Tear Jerker / Freaks and Geeks

• The Halloween episode, with Lindsay (albeit briefly) abandoning a tradition that her mother treasures, and her mother hearing that parents are throwing away her cookies out of concerns for safety. And then there's Lindsay's reaction when she realizes that it's Sam that she egged...
• The episodes "Carded and Discarded," "Kim Kelly is My Friend," "The Garage Door," and "Discos and Dragons" can be real floodgate openers.
• Specifically in "The Garage Door," Sam discovers that Neil's dad is having an affair. When he and Bill decide to tell Neil, Neil lashes out at them, saying that they're jealous because his dad is cooler than their's. When Neil finds an unknown garage door opener in his dad's car, the boys spend the entire night bike riding through streets trying to find the house it belongs to. Eventually, Bill and Sam have to go home so Neil continues on alone into the night. Just when it looks like it might not be what it seems to be, one garage door opens and his dad's car is inside. He throws the opener as hard as he can and breaks down.
  • In the same episode in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, Neal reacts badly by telling Bill "(he) doesn't even have a Dad." Bill's response ("I do too. I.... talked to him three months ago.") and especially the tone in his voice is touchingly sad.
• Daniel's insecurity has been hinted at all season but comes to the forefront in the season finale when he is mocked by an entire class for his inability to work a projector then tells Kim, "I suck at math. I suck at everything." She tells him to stop complaining.
• Bill watching TV alone in "Dead Dogs and Gym Teachers". Also the premise, for anyone whose beloved pet has been run over.
• Nick's audition in "I'm with the Band." He looked so broken and forlorn afterwards that Lindsay had to kiss the poor guy to cheer him up.
• Lindsay tells Sam about how she was with their grandma when she died. Her grandma was a good person all her life and in the end she told Lindsay that all she could see waiting for her was nothing. No God, no Heaven, just emptiness. This became the foundation of Lindsay's current characterisation.
• Bill ending up in the hospital after Alan ends up tricking him into eating peanuts. The look on his face when he realizes Alan PURPOSELY put peanuts in his food is heartbreaking. Add in the sight of his mother Gloria breaking down and it makes for a pretty emotional episode.
  • Gloria blames herself for Bill's huge number of allergies and ailments. When Jean tries to reassure her that no one at the time knew the impact cigarettes and alcohol could have on a fetus, Gloria breaks down even harder, and divulges just how hard she was living while pregnant with Bill.
• A quiet one when the Geeks are watching a jock and his girlfriend. Sam asks, "Will girls ever like us?"
• Neal finding out that his mother knows about his father cheating on her. You can see this kid's world falling down around him in one motion.
• Anyone who has ever watched this series, then wondered where season two is, then wondered which moronic NBC executive actually ordered this series cancelled. One can only hope they aren't working there anymore.