one-sided kindness on his part.
    • This troper nearly teared up at the most recent episode, "Baby Shower," in which, after having him try his hardest to help her, Jan orders Michael not to date Holly. Michael's response? To walk up the stairs, hug Holly warmly, and ask her if she wants to go out. Holly's expression is what does it, really.

Michael: I didn't feel much when I held Astrid... but I got a good feeling from Holly.

    • For me, it was the heart-to-heart between Michael and Jim at the end of the season 4 episode "Survivorman"
    • Jim does take the piss a lot, but I've always liked how he does stick up for Michael and Dwight on occasion, the 'Closing Ceremonies' at the end of Office Olympics were he gives them the golf and silver medals respectively is arguably the best example of this.
    • Another good example is after the younger, more competent boss in Stamford, Josh, who Jim admired, used Dunder Mifflin's promotion offer as leverage to get a better job at another company, thus putting most of his employees out of work, it cuts immediatly to Jim doing a Talking Head-"Say what you want about Michael Scott, but he would never do that."
    • It goes both ways too. After hearing about Jim and Pam's kiss, Roy comes into the office to attack Jim, and Dwight sprays him with pepper spray in two seconds flat. After all the pranks Jim is constantly pulling on him, Dwight protects Jim without even thinking. Sure, maybe it was a bit of an overreaction, but it's still fuzzy.
    • The commercial that Michael produced for the branch; you expected it to be awkward and terrible and it turned out to be much better than the corporate version.
      • Something about the slogan -- "Dunder Mifflin: Limitless paper, in a paperless world" -- seems to perfectly sum up Michael's desperation and forebearance up to that point in the series.
    • "Dwight? Send in the subs." We can't even hear what Jim and Pam are saying, but we don't need to.
    • Before tonight's episode, this troper never would have considered a man cutting his own necktie in half to be a heartwarming moment. But now...
    • "The boat was actually plan C, the church was plan B, and plan A was marrying her a long, long time ago. Pretty much the day I met her."
    • The adorable trainwreck that is Andy and Erin's relationship. A couple key examples being Andy successfully asking Erin out in "Murder", only to back out of it later when he believes he mistook her excitement as simply role-playing, and the 12 Days of Christmas presents in "Secret Santa" (which initially go horribly wrong, but end on a very sweet note).

Andy: "I suppose a gentleman might throw in the towel, at this point. But guess what? Not gonna happen."

      • Not to mention this scene from Murder, when Pam becomes a Shipper on Deck for Andrin:

Pam:"It was fun though because I got to hang out with Andy Bernard. He's really cool."
Erin:"Yeah, he is!"
Pam:(suprised) "Yeah, he is."
Erin:"He's like the coolest person I ever met!"
This troper has never wanted a TV couple to get together more than here.

      • Andy FINALLY asks out Erin in The Delivery and despite her being previously angry at him, she happily and immediately accepts.
    • The entirety of the episode "The Delivery". Next to Niagra, this is undoubtedly the most tear-jerking, heartwarmingepisode of The Office. Seriously, you'll need tissues for this episode.
    • The end of the finale of season 3, when Pam is giving her confessional to the camera about how she'll be able to adjust to not having Jim around. Mid-sentence, Jim unexpectedly walks in the room and interrupts her, officially asking her on a date. Pam is so stunned and overjoyed that she forgets what she was saying, turns back to the camera and says, with tears in her eyes and a dazed smile, "I'm sorry, what was the question?"
    • What Dwight does in "China": He and Pam are fighting it out as building owner and office manager respectively. Pam realizes she's inevitably going to lose because she is just making things up as she goes along, and breaks down to Jim in the stairwell about how she fails at everything. Suddenly Dwight's assistant delivers her a book of building standards that Dwight has violated, and Pam uses that information to force Dwight to go back on his more draconian policies. Dwight talking heads about how he did only capitulated to keep Pam from carrying through on her threats so he can keep leeching off her work. Under this, on screen, we see flashbacks of Dwight seeing the breakdown on the stairs, showing his assistant the law books, and making him give it to Pam so that she would win their fight and feel good about herself. Before he drives away he watches her smile in the rearview mirror. Could double as a Crowning Moment of Awesome.
  • Dwight is often the Jerkass of the show, but it's occasionally nice to see something nice happen to him. Michael's recommendation letter is not only a nice moment for the audience, but Dwight is clearly affected by it, even as he complains about it being repetitious.

To Whom it May Concern: The dictionary defines 'superlative' as 'of the highest kind, quality, or order; surpassing all else or others; supreme.' I define it as Dwight Schrute. As a sales executive, as a leader, as a man, and as a friend, he is of the highest kind, quality and order: supreme.'


Power Rangers

  • Power Rangers actually had one of these moments in the seventh season "Lost Galaxy". In an earlier flashback, the Magna Defender reveals that Scorpius (the current Big Bad) killed the Defender's son Zika. To destroy Scorpius, the Magna Defender causes a huge firepit to explode, threatening an entire space colony in the process. Realising what he's done, the Magna Defender heads towards the firepit to neutralise the energy and save the space colony, and there's a scene where he's crawling through a hellish firepit to reach his goal, his armour damaged and cracked, his cape in tatters - when the scene shifts, and the Magna Defender is calmly walking through a field alongside Zika, who is holding a bundle of flowers. Zika tells his father that he's proud of him, and he gives his father the flowers, and the Magna Defender responds by saying that he was proud of Zika, too. The scene shifts back to the Magna Defender crawling towards the firepit - and he's still holding the flowers that his son just gave him. It's the most beautiful, heart-breaking moment. The only time in 17 years where Power Rangers actually made me cry.
    • In the Time Force finale, Wes' dad has finally shifted from Screw the Rules, I Have Money to Screw the Money, I Have Rules. People are being attacked by the Mooks and he jumps out of his limousine, shoves a mother and her kid inside, and yells at the driver to take them to the hospital. The only time Power Rangers has ever made me cry. Actually, all of Time Force's ending, especially Nadira. She and Trip help a mother give birth in the middle of a store, and her amazement leads her to begin questioning the wisdom of her father's vendetta against humans. She asks Frax, her father's recently-imprisoned Starscream, and he finally breaks down and begs her to stop the cycle of hate. She tries to save a child her father was about to kill, causing Ransik to make a Heel Face Turn at the realization that he could have lost his only daughter. If he hadn't, he would have won.
    • Bulk and Skull: We're the Power Rangers!
    • Wild Force picnic, anyone?
    • Bulk and Skull get another in "I'm Dreaming of a White Ranger", the Christmas special for season 3 of Mighty Morphin. Earlier in the episode, a little girl had been feeling down, knowing her father wasn't going to show up and a pageant and her new friend Kimberly had disappeared (not knowing she was going off to save Christmas with the other Rangers). Bulk initially blows her off, telling her he'd tell Santa to help and they think nothing of it. Near the end of the episode, the two are dressed up as Santa and a reindeer and, as they're tending to the kids, the girl's father appears and Kimberly returns (with gifts from Santa in tow) and when it's the girl's turn to approach Santa, she says she doesn't want anything - he (Santa) already brought them. It's there Bulk realizes he did something good and it warms his heart... and makes Skull break down into tears!


Prison Break

  • In Season Two, an armed man tries to rob a restaurant by holding everyone hostage while escaping convict Benjamin Miles Franklin and his sick daughter are inside. Benjamin, seeing the robber is obviously erratic, manages to control the situation by keeping the gunman and the hostages calm, and tones down the heroics. The gunman decides to hold the restaurant hostage and to wait for the cops, but Franklin appeals to him and tells him, in front of the hostages, that he's a wanted man, and if he goes back to jail, his daughter is going to be left alone. The robber, out of sympathy, lets him and his daughter go, but when it's clear the robber's psyche is deteriorating, Franklin, a trained army man, manages to disarm the man and breaks his arm just as the police arrive. When the police finally come in, though, the grateful civilians in the restaurant had already let Franklin and his daughter out the back door despite knowing he's a wanted man.
    • In fact, most of the happy endings and lucky breaks Franklin receives throughout this season probably qualify.
  • In Season Three, young Panamanian prisoner Luis persistently begs known "escape artist" Michael Scofield to let him join a Sona escape attempt he (correctly) guesses has already been planned. Michael continually turns him down for the boy's own safety - life in prison is better than life on the run - but he changes his mind at the last minute. Michael's brother, Lincoln Burrows, then contacts Luis's father and leaves it to him to get his son to safety after Michael's group loses the prison guards. Despite the difficulties of keeping Luis with the group, Michael manages to pull it off, but when they swim underwater to a buoy, the boat that was supposed to pick them up doesn't show up. Eventually, a boat does arrive, but it doesn't respond to their signals, so they think it's the Coast Guard... but it's actually Luis's father, who realized they were taking too long and found out the boat hadn't left the dock yet. This is actually somewhere between Heartwarming Moment and Heartwarming in Hindsight - it's never directly referenced that the group would have died one way or another were it not for Michael's initial act of kindness. (This, of course, is almost immediately followed by another such moment: the surprise party Luis's family throws for him upon his return.)


Quantum Leap

  • Quantum Leap is full of them. The episode "The Leap Home," where he plays John Lennon's "Imagine," is just the first to come to mind.
    • Actually, that's less a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming and more a Tear Jerker - he's playing the song to try to convince his little sister that he's from the future and hence knows a future John Lennon song, but he ends up convincing her so much that she also believes what he's told her about their older brother dying in Vietnam.
    • A straight-up Crowning Moment of Heartwarming moment is when he remembers his wife just before he gets home in the first episode of Season 4.
    • The final scene of the series is definitely this - The setup for Al's character was that he was MIA, and because of this his fiancee leaves him (having thought he was dead), breaking his heart. At the very end of the series, Sam is given one leap to use as he sees fit, before the leaps get harder. So what does Sam do? He leaps to Al's fiancee as she grieves, and lets her know that Al is very much alive and will come back to her. We then get told that Al returns, marries her, and becomes a very happy family man, with five daughters. Then comes the Tear Jerker: another caption informs us that Sam never made it home.


