The End Is Here: Best And Worst TV Finales

[Wax Lion]

 

I honestly can't remember the series finales of shows like Three's Company and Charlie's Angels, even though I grew up watching (and loving) them!

 

You probably don't remember the series finale of Three's Company because it ended with a cliffhanger that basically was resolved with the debut of the spin-off, which was entirely forgotten... and Wikipedia says the final Charlie's Angels was a clip show where the Angels remember their adventures while one angel is in the hospital.

[cpcathy]

So, I'm wondering, when did the advent of finales needing to be big to-do's begin? Anyone remember one from way back?

[ABay]

When prodicers started learning about their cancellations in time to produce a finale and also made the amazing discovery that fans of a show liked a wrap-up?

 

I mean, in ye olde days of the teevee, when it exciting to see the NBC peacocks tail go rainbow colored, shows just stopped. Unless there was a positive decision by the producers to end a series, there was usually no notice until after the season's episodes had aired. Until the internet made it clear that fandom was bigger than Trek, producers seemed to act in a vacuum instead of trying to actively foster viewer engagement beyond buying show-related merchandise.

 

ETA: The first one I really remember is Mary Tyler Moore. Newhart and M.A.S.H. came later. Did Perry Mason have a series-ending episode?

Edited April 24, 2015 by ABay

[Rinaldo]

I'm glad someone asked! I've thought about this a fair amount.

 

Shows occasionally did take themselves off the air in olden times. But even then, nobody thought it right or necessary, in general, to create a conclusion. When series were over, they were over -- out of sight and out of mind, you'd never see them again anyway. When The Dick Van Dyke Show decided to stop in 1966 after 5 seasons, they did do something a bit different, but not a real ending: they did an anesthesia-induced dream of everyone in the Old West, and then an episode in which Rob finished writing his book, providing a clip show looking back at earlier events in the series. And that was all.

 

The game-changer was most likely The Fugitive in 1967. It had been almost an anthology series (each week Richard Kimble moved to a new town) but there was an ongoing arc of his being on the run and looking for the proof of his innocence that would allow him to go home. And in an unprecedented move, the show interrupted the summer reruns of its final season in August 1967 to show two new episodes that brought the long-term story to a conclusion. It still remains one of the most-watched hours of TV ever (its household share, 72%, is #3 still).

 

But it didn't immediately set any precedents. Other series (like Mission: Impossible after its 7 seasons) "just ended" with no special hoopla. It may indeed have been The Mary Tyler Moore Show, beloved as it was, that picked up the idea in an influential way, when it brought its story to an end.

[bmasters9]

ETA: The first one I really remember is Mary Tyler Moore. Newhart and M.A.S.H. came later. Did Perry Mason have a series-ending episode?

Yes, they did. It was called "The Case of the Final Fade-Out," and it aired May 22, 1966. The big guest star was Dick Clark, in the role of villainous producer (and subsequently revealed murderer) Leif Early. 

[GreekGeek]

So, I'm wondering, when did the advent of finales needing to be big to-do's begin? Anyone remember one from way back?

The last episode of Leave It to Beaver was titled "Family Scrapbook" and was a kind of look back at the series. It also revealed how Beaver got his nickname. I can't recall if Wally was supposed to leave for college at the end of it.

[millennium]

Worst ever:   Lassie.   Black and white version.   Hugh Beaumont, June Lockhart, Jon Provost. 

 

(cue the haunting whistle of the Lassie theme)  

 

The actor Jon Provost (Timmy) was getting older, closing in on 14.   He wanted to start going to regular school with kids his own age, so the producers decided it was time to mothball the long-running story of Timmy Martin, his adoptive parents Paul and Ruth, and the loyal family dog, Lassie.

 

For the final episode, the writers concocted a plot in which the Martin family are recruited for an international program that sends American farmers to Australia to teach the locals American farming techniques (seriously).  The Martins accepted, but then learned that Lassie would need to spend six months in quarantine before she could join the family Down Under (this is apparently a common practice for pets relocating internationally, even today).   Rather than make Lassie endure the six month inconvenience, they chose to deprive Timmy of his greatest friend and GAVE LASSIE AWAY.   The last we see of the Martins, they turned Lassie over to a friendly local forest ranger and went off to Australia.   That's how the original Timmy and Lassie version of Lassie ended.

