Step Aside, Wednesday Addams: A Ranking Of Iconic TV Dance Sequences

TV & Film

Aug 12

Wednesday Addams dance — Image Source: Collider

Though it has been a few months, audiences are still gaga over Jenna Ortega’s expressionless, yet, full-of-life dance moves she pulls off in Wednesday’s Episode 4, “Woe What a Night” as Wednesday Addams on Netflix. To date, there are over 14.6 billion views for #wednesday on Tik Tok. As the scene goes viral across the internet and countless teenage girls practice this latest craze in bedrooms across the globe, it may do us well to take a look back on other TV dance scenes that have also moved and grooved their way into their audience’s hearts. So, let’s sit back and tap our feet down memory lane…

5. “Girls Versus Suits” - How I Met Your Mother Season Five, Episode 12

How I Met Your Mother dance scene — Image Source: CBR.com

Neil Patrick Harris in a song-and-dance routine? Of course we would watch that! Most of the cast in this sitcom enjoyed musical theater, so HIMYM viewers were treated to quite a few of these numbers. One of the most memorable was this completely in-his-head routine that featured in-the-street kick lines, dressed-up snazzy dogs and babies, and animated angel wings, not to mention, 65 dancers and a 50-piece orchestra. Carter Bays and Craig Thomas were even nominated for an Emmy award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for writing the song, and Zach Woodlee from Glee choreographed the dancing.

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4. “New York And Queens” - The Drew Carey Show Season Two, Episode 24

THe Drew Carey Show dance scene — Image Source: Jacksonupperco.com

Viewers of this sitcom were treated to a song-and-dance routine every time they watched it, as the opening credit sequence was a joyful musical number celebrating one of the Midwest’s most favorite cities, using the song “Cleveland Rocks” by Ian Hunter as its theme song. With such an exuberant opening, the audience could be sure that there would be more dance sequences. In this episode, Drew and his friends go to New York and want to watch the ultimate midnight movie, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, at a theater. They are dismayed to find that nemesis Mimi is there with another group, all dressed up to watch Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. An ensuing dance-off between the two factions occurs in the street, and the police break it up, very Monty Python-esquely.

3. “Fool’s Night Out” - Ally McBeal Season Two, Episode 12

This show was ground-breaking from the get-go. Following the adventures and misadventures of its title character, this dramedy presented the modern working woman in a whole new light and see some of her innermost thoughts portrayed as a dancing baby (Ga-ga Ooga Chaka!). The audience was also able to follow the characters into their unisex office bathroom (my, how the tongues wagged over this!) where they were privy to conversations and, yes, dance routines. John Cage regularly danced to Barry White in the restroom with other characters coming in and joining in. In the last season of the show, Barry White did make a guest appearance, much to everyone’s delight.

2. “The Name Game” - American Horror Story: Asylum Season Two, Episode 10

American Horror Story dance scene — Image Source: out.com

Ah, yes. Amid nuns possessed by the devil, Nazi doctors, and benevolent alien abductions, there was this number thrown in the middle of electroconvulsive therapy. Jessica Lange, who played a mean nun turned insane asylum victim, went to Ryan Murphy (another Glee connection on this list) and asked for a musical number. Not just because it would show her psychotic break from reality, but, as Lange put it, “everything we do is so grim”. Murphy agreed with Lange, and figured out how to make “The Name Game” work in the episode, as he “had always loved that song”. And, looking at the joyful faces of the cast that joins in singing and dancing this number, they all seem to love it, too.

1. “Asses to Ashes” - The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Season Three, Episode 10

The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air dance scene — Image Source: cheatsheet.com

Even though Alfonso Ribeiro had already performed his iconic “Carlton” dance on the Christmas show, it was this episode where he put it to Tom Jones’s “It’s Not Unusual”, and the rest, as they say, is history. Already a recognized dancer from his leading role in Broadway’s “The Tap Dance Kid”, Ribeiro was also cast in a Pepsi commercial with Michael Jackson. He was given license to choreograph his Carlton routine, and he drew from Courtney Cox’s moves in Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” video, and Eddie Murphy’s “White Man Dance” from Eddie Murphy Raw. Watching his pure joy as he frolics in his living room, it is no wonder that this dance is so memorable for millions of viewers.