Rome

  • Rome has what must be one of the bloodiest Crowning Moment of Heartwarming possible. In summary, completely lost since being cast out from XIII Legion, Titus Pullo is fighting for his life in the gladiator pits, and doing badly, as his former commander and new friend Lucius Vorenus watches in agony. When it looks like he's about to be squished like a bug, Pullo can do nothing but cry out what mattered to him the most:

Pullo: Thirteen! Thirteen!
[[[Dramatic Pause]]]
Lucius: THIRTEEN! [joins the fight]


Sex and the City

  • Sex and the City has quite a few. Charlotte and Harry's interactions seem to be almost made of this, as is anytime Miranda displays that she does in fact have a heart (particularly when she rescues Steve's mother and cleans her off afterward), but the best may be when, in the series finale, Smith comes back from a movie shoot simply to tell Samantha he loves her. Her response: "You have meant more to me than any man I've ever known." Which, for her, is saying something.


Six Feet Under

  • Six Feet Under. "To Nate."
    • The final six minutes of the last episode, when Claire drives off and we get to see how all the main characters die. (trust me, it's heartwarming in context).
    • In David's last (imagined) confrontation with season four's hitchhiker/hijacker, he attempts to deliver 'the final blow' in a dream before seeing himself in the red-hooded figure. He then embraces his other self, presumably coming to terms with his fears, and wakes to find a vision of Nate smiling over him. This troper found the ensuing, reassuring silence particularly heartwarming.
    • Cutting straight to the heart of the show's message: Nate is making funeral arrangements for a visibly distraught widow:

Grieving Widow: Why do people have to die?
Nate: To make life important.

    • I consider this to be the entire show's "message" distilled into a few lines of dialogue:

Nathaniel: You can do anything, you lucky bastard, you're alive! What's a little pain compared to that?
David: It can't be that simple.
Nathaniel: What if it is?


The Sopranos

  • In some ways, it's disturbing, but in others, Tony being proud of himself after he decides to inform the cops, rather than have Meadow's child-molesting soccer teacher whacked gives you hope for his moral development. (It's soon shot down, but the point remains...)


Spaced

  • The final episode of Spaced, in which the flatmates earn Martha's forgiveness for lying to her about Tim and Daisy's relationship by recreating the Say Anything moment above. With a banner reading "We're sorry!", Take That's "Back For Good", and a tank. Yes, a tank.
    • And the montage that follows to Lemon Jelly's The Staunton Lick.
    • Also, somehow, the first season episode when most of the cast attends a rave. Everybody's just so happy!
    • The last scene of the final episode of season one; Tim has finally realized that his ex-girlfriend Sarah, whom he has been pining after pathetically for the entire season, is a no-good user and broken it off with her for good; he meets Daisy down the pub for a drink, and enters into a long, slightly bitter monologue (complete with torturously over-extended masturbation metaphor) about how "happy endings are a myth, designed to make us all feel better about the fact that life is just a thankless struggle". Then the pub band begins playing "Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby", and Tim asks Daisy to dance. They dance happily, comfortable with each other, and we see quick shots of all the other characters, for once happy and fulfilled... thus providing, for the season at least, a happy ending.

Wonderfalls

  • The end of the episode Wind-Up Penguin of Wonderfalls, where Jaye discovers that the totems command to "Bring her back to him!" not only meant restoring the Nun's faith, but reuniting the priest with his estranged wife and daughter.

Other Shows

  • The final episode of the Doctor Who spinoff K9 features the Professor finally defeating his agoraphobia. When he records a message in case he doesn't succeed in saving his friends, he has this to say:

This is Professor Alistair Gryffen. My friends are in terrible danger, I am unable to contact a single one. I believe I am their only hope of survival, and perhaps that of the entire Human Race. Me; an agoraphobic, reclusive shut-in. So if you're watching this, it means that I didn't just sit here in this house, doing nothing as I have done for so long. It means that Alistair Gryffen has finally stood up and did something. Today, I don't just sit where I am, at the bottom and there's nowhere to go but up, (out loud) AND OUT!

  • The kindly old soldier Hagman in Sharpe, in the middle of a besieged farmyard to a small and terrified captured French drummer boy who looks all of about nine: "Don't worry, you little bugger. We've stopped eating French drummer boys. They smell!", followed by a pat to the boy's face.
  • It may cross over with Real Life, but every episode this troper has seen of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is absolutely full of this and Tear Jerker.
  • Kitchen Nightmares had an episode where, in addition to the standard problems plaguing the sinking restaurant, the family that owned it was ripping itself apart. At the end of the episode, Gordon has the husband, wife, and son read letters they secretly wrote to one another to express their true feelings, which succeeds in restoring the love lost between them. Only adding to this is the fact that it actually gets Gordon Ramsay to put aside his Mean Brit attitude and express honest happiness, quite a feat in and of itself.
    • The British version had some of its own. One of the nicest ones is when a talented young chef at a restaurant Gordon couldn't save is left out in the cold, Gordon decides to take her on in one of his own restaurants, her choice of which one.
      • Ramsay is known for doing that on both Kitchen Nightmares and Hells Kitchen. More than once, he's given jobs to talented chefs whose restaurants/owners fold because he wants them to succeed.
  • Northern Exposure has more than a few, but one stands out for this troper: Shelly's puppet show for Holling in Things Become Extinct.
    • In 03x08 - A Hunting We Will Go - Ed buys Ruth-Anne a very small piece of land with a beautiful view for her 75th birthday, and brings her up to it and tells her it's for her grave. Just that is Awwworthy, but they CMOH comes when they, at Ruth-Anne's suggestion, start dancing together on top of it. "It's the opportunity of a lifetime."
    • "Uncle Manny's Kaddish." The rest of the town tried throughout the episode to assemble a minyan of Jewish mourners for Joel to pray with on behalf of his late beloved uncle, but he unexpectedly called off the search. At the end, he has assembled the town in the meeting hall, where he says that "the whole point of a minyan is so a mourner can be supported by their community -- and YOU are all my community." Then he says he'll say the Kaddish, and "if you all just want to think of someone you loved very much, and pray to yourself however you're most comfortable, go ahead." And then, slowly, as Joel says the prayer, you see first Ruth-Anne and Ed joining hands, then Chris and his brother Bernard stand at the back and bow their heads...then Shelly crosses herself...then Maurice creakily gets onto his knees, tearing up as he rests his face on folded hands...and the camera pans slowly out on Joel reciting the kaddish as the whole rest of Cicely stands around him, each person praying with him in their own unique way. *sniff*
  • Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, eight words: "Ladies and gentlemen, the city of New Orleans".
  • Sports Night: At the end of season one, Dana asks for one good thing to happen that day--and Isaac walks in the door. Doubly meaningful for the Reality Subtext, since that was Robert Guillaume's return to the show after a real-life stroke.
  • The end of the Colbert Report Christmas special. "There are much worse things to believe in." Would it be wrong to admit that I cried?
    • If you pay really close attention to the lyrics... possibly. But it's pretty open to interpretation, and the sentiment's still valid.
    • The Report and The Daily Show, between them, have quite a few Crowning Moments of Heartwarming. A few that come to mind: The first time Steve Carell came back as a guest; Colbert's combination civil-rights episode and tribute to his striking writers and his own father; the "Moment of Ben" when Ben Karlin left TDS (it was a waterskiing squirrel, if I recall correctly); the recent standing-ovation toss when Colbert came back from Iraq; and Stewart's response the day after Colbert's speech at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner ("We've never been prouder of our Mr. Colbert, and, uh... holy shit.")
  • Space Cases
    • Radu being all parental over the Ugly Cute gerkel that hatches out in 'It's My Birthday Too'.
  • From the 1998 Merlin miniseries there were several, including the very end, in which an old Merlin and an old Nimue meet again after years of believing they would never see each other again; at which point Merlin uses the last of the magic in the world to restore the pair of them to the state they were in when they had last met.
  • The Fringe episode The Equation showed a strong heartwarming dynamic develop between Peter and Walter as we got to see Peter actually care about his father for the first time on the show. Walter speaks about his old friend talking to him like a loon in the mental institution and then asks Peter, "Is that what it's like talking to me?" It almost made this troper's heart break!
    • From the episode "Dream Logic": "You're Gonna Be Fine"
    • "Brown Betty": Ella's alternate ending to Walter's sad-ended story.

Ella: "...and Peter looked inside Walter's eyes and realized there was still goodness inside him. So Peter took his special heart, and with all his might, he split it in two. And the heart was so magical that it still worked. And together, they made goodness, and lived happily ever after."

  • Spooks, of all shows, has a big one in "The Innocent" when Malik, after being imprisoned for years as an innocent man, hears his young son's voice on the phone just in time to convince him that his family is alive and stop him from crossing the Moral Event Horizon. It's genuinely moving instead of schmaltzy because this is a show where Anyone Can Die, even the lovable innocents, and this troper was half-convinced that that was what would happen.
  • In the episode of Bones where Brennan is kidnapped by an FBI agent who has made several attempts on her life. She's tied up, about to be eaten by dogs, when Booth (with a broken shoulder) comes in, shoots her captor and lifts her off the hook.
    • What about the episode "Aliens In A Spaceship"? Bones is buried alive and Booth digs her out by hand.
      • And the other three are frantically digging Hodgins out while he helps Bones.
    • The climax of "The Pain in the Heart".
    • Is it okay to mention the shrimp and Angela agreeing to marry Hodgins? It was crazy and weird and we all know they still had quite a bit of on-off-ery to do before it took, but it was still one of the sweetest moments in the series.
    • Or:

Booth: Don't be Dr. Brennan today, alright? Just be Temperance.
Bones: I don't know what that means.
Booth: Take your head, put it in neutral. Take your heart, pop it into overdrive. (Makes car noises and gestures like he's driving)
Bones: (Laughing) Sometimes I think you're from another planet. (Beat) And sometimes I think you're really very nice.

    • You wouldn't think gunfire would form the basis of a CMoH, but it does in "The Dwarf in the Dirt". Booth has to requalify in marksmanship, and is performing horribly, damaging his confidence. Dr. Wyatt recommends that he bring Bones along to his quals. He does so, and performs flawlessly. He looks over at Bones, who smiles and gives him a thumbs-up. Aww.
    • In the more recent Christmas episode, the entire group giving up their Christmas morning so a women wouldn't have to be alone when she buried her son was a cross between this and Tear Jerker.
      • In another Christmas episode, when Brennan gets the chance finally spend Christmas with her father and brother, Booth and his son set up a Christmas tree for them outside.
      • The radio DJ in the 2009 Christmas episode realizing that he had inspired a murder. He decides to end his show, because everything he's ever aired was all about hate. "These will be the final words I ever broadcast, and if you remember nothing else, remember these. Peace on Earth.
    • The Christmas episode of season one, The Man in the Fallout Shelter. Dr. Goodman and Booth bonding as fathers. The Secret Santa with Angela's CGI Christmas tree. Zac giving Seeley his prize robot to give to his son since he didn't get the chance to go Christmas shopping. The story of a bi-racial couple in 1959 that ends happily half a century later.
    • From "The Boy In The Bush", Angela was feeling a bit depressed about the work that she does. Dr Goodman convinces her otherwise.