 

But it gets worse.   Correction: it gets downright evil.

 

Fast-forward to the 1980s.   Along comes a new show called "The New Lassie."   This time, the show's about a collie named Lassie who lives with a family named McCullough and has adventures with them.   Jon Provost, the original Timmy, now an adult, had a recurring role in this show as "Uncle Steve" McCullough.

 

The twisted writers of this show -- namely a writer credited with the unlikely moniker of Bud Wiser -- wrote an episode in which June Lockhart (Ruth Martin from the original series) makes a guest appearance.   I forget the name they gave her character, but in this episode Mrs. Whatever (June Lockhart) has a chance encounter with the McCullough family and their dog, Lassie.   Mrs. Whatever remarks that her family used to have a collie named Lassie too.    And what do you know -- after a little more exposition it turns out Mrs. Whatever is her married name from her second marriage, after her first husband died.  Her previous name was RUTH MARTIN.   That's right, Timmy's mom from the original Lassie series.  

 

But wait, there's more.   When Mrs. Whatever makes this disclosure, "Uncle Steve" McCullough, who is visibly upset,  announces  that his name hasn't always been Steve McCullough.   That his former name was  ...TIMMY MARTIN!!!

 

Whaaaat????

 

Prepare to be messed up:

 

See, when the Martins went off to Australia, Lassie wasn't the only one left behind.

 

According to this episode of "The New Lassie," the Martins never quite got around to completing Timmy's legal adoption, so when the family tried to embark for Australia the state department informed them they couldn't bring Timmy with them.

 

So the Martins just canceled the Australian gig, right?  I mean, if they couldn't bring Timmy with them ...

 

No.   They abandoned Timmy on the spot.   Paul and Ruth Martin, the ideal rural parents so full of love and understanding in every episode of "Lassie," placed their son Timmy in a state orphanage and went off to Australia without him.   And they never came back for him. 

 

Timmy was so devasted and betrayed by the Martins' abandonment that he rejected the name Timmy and began calling himself Steve.  Eventually he was adopted by a couple named McCullough, who took him into their family.  That's how Timmy Martin became Steve McCullough.

 

And there you have the little-known ending to America's most beloved television series.   The great American story of a boy and his dog ends in loss, betrayal and bitterness.   

 

Timmy/Steve makes peace with Mrs. Whatever/his mom by the end of the episode.   But the damage is done.

 

Lassie was one of my all-time favorite series.  The two-parter where Lassie accidentally gets separated from Timmy and has to make a 200-mile trip home on foot, reappearing just as Timmy has lost all hope, can still reduce me to tears.

 

But ever since I learned the ending of the series and the malicious plot developments revealed in the sequel, I haven't been able to watch the show.   It shatters the whole myth.    It strips away the veneer of innocence and the nostalgia of simpler times and replaces it with something ugly.    I have tried to separate "Lassie" from "The New Lassie" in my mind, pretending the latter never happened.   I have reasoned with myself that I shouldn't let the mean-spirited whim of some cheap-ass writer spoil what went before.   But I can't get that toothpaste back in the tube.

 

My only solace is that the writer "Bud Wiser" didn't do his homework.   You see, after the Martins left Lassie with the forest ranger, her adventures continued, this time in Technicolor.   In the early episodes, I suppose in an attempt to establish continuity, the forest ranger received letters from Timmy in Australia and read them to Lassie.

 

Timmy couldn't have been in Australia and in a stateside orphanage at the same time.

 

Which is the truth?   My instinct says to abide by the premise established at the run of the original series, since it was validated by the subsequent letters from Timmy to the forest ranger.   But what does that make the events portrayed in The New Lassie?  A bad dream?  Did Timmy's grief at being separated from Lassie open a wormhole to an alternate timeline?

 

I don't know.   But it shows how a bad ending can tarnish everything that went before it, no matter how highly you esteem the show.

 

I will tell you this:  If ever I see Jon Provost, I am going to confront him and ask him how he ever could have agreed to participate in a throwaway storyline that undid everything the Lassie show stood for.   

Edited April 28, 2015 by millennium

[DeLurker]

That is majorly f'd up!

How Provost could be on the new one and Lockhart to guest is mind boggling.

