Best Series Finales

[tr0psn4j]

I finally had a chance to watch Monk's series finale and I must say it was quite good and the best one I can think of right now. Which series finales do you consider the best?

[DMark]

This subject has been done before, but no reason not to bring up what I think was probably one of the all-time best, if not THE BEST series finale: Six Feet Under

The last 5 minutes or so of that finale show was a "movie" unto itself, and truly a beautiful and satisfying end to a fantastic series. I still get choked up thinking about that episode and the last five minutes.

[RikWriter]

Newhart of course.

[MPB in Salt Lake]

I was one who thought that the MASH series finale was very well done (I know many don't agree with me on that) while I thought that Fraiser went out on a whimper, its final episode was a big disappointment..............

[StoutHearted]

BBC's The Office: Xmas Special - Small victories for all the beloved characters: David Brent got an honest laugh, and Tim and Dawn finally went for it. Awesome finale.

[runner pat]

Newhart of course.

Ditto.
There can be only one! :D

[Elendil's Heir]

"All Good Things," the finale to Star Trek: The Next Generation, was quite good. Even better than the next two ST movies, I'd say! "Endgame," the finale to ST Voyager, was probably among the best five episodes of the entire series IMHO.

[davidw]

Gotta be The Shield.

[Fair Rarity]

Gotta be The Shield.

I gotta agree with this. I was horrified, but enthralled. Everything was summed up, but not completely resolved.

I can't think of any other show that I felt ended on as good as a note as its peak (I never saw Newhart for some reason).

I've been disappointed by just about every series finale: Will & Grace, Friends, Sopranos, Six Feet Under (I am the only one seemingly who didn't like it), Roseanne, Seinfeld, Sex and the City.

And there are so many shows that I gave up long before they ended (ER, for example).

[Robbin'Hood]

I loved the way Sex and the City ended. It was upbeat, hopeful and all the ladies ended up with the relationships they deserved.

Out of all the series I've watched over the years, it's sad that this is the only one that felt right.

[Robot Arm]

Newhart

I'd like to see the final episode of One Foot in the Grave again. I only saw it in bits and pieces, but from what I can gather, the main character, who has been a royal pain in the ass for the entire series, is killed. The very end is a musical montage of all the indignities he's suffered while the music is End of the Line by the Traveling Willburys.

[Hirka T'Bawa]

The best finale I think I've seen is Babylon 5, the way they set it up in the future, they really wrapped up the series. A lot of other finals are just a last episode, leaving the impression the events go on, we just don't see them anymore.

But in Babylon 5, they destroyed the station! That's it, it's over.

[woodstockbirdybird]

Since I'm too late, I'll third The Shield, which would be my #1 choice. I'm also probably the only one anywhere who was happy with the finales of The Sopranos and Seinfeld.

[porcupine]

I'm also probably the only one anywhere who was happy with the finales of The Sopranos and Seinfeld.
Definitely not the only one on The Sopranos. But I'm a fan of ambiguous endings in general.

Ditto on Six Feet Under - the last 10 minutes were phenomenal (though I didn't most of the old people makeup was done badly). But dramatically it was very powerful.

[Bryan Ekers]

Seinfeld.





Ha, just kidding.

[Attack from the 3rd dimension]

Since I'm too late, I'll third The Shield, which would be my #1 choice. I'm also probably the only one anywhere who was happy with the finales of The Sopranos and Seinfeld.

Sopranos was brilliant. Still second to Newhart, though.

[Tim R. Mortiss]

Newhart of course.

Yup.

Although, in general, I'm a fan of series finales that don't really change anything, finalize anything, or wrap anything up. The kind where they just leave it all going, and going, and going..... And leave me able to believe that that magical little world I enjoyed so much is still ticking away somewhere, unabated and unchanged........TRM

[salinqmind]

I thought the finale of Seinfeld was awesome. It was actually rather daring. What, you expected them to walk off into the sunset and live happily ever after? No hugging, no learning.

[The Urban Spaceman]

Blackadder achieved a memorable, funny and poignant finale (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJZsZ0bWTSw&feature=related).

[Bryan Ekers]

Blackadder achieved a memorable, funny and poignant finale (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJZsZ0bWTSw&feature=related).