Goodman: You are the best of us, Ms. Montenegro. You discern humanity in the wreck of a ruined human body. You give victims back their faces, their identities. You remind us all, of why we're here in the first place. Because we treasure human life.
(Angela hugs him emotionally)
Goodman: (unnerved) Oh, for God's sake!

Zach: Apparently all Angela needed was to hear her job description in a deep African-American tone.

    • "There's more than one kind of family, Bones." In fact, "There's more than one kind of family" seems to be in danger of becoming the series' motto. Not that that wouldn't be awesome or anything.
  • How is it that nobody has mentioned Michael J Fox's final episode of Spin City? There's no sadder moment in television history.
    • The hug between Nikki and Mike after he finally tells the truth about his break-up with Ashley in "Bye-Bye Love".
    • Same thing for the final scene of the final episode of the final season. Bye bye Charlie and Caitlin. Since then "Island in the Sun" has always been a particular song for this troper.
  • The First Shop of Coffee Prince essentially runs on heartwarming moments, but for this troper at least three stick out:
    • Eun Chan dancing like a lunatic the first time she rides in a convertible
    • Eun Chan knocks over a couple who then harass her until Han Kyul shows up and distracts them. The two make a getaway and keep hitting each other with the giant bags of stuffed animals.
    • Min Yeop follows Sun Ki thinking he is going to meet with the girl Min Yeop likes. Instead he ends up overhearing about Sun Ki's three year search for a different girl. When the camera switches back to Min Yeop, he's crying. For all he's short on brains he definitely has a heart.
    • Overall if this show doesn't make you "aww" out loud several times an episode, you must be made of stone.
  • Baldrick and Percy's hug in the Blackadder episode "The Queen of Spain's Beard", mainly because this series is one solid Crowning Moment of Funny ( except at the very end) and doesn't set much room aside for heartwarming. Unless you count Percy and Lieutenant George's various attempts to save Blackadder from various scrapes of various severity.
    • Which reminds me...

Captain Darling: Don't take that tone with me, Lieutenant, or I'll have you on charge for insubordination!
Lieutenant George: Well I'd rather be on a charge for insubordination than on a charge for deserting a friend!

    • Hey, what about the final episode of Blackadder Goes Forth? When Blackadder says "Good luck, everyone" before going over the top. Which is the nicest thing we ever hear him say. But the entire episode was like that, anyway...
        • No, no, no. See, you're getting mixed up between heartwarming and heartbreaking. And you made me cry. Thanks for that.
      • Especially Blackadder's reaction to Darling arriving in the trench: rather than gloat over his nemesis finally being forced to the front line with the rest of them, Blackadder has a rare (unique?) moment of kindness, letting Darling save face and pretend he volunteered.
      • He gets another moment at the end, when Baldrick comes up with a plan to avoid going over the top, most likely something as stupid as ever, when it's almost the end; rather than hear it out then deride it, Blackadder assures him that whatever it was, it had to be better than his previous plan of pretending to go mad.
    • At the end of Blackadder Back and Forth. Blackadder changes history to make himself king and Baldrick Prime Minister. Just the thought that, despite all the horrible things he did to Baldrick over the series, Blackadder made sure he was alright in the end (this works best if you discount the vision of the future from Christmas Carol). Alright, so he probably bosses him around, but he could have changed the past so he didn't need a Prime Minister, and made Baldrick a servant or ignored him altogether. Also, the fact that Blackadder is apparently a good leader, not a tyrant.
  • This ending scene from the incredibly powerful Without a Trace episode "Wannabe". Qualifies as a Tear Jerker when a boy who is bullied at school decides to take his own life, but is saved. Even one of the FBI agents(don't know the character's name) is crying.
  • The Joan of Arcadia episode "Silence", in which Joan is hospitalized for Lyme Disease and begins to think that God's appearances to her are merely hallucinations brought on by the disease. She is asking God to give her a sign, when every version of God who has appeared to her walks into her room, and they all stand around the bed, and are silent, as she is pleading with them to say something. They leave. She later falls asleep as cute-guy God walks into her room and gently touches her hair, while the episode fades out.
  • Frasier: The entire episode that takes place during Niles' heart surgery. The ending with Niles' and Daphne's yet unborn babies made this troper cry.
    • And of course: "Daphne, Daphne, Daphne, Daphne, Daphne, Daphne..."
    • For this troper, the series finale. Just...the series finale. :)
  • In the Cold Case episode "Best Friends", pretty much every flashback scene with Rose and Billie is sweetly, romantically adorable and heartwarming.
    • From "Ghost of My Child", the ex-drug addict changed her ways for her baby son and after believing he had died in a fire that she caused, she was happily reunited with him.
    • In "True Calling", an idealistic inner-city teacher who saw the good in the most troubled kid in her class and trusted him when no one else believed that he didn't steal and deal drugs. In the end, after living a life of petty crime, that student was seen reading again and trying to make his life better.
  • At the end of Generation Kill, Ray Person runs out of the pills he's been knoshing on for energy boosts for the whole invasion, and takes an instant dive. He's fully aware that he's basically crashing from withdrawal, and tries to keep himself in high (or at least higher) spirits by joining an impromptu football game. Unfortunately, the combination of this plus getting checked flat onto his back hard enough to be in obvious pain sends him over the edge, prompting him to get up and start a fight with Rudy Reyes. Rudy being twice his size, the fight consists of Rudy rolling on top of Ray and pounding him in the face until they're pulled apart, with Rudy trying to apologize to Ray, while Ray hears nothing and shambles away, fully breaking down. The heartwarming part comes in the next scene, where a small amount of time has passed; the Marines gather around a laptop where one of them has edited together a video he's been shooting the entire time, of both the messed up War Is Hell crap they've had to endure, and the good times they've shared as brothers. It's heartwarming in and of itself, but the best part? Pay attention and you'll see Ray and Rudy with arms around each others' shoulders, laughing as happily as the others.
  • Most of the convicts in Oz are selfish and remorseless murderers and/or rapists and none more so than Simon Adebisi. But when one of his Mooks suggests to steal the money other convicts collected to send Rebadow's grandson to Disney world, he objects:

Simon Adebisi: No.
Kenny 'Bricks' Wangler: What do you mean, no? It's $3,000.
Simon Adebisi: I said no.
Kenny 'Bricks' Wangler: Why?
Simon Adebisi: 'Cause sometimes it's good to be human.

  • The Higher Ground episode "Innocence" hold a special place in this troper's heart because of its Crowning Moment of Heartwarming . In the previous episode, Scott had learned of Shelby's previous involvement in prostitution, including watching one of her friends die from a drug overdose, and began rejecting her. During the Cliffhanger's solo-hike, a massive storm approaches that drives everyone into an emergency cabin. When Shelby doesn't turn up and her solo spot is found deserted, Scott goes out into the storm by himself to rescue her. He does, and their reunion tugged at this troper's heartstrings quite a bit. The icing on the cake comes later when everyone's in bed.

Shelby: What?
Scott: ...I'm sorry.
Shelby: Thank you.

  • The last scene of "Jeeves in the Country". On top of all his usual dilemmas of accidental engagements, Bertie has to suffer a falling out with Jeeves in which Jeeves actually leaves him, a heafty amount of verbal abuse, a police baton to the head, and a beatdown from Chuffy and Mr. Stoker while his cottage burns. Even after everything, Jeeves scrapes together the materials to make Bertie's morning tea (picking the herbs, getting milk from a cow, boiling water over a campfire, etc.) and brings it to the tool shed where he spent the night. And this troper is pretty sure that that is indeed Jeeves' jacket draped over him as a blanket.
  • In the final episode of It Ain't Half Hot, Mum, the war has ended and the men are demobbed. As they prepare to return to civilian life, Drill Sergeant Nasty Sergeant Major Williams struggles to make conversation with his old comrades and it becomes clear that he has never really had a life outside the army. Gunner Parkin, whom Williams always thought might have been his son (but isn't), learns that Williams was turned down for the job of prison warder due to his age, and a widow in Wales whom he romanced years earlier has re-married, leaving him with nothing. Parkin then invites Williams to stay with him and his now-widowed mother - who, it has been revealed throughout the course of the series, was probably the only woman the Sergeant Major ever really loved. The expressions on the faces of both men after this add to the very touching effect of the scene.
    • Also touching (and part Tear Jerker) is the fact that, for the first twenty minutes of the episode, Williams is his usual bullying self, right up until the men are officially demobilised. Many of them declared in his absence that they would wait until they were out of the army to finally tell or show Williams what they really thought of him (Graham with words, Lofty with obscene gestures, Atlas and Nobby with fists)... until they see how lost and pathetic he looks upon receiving his civilian papers, and make excuses not to go through with their planned retaliation. As cruel as he always was to them, they decide they cannot kick him while he is so obviously down.
    • In the episode "The Star," a very talented outside recruit is brought into the Concert Party, meaning that one of the men will have to leave and be "posted up the jungle." It soon becomes clear this will be Lofty, who becomes very dispirited and says he can never sing again. Beaumont and Sergeant Major team up in a rare moment of comeradeship to get rid of the new recruit. Afterwards, Lofty is on top form again and sings enthusiastically at a rehearsal, but Beaumont stops him halfway through and says "Lofty ... you've got a lovely voice."
  • You may have seen the clip from It's Me or the Dog where Victoria Stillwell commands a dog named Stains not to eat cupcakes that she was holding inches away from his face. The result: The dog gets a hypnotized look on his face. The Soup, in their end-of-the-year awards show, gave Stains the "Entertainer of the Year" award, than apologize because they've run out of trophies... but they have cupcakes. It's funny, but it's also heartwarming.
  • The first episode of Top Gear series nine, when Richard Hammond came back to the series after suffering a brain injury in an accident and gave a heartfelt thanks to everyone who wrote in to wish him well. But probably the best bit was that, after being embarassed with a flashy intro, he exchanged a big hug with fellow presenter Jeremy Clarkson. Awwwww...
    • Following that he got......an awkward handshake from his other co-presenter, James May. However, May made no secret of his concern in articles he wrote during Hammond's recovery, so it's clear they were both glad to have their Hamster back
    • Richard Hammond and Oliver, his Opel Kadet from the Botswana Special. While Jeremy and James stripped almost everything out of their vehicles to allow them to cross the salt flats, Hammond barely did anything to Oliver. He looked absolutely heartbroken when his car flooded and stalled, but somehow got it back in working order and actually had it flown back to the UK to be his personal car.
  • Band of Brothers, anyone? The entire tenth episode is so heartwarming it could probably replace central heating altogether. The 'lottery' with only Shifty Powers' lot in the helmet? The German General's speech to his soldiers? The baseball game at the end, where the futures of each surviving Company member are summarised? George Luz's funeral?

