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The Best Episodes of Route 66

Every episode of Route 66 ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Route 66!

Route 66 is an American TV series in which two young men traveled across America in a Chevrolet Corvette sports car. The show ran weekly...
Genres:DramaCrime
Network:CBS

Best Episodes Summary

"Good Night, Sweet Blues" is the best rated episode of "Route 66". It scored 8.9/10 based on 192 votes. Directed by Jack Smight and written by N/A, it aired on 10/6/1961. This episode scored 0.3 points higher than the second highest rated, "Welcome to the Wedding".

  • Good Night, Sweet Blues
    8.9/10192 votes
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    #1 - Good Night, Sweet Blues

    Season 2 Episode 3 - Aired 10/6/1961

    Ethel Waters is a dying blues singer who asks Tod and Buz to locate her old jazz band for one last show. Filming Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

    Director: Jack Smight

    Writer: N/A

  • Welcome to the Wedding
    8.6/1095 votes
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    #2 - Welcome to the Wedding

    Season 3 Episode 8 - Aired 11/9/1962

    While waiting for his date in a Cleveland railroad station Tod encounters convict Justin Lezama who is being moved to another prison. Lezama wants to call his brother and when the guard refuses Tod agrees to make the contact. Lezama takes Tod as a hostage. Filming Location: Cleveland, Ohio

    Director: George Sherman

    Writer: Howard Rodman

  • Voice at the End of the Line
    8.5/10105 votes
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    #3 - Voice at the End of the Line

    Season 3 Episode 5 - Aired 10/19/1962

    Tod and Buz encounter a downtrodden stock clerk who is involved in a telephone romance. Filming Location: Chicago, Illinois

    Director: David Lowell Rich

    Writer: N/A

  • I Wouldn't Start From Here
    8.5/1077 votes
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    #4 - I Wouldn't Start From Here

    Season 4 Episode 8 - Aired 11/15/1963

    Tod and Linc work for a Vermont farmer and get involved in a pulling horse race. Filming Location: Vermont

    Director: Allen H. Miner

    Writer: Ernest Kinoy

  • The Mud Nest
    8.4/10133 votes
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    #5 - The Mud Nest

    Season 2 Episode 7 - Aired 11/10/1961

    In the small Maryland town of Hester, Buz meets some people who physically resemble him (played by Maharis' relatives). He has been looking for his mother and thinks she may be in the town. Filming Location: Near Baltimore, Maryland

    Director: James Sheldon

    Writer: Stirling Silliphant

  • A Month of Sundays
    8.3/10129 votes
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    #6 - A Month of Sundays

    Season 2 Episode 1 - Aired 9/22/1961

    Buz falls in love with actress Arlene Sims who has a fatal disease and has returned to her home town to die. Filming Location: Butte, Montana

    Director: Arthur Hiller

    Writer: Stirling Silliphant

  • Even Stones Have Eyes
    8.3/1094 votes
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    #7 - Even Stones Have Eyes

    Season 2 Episode 24 - Aired 3/30/1962

    Buz is blinded in an accident. At a school for the blind he falls for a blind girl (Celia). His sight returns and he has to leave her. Filming Location: Austin and Kerrville, Texas

    Director: Robert Gist

    Writer: N/A

  • Eleven, the Hard Way
    8.2/10107 votes
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    #8 - Eleven, the Hard Way

    Season 1 Episode 22 - Aired 4/7/1961

    The gown of Broken Knee hand their money over to famous gambler Sam Keep to gamble it in Reno. Filming Location: Reno and Broken Knee, Nevada

    Director: William A. Graham

    Writer: Stirling Silliphant

  • Most Vanquished, Most Victorious
    8.2/10108 votes
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    #9 - Most Vanquished, Most Victorious

    Season 1 Episode 23 - Aired 4/14/1961

    Tod's aunt Kitty asks Tod to find her daughter Carole. The boys find that she was living in a Los Angeles slum and has been killed. Filming Location: Los Angeles, California

    Director: N/A

    Writer: Stirling Silliphant

  • Dont Count Stars
    8.2/10103 votes
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    #10 - Dont Count Stars

    Season 1 Episode 24 - Aired 4/28/1961

    Tod and Buz meet a hotel owner Mike, who drinks and gambles. Mike is the guardian for his niece Linda, a little girl. Linda's executor wants to remove the child from her uncle, and she asks Tod and Buz for help. Filming Location: San Diego, Sands Hotel, California

    Director: N/A

    Writer: Stirling Silliphant

  • The Opponent
    8.2/10113 votes
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    #11 - The Opponent

    Season 1 Episode 28 - Aired 6/2/1961

    A has-been boxer Johnny Copa is now throwing fights. Johnny trains Buz in boxing. Filming Location: Youngstown, Ohio

    Director: David Lowell Rich

    Writer: Stirling Silliphant, Leonard Freeman

  • Love is a Skinny Kid
    8.2/10126 votes
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    #12 - Love is a Skinny Kid

    Season 2 Episode 25 - Aired 4/6/1962

    Tod and Buz encounter Miriam, who steps off a bus wearing a mask. Filming Location: Lewisville, Texas.

    Director: Jack Smight

    Writer: Stirling Silliphant

  • A Cage in Search of a Bird
    8.2/1072 votes
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    #13 - A Cage in Search of a Bird

    Season 4 Episode 9 - Aired 11/29/1963

    Tod and Linc meet Stephanie. Filming Location: Denver, Colorado.

