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If TV has taught us anything, it’s that bathrooms can be used for more than just No. 1 and No. 2.
Bathrooms are the social hub of any night out. They are also a place of solitary reprieve and a place for serious, hushed conversations, as well as raucous debate.
The privacy and confinement of a water closet pushes us to make life-changing revelations. Whether it’s in front of a sink mirror or atop a porcelain throne, latrines afford us a moment to slow down and organize our thoughts. At apartment gatherings or warehouse ragers, bathrooms afford party goers a private place to finally engage in those arguments that have been brewing for days, or to tell secrets they’ve been dying to share. Really, bathrooms have become integral to the human condition in ways that transcend their intended use.
So, let’s call today National TV Bathroom Day. And to honor this totally made-up holiday, we’ve rounded up television’s most memorable bathroom moments. From Seinfeld‘s lesson in toilet paper etiquette and The Brady Bunch‘s hair dye disaster, to the birth of babies in surprising places (9-1-1, Girls) and disgusting roommate habits (New Girl), this list has every important and unforgettable scene that happened within feet of a toilet.
What TV bathroom moments stand out in your mind? Let us know in the comments!
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9-1-1 (Season 1, Episode 1)
Image Credit: Hulu screenshot We’ve become largely desensitized to 9-1-1′s over-the-top (and occasionally gruesome) emergency calls, but when the Fox procedural first premiered back in 2018, we weren’t at all prepared to witness the 118 demolish a wall and break open a pipe to rescue a newborn baby who had been flushed down a toilet. (Don’t worry, it lived.)
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Arrow (Season 7, Episode 1)
Image Credit: The CW screenshot Surely there is a bathroom just off of the Slabside prison shower area, right…? Because we are absolutely including this iconic fight scene from the superhero series’ Season 7 premiere, which was not just masterfully directed/edited to not once slip a peek at a naked Oliver’s bits, but also was memorably was intercut with an equally intense scene where Diaz (ugh, Diaz) paid Felicity a visit at home. Just epic.
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The Brady Bunch (Season 5, Episode 22)
Image Credit: Paramount+ screenshot Greg took pity on wannabe salesman Bobby and let his kid brother douse him with Neat & Natural hair tonic, in the downstairs bathroom — only to see his mane turn orange! And on the day before graduation, no less! What made the classic sitcom’s series finale extra-memorable is that this “hair tonic” boondoggle was the last straw for hyper-critical cast member/Shakespearan actor Robert Reed, who sat out the episode, forcing family patriarch Mike to be MIA for Greg’s graduation.
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Breaking Bad (Season 5, Episode 8)
Image Credit: Netflix screenshot It’s a good thing Hank was already on the toilet, because he looked like he was about to s—t a brick when he discovered that none other than brother-in-law Walter White was the notorious drug kingpin Heisenberg. It’s a moment that changed everything, and among the best cliffhangers in recent memory.
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Broad City (Season 3, Episode 1)
Image Credit: Comedy Central screenshot The third season of the Comedy Central series started with a side-by-side bathroom montage showing the range of activities Abbi and Ilana perform in their private spaces. Who knew the toilet could be an apartment rat’s playground as well as a place for reading Hillary Clinton and smoking weed? With Abbi and Ilana (and the rat) making full use of their toilet areas, we couldn’t help but wonder: Are we under utilizing our own bathrooms?
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Buffy (Season 4, Episode 16)
Image Credit: Hulu screenshot Buffy and Faith switch bodies in this Season 4 episode, leading to some serious acting fireworks from Sarah Michelle Gellar and Eliza Dushku. The bathroom scene is the first of many delights, as Faith gets used to her new body and workshops her Buffy impression in the mirror. Cue jump cuts of Gellar deliciously channeling Faith impersonating Buffy…while mocking the Slayer’s goody two-shoes persona: “You can’t do that! Because it’s naughty.”
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Dawson’s Creek (Season 2, Episode 20)
Image Credit: Hulu screenshot Long before he and Joey became a thing, Pacey showed off his Best Boyfriend skills during an emotional moment of crisis for his girlfriend Andie. As she had a mental breakdown in the bathroom and saw visions of her dead brother Tim, Pacey pleaded with her to unlock the door and choose him over Tim. Joshua Jackson and Meredith Monroe’s heart-wrenching performances cemented the scene as much more than just standard teen drama fare.
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Euphoria (Season 2, Episode 3)
Image Credit: Courtesy of HBO Cassie’s other memorable bathroom moment from the HBO drama’s second season — when she hid in the bathtub at a house party during the premiere episode — was quickly eclipsed by this heavily memed sequence, in which Cassie has an imaginary meltdown that reveals her secret love for Nate Jacobs to her friends. Sydney Sweeney’s frantic, wide-eyed delivery made the outburst instantly iconic — so much so that even Succession’s Brian Cox couldn’t resist reenacting the scene on Jimmy Kimmel Live! weeks later.