Arguably, they did that four times.

[The Vorlon]

The best finale I think I've seen is Babylon 5, the way they set it up in the future, they really wrapped up the series. A lot of other finals are just a last episode, leaving the impression the events go on, we just don't see them anymore.

But in Babylon 5, they destroyed the station! That's it, it's over.

You do realize that it was JMS himself who pulled the switch?

[vivalostwages]

The last six minutes of the series Six Feet Under were excellent.

[HISSNLISSN]

Best ever series with the best ever finale: The Wire, of course! Just the sort of dizzying montage they'd avoided throughout five seasons (other than Cutty's jog / election coverage from season 3) has quite an impact at the very end.

The football game and video (followed by the monologue over the credits) at the end of Generation Kill was pretty great, as well. My biases are showing.

[fusoya]

The Shield. I still feel damaged inside just from VIEWING it. It's doubley great if you can count the last 10 minutes of the 2nd to last episode too.

[N9IWP]

If not thebest, the ending of Blake's 7 was at least dramatic.

Brian

[Mahaloth]

1. Battlestar Galacitca - I loved it, actually.

2. Babylon 5

3. MASH

[kasuo]

The series finale of "Angel" felt rushed, but the very last line uttered at the seemingly hopeless battle made it awesome.

[TWDuke]

I'm not sure how it holds up after all these years, but the final episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show at least deserves honorable mention in this category. Back in the '70s, it was remarkable for the producers (including Mary Tyler Moore herself) to pull the plug on their own show rather than milking it for every last drop. By planning their own exit, they were able to give the cast a proper send-off, another rarity at the time. The final episode managed to be touching without forgetting to be funny. At the time I thought the idea that executives would fire the entire station staff except for the least competent employee was funny because it was absurd. Now it's funny because it's true. And the post-show curtain call, although something of a cliche now, seemed like a classy way to go out at the time.

I Married Dora ran for half a season (1987) and would have been entirely unforgettable except for the "very special episode" that wrapped up the series. In the final few minutes, Dad boards a plane that will take him away from his wife and children for two years. But in a surprising last-minute twist, he returns to his family.

Dad: It's been canceled.
Wife: The flight?
Dad: No, our series!

The camera pulled back to reveal the cast and crew on stage, bowing and waving to the studio audience. (This was not a show that had previously broken the fourth wall or played around with television conventions.) In its own small way it was as brilliant and unexpected as the Newhart finale, with the difference that I was the only one who saw it and had no one to talk to about it with.

Hated the overwrought and maudlin MASH finale, but I was not a big fan of what the show had become in its final years anyway. There was nothing wrong with the characters in Seinfeld getting their comeuppance, but there was a great deal wrong with the clumsily contrived manner in which it happened.

[TWDuke]

Blackadder achieved a memorable, funny and poignant finale (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJZsZ0bWTSw&feature=related).I meant to second this. It's amazing that an absurd and cynical comedy built around contemptible characters managed to pull off something like that in its final few minutes. If I had read about it before seeing it I would have thought it was incredibly cheesy, but somehow it worked wonderfully.Arguably, they did that four times.Not even close. The endings of seasons 1, 2, and 3 were much more in keeping with the established tone of the series.

[The Universe Lashes Out]

I thought the finale of Seinfeld was awesome. It was actually rather daring. What, you expected them to walk off into the sunset and live happily ever after? No hugging, no learning.

I expected something other than a clip show.

[Mahaloth]

The series finale of "Angel" felt rushed, but the very last line uttered at the seemingly hopeless battle made it awesome.

Ah, this was also excellent. Buffy's was good, but Angel's finale seemed even better to me.

"Personally? I want to slay the dragon.....let's go to work!"

Great ending.

[kidneyfailure]

Blackadder achieved a memorable, funny and poignant finale (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJZsZ0bWTSw&feature=related).

Yep, that was quite a good one, especially the last line before going over the top:

"Who would have noticed another madman around here?"

(alright, technically that wasn't the last line, but whatever...)

My favorite series end of all-time (to my favorite series of all-time): The Wonder Years. The closing narration gets me every time.