Winters: You're a hell of a fine soldier, Shifty. What more is there to say?

  • Iron Chef, of all shows, has one at the very end of the King of Iron Chefs tournament. Iron Chef French Hiroyuki Sakai had just edged out the victory against Iron Chef Chinese Chen Kenichi. Instead of the usual handshake and congratulations that the victor and the vanquished exchange, the audience instead witnesses a tearful embrace between best friends. This troper tears up just thinking about it.
  • The Big Bang Theory: Sheldon is locked out of his apartment, so he spends the night at Penny's. He goes through his typical jerkass tendencies and generally annoys the hell out of Penny. At night, he's having trouble falling asleep because he's "homesick", so he asks Penny to sing him a lullaby, which she reluctantly does. Afterwards, Sheldon sincerely thanks Penny for being so accommodating for him. Very out of character for him, and incredibly heartwarming. No wonder they're the Fan-Preferred Couple.
    • Though this troper was upset when said touching moment was ruined with a joke. Is it impossible to just show that Sheldon's human, without trying to milk a cheap laugh afterwords?
    • And his reaction to her Christmas gift for him in another episode.
    • Sheldon showing genuine sympathy for Wil Wheaton when Wil told him his grandmother had died. Character Development at its finest, who cares if Wil was lying?
    • 'The Adheisive Duck Deficiency'. "Sing 'Soft Kitty' for me."
    • When Leonard is upset at his mother, Sheldon says that his biological family may have abandoned him, but Leonard has "me, your surrogate family". Granted, it's immediately followed by a joke about how unhappy they are about this state of affairs, and Sheldon is a terrible surrogate family member, but the point is, it was a genuine gesture of kindness from Sheldon. He's trying.
    • Penny and Leonard retrieving Sheldon from the comic store after their first fight. It showed that no matter how much he annoys the crap out of them, they really do care about him in the end. Sure the rest of the episode is painful to watch (especiall if you're a Leonard/Penny shipper like me), but that moment is still really sweet.
    • Elicia moves into the building and starts stealing the boys away from Penny. In an effort to make them stay friends with her she learns a 'stupid' physicist joke because 'she cares that much', gets them Chinese food and tries to get her geek on, uses a Star Trek metaphor, gets Sheldon's food right from the Chinese food place, and he doens't even complain about how quickly she got it. It just shows how much Penny really cares about her friends.
  • In an early episode of Welcome Back, Kotter, Rosalie Totsie claimed pregnancy and that one of the Sweathogs was the father. While three of them bailed, Arnold Horshack stayed behind to propose to her. Keep in mind they're high school students and this is the late 1970s. And later, when she confessed her pregnancy was a lie to force the boys into admitting she wasn't easy, she thanked Arnold for offering to do the right thing anyway and asked him out again.
  • The Season Finale for the fifth season of Numb3rs. Charlie. Proposed. To. Amita. After everything else that had happened in that episode, too... I mean, yeah, it was almost impossible to not see it coming, but... gawd...
    • Major of the Numb3rs episodes, at the end, they usually have a nice touching family moment of the Epps together.
    • "Dreamland": Alan, Amita, and the heirloom passed to daughters. So sweet.
  • The 100th episode of Desperate Housewives doesn't go one minute without a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming. The episode focuses on a character whom we've never seen before, Eli Scruggs, and how his death deeply affected each of the main characters. We see flashbacks on how Eli Scruggs has helped all of them in pivotal parts of their lives and how it changed them for the better (Particularly Gabrielle's self-centered attitude after moving in to Wisteria Lane and Bree's future cookbook, which brings her enormous success).
    • This troper remembers watching the episode with Eli Scruggs, and then crying his eyes out for an hour afterwards because the episode was so moving and beautiful.
    • This editor (not a regular watcher) recalls a scene between two apparently major (perhaps main) characters, a mother and daughter. The daughter had just found out that her father had not been a hero who died in Vietnam, and that she had, in fact, been the product of a one-night stand.

Mother: I wanted you to have a hero, a role-model, someone to look up to.
Daughter: I already had someone to look up to.
This Troper: ... You.
Daughter: ... You
This Troper: Awwwwww

    • Bree stopping Orson from committing suicide and telling him that she wants to fall in love again with him definitively qualifies.
  • No mention of Breaking Bad until this point? For shame. The entire show is littered with these, but one scene in particular during the first season where Walt's family "intervenes" him to accept the treatment for his lung cancer was heartwarming. Walt then explains his side of the situation and as to why he's refusing treatment.
  • Life After People is a nice chunk of Nightmare Fuel with the imagery of what would happen if humans suddenly vanished one day. One brief moment can be a heartstring-tugger for animal lovers, however. Even if all humans died out, the domesticated parrots will still retain the words they learned for a while. True, the human language would not stick with them past a few generations. However, the fact that there would still be birds out there for some time that would be taught one or two words by their parents is heartwarming. Never has a parrot saying "hello" or "pretty" made this troper appreciate her own birds so much -- and they don't even say actual words.
    • While the thought of humanity's great achievements eventually rotting away is pretty upsetting, there is something heartwarming in seeing how the damage wrought by humans will eventually be undone. New animal niches will spring up, endangered species will return to normal levels, lush greenery will eventually sprout up...in the end, things are gonna be all right without us.
  • Although Dirty Jobs is better known for being full of slimy, gross, and yes, even funny moments, there was a ridiculously sweet episode in which Mike Rowe assists cow farmers, and helps to bring a baby cow into the world. After tugging the calf out by its back legs, Mike holds its head in his lap and says "Hey, welcome to the world." Cue squeeing.
  • Minor character Jerry's performance as Macbeth in the fifth episode of the second season of Slings and Arrows. We all knew from the buildup that Richard was supposed to play the part, and Jerry made it clear he was in over his head and we were primed to see him crash and burn. He came out fumbling, and cut fourteen minutes in forgotten lines, but for that one night, he delivered a kick-ass Macbeth which had the whole audience out of their seats at the end. (This editor still feels that having that performance save his marriage was going overboard, though.)
  • Hercules: The Legendary Journeys: After losing his mother, trying out full godhood and finding it isn't what he wanted after all, Hercules goes back to Iolaus and tells him "You're my family." Iolaus suddenly comes down with a case of the sniffles.
  • The Cirque Du Soleil Widget Series Solstrom has two episodes that build to awww-moments.
    • "Wind of Life"'s Pinocchio-inspired plot has a lonely toymaker whose only friend is a life-sized wooden doll he treats like his son. As the episode progresses and several of the toys in his workshop come to life via the solar wind blown about by a "sun creature" (a character from the Cirque show Mystere), he becomes desperate to bring his "son" to life via a Mad Scientist, Frankenstein-esque electrical setup. It doesn't work, and finally the creature blows some wind into the wires... His maid enters the room and notices a new doll that looks like the toymaker is sitting upon the table. She turns away for a moment -- and when she turns back, finds that the boy is in its "father's" arms. The creature turned them both into Living Toys! The Stinger reveals that the dolls go on to entertain the children of the village as "marionettes"; no one knows that no one has to work their strings.
    • The Grand Finale ("Cosmic Wind") is set at the Coolest Club Ever, and the Running Gag is the efforts of an "Inoffensive Crank" to get past a snooty doorman. As the end credits wrap up we get the sight of them, after being at odds with each other the whole show, happily dancing together and joining the line of all the other characters doing the bunny hop. Extra awww-points for the characters being played by, respectively, a Real Life father and son.
  • The first season finale of Everwood, when Amy and Ephram are talking about "going home for the holidays". Ephram looks at her with a smile and says "I am home". Too bad the scene that follows is a nailbiting Tear Jerker.
  • In Kamen Rider Dragon Knight, Kit (the titular Dragon Knight) lets fellow Kamen Rider and mentor Len, who had just revealed that he is homeless, stay at his apartment to convalesce after several consecutive fights. Len goes to sleep on Kit's couch; after he wakes up, he finds that Kit has fallen asleep on the floor next to him. So cute...
  • In a later episode of Roseanne, DJ causes a kerfluffle between Roseanne and Jackie by spending a lot of time at the latter's house playing with his cousin Andy. When Dan asks why, DJ tells him "Becky and Darlene are sisters, and so are Mom and Aunt Jackie, Mark and David are brothers, and Mom's new baby's gonna be a girl. So I'm the only one who can be Andy's brother." This troper actually "awwww"ed out loud.
    • Then there's one where Becky (First Becky) is called a bad word, assumed to be bitch, This Troper thinks, by her boss, and Dan goes to the store where she works to punch him out...only to be beaten to the punch by her Jerkass boyfriend, Mark. This is one of the moments where you see that, for all his (many, according to Roseanne) faults, he does care about Becky.
  • The Mythbusters episode about claims that the Moon Landings were a hoax, when the warehouse door opens to reveal Adam Savage standing there in his replica Apollo program astronaut's suit, silhouetted against the sky, while reverent music plays, you realize they aren't just doing this one in the interest of science, but because they love the idea that humanity made it to the Moon and admire everyone involved in the program and want to shut the naysayers the fuck up.
  • In The Philanthropist episode "Kosovo", Non-Idle Rich man Teddy Rist brings his ex-wife to Kosovo, and tearfully confesses that he's been blaming her, and himself, for their son's death, for years. He then forgives her. She is overcome, and forgives him back. She then asks what they're doing in front of the building they've arrived at. They open doors decorated with cartoon tigers to reveal a large playroom, in which Serbian and Albanian kids are happily playing. Teddy takes her across the room to a sign, upon which is written in three languages: "Dedicated to the memory of Bobby Rist. Beloved son."
  • Happy Days: Joanie & Chachi announce their engagement. Howard, the father of the bride, walks up menacingly to Chachi- "Chachi, I'm going to say something, and I'm only going to say it once: I've always liked you. Welcome to the family." and holds out his hand. Also, when they tie the knot in the Grand Finale, when Howard thanks the audience for being with his family through all these years, and says "to Happy Days."
  • "And say what? How much I miss you? How much...how much I love you?"
  • I'm surprised that the first new The Daily Show episode that came after 9/11 isn't here. First, Jon Stewart made a very, very touching and sincere speech that will have you bawling your eyes out and reviewing 9/11 videos over and over in a masochistic cycle, then in the Moment of Zen, Jon says that, in the spirit of making the viewers smile in these times, they brought out a puppy. He promptly takes out an adorable puppy from under his desk and coos at it to not be scared, and he does this while being entirely sincere in his desire for people to smile again.
  • Pretty much every single moment of the Naomily relationship in Skins that isn't a Tear Jerker, but particularly the Love Ball's happy ending.

