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Best TV Series Finales


It’s probably harder to end a series well than it is to begin it, especially if it’s had a long run and a lot of fans. What shows do you think ended well? For example:

Newhart, which ended with Bob waking up in bed next to Mary Frann who’d played his wife in his previous show, The Bob Newhart Show, and realizing that he only dreamed that he’d owned a Vermont Bed & Breakfast for years!

The Sopranos: And then, suddenly, NOTHING, no sound, no picture. They just pulled the plug right out of the outlet.

Mary Tyler Moore. The staff all walk out of the office, but leave the lights on. Thirty seconds later, Mary—always-dependable Mary—opens the door a crack, takes one last look around, smiles a poignant smile, and turns out the lights.

Cheers: Sam has sold the bar. After one last round, The Gang leave. Sam locks the door, walks to the bar to clean up. A hand knocks on the door’s window. Sam replies, sadly, “We’re closed.”

As I typed this, I realized that these series had something in common in addition to a great
finale. They were all class acts from head to toe.

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St. Elsewhere

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Why don't I remember the finale? I'm a big fan of this show.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsUrfiycSts

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Brings back memories. Sad that Ed Flanders killed himself.

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Very sad. He usually played a very gentle man. I think he played a pastor of some sort and dated Mary on the MTM Show. Plus his role on St E was central to the whole endeavor, especially considering the finale.
I never did figure out what was bothering him, but yes, very sad.

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Yes, MTM was one of the best. That and "Newhart."

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Breaking Bad.

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tremendous. even a bit of redemption for devious old WW, going out like a macgyver-style gangster, saving his no. 2. that was the only thread which didn't get snapped.

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The ending to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was so bittersweet, seeing highlights of all the character's progressions throughout the series. It really gives a grand sense of continuity, knowing that they are not the same people they once were, as if you had grown up with them. The door is left open for more adventures to be told, but the viewer is left to their imagination.

Like Cheers, it's always the ones which circle back to their beginnings that really pull the heartstrings.

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You’re right, twinA; and so, then, I submit the finale of Seinfeld, with them all wondering how a thread on a button can come loose, just like they did in the first scene of the series premiere.

Will Game of Thrones end with the beheading of a Black Watch deserter? Is Jon Snow doomed?

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Jon snow is not a deserter! He died...his watch has ended👍

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People hated the Seinfeld finale but it's perfect. The awkward dissonance created by that final scene I think is, for one thing, really effective in stirring up a desire to go back and revisit the antics of the good old days, and we're all the sadder that it's over for that lack of resolution. The loop back to the first episode is a nostalgic melancholy gut-stabber and seals in just how fatally hopeless these people are to ever learn or grow an inch in any sense. It's genius on multiple levels and I have yet to hear anyone propose an ending idea that would have been better.

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I didn't like the Seinfeld finale at all.

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Twin Peaks: The Return, provided another season isn't made.

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Brilliant stuff.

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I believe Newhart "woke up" next to the lovely Suzanne Pleshette, who played his wife in the previous show. What a great cast that show had !

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You got it right. I did not!

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Wasn't the Newhart finale voted the best of all time? It's my favorite.

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A great ending to, IMHO, a pretty mediocre TV show.

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Yep, I didn't like Newhart as much as The Bob Newhart Show. Some of the quirky characters got tiresome.

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6 Feet Under

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I second this. Such a beautiful ending. I also really liked the ending to Mad Men.

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Everyone has listed some real good finales! I would add Everybody loves Raymond and mad about you. The shield had a decent conclusion and hopefully deadwood will get a suitable ending soon👍

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"Twin Peaks," "St. Elsewhere" and "The Sopranos" had the best endings because they weren't what anyone expected and gave the viewer a lot to ponder.

"Breaking Bad"'s was the worst because it was utterly predictable, safe and boring. People still discuss "The Sopranos"'s ending to this day. Probably the most ardent fan of "Breaking Bad" has neither thought about, nor discussed with others, "Bad"'s ending since it aired in 2013.

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Why are you telling me this?

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Just contributing my two cents. Not addressing you specifically.

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Gotcha👍
Big fan of the subversion of expectations are ya?

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Always.

Good call on "The Shield." One of those rare shows that was solid throughout and ended with its dignity intact.

Need to watch "Deadwood."

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