[mswas]

Gotta be The Shield.

Yeah, no doubt. There was never a clearer, "You are in Hell.", moment. It was especially brilliant because all the bad shit happened to everyone else.

The Sopranos is a good runner up. With it's, "Is he dead? Is he not dead?"

[RealityChuck]

The final episode of Dinosaurs nearly matches Blackadder for poignancy.

The dinosaurs have screwed up the environment, and it ends up snowing -- showing an ice age is coming. You have the characters of the show sitting at home waiting to die. Really surprising for something that was considered a children's show.

There also was the "finale" of Sledge Hammer, where he blows up himself and most of the city by trying to defuse an atom bomb. The producers assumed the show would be canceled, so want to go out with a bang. :) But ABC renewed the series, so they had to work around it (with Sledge Hammer, the Early Years.

[Lakai]

Six Feet Under has got to be the best I've ever seen. Sopranos comes in at a close second. I'm glad Chase did not compromise his vision and went for something different.

I would also agree with both Angel and The Shield. My sig is actually a quote from the final episode of the Shield. It's my favorite line from the show.

[cochrane]

How about "St. Elsewhere"? The group hug and shuffle to the tissue box. The fat lady sings. Patient #4077 (Henry Blake, injured in a plane crash.) "I don't understand this autism thing, Pop. Here's my son. I talk to him. I don't even know if he can hear me, because he sits there, all day long, in his own world, staring at that toy. What's he thinkin' about?" The snow globe. The Tommyverse. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Westphall#The_Tommy_Westphall_Universe_Hypothesis) The ending credits. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fce6tlwwjQo&feature=PlayList&p=3AE86A1FB7CE9B51&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=33) And dang NBC for that promotional voice-over on top of the theme music.

[YogSosoth]

Can we get some descriptions of the endings for us youngn's? What is Newhart and what happened? And I don't have HBO so I don't know how Six Feet Under ended like

[lost4life]

Unboxed spoilers:

Six Feet Under showed the soap opera lives of a family that owned a funeral home in California. The finale had the youngest daughter leaving for college in New York. As she's driving she starts listening to the song Breathe Me by Sia. They then start showing the future and how all the characters eventually die. That is a very flat description of a very moving finale.

[TWDuke]

Can we get some descriptions of the endings for us youngn's? What is Newhart and what happened? And I don't have HBO so I don't know how Six Feet Under ended likeSpoiler follows for Newhart, in which Bob Newhart played a writer who took over a historic bed and breakfast in Vermont. He had a blond, busty wife who wore a lot of well-fitted sweaters and they had wacky neighbors and staff.Events in the final episode became increasingly bizarre until "Dick" wakes with a start, and explains to his wife that he just had a bizarre dream about being an innkeeper in Vermont. Normally ending a long-running series this way could piss a lot of people off, but in this case his wife turns over and is revealed to be Suzanne Pleshette ("Emily" from Bob Newhart's earlier series), meaning that "Dick" is actually
Bob Hartley. Now a call-back to any old series might have been cheesy, but Bob and Emily were still remembered with much love, and the audience went wild.

(The producers had recreated the "Bob Newhart Show" bedroom set in the studio, but kept it and Pleshette hidden until it was time to shoot the final scene, so the audience reaction is real.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwYw2i2icNg

[CalMeacham]

Boy, this many responses and no one mentions The Fugitive? One of the few shows from the sixties with a Final Episode, and one that tied up all the looses strings.

They finally did get the one-armed man




Or what about Barney Miller?

[alphaboi867]

...The dinosaurs have screwed up the environment, and it ends up snowing -- showing an ice age is coming. You have the characters of the show sitting at home waiting to die. Really surprising for something that was considered a children's show...

It was foreshadowed earlier then a paleontologist found their remains huddles together and kept giving incorrect explanations of dino behavior (intersped with clips of the series).


The finale of Star Trek: Enterprise was pretty considering how little time they had to wrap stuff up. I loved how T'Pol didn't speak at all in the last scene of the series; she conveyed volumes with her body language & facial expressions as Trip was breaking down talking the memorial service for their "child". It was a great way to completey end the series.