Naomi: I love you too.
Emily: I know.

    • And the S4 finale runneth over with it.

Naomi: I loved you from the first time I saw you. I think I was twelve. It took me three years to pluck up the courage to speak to you. And I was so scared of the way I felt - you know, loving a girl - that I learned how to become a sarcastic bitch just to make it feel normal. I screwed guys to make it go away, but it didn't work. When we got together it scared the shit out of me, because you were the one person who could ruin my life. I pushed you away and made you think things were your fault, but really I was just terrified of pain. I screwed that girl Sophia to kind of spite you for having that hold on me. And I'm a total fucking coward because I got... * roots around in bag* these... these tickets to Goa for us three months ago. But I, I couldn't stand... I didn't want to be a slave to the way I feel about you. Can you understand? You were trying to punish me back, and it's horrible. It's so horrible, because really... I'd die for you. I love you. I love you so much, it's killing me.

      • Of course, the real Heartwarming comes about five seconds later, when Emily finally forgives her.
      • And the intrinsic reveal about S3 that comes out of this - that she willingly took all the flak from Katie about her and Emily's middle school kiss to protect Emily, when she obviously wanted it just as much as Emily did - is almost as heartwarming itself.
      • And then there's the E4.com character blogs, which reveal that said middle school kiss was Naomi's first.
    • Also the end of JJ's episode, when he comes downstairs with Emily and his mum realises with a smile that, despite his autism, he's going to be alright.
      • And the end of JJ's other episode, when he wins Lara back by serenading her with Spandau Ballet's True. With the backing of a full ukulele orchestra.
    • Cook finally manning up and deciding to face the consequences of punching the fuck out of Shanky Jenkins comes close. Cook also choosing to take the rap for Naomi selling MDMA to Sophia in the process nails it.
    • The Fitch family moment in the end of Katie's S4 episode.
    • The Series 1 finale, when Anwar's Muslim father unflinchingly accepts that Maxxie is gay.
  • Four from Malcolm in the Middle that really stick out:
    • A flashback episode shows the birth and early childhood of the four boys, intercut with Lois and Hal in the present fretting about the posibility of Lois being pregnant again, with Dewey looking on and growing increasingly worried as his parents keep yelling at each other. The final flashback finds the family fleeing the house due to some chemical explosion, it starts raining, and of course Lois goes into labor. At the absolute breaking point, to get through it all Hal and Lois tell each other seven things they love about each other. Cut to present day, Hal and Lois realizing they have gotten through a lot together, they kiss and Dewey smiles, realizing that everything is gonna be all right. It particularly hits close to home for this troper, and she bawls every time she watches it.
    • In another episode, Hal is visiting Francis at his military school for parent's weekend and is increasingly dismayed at his son's lack of academic accomplishment, being one of the only cadets not to get a medal. The headmaster informs Hal of Francis' complete hopelessness and lack of respect for authority, and after a while Hal lets Francis know just how dissapointed he is with his lack of progress. Then when the fathers leave, the headmaster tears into a cadet for an untucked shirt- a shirt that became untucked when hugging his dad. Francis stands up for the cadet, and the headmaster yells that he is always "undermining his authority"- organizing a hunger strike in support of a cadet who was forced to run 600 laps, hooking up a transistor radio when their electricity was cut off for some minor infraction- and Hal is so filled with pride and hugs Francis and it's a big awwwwwww moment.
    • In another one, Hal and Lois are again talking, this time discussing how they are failures as parents. Suddenly, at the end of the episode, Dewey comes in crying because the hurt himself. They immediately comfort him, know which doctor to take him to, and get him some juice. But they still think they are awful whhen they don't have the right flavor. It really shows that they do care about their children.
    • The episode where the whole family brawls with a bunch of clowns to defend Lois's honor. It's absolutely ridiculous, but it shows that they really do care about her.
    • The season finale. A friend of Stevie's dad offers Malcolm an extremely high-paying job which will set him up for life, but Lois turns it down point-blank without even allowing Malcolm to register his interest. Malcolm is furious, and, after one of Reese's schemes leads the entire family to be covered in sludge, he takes the opportunity to lambast Lois for blowing his opportunity of a lifetime. To Malcolm's incredulity, Lois tells him that she wasn't about to let him ruin his life with this dream job. Lois explains that she won't let him ruin his life by taking up a well-paying job when he should be doing more with his life: specifically, she expects him to go to Harvard, get a job in public service, and eventually become President, where his life of struggle and hardship will lead him to help the common man.

Malcolm: This is unbelievable! You actually expect me to be president. No, no, I'm sorry. You expect me to be one of the greatest presidents in the history of the United States!
Lois: You look me in the eye and you tell me you can't do it.

  • In the Korean drama Princess Hours or Goong, when the main guy and girl, who have been doing the Will They or Won't They? dance and the Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other tango for a while, finally kissed for the first time, plenty of viewers were cheering.
    • At the end, the main couple decided to marry again. Their first marriage was an arranged one. Their second marriage was now done for love. The entire wedding planted a huge smile on my face. Then, it is implied that the girl is pregnant too ...
    • Even before the marriage, the guy proposed to the girl. She took his ring case, telling him to give her some time to think about it. However, the next day, he had to leave and he noticed that the ring case was on the table, meaning that she didn't accept. Upset, he got in the car where she was, trying not to look at her. She began bugging him to loosen the scarf around her neck. Finally, he did and to his surprise, the two rings were tied around her neck in a necklace.
  • Like The Office, Extras gets its main moment in the finale: Andy concludes his long, televised speech excoriating the entertainment industry for destroying human dignity by making up with Maggie, who's watching at home: "I'd be the penguin."
  • Mr. Bean feeling sadness and loss over his crushed car at the end of Back to School Mr. Bean.
    • And then he finds that the padlock is okay and everything's fine again.
  • In The View episode after Patrick Swayze passed away, Whoopi Goldberg had this to say about her Ghost costar:

Whoopi: This was a well-fought battle. Patrick fought like the dickens to survive it, or to get through it. He never thought of himself as someone who was dying, because as he said to another good friend of mine, he said "You know, we're all dying.". And so, his attitude was "Until it kills me, I'm gonna keep doing what I'm doing.". So, this was his attitude... 'Cause he worked up until the last minute. He worked, he did his show, he-he just was a cat that never gave up... I've said it before, and I'll say it again: because of Patrick Swayze, I got that movie, Ghost. And because of Patrick Swayze, I have an Oscar. And...there you are.

  • It would seem to be impossible to have one of these in a show as relentlessly bleak as The Wire, but Bubble's ending more than qualifies.
    • The ruthless and imprisoned killer, Wee-Bey allowing his son, Namond, to be adopted by former cop, Howard "Bunny" Colvin.

Wee-Bey: You know I'm still your father.

  • There are so many of these on Friends that this troper is surprised they haven't been brought up yet. One that comes to mind right away is when the group is watching the video of Monica and Rachel getting ready for prom, and Rachel learns that Ross had gotten ready to take her when her date didn't show. She then gets up, walks over to him, and kisses him. This even made my unromantic heart melt a little.
    • Chandler professes his love for Monica. Sure that whole scene is played for comedy, but the actual moment when Chandler says it, look at his expression, and the emotion in his voice, it's surprisingly beautiful. It's mentioned on the Tear Jerker page that Matthew Perry every so often gets his real acting face on, and this is on of those moments.
      • Phoebe's wedding always makes me tear up, every single time. It's because she waited nearly the entire series to find happiness.
    • "Open the box! He can still catch her!" The entire lead-up, and the way Joey nearly starts crying at that line, gets This Troper every time.
      • In the same episode: out of all the things that Chandler did to try to get Joey to forgive him, the most touching was the brief, unmentioned glimpse of the whiteboard with "Imsorry Imsorry Imsorry Imsorry" written on it dozens of times.
  • On Veronica Mars, the scene in the season 1 finale where Veronica finds out she really is Keith's daughter makes everyone melt a little.

Keith: You think that charm of yours is learned behaviour? That's genetics, baby!