[Rinaldo]

Lassie went through so many premise changes over the years -- June Lockhart and Jon Provost weren't even the first. In this case, I would find it easiest to believe that these were two deranged people, on work release from mental institutions, who believed that they were those earlier characters, and whose illnesses drove them to feed into and confirm each others' delusions, and there was nothing real about it all. 

[fishcakes]

Okay, I've never heard about that development in the Martin family history before but I ADORE IT because I detest the Timmy years of Lassie. When I was a kid, the Lassie series was in Lassie's "alone" period. He was an ownerless dog who lived near Big Rock Mountain or wherever, and every week, there would be some tragedy and a deer or a bunch of rabbits would die and then I would sit there sobbing in front of the TV. As soon as my mom realized I was being scarred for life by the show, I was no longer allowed to watch. Forty years later, I discover "Jeff's Collie," the original Lassie series. Lassie lived with Jeff Miller, his widowed mother Ellen, and Ellen's father-in-law, Gramps. Jeff was more like a real kid, basically good, but not the living Precious Moments doll that Timmy was, Lassie was a regular dog rather than a superhero, and, unlike Ruth and Paul Martin, Ellen and Gramps were smart, sensible people. Shortly into the fourth season, the actor who played Gramps died and I think the producers decided Jeff was too old to be cute (in fairness, he was sporting a bit of a moustache there at the end), so as the story went, Gramps died and Ellen ended up selling the farm to the Martins who evidently also bought Timmy, an orphan who'd been staying with the Millers for a few weeks, and Lassie. At this point, the show became unwatchable for me. The Martins were moronic and constantly setting things on fire. They go for a picnic in the woods, at night for some reason, and leave Timmy, who's like six-years-old, and the dog to tend to the campfire. Result: forest fire. Grasshoppers begin eating the crops, so Paul Martin decides to exterminate them. With a blowtorch. Result: forest fire. Every single week, they were either in danger of burning to death, drowning, or losing the farm due to gross mismanagement. And who has to save these idiots? Lassie the slave-dog. "Lassie, take this note to the sheriff!" "Lassie, take this note to the mechanic!" "Lassie, take this note to the doc!" Use the telephone, assholes. So if years later in The New Lassie, we learn that the Martins were too dumb to actually complete Timmy's adoption, and as a result shrugged their shoulders, put the simpering kid in an orphanage, and left the continent, that actually seems completely in character for them. I'm only surprised that Ruth Martin didn't also reveal that they shot Lassie before going to Australia.

 

I love the "Jeff's Collie" years and the various movie versions of "Lassie Come Home." I'm not sure how I'd feel about the 1970s-era and later series; I never saw "The New Lassie" and I remember the alone years of Lassie as being really sad every single week. But I cannot abide the Timmy years, and I just pretend they never happened. Lassie was always a smart dog, and she would have run away from the Martins and maybe even mauled them a little first.

 

I realize this could also go in the Unpopular Opinions thread and that people love Timmy. But I don't even care. The Martins were the worst. TEAM JEFF FOREVER.

Edited April 28, 2015 by fishcakes

[ABay]

Re: Lassie

and then I would sit there sobbing in front of the TV. As soon as my mom realized I was being scarred for life by the show, I was no longer allowed to watch.

OMG! Me, too! I've never met anyone else who had this experience.

[millennium]