[amarone]

so I don't know how Six Feet Under ended like Like this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWdYMuo3_B4).

[Galwegian]

What about Life on Mars?

Sam Tyler wakes from his coma, but preferring his illusory life in the 1970s, commits suicide by jumping off the police station roof.

[KneadToKnow]

Or what about Barney Miller?

Barney Miller's finale was, IMHO, the gold standard to that point.

I'm one of the few people who thought the finale of Quantum Leap was handled perfectly.

[kidneyfailure]

What about Life on Mars?

Sam Tyler wakes from his coma, but preferring his illusory life in the 1970s, commits suicide by jumping off the police station roof.

Man, that sounds depressing...

[PetW]

I've got to go with The Shield for best series finale. On top of that it also had the best season finale ever, which was the end of Season 5. Whenever people talk about how shocking the season finale of the most recent Dexter season was, I think about how The Shield was 10x more powerful when
Shane dropped that grenade in Lem's lap (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_MlmtnCRXs)

[ArrMatey!]

Barney Miller's finale was, IMHO, the gold standard to that point.

I'm one of the few people who thought the finale of Quantum Leap was handled perfectly.

Hated the QL finale, but I never saw the Barney Miller one- Being a big fan of that show, how did it end?

[KneadToKnow]

Hated the QL finale, but I never saw the Barney Miller one- Being a big fan of that show, how did it end?

The 12th was declared a historic landmark or something like that and the men were dispersed. Barney was promoted, as was Levitt. I'm fuzzy on the details after all these years, but it was an amazingly touching show.

[ISiddiqui]

I've always liked the finale of Fraiser. Also put me down as liking how The Sopranos ended things.

[candide]

I'd offer the 2-hour movie done for Homocide: Life on the Streets a couple years after the show went off the air.

It seems to me that the writers, producers and actors wanted to do something more for a really good show that in the last few years of its run had gotten somewhat off target. They do the show great service by getting the principals from all the years back to Baltimore when Giardello gets shot while running for mayor.

The screenplay doesn't follow directly on the heels of the end of the series. Friction between the older and the newer detectives is clearly evident.

For me, the best parts of the early years were interactions between Tim Bayliss and Frank Pembleton (played by Kyle Secor and Andre Braugher, respectively). In the movie we get to see them back in the box with a suspect and see the actors chew the screen on the roof of the station house at the end of the day when a secret comes out. It shows the two characters' underlying moral philosophies in contrast; Frank's Jesuit moral absolutism versus Tim's uncertain Buddhist searching.

The show had some powerful creators and writers and it is probably due to them that there was this opportunity to put the show back on track once and for all. It's also kind of cool that all the stars from all the years of a great ensemble cast got to make an appearance. Not all left under the best of circumstances and its a testament to them, too, that they recognized the quality of the show.

[Jules Andre]

I'm also probably the only one anywhere who was happy with the finales of The Sopranos and Seinfeld.
I loved the Seinfeld finale. Honestly, people that didn't like it obviously had absolutely no idea what show they had been watching. It was a perfectly appropriate and satisfying ending to that show.

[Poysyn]

I loved the way Sex and the City ended. It was upbeat, hopeful and all the ladies ended up with the relationships they deserved.

Out of all the series I've watched over the years, it's sad that this is the only one that felt right.

I agree.

And then the movie changed almost everything that I loved about it...

[25.1327 Octopi]

My log says, 'what, two pages in and no mention of Twin Peaks?'

That last hour, in the Black Lodge, Coop v. Bob.

Bob wins.

"How's Annie?"

[Sir Prize]

Some shows give viewers a look at the future of the characters in the finale. The Wonder Years narrator brought us up to date from the 70"s until "today". It was a satisfying end to that show. Sometimes the whole show is about the future. Will and Grace did so, but the result was somewhat depressing. However, another show that was also past its prime did the same and ended up with what I think was the best finale I have seen: Mad About You.

[Crawlspace]

Although it wasn't intended to be a finale, the final episode of Freaks and Geeks did a great job of ending the series.
Daniel goes to play D&D with the Geeks and has such a good time that by the end of the episode they wonder, "Is Daniel becoming a geek, or are we becoming cool guys?" Meanwhile the guidance counselor gives Lindsey a copy of American Beauty which opens up some conversations with the school's Deadheads. She eventually skips out on an academic program in order to spend the summer following the Grateful Dead in their VW Bus. The series closes with "Ripple" playing over a shot of the VW driving off into the distance.