    Director: James Sheldon

    Writer: Stirling Silliphant

  • Incident on a Bridge
    8.1/10109 votes
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    #14 - Incident on a Bridge

    Season 1 Episode 30 - Aired 6/16/1961

    Buz and Tod go to work for Volovich and live at his house. Two other boarders are courting Volovich's mute daughter. Filming Location: Cleveland, Ohio

    Director: David Lowell Rich

    Writer: Stirling Silliphant

  • A City of Wheels
    8.1/1094 votes
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    #15 - A City of Wheels

    Season 2 Episode 17 - Aired 2/2/1962

    Tod and Buz work with wheel chair patients at a veteran's hospital. Nurse Lori Barton falls in love with patient Frank Madera. Filming Location: Long Beach (Veterans Hospital), California

    Director: David Lowell Rich

    Writer: N/A

  • Hey Moth, Come Eat The Flame
    8.1/1074 votes
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    #16 - Hey Moth, Come Eat The Flame

    Season 3 Episode 11 - Aired 11/30/1962

    Tod and Buz encounter Muddy Mullins, a piano playing ex-con and his son Arnie. Filming Location: St. Louis, Missouri

    Director: Jack Smight

    Writer: Stirling Silliphant

  • Fly Away Home (1)
    8.0/10111 votes
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    #17 - Fly Away Home (1)

    Season 1 Episode 16 - Aired 2/10/1961

    Tod goes to work for the Windus Dusting Company as a crop duster. He meets Summers, a pilot. The company is losing money. Filming Location: Phoenix, Arizona

    Director: Arthur Hiller

    Writer: Stirling Silliphant

  • Like a Motherless Child
    8.0/10126 votes
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    #18 - Like a Motherless Child

    Season 1 Episode 20 - Aired 3/17/1961

    Tod and Buz pick up a small boy who has run away from an orphanage. Tod wants to return the boy but Buz, who has bad memories of an orphanage, refuses. The boys also get involved with showgirls. Filming Location: Reno, Fallon, and Carson City, Nevada

    Director: David Lowell Rich

    Writer: N/A

  • The Thin White Line
    8.0/10122 votes
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    #19 - The Thin White Line

    Season 2 Episode 11 - Aired 12/8/1961

    While at a party, Tod is accidentally given a powerful psychosis-producing drug. Buz tries to keep him from killing himself. Filming Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

    Director: David Lowell Rich

    Writer: Leonard Freeman

  • One Tiger to a Hill
    8.0/1095 votes
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    #20 - One Tiger to a Hill

    Season 3 Episode 1 - Aired 9/21/1962

    Buz and Tod hire out as deck hands on Anna Gustafson's salmon fishing trawler where Tod becomes involved with Anna's daughter. Filming Location: Astoria, Oregon (From a contributor) The opening scene is unforgettable. Buz and Tod are driving along a sandy beach in their classic corvette while Nelson Riddle's theme song is playing in the background. Buz and Tod land jobs as fishermen and deck hands for a widower named Anna Gustafson. While at her home they get a glimpse of her beautiful daughter, Toika, who has a ""bounce in her step"" as she walks by them. Immediately Anna takes a liking for both Buz and Tod but she notices their differences. It is evident to her that Tod is college educated and the type of guy for Toika. Meanwhile, Karno, played by David Janssen, is a veteran and also the boyfriend of Toika. He despises Tod because Tod went to college while he was drafted into the war. Furthermore, Toika, who has been rejected by Karno, is drawn to Tod. When Karno sees the

    Director: David Lowell Rich

    Writer: Stirling Silliphant

  • Fifty Miles From Home
    8.0/1083 votes
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    #21 - Fifty Miles From Home

    Season 3 Episode 23 - Aired 3/22/1963

    Tod meets a Lincoln Case who has just completed a six-year Army enlistment including two years in Vietnam as an Army ranger. Linc decides not to re-enlist but to join Tod on the cross-country odyssey. Filming Location: Houston, Texas

    Director: James Sheldon

    Writer: Stirling Silliphant

  • What a Shining Young Man Was Our Gallant Lieutenant
    8.0/1074 votes
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    #22 - What a Shining Young Man Was Our Gallant Lieutenant

    Season 3 Episode 27 - Aired 4/26/1963

    Linc meets Lt. School, a former officer he served under in Vietnam. The officer now has the mentality of an eight-year old child and is living with his mother. Filming Location: Tampa, Florida

    Director: James Goldstone

    Writer: Howard Rodman

  • Shadows of an Afternoon
    8.0/1078 votes
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    #23 - Shadows of an Afternoon

    Season 3 Episode 30 - Aired 5/17/1963

    Tod and Linc are working in a Florida town. Linc is accused of stabbing an unfriendly dog and is arrested. Filming Location: Cape Coral, Florida

    Director: James Sheldon

    Writer: Leonard Freeman

  • Welcome to Amity
    7.9/10125 votes
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    #24 - Welcome to Amity

    Season 1 Episode 29 - Aired 6/9/1961

    Joan Maslow wants to bury her mother in the cemetery outside of Amity. The entire community is determined to stop her. Filming Location: Amity, Ohio

    Director: Arthur Hiller

    Writer: N/A

  • Birdcage on My Foot
    7.9/10120 votes
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    #25 - Birdcage on My Foot

    Season 2 Episode 4 - Aired 10/13/1961

    Buz uses his experience as a former drug addict in an attempt to rehabilitate heroin addict Arnie. Filming Location: Boston, Massachusetts

    Director: Elliot Silverstein

    Writer: Stirling Silliphant