Okay, I've never heard about that development in the Martin family history before but I ADORE IT because I detest the Timmy years of Lassie. When I was a kid, the Lassie series was in Lassie's "alone" period. He was an ownerless dog who lived near Big Rock Mountain or wherever, and every week, there would be some tragedy and a deer or a bunch of rabbits would die and then I would sit there sobbing in front of the TV. As soon as my mom realized I was being scarred for life by the show, I was no longer allowed to watch. Forty years later, I discover "Jeff's Collie," the original Lassie series. Lassie lived with Jeff Miller, his widowed mother Ellen, and Ellen's father-in-law, Gramps. Jeff was more like a real kid, basically good, but not the living Precious Moments doll that Timmy was, Lassie was a regular dog rather than a superhero, and, unlike Ruth and Paul Martin, Ellen and Gramps were smart, sensible people. Shortly into the fourth season, the actor who played Gramps died and I think the producers decided Jeff was too old to be cute (in fairness, he was sporting a bit of a moustache there at the end), so as the story went, Gramps died and Ellen ended up selling the farm to the Martins who evidently also bought Timmy, an orphan who'd been staying with the Millers for a few weeks, and Lassie. At this point, the show became unwatchable for me. The Martins were moronic and constantly setting things on fire. They go for a picnic in the woods, at night for some reason, and leave Timmy, who's like six-years-old, and the dog to tend to the campfire. Result: forest fire. Grasshoppers begin eating the crops, so Paul Martin decides to exterminate them. With a blowtorch. Result: forest fire. Every single week, they were either in danger of burning to death, drowning, or losing the farm due to gross mismanagement. And who has to save these idiots? Lassie the slave-dog. "Lassie, take this note to the sheriff!" "Lassie, take this note to the mechanic!" "Lassie, take this note to the doc!" Use the telephone, assholes. So if years later in The New Lassie, we learn that the Martins were too dumb to actually complete Timmy's adoption, and as a result shrugged their shoulders, put the simpering kid in an orphanage, and left the continent, that actually seems completely in character for them. I'm only surprised that Ruth Martin didn't also reveal that they shot Lassie before going to Australia.

 

I love the "Jeff's Collie" years and the various movie versions of "Lassie Come Home." I'm not sure how I'd feel about the 1970s-era and later series; I never saw "The New Lassie" and I remember the alone years of Lassie as being really sad every single week. But I cannot abide the Timmy years, and I just pretend they never happened. Lassie was always a smart dog, and she would have run away from the Martins and maybe even mauled them a little first.

 

I realize this could also go in the Unpopular Opinions thread and that people love Timmy. But I don't even care. The Martins were the worst. TEAM JEFF FOREVER.

 

I'm not old enough to have seen the Tommy Rettig series.   And even by the time I started watching television, the Martins version of Lassie was in reruns.   I grew up in the "alone" years too -- these came soon after the forest ranger era and tended to feature guest stars like Pamelyn Ferdyn.   I got to know the Martins through reruns on UHF after school (Channel 56 in Boston or Channel 38 in Worcester, Mass.)

 

"Lassie" was formulaic, no denying that.   But it worked for me.  Anyway, my attachment to the show is more emotional than critical, so I won't try to defend it.  As a child I liked the simplicity of "Lassie" and the trust of knowing there would always be a good outcome.   Lassie would rescue Timmy from the badger or the bear or the mountain lion.  She saved everyone.   She even saved the family cow from the slaughterhouse because the Martins thought she wasn't producing milk anymore until Lassie exposed a thief who was sneaking into the barn at night and milking her.

 

The cruel twists at the end of the Martins saga robbed me of those childish impressions.   As an English major I might praise it by saying the conclusion of Lassie was a metaphor for the end of the Eisenhower era, shattering the illusion of America as a homogenized land of white, middle-class, wholesome Christian families and exposing the hard truths that families break up, adults can suck and a happy ending is never guaranteed.

 

But it wasn't an English major who watched Lassie all those years ago.

[fishcakes]

Anyway, my attachment to the show is more emotional than critical, so I won't try to defend it.

 

Oh no need to defend what you love. I once paid actual money for a DVD copy of From Justin to Kelly. I'm in no position to judge anyone's likes and dislikes.

[Rinaldo]

Justin has managed to rise above that too. He's now a superb musical theater performer; I saw him in NYC in Paint Your Wagon last month and he was great.

 

Connecting musical theater to Lassie: The mother in the first premise ("Jeff's Collie" as it was later repackaged) was Jan Clayton, the original Julie Jordan in Carousel.

[kassygreene]

 

Re: Lassie

 

OMG! Me, too! I've never met anyone else who had this experience.

 

I remember watching Lassie, but I don't really remember Timmy - my memories are more of the alone years.  Details, I don't have.  However, one of my uncles (18 years older than me) watched me watch Lassie in the late fifties and he was both traumatized and a little frightened - by how I watched.  Apparently I went from tears to joy, gasps of horror and delight, and perhaps some bouncing around the room - he told my parents I was taking it too seriously.

 

I was three.

[Gudzilla]

Justin has managed to rise above that too. He's now a superb musical theater performer; I saw him in NYC in Paint Your Wagon last month and he was great.