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Everwood (Season 4, Episode 9)
Image Credit: Prime Video screenshot When his girlfriend Hannah expressed insecurity about her appearance, Bright took it upon himself to read up on Our Bodies, Ourselves. Then he locked Hannah in the bathroom so he could tell her just how hot and beautiful she is, and make her look in the mirror so she could see herself the way he does. (She’d never let him say all that to her face, he argued.) But Hannah got the last word, so to speak, when she surprised Bright by asking him to take a shower with her.
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Fleabag (Season 1, Episode 2)
Image Credit: Prime Video screenshot Dressing as a ninja and sneaking up on your showering partner while wielding a knife is…one way to keep the relationship surprising. Fleabag’s misguided stunt backfires in a big way, with her boyfriend sobbing and generally melting down after the fake attack. The couple had broken up many times before, but later in this very episode, Harry leaves for good, taking his toy dinosaurs with him. We do know one thing—it was absolutely for the best.
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Friends (Season 5, Episode 11)
Image Credit: NBC screenshot When Ross’ new leather pants became uncomfortable and suffocating during a date, he fled to the bathroom to take them off for a moment to cool down. Once the pants were off, however, Ross was horrified to learn he could not the pants back on. In a panic, he called Joey, who advised him to try baby powder and then lotion. Of course, neither solution worked. Pantsless and covered in product, an exasperated Ross was ultimately forced to make an embarrassing (and inexplicable) walk of shame, exiting the bathroom in front of his totally creeped out date.
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Generation (Season 1, Episode 5)
Image Credit: YouTube screenshot You may not remember that this short-lived HBO Max teen drama ever existed, but we’ll never forget how we felt watching one of its central characters give birth in an inflatable pool on the floor of a mall bathroom. The show’s portrayal of teenagers was always refreshingly authentic, as was the absolute panicked chaos that ensued when one of them suddenly went into labor — and didn’t even know she was pregnant.
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Girls (Season 4, Episode 10)
Image Credit: HBO screenshot Girls has given us a lot of bathroom moments: Jessa and Hannah’s shared bath; Adam peeing on Hannah in the shower, Hannah snorting drugs off a Bushwick public toilet (ew!); and an iconic argument between the four girls at Shoshanna’s engagement party. But what was the most memorable of the HBO series? Caroline’s home birth, particularly the moment Jessa sticks her head under the bathwater to check how far along the process was. If you were considering a home birth, this episode might have you reconsidering…
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Heartstopper (Season 1, Episode 5)
Image Credit: Netflix screenshot How appropriate that Tao confronted Charlie about his involvement with Nick in an episode titled “Friend” — a good one was what he was trying to be. Yes, despite his insistence on having the heated conversation in a bowling-alley loo at his pal’s birthday party. He was so sure that Mr. Popularity was just messing with Charlie that, if Nick was even slightly mean to him, Tao said that he would not hesitate to resort to
murdera strongly worded DM. -
Insecure (Season 4, Episode 2)
Image Credit: HBO screenshot Lowkey mortifying. After the condom that Issa’s short-lived “TSA bae” was wearing went missing during a hookup, she hightailed it to her bathroom and, with the help of a hand mirror, retrieved it from her… well, you know. “I’m not mad,” her reflection told her, “I’m disappointed.” Which we all know is so. Much. Worse.
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Killing Eve (Season 1, Episode 5)
Image Credit: Hulu screenshot In an episode appropriately titled “I Have a Thing About Bathrooms,” Eve gets a surprise home-invasion visit from the killer she’s been tracking. Now, we don’t recommend asking someone on a dinner date while waterboarding them in a bathtub, but hey, that’s how deadly fashion icon Villanelle rolls. Eve’s terrified, but she’s not not interested. This frantic action scene sets the stage for Eve and V’s mercurial relationship, leading to many highly-charged encounters to come.
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New Girl (Season 1, Episode 11)
Image Credit: Hulu screenshot This, right here, is the moment the Nick/Schmidt friendship just… clicked. Schmidt, who’s spent the entire episode wondering why his towel is always wet, gathers all the loftmates to find out why it’s still wet, even after he’s gone ahead and installed towel racks. That’s when he discovers that Nick’s been using his towel all along. What’s more, he’s never washed it. “I don’t wash the towel,” Nick exclaims. “The towel washes me.” Cue the dry heaving!
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Ozark (Season 1, Episode 2)
Image Credit: Netflix screenshot Marty Byrde, meet Ruth freaking Langmore. In Episode 2 of the Netflix series, Marty tracks down the Langmore clan and his stolen drug money in a broken-down public restroom, where the pint-sized spitfire almost convinces her outlaw kin to bump him off and keep the dough. The money launderer verbally tap-dances out of this mess, but he’s met his rhetorical match in Ruth, who keeps it very real with her parting words: “Why do I have this feelin’ we both know that you’d be better off dead?”
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Preacher (Season 2, Episode 1)
Image Credit: AMC screenshot A testament to how well Tulip knew Jesse, she responded to her boyfriend’s foul mood by locking herself in their hotel-room john and inviting him to blow off some steam by beating down the door to get to her. As you’ll see above, even after he had done so, he remained, ahem, hot under the collar.
