Best and worst TV series finales

Newhart was tremendous. But it's hard to top The Fugitive, since the finale was the point of the whole series. "The day the running stopped" or something like that.

I was a kid and wasn't permitted to stay up late enough to watch the series in all but its final season. Recall that year being in color, vs. B&W of previous seasons. There had been rumors floating around about how it would end: Some suggested that Lt. Gerard had killed Kimble's wife and that One-Armed Guy merely had witnessed it, which was what made Gerard so determined to find both Kimble and One-Armed Guy. There even was a rumor that Kimble indeed was guilty, though it would have taken big stones for network TV to do that to the audience after getting them to identify so with David Janssen's character.

As it was, the finale was a two-parter -- nowadays, they'd just clear two hours on the schedule and run it on one night, I imagine -- and gave you the payoff you wanted. Even that SOB Gerard was redeemed.

Didn't even remember that Frasier had a finale. What'd he do, move back to Boston? Or move to Chicago to run for office?

Guess Seinfeld is the worst finale I can think of, beyond the chain-jerking of the Sopranos final scene.

 

Hate to be boring, but Seinfeld is by far the worst of those I remember, and Cheers the best.

I don't remember too many, but part of the problem is that so many of these shows had fallen so badly before the end finally came (I include Seinfeld). But for most, who remembers, even for shows I followed closely.

I agree that the Buffy finale was pretty good, though it too had fallen from its peak.

Twin Peaks I don't remember, but the whole 2nd season was a mess. Was it the dream with the midget & the giant? That was good?

 

Seinfeld had a perfect finale -- when Susan died and then they went out for coffee.

 

What wrapped that up nicely was that in the first episode there's a major trauma and as they're wheeling in the patients Greene says to Carter "You coming?" In the finale, Carter says that in the same situation to Greene's daughter.

 

I'm slightly too young, but discovered Cheers later on, and I'd have to give it another vote. Also enjoyed The Wire finale.

 

I'm as biased as you, but M*A*S*H's finale was pretty tough to beat.

The protagonist finally snaps after all the marathon sessions in OR, watching friends leave and go home while he, the anti-military sort, stayed and marched on. The wrinkle that Klinger, who was trying to do everything he could to leave Korea, marries a Korean (a couple of years after his wife wrote a "Dear John" letter) and stays a while after the cease fire. The continued ability of the writers and David Ogden Stiers to make Winchester a more human character, a more compassionate person. Father Mulcahy losing at least some of his hearing. Margaret coming to grips that the journey en route to the destination can be a little more fun and a little less militaristic. Potter and BJ, two devout husbands who dearly miss their spouses, quietly heading back home to Mildred and Peg.

No ... sorry ... haven't seen better. "The Wonder Years" was far above average, but M*A*S*H is still far ahead.

 

I'm on the other side on this one. I liked it, even though the last few seasons were pretty bad. But I was loyal to the show from the first episode and couldn't pull away from it no matter how bad it got.

 

With M*A*S*H, I love the ideas as you laid them out. I just didn't love all of the execution.

But two moments will always stick with me. One is Hawkeye and Margaret's farewell kiss. With Winchester and Col. Potter standing there awkwardly, trying not to watch.

The other was Sidney Freedman's final line, which was something he also said in his first appearance.

"Ladies and gentlemen, take my advice, pull down your pants and slide on the ice."

 

Forgot about Wonder Years and The X-Files, both of which I enjoyed.

 

One of the scariest things to realize about TV is how incredibly random it is. A guy I know went to a writer's conference and asked one of the show-runners how 24 was plotted out. The guy said they went week-to-week. And yet not surprising when you remember how many times they had to halt production because the plotting had hit a cul-de-sac.
I like shows to know how they will end a year or so out. It usually makes all the difference. Still don't think LOST pulled it off.

 

What made ER's final season so good was that every key character got a curtain call. Clooney and Julianna Margulies were the icing on the cake.

 

I was a big "Northern Exposure" fan, but I can't really remember how it ended.

They should have just killed the show when Joel Fleischman left Cicely.