And most impressively he's Lil' Sweet. :)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0-eiZ2O9Uw

[Raja]

I remember being disappointed in the last season cameos of The Wire's surviving minor characters. I think Justified got closer to getting it right.

[backformore]

Lassie" was formulaic, no denying that.   But it worked for me.  Anyway, my attachment to the show is more emotional than critical, so I won't try to defend it.  As a child I liked the simplicity of "Lassie" and the trust of knowing there would always be a good outcome.   Lassie would rescue Timmy from the badger or the bear or the mountain lion.  She saved everyone.   She even saved the family cow from the slaughterhouse because the Martins thought she wasn't producing milk anymore until Lassie exposed a thief who was sneaking into the barn at night and milking her.

 

Yeah, my attachment to the show was that I had a little girl crush on Timmy.   Being a nerdy city  girl who got teased in school, having a pretend boyfriend who lived out in the country somewhere and had a cool dog was how I got through the day. 

[DearEvette]

Although I had major issues with the last season of Eureka (mainly because it felt like it there was too much Felicia Day) I loved the finale.  There were some great call backs to season 1, and it did a nice job of bringing together the different time-travel threads that happened over the course of the series.

[ShellSeeker]

I had to add Justified to my list of favorite series finales. They ended it so perfectly, and so unexpectedly. 

Everyone was so sure that either Raylan or Boyd -- or both -- would end up dead. But instead the series ends with Raylan visiting Boyd in prison, and the very last scene has them reminiscing about working in the coal mines together when they were young. Boyd and Raylan really were 2 sides of the same coin, so for the series to end with both of them together was perfect.

[opus]

The NEWHART finale airs Wednesday night/Thursday morning on Antenna Tv.

[MyAimIsTrue]

The NEWHART finale airs Wednesday night/Thursday morning on Antenna Tv.

 

That's the only episode of 'Newhart' I've ever seen and as a huge fan of 'The Bob Newhart Show' I thought the finale was genius!

[opus]

Always figured there had to have been some viewers of NEWHART who either never watched his first series or even never heard of it. To them, the "classic " ending made no sense.

[ParadoxLost]

Always figured there had to have been some viewers of NEWHART who either never watched his first series or even never heard of it. To them, the "classic " ending made no sense.

 

I had never seen the first series.  I'd say it made sense but it didn't have the extra subtext.  Without knowing that Suzanne Pleshette was his wife from a previous series, it came across as a spoof of Dallas.  And actually I think I guessed that it was his real life wife until the news recapped he finale.

[cheezwhiz346]

Agree with those who list Leverage as a best and HIMYM as a worst. A recent fave of mine that I thought was really well done was Psych. Lassie deliberately not hearing the end of Shawn's message, the chief and Juliet working together, the proposal that was basically from Shawn and Gus, Henry teaching, the Monk reference at the end, etc. etc. I wasn't so much a fan of that last season as a whole, but that finale was on point.

 

Though I was never really a fan of Everybody Loves Raymond, I liked the way they chose to do their finale, which essentially ended just like every other episode but with little more of a feel of everyone spending time together. It worked for the show.

[cpcathy]

I admired the ELR finale, but deep down I like to be shocked. I usually want something BIG in a finale, and that's the problem nowadays, a finale better blow you away or it's not good.

[whatsatool]

Best MTM and Carol Burnett

[legaleagle53]

I admired the ELR finale, but deep down I like to be shocked. I usually want something BIG in a finale, and that's the problem nowadays, a finale better blow you away or it's not good.

 

I agree.  Besides, a series finale needs to give me a sense of closure; the ELR series finale fell flat for me precisely because it didn't feel like the end of an era the way the Friends or Will & Grace series finales did.  If I hadn't known it was the series finale, I would have thought it was just another episode and that the show had simply been canceled for poor ratings.

[GaT]

I thought the Mad Men finale sucked, all those seasons just to pretend Don wrote the Coke "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" commercial. 

[Calvada]

I like the Everybody Loves Raymond finale because it wasn't big.  It was a nice ending, with all of them sitting around the table eating.  Too many shows try to go overboard, giving every character the "perfect" ending.  

 

I loved the Newhart ending, because The Bob Newhart Show is one of my top 5 favorite shows.  I liked Newhart, but not as much as TBNS.  Never could warm up to Mary Frann!  What I loved about the Newhart finale is I recognized the set from the bedsheets - the lights were low, but I immediately said "hey!  That's Bob & Emily's bedroom!"  before Bob turned on the light or we saw Suzanne Pleshette.