[Elendil's Heir]

My log says, 'what, two pages in and no mention of Twin Peaks?'....

I hated, hated, hated that ending.

[Enderw24]

Like this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWdYMuo3_B4).

You know what's funny? I've never seen a single episode of Six Feet Under. But I flipped through the television one day and this was on so I decided to watch, not realizing what I was watching until the end. The only thing i've ever seen of this show is the final six minutes of the finale.

[CT_Damsel]

What about Life on Mars?

Sam Tyler wakes from his coma, but preferring his illusory life in the 1970s, commits suicide by jumping off the police station roof.

That is better than the ending of the American knock-off of Life on Mars:

Sam Tyler wakes from a long sleep on a space ship filled with other astronauts all played by the other police officers.

[Southern Yankee]

Unboxed spoilers:

Six Feet Under showed the soap opera lives of a family that owned a funeral home in California. The finale had the youngest daughter leaving for college in New York. As she's driving she starts listening to the song Breathe Me by Sia. They then start showing the future and how all the characters eventually die. That is a very flat description of a very moving finale.

In addition to this, each episode of the series began with the death of someone who would come to be serviced by the family's funeral home. The deaths occurred in a wide variety of ways, some mundane and some bizarre, so showing how the regular characters eventually died pulled it all together.

[Robot Arm]

I loved the Seinfeld finale. Honestly, people that didn't like it obviously had absolutely no idea what show they had been watching. It was a perfectly appropriate and satisfying ending to that show.During it's run, Seinfeld had an inexorable internal logic. People's weirdest ideas were rewarded, the most improbable coincidences were guaranteed to happen. It was the opposite of real life in that way.

The finale abandoned that. And they had a perfect setup for it. I can make it better right now. Jerry, et al., are on trial because they saw someone getting mugged and didn't do anything. They tell their lawyer about all the people whose lives they've screwed up in the past by trying to help. The lawyer goes to visit each of them (cue clips from past episodes), but they all refuse to testify for the defense so the gang of four will rot in jail.

[Tom Scud]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer ended marvelously with the last episode of Season Five. I've heard vicious rumors that there were two more seasons, but I don't believe them.

[Larry Mudd]

I hated, hated, hated [Twin Peaks'] ending.It felt a lot like the network pulled the plug on the series and didn't give them the opportunity to wrap things up in any kind of satisfactory way. Hardly surprising that it's not mentioned here.

[A Spoonful of Awesome]

This subject has been done before, but no reason not to bring up what I think was probably one of the all-time best, if not THE BEST series finale: Six Feet Under

The last 5 minutes or so of that finale show was a "movie" unto itself, and truly a beautiful and satisfying end to a fantastic series. I still get choked up thinking about that episode and the last five minutes.

I hate when people quote someone and just write "this", but I have nothing to add that is any better so...


This.

;)


Also Scrubs was, if not a particularly good episode, at least suitably emotional and a fitting end to a fantastic series.

[vivalostwages]

In addition to this, each episode of the series began with the death of someone who would come to be serviced by the family's funeral home. The deaths occurred in a wide variety of ways, some mundane and some bizarre, so showing how the regular characters eventually died pulled it all together.

You can see the SFU finale (six minutes) on YouTube. Great stuff, and very moving even on repeat viewings.

[woodstockbirdybird]

Also Scrubs was, if not a particularly good episode, at least suitably emotional and a fitting end to a fantastic series.

Unfortunately, they brought it back this year, so the finale wasn't actually a finale (should have been; saw the first couple episodes of this new season and they were horrible).

[Ellis Dee]

Like this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWdYMuo3_B4).hehheh, my gut reaction now to seeing that is "WTF did Dexter do to his hair?"

[vivalostwages]

The ending of the lamentably short-lived Eli Stone was a very moving scene between Eli and his deceased father, who
told his son how proud he was of him because of the way he'd changed his life after having the aneurysm.