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The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City (Season 2, Episode 10)
Image Credit: Bravo screenshot As the host of a cast trip to Aspen, Meredith traveled early to prepare. Did she greet the other Housewives at the door upon their arrival? Offer them drinks and snacks? No, the queen of disengaging couldn’t be bothered — the woman had a bath to take! Mary Cosby refused to respect the normal rules of a bathroom bubble bath, deciding that Meredith deserved no privacy, and stood over her trying to have a normal conversation for way longer than was comfortable.
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Roseanne (Season 6, Episode 4)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Everett Collection Looking for a masterclass in sitcom acting? Look no further than this high-larious scene from midway through Roseanne’s original run, as Dan and Roseanne realize they’re too old to get high, while Jackie sulks in their tub and wonders why she’s all alone. Well, almost all alone. “It’s just me and my ganja,” National Treasure Laurie Metcalf deadpans. (Image Credit: Courtesy of Everett Collection)
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Seinfeld (Season 5, Episode 12)
Image Credit: NBC screenshot We all got an important lesson in bathroom stall etiquette when Elaine had no toilet paper in a public restroom and asked her stall neighbor to lend her some, only to be rudely rebuffed: “I don’t have a square to spare!” An enraged Elaine vowed vengeance on the anonymous hoarder, only to later discover… she was Jerry’s new girlfriend! Elaine got her back in the end, though, sneaking into the ladies’ room ahead of her and removing every last scrap of toilet paper. Now she has all the squares she could ever need.
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Severance (Season 1, Episode 9)
Image Credit: Apple TV+ screenshot The stellar Season 1 finale of the Apple TV+ series gave us one heart-pounding moment after another. But this quiet Lumon gala bathroom scene stood out, thanks to Britt Lower’s wonderfully controlled performance as Helly R., who’s barely keeping it together after discovering that her Outie is a member of the evil Eagan clan. With acceptance and chilling resolve, Helly whispers the apology statement she first recited in the Lumon Break Room…except this time, she means every word. “Forgive me for the harm I have caused this world…All I can be is sorry, and that is all I am.”
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South Park (Season 1, Episode 9)
Image Credit: YouTube screenshot Who could forget that magical Christmas in 1997 when a young Jewish boy first looked into his toilet and was greeted by a festive, talking turd who wanted to spread the holiday spirit? (And maybe a little E. coli, albeit inadvertently.) Sometimes he’s nutty, sometimes he’s corny, but Mr. Hankey is always welcome at Christmastime.
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Squid Game (Season 1, Episode 3)
Image Credit: Netflix screenshot When Sae-byeok, the crafty pickpocket, decided to snoop around the gameplay facility via the bathroom airduct in Episode 3, she enlisted the loud and course Mi-nyeo, who was sneaking a smoke in one stall, to provide cover. What followed was an uproarious sequence in which Mi-nyeo kept the bathoom guard at bay with loud and increasingly vivid reports (“I’d rather give birth to a baby!!”) about the unpleasant bowel movement she (supposedly) was experiencing.
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Stranger Things (Season 3, Episode 7)
Image Credit: Netflix screenshot Maya Hawke and Joe Keery had to be — sorry, we can’t help ourselves — flush with greatness after playing the sublimely sweet, subtle scene in which a Starcourt Mall bathroom stall provides the unlikely setting for Robin to upend Steve’s confession of love with her own admission… that she’s a lesbian.
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Twin Peaks (Season 2, Episode 22)
Image Credit: Showtime screenshot The 1991 then-series finale left viewers with a brutal all-timer of a cliffhanger. Agent Dale Cooper is trapped in the supernatural Black Lodge, while his evil doppelganger impersonates our hero in the real world. We’ll never forget DoppelCoop headbutting a bathroom mirror and, with blood streaming down his face, mockingly inquiring about Dale’s girlfriend: “How’s Annie?” Luckily, it only took TWENTY-SIX YEARS to find out what happens next in Twin Peaks: The Return…but the revival never did bother to answer that lingering question: “How is Annie?”
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Veep (Season 3, Episode 9)
Image Credit: HBO Max screenshot When Selina confides in bagman Gary that she’s going to be president, he can barely contain his excitement. Or his nosebleed. The scene plays like a blooper, only it’s not a blooper. It’s impossible not to laugh as you watch these Selina and Gary struggle to keep it together, all while Gary is hunched over a toilet. (Image credit: HBO Max screenshot)
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Veronica Mars (Season 1, Episode 20)
Image Credit: Hulu screenshot Every Veronica/Logan ‘shipper can recall the euphoria they felt when the pair secretly and passionately made out in the high school bathroom (aka Veronica’s “office”). “This is wrong. A boy in a girl’s bathroom,” Logan remarked during a brief break from all the kissing. But man, did it feel right.
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X-Files (Season 7, Episode 17)
Image Credit: Hulu screenshot The Fox series set ‘shippers’ hearts aflame when, in the opening moments of Season 7 Episode 17, Scully got dressed in the wee hours of the morning in Mulder’s bathroom… and the camera pan that followed, which revealed a nearly nude Mulder still asleep in bed, indicated that the longtime FBI agents had (finally!) become partners of a different nature.