 

I can't even speak about the HIMYM finale - a total spit in the eye to fans of the show IMO.  I can't even watch reruns of the show, even the early years when it was good.  And I don't think I could watch another show from the creators of HIMYM.  That's how much it pissed me off.

 

Another terrible finale was Seinfeld.  I didn't find it funny at all.  I always thought they didn't get the lambasting they deserve, because the night it aired, Frank Sinatra died (no word if he was watching it when he was stricken!) and so the next day rather than focusing on the lame Seinfeld finale, everyone was talking about Frank.  

[bmasters9]

 I liked Newhart, but not as much as TBNS.  Never could warm up to Mary Frann!  

That's one of the major reasons why I preferred Bob's psychologist character of Dr. Bob Hartley from Chicago over his innkeeper character of Dick Loudon from Vermont (what I'm saying is that, at least to me, Joanne Loudon in the 80s seemed somewhat frigid as compared to Emily Hartley in the 70s). Newhart, from the three seasons' worth I've seen of it, was an okay show (and did have some funny episodes), but The Bob Newhart Show was far better and funnier overall. 

[VCRTracking]

The Newhart episode "A Midseason Night's Dream" where all the characters are asleep and it shows us their dreams is my favorite. It gets weirder when you think about Bob Hartley having a dream that he's Dick Louden and he's having a dream. It gets into Inception territory!

[CoderLady]

Now that the show has been canceled, the season finale for Defiance is now the series finale. Other than not being able to follow the further adventures of Nolan and Doc Yewll and the ship full of cannibalistic aliens the series didn't end on a cliffhanger. Well, that's actually a big one. Everyone else seemed like they were going to be alright but I'm really going to miss that show.

 

It must be hard to write a season ending that could go either way but this was a good one.

[SmithW6079]

Now that the show has been canceled, the season finale for Defiance is now the series finale. Other than not being able to follow the further adventures of Nolan and Doc Yewll and the ship full of cannibalistic aliens the series didn't end on a cliffhanger. Well, that's actually a big one. Everyone else seemed like they were going to be alright but I'm really going to miss that show.

It must be hard to write a season ending that could go either way but this was a good one.

Oh no, really? I'm sorry to hear that.

[Raja]

Another bad one was Southland, where the lead patrol cop from the series decides upon

Spoiler

suicide by cop

[AntiBeeSpray]

One of the worst was The Pretender.... that second movie was just O_o worthy.

Spoiler

With Jarod and Ms. Parker finding out that they might be brother and sister, right as they were about to kiss. Seriously show runners?! Way to ruin a show. >_<

That one was the worst.

Second place goes to CSI: NY, since there was no true ending there. Same goes with Crossing Jordan.

Edited February 19, 2018 by AntiBeeSpray

[BW Manilowe]

OK... I guess my vote for worst finale (at least that I remember watching) was the finale of Las Vegas, for the reasons I said in the "Biggest Blunders by TV Execs" thread (the name may be paraphrased).

I'm trying to figure out which finale(s) I thought were the best. I have more than 1, for sure. I can say 1 of them was the M*A*S*H TV movie length finale where the Korean War finally ended & (mostly) everybody went home; another was the The West Wing finale, where the Bartlet Administration became the Santos Administration; the other 1 I can think of that I really liked was the finale of  Starsky & Hutch, where Starsky was almost assassinated by henchmen for a megalomaniacal (I think that's the word I want; the usual "corrupt", etc., don't seem to fit) businessman who'd run afoul of the boys in earlier episodes.

Having said all that, when it comes to finales, do you like better the ones that somehow acknowledge this is the last time (until any possible reunions, revivals, [maybe] reboots, that is) the audience, fans, etc., will be seeing these people/characters in this setting, or do you like better the ones where, when the ep ends, it seems like life will just go on for those people/characters even though we won't get to see that, until/unless there's some kind of reunion, revival, or (maybe) reboot?

[Raja]

16 minutes ago, BW Manilowe said:

OK... I guess my vote for worst finale (at least that I remember watching) was the finale of Las Vegas, for the reasons I said in the "Biggest Blunders by TV Execs" thread (the name may be paraphrased).