    • Wallace and Veronica in "Happy Go Lucky" (2x21)

Wallace: It was worth getting taped to a pole. I'm gonna miss you.
[pause]
Veronica: And my stupid-ass face?
[they both laugh]

  • On an episode of CSI: NY Hawkes admitted, in the course of trying to talk a suspect out of killing himself, that he had recently lost his money and had to sell his home and was living with friends because he was the victim of a scam artist, with Mac nearby listening. After they save the suspect the scene cuts back to the labs where Hawkes is talking to Stella about what happened, and she gives him a hug. When they pull apart Mac shows up, tosses Hawkes a set of keys, and tells him there's an extra room in his apartment, and that it's not up for discussion. Of course, Mac's offered that spare room up to Stella twice as well, after she had to kill her psychotic ex in her own apartment and after her new apartment got destroyed in a fire. Mac's willingness to offer up that spare room to the people he cares for most just shows what an awesome guy he is.
      • Actually Mac offered to get Stella a hotel room after her ex, Frankie, tried to kill her, but it was still the same sentiment and still counts as a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming
    • The scene at the end of the season 5 episode "Grounds for Deception" where Stella is reading Mac's coffee grounds, then says "I don't need coffee grounds to see how lucky I am to have you in my life Mac." did it for this troper.
    • The end of season 6 episode 4, "Dead Reckoning." No dialogue, no scenery, just Danny holding his baby girl...a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming and Awesome in that, after spending the entire season up to that point in a wheelchair due to being shot at the end of the previous season, he's doing this standing.
  • Your Mileage May Vary, but this troper even found death to give a heartwarming moment in the CSI episode "The Theory of Everything", in regards to the eldery couple. Think about it for a moment: A loving, devoted husband & wife, probably married for over half a century. Kids, probably grandkids, all of whom they were undoubtedly proud of, and all in all having a wonderful life. They fell asleep in each other's arms, passing away peacefully at the same time....spending every moment of life together, and every moment in the afterlife together, never seperated for even a single instant. From what could be garnered in that episode, every moment of their existence was just...beautiful. If I were compile a list of best-to-worst ways to go, this would probably be #1.
    • In the episode "Burn Out", at least one child Jason was found and was happily returned to his father.
  • Mad Men has quite a few:
    • Don to Peggy in the season 3 finale: "I will spend the rest of my life trying to hire you."
    • Roger telling Joan in his own way that he cares about Joan and possibly loves her . . . this can be either Pet the Dog or Jerk with a Heart of Gold depending on your opinion of Roger.
      • Or the funniest declaration of love ever.
    • Pete and Trudy's Charleston in "My Old Kentucky Home" - it's the most human we've ever seen the Campbells.
  • Fresh Prince of Bel Air has a fair few, but the one I've always liked is actually a rather low-key moment towards the end of an episode -- I forget what Will's been up to that Uncle Phil's mad about, but in any case, the conversation ends with Uncle Phil admitting that even though Will causes him more trouble than the other kids combined, Will's also the only one he knows he never has to worry about. It's very sweet, but also so aware and un-Narmful compared to the Golden Moments you'd get in so many nineties sitcoms.
    • The episode where Will's deadbeat father returns, getting Will's hopes up, then leaves again. In the last five minutes, Will's hopeful facade finally breaks and he launches into a tirade about how he grew up just fine without his father, and how he'll be ten times the father to his own children, finally running out of steam and sobbing "How come he don't want me, man?" Without a word, Uncle Phil goes over and hugs Will. An epic Tearjerker and Crowning Moment of Heartwarming .
    • From (I think) the last episode:

Uncle Phil: "Will, you are my son."

  • The finale of the long-running Australia talkshow Rove Live was a true Aussie sendoff, with the hosts getting steadily more drunk on boxed wine and cursing like sailors. Then Peter Helliar starts sobbing hysterically in the last 5 minutes. The camera kept away from him, but one look on his face said it all. Most bromantic moment ever.
  • Criminal Minds, despite its unfailingly grizzly subject matter, manages a few, mostly in its closing montages and weekly scenes on the jet. Reid reading to his mom and holding her hand on the plane at the end of "The Fisher King Part 2" comes to mind, as does Gideon sitting with Elle at the end of the same episode.
    • From the same episode, Hotch cleaning the message written in blood off of Elle's living room wall.
    • On the subject of weekly jet scenes: The end of L.S.D.K. "I'm proud of you." Awwwww!
    • As much as "100" tore out everyone's heart and stomped on it, the end, with the entire team gathered around Aaron and Jack Hotchner in a show of family was pure love.
    • Hotch and Rossi at Haley's graveside at the end of "Slave of Duty": "Have you told her yet? That you're coming back?" "I don't need to. She knows."
    • The team's card and $500 check for the first communion of the young daughter of a victim in "Public Enemy".
    • In "Open Season", the team come across one of a pair of serial killers, who has been stabbed by one of his intended victims. Because the guy is dying anyway, instead of pointing out that he's a psycho, Gideon just comforts him, even calling him "son" a couple of times, and telling him "it's okay, it's okay".
    • The episode "JJ," which says goodbye to Jennifer Jareau after AJ Cook was fired by CBS. The entire, glorious Take That of the episode, the "I'll miss you," and the upset looks of every single actor just screams both Tear Jerker and Heartwarming.
      • It's even more Heartwarming now that AJ Cook is returning to the show for the 2011-2012 season, all because the fanbase raised holy hell and CBS knew they'd be risking a sharp drop in ratings if they didn't bring her back(OK, so the Criminal Minds spin-off getting cancelled probably had alot to do with it as well, but it's still Heartwarming to know that so many fans care nonetheless)
    • The end of the anthrax episode, where all the agents are returning home to or checking in on their families, and the last scene is Morgan by Reid's hospital bed, waiting for him to wake up.
  • The X-Files episode "The Unnatural". I dare you, I double dare you not to feel any emotion other than pure heartwarmth at the fate of Josh Exley.
    • That's the only X-Files example?! "One Breath" is one big Tear Jerker crossed with a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming . Start with Captain Scully telling his daughter it's not her time to die. Continue with Mulder returning Scully's cross to her. And Scully telling Mulder she "had the strength of [his] beliefs".
    • Deep Throat and Bill Mulder appearing to Fox Mulder in "The Blessing Way".
    • "You're my one in five billion, Scully."
    • The scene in the car in "Tooms" was sweet. "Mulder, I wouldn't put myself on the line for anybody but you."
    • When Scully breaks down her walls and accepts Mulder's comfort at the end of "Irresistible".
    • Mulder comforting Scully after her sister dies at the end of "Paper Clip"
    • Mrs. Scully defending Mulder from Scully in "Wetwired". "Scully, you are the only one I trust."
    • Scully telling Mulder she would have done it all over again in "Field Where I Died". Except for that Flukeman thing.
    • The entirety of the episode "Momento Mori".
    • End scene of "Milagro".
    • End scene of "The Sixth Extinction: Amor Fati".

Mulder: Scully, I was like you once - I didn't know who to trust. Then I... I chose another path... another life,
another fate, where I found my sister. The end of my world was unrecognisable and upside down. There was one thing that
remained the same. You... were my friend, and you told me the truth. Even when the world was falling apart, you were my
constant... my touchstone.
Scully: And you are mine.

    • Scully comforting Mulder after his mother's death in "Sein und Zeit"
    • Most of "Requiem".
    • Skinner in "This is Not Happening". Especially when Scully showed up at his door in a panic in the wee hours of the morning and he stood outside comforting her and reassuring her that Mulder was not dead.
    • Mulder agreeing to be the father of Scully's baby in "Per Manum".
    • Mulder and Scully with Baby William at the end of "Existence".
  • The Suite Life on Deck episode "Bon Voyage", when Marcus Little gets notification that he's been invited to New York to perform his musical, they throw him a goodbye party and make it clear that he'll be missed. See for yourself (at about 3:23 in the vid).
  • You'd never expect Law and Order SVU to have moments like this, but the ending of "Coerced" when Kevin Walker, a paranoid schizophrenic, finally has justice done. It gets even better when Kevin asks Stabler (who had roughed him up a bit earlier in the episode) to bring him a picture of his son he kept in his room he had at a treatment center for mentally ill adults. Stabler tells Kevin that he couldn't find the picture, as the staff at the treatment center had thrown it out. He does, however, give Kevin a camera, and then shows him that he brought his wife and son to visit him, so he can have an even better picture of his son. Had this troper smiling wide and tearing up a bit.
    • Another Crowning Moment of Heartwarming was an episode where Kathy, Elliot's pregnant wife, had gotten into a car accident and was going into labor. Olivia was there, helping as best she could along with the paramedics to get her out of the car, while Elliot was in another city on a case. This Troper smiled and went 'aww' when Elliot finally got to the hospital to see his newly born son, named Elliot, and Kathy perfectly well. The part where he hugged Olivia was heartwarming and the look on her face was priceless.
    • At the end of "Quarry", Liv and Elliot are talking about his son, who has been ill. Liv asks if Elliot worried about who his kids would be, and he says that he did. She replies that she is terrified to have children, as her genes are "half-drunkard, half-rapist." His response?:

Elliot: Yeah, but look how well you turned out.

  • Although this could technically belong in the Music category, the 2009 Kennedy Center Honors had an especially heartwarming moment when jazz great John Brubrek was surprised by his four sons appearing on stage to honor him along with other musicians -- the camera caught Brubrek exclaiming "Oh my goodness!" And then they played "Happy Birthday" for him. Awww.
    • A similar Kennedy Center Honors moment -- for Steven Spielberg (forget what year?); in his tribute, they had a choir come out and sing the gorgeous song "Make Our Garden Grow" from the musical "Candide" (I think it's one of Spielberg's favorites). There were numerous shots of Spielberg getting choked up listening. And then at the very end, as the choir was holding its final glorious chord, the set crew flew in a little final set piece -- a cutout model of the moon with the famous Elliot-and-ET-on-the-bike silhouette. At which point Spielberg broke down completely.
  • Ashes to Ashes: The last few minutes of the first season finale, courtesy of the Crowning Music of Awesome that is "Take The Long Way Home", and despite some pretty shocking revelations during the climax of the episode (mainly that Alex's father was in fact a Complete Monster and the one responsible for the car bomb which killed both Alex's parents. Little Alex only survived because she chased after a lost balloon and got out of the car, and grown-up Alex got to witness all this a second time. Sheesh.). The team is all gathered in Luigi's, Gene notices Alex standing apart from the rest and tells her to join them. Cue Crowning Moment of Heartwarming . Go on, try not to feel all warm and fuzzy at Alex's warm smile when Gene delivers this:

Gene: It's all about timing, this life. You've still got things to learn, adventures to have. Unbreakable, Bolly. Unbreakable. (he takes a sip from his glass and winces) Unlike this bloody wine which is undrinkable! Luigi, gimme a beer!

    • Alex and Gene giving the young brother of a suspect - and eventual victim - a birthday party at Luigi's in 1.06.
    • Chris and Shaz in 2.06, talking about their upcoming wedding after a big fight:

Shaz:It doesn't have to be the perfect wedding or any of that. Are you going to get a haircut? Wear a suit? Decent suit, though, not that brown thing you drag out every so often. Shine your shoes, brush your teeth, clean your fingernails, show up on time and all that?
Chris: Yeah, yeah, of course.
Shaz: Well, then it'll be perfect enough for me.

    • Ray's heart-to-heart with Alex in 3.03, especially at the end when he kisses her on the cheek in thanks for her not telling anyone he wasn't bluffing in the hostage situation and really would have sacrificed himself.
    • Chris and Gene's reconciliation at the end of 3.07, leading to Chris's Bowieflash.
    • Gene talking about Sam in 3.07:

"Sam Tyler was a friend of mine. Bloody irritating friend most of the time, it has to be said. But I learned more from him than I've ever learned from anyone I've ever met. He was strong. Decent. A brilliant copper."

