The 100 Greatest Moments In Television:1990s

FRIENDS: ''THE ONE WHERE ROSS FINDS OUT''
Nov. 9, 1995
That long-awaited buss between Ross (David Schwimmer) and Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) — which capped off the NBC series' first breakout (and most enduring) story line — came after a row in Central Perk, where Ross scolds Rachel for belatedly revealing her affections (Him: ''This ship has sailed!'' Her: ''I don't need your stupid ship!''). ''There was a gasp in the audience,'' says exec producer Marta Kauffman. ''And then a huge cheer.'' Rank 70

ER: ''LOVE'S LABOR LOST''
March 9, 1995
NBC's blockbuster hospital drama outdid its bloody-gutty self with a brutal episode in which Anthony Edwards' Dr. Greene performs a grisly C-section that saves the baby but kills the mother. The show kept everyone in pregnant pause. ''The night that episode aired, we were shooting late,'' recalls Edwards. ''I arrived home at 10:45, and the show was still on. My wife wouldn't let me in because she wasn't going to stop watching, and she considered it my fault the mother was dying.'' Four years later, the lightning-paced, medical-jargon-laced ''Lost'' remains the most intense high available without a prescription. Rank 60

ELLEN: ''THE PUPPY EPISODE''
April 30, 1997
''It was the best episode of television I've ever worked on in 22 years,'' says Ellen director Gil Junger, of Ellen DeGeneres' TV coming-out party. ''One of the most exciting things for me was to watch someone just be honest with herself and say, 'This is who I am. Take it or leave it.''' In the short run people took it — a whopping 36.2 million viewers tuned in to ABC's revolutionary episode, which eschewed preachiness in favor of heartfelt humor and blinding star power (including Laura Dern, Oprah Winfrey, and Demi Moore). Less than two years after the historic event, the American public — scandalized in the late '70s by Billy Crystal's gay Soap character — barely batted an eye when NBC's gay-themed Will & Grace debuted. Rank 19

THE STARR REPORT IS RELEASED
Sept. 11, 1998
From couchside, it was hard to discern which was more remarkable — the tales emanating from the independent counsel's files (and simultaneously dispatched on the Internet) or the sight of CNN reporter Candy Crowley delivering the salacious material straight from her computer. ''It struck me more for the medium than the message,'' says Crowley, who remembers saying, ''Give me a second here. I've never done cyberspace on TV.'' Neither had we. Rank 83

ELTON JOHN SINGS AT PRINCESS DI'S FUNERAL
Sept 6, 1997
An affectingly subdued performance from a man better known for Tantrums and Tiaras: Clad in a simple dark suit and seated in front of a black Yamaha piano in London's Westminster Abbey, John gave teary tribute to his friend the late Princess Diana with a revamped version of his 1973 Marilyn Monroe homage, ''Candle in the Wind.'' The spectacle drew an estimated 2.5 billion TV viewers worldwide, a fitting send-off for a made-for-media princess who had much of her adult life — from her 1981 wedding to a 1995 marital-woe-chronicling BBC interview — captured on videotape. Rank 82

MARK MCGWIRE HITS NO. 62
Sept. 8, 1998
''Before the game,'' recalls Fox announcer Joe Buck of the day McGwire smacked his record-breaking 62nd homer, ''we agreed that if he hit it, the camera would just follow him around the bases and not cut away for reaction shots. That way fans at home would see it like those at the ballpark.'' For the 19 million viewers who tuned in, the moment capped a season-long obsession with a quest that managed to reignite a love affair with the national pastime. Rank 75

RESIGNATION/IMPEACHMENT/BOMBING
Dec. 19, 1998
Call it the most schizophrenic news day in TV history. Smack in the middle of Christmas season '98, the nation's TV screens were split by three breaking political dramas: the resignation of House speaker-to-be Bob Livingston (he copped to adulterous affairs); the official impeachment of Bill Clinton; and the sight of U.S. missiles once again raining down on a wayward Iraq. According to MSNBC anchor Brian Williams, it was as dizzying to report as to watch. ''You felt like a ball in a pinball machine,'' he says. ''It was a good day to expose those who didn't do their homework.'' Rank 84

No. 1 Shows
1990 ROSEANNE*
1991 CHEERS
1992 60 MINUTES
1993 60 MINUTES
1994 HOME IMPROVEMENT
1995 SEINFELD
1996 ER
1997 ER
1998 SEINFELD