I'm trying to figure out which finale(s) I thought were the best. I have more than 1, for sure. I can say 1 of them was the M*A*S*H TV movie length finale where the Korean War finally ended & (mostly) everybody went home; another was the The West Wing finale, where the Bartlet Administration became the Santos Administration; the other 1 I can think of that I really liked was the finale of  Starsky & Hutch, where Starsky was almost assassinated by henchmen for a megalomaniacal (I think that's the word I want; the usual "corrupt", etc., don't seem to fit) businessman who'd run afoul of the boys in earlier episodes.

Having said all that, when it comes to finales, do you like better the ones that somehow acknowledge this is the last time (until any possible reunions, revivals, [maybe] reboots, that is) the audience, fans, etc., will be seeing these people/characters in this setting, or do you like better the ones where, when the ep ends, it seems like life will just go on for those people/characters even though we won't get to see that, until/unless there's some kind of reunion, revival, or (maybe) reboot?

Among my favorites was Hill Street Blues when another shift was going to the briefing, even if their late show Viagra, to paraphrase The Rock skit on SNL, Lt Bunts was on his way out. I always felt that instead of a wrap party with LT Van Buran going into remission that Law & Order should have ended with a new detective team over the body of a newly discovered homicide victim and one tries to break the tension with a silly joke.

[BW Manilowe]

Never mind. I found the original version of the post that was here.

Edited February 20, 2018 by BW Manilowe
Duplicate post removal.

[fishcakes]

14 hours ago, BW Manilowe said:

Having said all that, when it comes to finales, do you like better the ones that somehow acknowledge this is the last time (until any possible reunions, revivals, [maybe] reboots, that is) the audience, fans, etc., will be seeing these people/characters in this setting, or do you like better the ones where, when the ep ends, it seems like life will just go on for those people/characters even though we won't get to see that, until/unless there's some kind of reunion, revival, or (maybe) reboot?

I think I like the life goes on ones a little better, and I was thinking about that after the recent episode of The Good Place where Ted Danson was briefly a bartender. It made me realize that I like the idea that Sam Malone is still out there running Cheers, even though we can't see it. The Wonder Years also had a great series finale, with Kevin's voiceover talking about the things that would happen with his family and friends in the future, some sad and some happy, but all just following the normal course of life. There's something comforting about knowing that our fictional friends are still the same people we always knew.

[Katy M]

15 hours ago, BW Manilowe said:

Having said all that, when it comes to finales, do you like better the ones that somehow acknowledge this is the last time (until any possible reunions, revivals, [maybe] reboots, that is) the audience, fans, etc., will be seeing these people/characters in this setting, or do you like better the ones where, when the ep ends, it seems like life will just go on for those people/characters even though we won't get to see that, until/unless there's some kind of reunion, revival, or (maybe) reboot?

I think it depends on the premise. If it's like an ensemble family/friends/co-worker show, then it doesn't matter as much. It's fine for them to just be doing whatever it is they're doing on into eternity.

When, you have a show where they're trying to get something accomplished, it would be nice for that to happen.  Like, take Quantum Leap for example.  I don't like thinking that poor Sam has to bounce around time forever.  And, without Al, to boot.  I remember when he leapt into Al, that one time, and changed history, he got a replacement guy, but I'm not sure that happened with the finale.  How will he even know what to do?

I need happy endings.

[fishcakes]

1 minute ago, Katy M said:

When, you have a show where they're trying to get something accomplished, it would be nice for that to happen.  Like, take Quantum Leap for example.  I don't like thinking that poor Sam has to bounce around time forever.  And, without Al, to boot.  I remember when he leapt into Al, that one time, and changed history, he got a replacement guy, but I'm not sure that happened with the finale.  How will he even know what to do?

This is a good point. I would have hated it if the M*A*S*H finale didn't end with the end of the Korean War. The TV version had already lasted a decade longer than the real war; it would have been awful if the series ended and they were all still there.

[AntiBeeSpray]

The X Files s11 finale was horrible!