    • A lot in the Grand Finale (do not highlight unless you've seen it):
      • Chris and Shaz reconciling before they go into the Railway Arms (and thus to wherever they're supposed to go).
      • Gene and Alex finally kissing before Alex "crosses over".
      • Ray admitting to Gene just how he'd come to commit suicide and his goodbye to Gene at the end.
      • Shaz showing up at CID, and Chris and Ray's subsequent Big Damn Heroes rescue.
  • For some reason, an episode of Drake and Josh gets me. After Josh finally had enough of Drake, he cuts off all ties from him; however, Drake claims he'd be fine, since he doesn't need Josh, Josh needs HIM. So time passes, and Drake is getting considerably worse, seeing as Josh always looked out for him, and Josh is looking considerably better: Better grades, his health is improving. The final straw is snapped, during class, Drake walks out of the class and says to Josh:

Drake: * Voice getting cracked* I'm sorry, okay?! I'm sorry, I was wrong, I need you a LOT more than you need me. I'm sorry I'm probably the worst brother ever...I'm sorry, i'm sorry Josh.

  • After which he leaves. they reconcile, but just to hear that Drake was sorry...aww...
  • The final episode of The Tonight Showwith Conan O Brien particularly the last things he said. The entire speech he gave was great and classy all the way but what drove it home for This Troper was his ending of the speech

Conan: All I ask of you, especially young people...is one thing. Please don't be cynical. I hate cynicism -- it's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen. I'm telling you, amazing things will happen.

  • The end of iQuit iCarly. Carly and Sam had "divorced" earlier in the episode, and they get trapped on a window cleaner's elevator due to their stubbornness. A cable snaps, and their lives are in serious danger. Spencer, Freddie, Fleck and Dave manage to get them safely into the building. The main four have a little exchange, Sam makes note of their bravery... And then the adrenaline wears off. Carly breaks down, Sam breaks down(!), and they turn to eachother for comfort. This scene shows like no other that Carly and Sam simply need eachother, no matter if it's romantically or platonically. Just... wow.
    • Freddie breaking up with Carly (after getting hit by a truck to save her life, and become a couple in the aftermath) during iSaved Your Life is one of those for Freddie. Once he realises her feelings might be clouded by hero worship, he gives up what he's wanted since the day he met her because he's not willing to risk hurting her.
      • Both tearjerking and heartwarming- In iChristmas Carly wishes that she has a "normal" brother after Spencer accidentally ruins her present for him. Then when an elf grants her wish in an "It's A Wonderful Life" inspired sequence, she sees just miserable her life would be with Spencer being "normal"-her best friend Sam ends up in Juvenile hall due to Spencer not letting them be friends, her and Freddie are no longer friends which results in her iCarly webshow never being made, and she ends up with Neville-whom she really hates as her boyfriend, and Spencer ends up married to Freddie's mother. Carly then finds the elf that granted her wish and tearfully begs him to change Spencer back to normal, then the elf vanishes and Carly starts crying in the hallway about how much she regrets making the wish, but unbeknownst to her, the elf did grant her wish for things to go back to normal. Freddie then comes to comfort her after hearing her crying(having no idea she's upset over Spencer ruining her presents) and starts to apologize, Carly then freaks out and then runs into the studio and sees that all her iCarly stuff is still there, and then realizes that things are finally back to normal. Carly then tearfully hugs Freddie, then Sam, and finally Spencer telling him how happy she is that he's not normal, hard to have dry eyes after watching that.
    • iWanna Stay With Spencer. The Shays' grandfather wants to bring Carly with him back to Yakima, after seeing that Spencer isn't a good influence on her. But when Spencer gives him an asthma inhaler Carly hasn't used since she was six "just in case", showing that he had kept it with him all these years, the grandfather changes their mind and allows Carly to stay with Spencer.
  • White Collar's 'Hard Sell' - Details of Peter's meeting with Neal's ex(sort-of-not-really-maybe)-girlfriend. Peter tells Kate Moreau to shove off. Neal is his friend.
    • When Neal is suspected of murder, breaks his ankle-tracer and goes on the run from the FBI, he runs right to Elizabeth (Peter's wife) who hides him and talks Peter down from arresting Neal. The three of them then set to finding out who set Neal up.
    • The very end of the season one finale, specifically:

Peter: You said goodbye to everyone but me. Why?
Neal: You know why.
Peter: Tell me.
Neal: Because you are the only one who could make me change my mind.

    • In the first season, when Peter learns he's being investigated on trumped up charges, he goes into the office to work on what he can. Then one of his subordinates shows up, voluntarily, off the clock, late at night to do so as well. It's a touching moment that's compounded with every single member of his team shows up right after.
  • In the second season of Big Brother 2 (US), there were two houseguests - Kent and Bunky. Kent was rather homophobic and quite open about it (early in the season, he says the homosexual lifestyle is a sin), while at the same time, Bunky is openly gay. You'd expect these two to be at each others' throats, right? Well the two were allies after all - and because some of the rooms weren't that good, Bunky was actually sleeping on the floor of the Head of Household room when Kent was Head of Household. The moment? When Kent told Bunky to sleep in the King-sized Head of Household bed with him.
  • Pie in the Sky: Henry Crabbe is a chef and a man with firm views about pre-processed and packaged foods, and it's a continual regret to him that his wife Margaret's idea of a good meal is a packet of prawn cocktail flavoured chips eaten absent-mindedly while doing something more important. In the final scene of the first season finale, after what's been a rough time for both of them, Henry attempts to cheer her up the best way he knows how: with food. When she says she's not very hungry, he reveals, with an agonized expression on his face that must be seen to be believed, that for her he has gone and bought a packet of prawn cocktail flavoured chips.
  • All Creatures Great and Small: James goes to visit an old woman whose dog is dying and she's worried that she won't see him in heaven if animals don't have souls. James reassures her that if having a soul means being capable of kindness and love, most animals have better souls than a lot of people do.
  • In "Donovan Doe", the season (possibly series) finale of The Forgotten, Alex and the team locate Alex's long-lost daughter Lucy. That's Heartwarming enough, but then there's the scene at Alex's house. The Big Board is empty, save for an envelope simply labeled, "Lucy". Inside is note, signed by everyone, stating simply "Can't wait to meet you."

Lucy: Who are they?
Alex: They're my team. They're the people that helped me to find you, all the others. We figure out where they came from, what their stories are, so their families can know. So the world can know, too. We have regular jobs, most of the time; but this work, this mission, is only just beginning. There's so much more to do, so many people that need our help. It defines us. It compels us. 'Cause it doesn't just tell us who they are, it tells us who we are. I guess, most of all, they're, uh, they're my friends.
Lucy: Then they're my friends too.

  • Of all places, Saturday Night Live:
    • On the Queen Latifah/Miss Dynamite episode from season 28 (which aired around the time that Mr. Rogers passed away), cast member Horatio Sanz came on a dark stage, wearing a yellow cardigan, and sang a tearful, emotional version of "You are my Friend, You are Special." ending with "Thank you, Mr. Rogers."
    • The last sketch on the season 33 episode hosted by Ellen Page where Page plays a girl who denies that she's become a lesbian after spending a day at a Melissa Etheridge concert (even though it's clear that she is). The writers could have made it so that way her boyfriend (played by Andy Samberg) could have dumped her or only kept her around so he can get off on her making out with other girls, but in a rather dramatic twist her boyfriend decides to go gay as well so the two of them can still be friends.
    • The last sketch on the season 19 episode with Chris Farley and Phil Hartman singing "So Long, Farewell" from The Sound of Music, though this can now be interpreted as a Tear Jerker or a Harsher in Hindsight moment since both Hartman and Farley died (Farley from a drug overdose; Hartman from a murder-suicide).
    • The Saturday Night Live cast singing "Thank You For Being A Friend" to Betty White in Season 35, Episode 21. Granted, it abruptly turned crazy twisted when Betty sang her version, but it still makes you go "Awww"
  • The League of Gentlemen is the last show you'd expect to have a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming, not to mention ending its run with several such as Ross turning up at Pauline and Mickey's wedding, Lance the embittered joke shop owner remembered as a hero in the local newspaper, Geoff in hospital surrounded by people laughing uproariously at a joke and Barbara holding two distinctively pig-nosed babies lovingly in her arms.
  • The end of season three of the US Queer as Folk, when Stockwell has lost the election and everyone is celebrating.
    • And the end of the fifth season, when Michael and Ben ask Hunter if he wants them to adopt him and he accepts.
  • Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, episode 34. Ami runs out on her mother and is absent for a whole day because her mother wanted her to change schools. When they finally meet, she says that right now, being with her friends is more important to her than studying. She says "Please don't hate me", because she knew how much her mother wanted her to study and become a doctor. Her mother just hugs her and says that what's important is for her to make her own choices. In fact, the whole episode is a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming because of the way the girls (and even Motoki) do everything they can to look after each other when one of them is down. Best. Band of True Companions. Ever.
    • And there's also episode 8. Makoto and Rei really don't get on up to this point, but Makoto still turns up to rescue Rei when her dad practically has her kidnapped to force her to meet with him. The way in which they escape is also a CMoA, and of course from that point on they are friends.
  • The Andy Griffith Show:
    • The final scenes of "Man in a Hurry" and "Opie the Birdman" never fail to make this troper's eyes well up when he sees them.
    • The scene in "Mr. McBeevee" where Andy prepares to spank Opie for what he mistakenly believes to be a lie, then stays his hand when Opie tearfully insists that he saw what he saw and plaintively asks, "Don't you believe me, Pa?"

Barney: Do you really believe in Mr. McBeevee?
Andy: No, but I believe in Opie.