 

Spoiler

Their son basically murdered others for the heck of it. Was a piece of work. Scully didn't find out from Skinner that she was medically raped by CSM. And then at the end... she tells Mulder to let their son go and then she lets him know that she's pregnant. I hate how that was handled. So horribly. And add in the St. Rachel motel/hotel foreshadowing in Plus One... it makes me want to barf. That CC was even remotely thinking of possibly killing off Scully. Screw this show. Congrats dude, you've officially killed off/destroyed your own show!

[Chaos Theory]

Two recent finales that go in “The Beast” category are 12 Monkeys and The Americans 

as for “The Worst” I am sorry but I will have to say Scandal

[GHScorpiosRule]

51 minutes ago, Chaos Theory said:

Two recent finales that go in “The Beast” category are 12 Monkeys and The Americans 

 

The “beast?” Do you mean best?

[dargosmydaddy]

The 12 Monkeys finale may be my favorite of all time.

[DrSpaceman]

The Six Feet Under finale is one of the best, if not the best.  The ending montage showing how and when they all die is hard to top.  And just the episode in general with Nate dying as well

The Breaking Bad finale I did not think was great, but was good enough that I consider that series start to finish probably the best drama of all time.  The actual finale pales in comparison to Ozymandias, I believe the next to last episode. 

Seinfeld sucked.  HIMYM sucked.  We all know that.  Can just quit trying to sugarcoat those.  But at least it was just the last episode for Seinfeild.  For HIMYM, it was the entire last season and the whole idea of how they ended it.  Just awful all around for such a one time high quality series. 

There are a whole lot of shows ending in a two year period so will be interesting to see how they do it :  The Middle ended already, as did The Americans.  Coming up now is Game of Thrones, Big Bang, Modern Family, You're the Worst, House of Cards, Veep, all in about the next year.  I may be forgetting one or two. 

[Chaos Theory]

Spoilers:  

 

HIMYM didnt just suck it was offensively bad.  I wasn’t a fan of Seinfeld and watched the last episode on vacation in a foreign (not US) country and thought it was kinda funny but I had watched maybe two episodes of the show before so I won’t say anything about that.  HIMYM finale itself was offensive if you knew the plot at all.  “Hey kids lets talk about your dead mom but first let’s talk about the woman I really love. “

I go back and forth on if I like the finale of Sons of Anarchy.  I really didn’t like the last season and the death of Tara really pissed me off just like the death of Rita did on Dexter.  Both deaths fucked up their respective shows for me.  Sons of Anarchy recovered enough to at least tentivly put it on the good list.  Dexter will always go on the bad list and I think the shows biggest mistake was killing off Rita.

i also really liked the ending to Spartacus and WGN’s Salem.

Edited August 27, 2018 by Chaos Theory

[doodlebug]

24 minutes ago, Chaos Theory said:

Spoilers:  

 

HIMYM didnt just suck it was offensively bad.  I wasn’t a fan of Seinfeld and watched the last episode on vacation in a foreign country and thought it was kinda funny but I had watched maybe two episodes of the show before so I won’t say anything about that.  HIMYM finale itself was offensive if you knew the plot at all.  “Hey kids lets talk about your dead mom but first let’s talk about the woman I really love. “

I go back and forth if I like the finale of Sons of Anarchy.  I really didn’t like the last season and the death of Tara really pissed me off just like the death of Rita did on De yet.  Both deaths fucked up their respective shows for me.  Sons of Anarchy recovered enough to at least tentivly put it on the good list.  Dexter will always go on the bad list and I think the shows biggest mistake was killing off Rita.

i also really liked the ending to Spartacus and WGN’s Salem.

Yes, the notion that Ted was telling his kids all about how he met their mother just so they could encourage him to bag Aunt Robin now that Mom was dead was really awful.  It's hard to think of a worse ending for a show which had such an interesting premise.

[Katy M]

34 minutes ago, doodlebug said:

Yes, the notion that Ted was telling his kids all about how he met their mother just so they could encourage him to bag Aunt Robin now that Mom was dead was really awful.  It's hard to think of a worse ending for a show which had such an interesting premise.

It really was awful.  Yes, in life sometimes spouses die and people remarry and that's OK.  But the way the whole finale was presented was that the mother was just a placeholder until Robin was ready to not put her career first any more.  And the kids were all "Yay, Mom's dead."  The very least they could have done was have a little sadness mixed in with the enthusiasm in that scene.  And, I'm in no way blaming the actors.  I'm positive they did exactly as they were directed.