  • MasterChef Australia is full of heartwarming moments, especially during the 2010 season, as all of the contestants just became good friends and enjoyed the experience of cooking great food rather than trying to beat one another. This shone through the most during the finale: the two best cooks in the competition, Adam and Callum, spent more than five hours in total cooking in order to see who would win the MasterChef title, and when Adam was announced the winner, the two friends hugged one another.
  • Sing it with me.
  • The scene in the Season One finale of Reba where Reba sings Angel's Lullaby to her newborn granddaughter never fails to make me smile and tear up a little bit.
  • In the series 4 premiere of The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, Barbara Havers is held hostage at gunpoint - on her first case back after taking a bullet to the stomach in the series 3 finale. She's terrified out of her skin, but largely keeps in control until she is rescued - at which point she whales the tar out of the hostage-taker until Lynley pulls her off, then bursts into tears and cries herself out against Lynley's chest as he holds her. The kicker? He kisses the top of her hair as she cries.
  • Wipeout manages to have its moments, despite being a show focused on smacking people around in various ways:
    • 45 year old David Brummel in Season 3, who won the episode on his birthday.
    • The "Blind Date" episode that started out Season 3, as far as the final two couples go: Ariel and Scott instantly hitting it off was quite cute, but there was something especially heartwarming about Jayson and Katelyn, who started out "all business" and pretty much did The Masochism Tango through the qualifier, to genuinely supporting and caring about the other towards the end of the show.
  • A small one, but finally hearing Clark finally refer to Lex as "my best friend" in the episode "Hug" of Smallville gave me warm fuzzies.
  • And how did the end of Homecoming make neither this page nor the end of the Smallville page? I used to joke about the poor quality of the writing and characterization on the show, but the handling of the development of Lois and Clark's relationship should have spawned no less than three bullet points here.
  • Starsky and Hutch: In the episode "Survival", Hutch's beloved junker Ford gets wrecked by the bad guys, with Hutch himself trapped under the wreck for two days. Starsky, who hates this car and has been giving Hutch grief about it since the pilot episode, responds by going out and buying him a duplicate, right down to the dents.
  • Community, as Troy and Abed (who've spent the episode fighting) realize only one of them can escape:

Troy: I'm not leaving without you!
Abed: Go. Make me proud. Be the first black man to make it to the end.

Troy: ...I love you.

Abed: I know.

Troy: (To Abed) With you to the end, man. Always.

    • Then there was the one where Troy and Abed both fell for the Hot Librarian - they agreed to let her choose between them. She chose Troy, Abed was okay with it, but barely a minute later when she said she found Abed weird, Troy dumped her on the spot.
  • The Teletubbies had some, and maybe make someone cry, after all...
  • Being Human (UK) has several. One happens at the end of the first season finale. George has spent the entire season horrified by his lycanthropy, doing his best to disassociate himself from it. When he finds out that Mitchell is going to be attacked by Herrick though, he tricks Herrick into going into the basement of the hospital, otherwise known as the room where George transforms into a wolf. It's the full moon and, for the first time ever, George uses his werewolf side as a means to kill someone, all to protect his friend. For their part, Annie and Mitchell go running into the room as well and stand alongside George, although he has them leave before he transforms. Another happens at the end of the second season. Annie has been forcibly exorcised to the afterlife and Mitchell, George, and Nina are living in a rented house. In the middle of the night, they're attacked by the religious fanatic who has been going after supernatural creatures all season. Before he can hurt any of them, a door appears, Annie darts out, grabs the guy by the collar, and yanks him back to the afterlife with her. A few seconds later, Annie contacts them through a TV. Even though she's terrified and even though the people running the afterlife are furious with her for what she did, she wants to make sure her friends are safe.
  • An episode of The Brittas Empire is justifiably called "Not a Good Day". (It was full of angry celebrities, death, and attacking legions of Roman lookalikes.) By the end, Mr. Brittas is having a rare moment of depression. Right then, however, a poor single mother and her daughter come into his office to thank him for the fine time that they had enjoyed that day, largely due to bargains that he had set up. It renews his belief in "the dream" and gets him back on his feet.
    • Also when Gavin hears Tim's cry for help over the baby monitor and literally leaps over the desk to rescue him.

Gavin: It's Brittas. He's... doing things... to Tim!

    • From the same episode, Colin's proposal to Carole. She's one of the most woeful characters in the show, and yet he's seen what's admirable about her.
  • This song from LazyTown.
    • There is always a way. You gotta believe in yourself.
    • From the original play, Ég á Góðan Vin (I Have A Good Friend) was very heartwarming.
    • In the episode "LazyTown's Surprise Santa" Robbie Rotten snuck into the kids' houses to steal their presents and sabotage Christmas dinner because he thought he wasn't invited to their Christmas party, only to discover a present under the Christmas tree with his name on it and an extra seat at the dinner table for him. Daaaaw!
  • It is preposterous that there are no entries for Parks and Recreation, with all of the positive energy flowing through all the characters. A perfect example would be Chris Trager's life story: "I was born with a blood disorder and my parents were told that I had 3 weeks to live and here I still am, some two thousand odd weeks later and I have enjoyed every one of them."
    • For this troper it was the episode where Andy was trying to make it up to April for kissing his ex - after putting him through a lot of crap, including a setup to look like he was propositioning a schoolgirl in front of the police, he was still willing to make it up to her.
    • I'd like to mention Leslie acting as though she'll give Ron an over-the-top surprise birthday party in the "Eagleton" episode, but instead gives him a quiet and private steak dinner with his two favorite moves, The Bridge on the River Kwai and The Dirty Dozen.
    • Andy and April's wedding. All of it.
  • Skins has a few:
    • In the Series 2 Finale, where Tony bids Sid a tearful goodbye, kissing him on the forehead and telling Sid he always loved him the best.
    • Katie's Series 4 episode when the Fitch family reunites and has one last dinner together as a family in their old home. Also from that episode, Katie holding Emily's hand and comforting her after their fight at Naomi's barbecue.
    • Liv's Series 5 episode, when she watches the home movie of herself and Mini as children, playing around and having fun.
  • This troper teared up at the Pee-wee's Playhouse episode Sick? Did Somebody Say Sick? after seeing it for the first time in her twenties. Pee-wee's devastation that Jambi might never get well again and that it might be his fault that Jambi is sick is heartwarming enough. Then Pee-wee lets Jambi know that he would want him to be his genie whether or not he could grant wishes, which was a Tear Jerker moment for this troper. And then when he's better, Jambi asks if Pee-wee wants his wish from earlier granted (to go to Paris), but Pee-wee declines, saying that, since Jambi's well again, his wish has already been granted. Sob.
  • "An American Family", which concerned the William C. Loud family of Santa Barbara, California, was the very first reality TV program in existence. It was filmed from May to December 1971 and aired on PBS in 1973. The absolute breakout star of the program was the eldest Loud child and the very first person on TV to be an out gay person, Lance Loud. 28 years after the program aired, Lance asked the program's filmmakers, Alan and Susan Raymond, to come back and film him as he battled through his final months of living with AIDS (which aired on PBS in 2003 as "Lance Loud: A Death in An American Family"). It was a harrowing and emotional program for many reasons, not least of which was the fact that it depicted Lance's memorial service and showed his parents and siblings mourning the loss of their loved one.
Now, the original airing of "An American Family" detailed the breakdown of the parents' marriage and Lance's mom Pat's confronting the serial philanderer Bill with her decision to divorce him in episode 9 is considered one of the most memorable moments in TV history. During the 1983 HBO 10th anniversary special, Pat and Bill were so apart from each other that Pat actually lived (and worked) in New York City, thousands of miles away from where Bill lived (back in California), and they never even talked about each other. But when Lance died, his final request was that his parents go back to living together. This is very characteristic of Lance, seeing as though he was really the glue that kept the Loud family together. But the actual heartwarming moment came when, in the epilogue of the 2003 special, it was revealed that Pat and Bill actually honored Lance's request and decided to live together again under one roof.
  • One of this Troper's favorite moments in The A-Team is when B.A. reaches out to the little Mexican girl, asking "Will you be my friend?" Just thinking about it makes my heart melt every time...
  • Burn Notice, surprisingly, gets a non-client example.

Michael: DO YOU THINK I DO THIS FOR THE MONEY?
Followed shortly by...
Michael: [quietly] People need me.

    • And in the first episode of the fourth season. Michael, following his confrontation with Simon and incarceration, goes to his mother to talk. Near tears, he worries that he might become a monster. She comforts him and says it'll never happen.
  • Canada Russia 72, a tv movie about the famous hockey tournament features tons of trashtalking, delibrate injuries and overall bad behavior on both sides so it made one small moment all the more heartwarming. Canadian goalie Ken Dryden leaves the dressing room and sees Soviet goalie Vladislav Tretiak practicing his technique by bouncing balls against the wall. Startled, he drops a ball, Dryden picks it up, tosses it back to him and they smile at each other. Later Ken Dryden is seen in the locker room bouncing balls against the wall. Amid all the hatred, that scene made me realize that the two sides could get along and learn from each other. To top it all off, the two former goalies are now friends and, when Dryden got his number retired by the Montreal Canadiens, he invited Tretiak to the ceremony.
  • In the 'ABC Family' show Switched At Birth, Emmett, a teenage boy who was born deaf and lives with deaf parents and is very uncomfortable or hostile towards hearing people, begins dating the hearing Bay. She begins learning sign language so she can communicate with him, but feels that he can never really communicate with her. It is almost heart breaking when he struggles to say what are probably his first words to her, saying that he doesn't care if she's hearing or what problems they've had, "I. Just. Want. You."
  • Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia oddly enough. In the episode "The Nightman Cometh", Charlie puts on a play starring the gang. After an entire episode of the gang's selfishness changing and altering the play, Charlie invites the focus of his unrequited love, The Waitress, to the play. And, as the play goes on, it becomes painfully obvious that this dark and disturbing play is the story of Charlie's life and his love for The Waitress. At the end, after an incredibly awkward and strange proposal, Charlie is rejected once more. What makes this a heartwarming moment is the gang actually comforting Charlie at the end, and Frank (Charlie's best friend and probably his biological father) saying "She isn't worth it".
  • The vows exchanged in the final New York episode of Conan where Conan himself married a gay couple.
  • The "Two Axes" scene from Due South.
  • The "Animals" episode of The Vicar of Dibley. David's spent the entire series trying to get Geraldine fired, and it looks like her bless-the-animals service will be enough of a disaster for him to finally succeed. After a night of prayer (and chocolate), Geraldine prepares to face the music--and instead is greeted by streams of people and their pets. The music, a blaring, reedy instrumental version of the theme song, which is itself a choral version of Psalm 23, really elevates it.
  • On the year-end edition of the Nerdist television series, Chris Hardwick gave Wil Wheaton the walrus oven mitt that they used to top their Christmas tree ("Noel the Christmas Walrus") in lieu of an angel, which they didn't have. Wil's reaction is perhaps the most adorable reaction ever caught on tape.
  • The final scene of the pilot episode of "New Girl" where the guys start singing The Time of My Life to cheer Jess up.
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