# Alternate Endings for TV Series **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 22, 2003, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-endings-for-tv-series/163262 "2003-03-22T01:59:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jeanster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc348/32.png) [@jeanster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jeanster)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-endings-for-tv-series/163262/21 "2003-03-22T17:19:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sock Munkey \* > \*\*Ok, this is my vision of how Sienfeld should have ended. > A Gilligan’s Island sort of ending. > Jerry,Kramer,Elaine, and George go on some sort of sea cruise during which (surprise srprise) the boat sinks, possibly due to some of Kramer or Georges Hijinks. (it’s not especially critical that they personally bring it about, only that it happens) The foursome survive and end up on a deserted island and minor silly situations involving food finding and shelter building ensue. At the end of the show we go to each of the characters and see how it affects them. > > George- Realizes he never has to deal with his parents, traffic, a job, crowds, or getting a date for the rest of his life. He has found his paradise and is shown sitting under a palm tree in his underwear content at long last. > > Kramer-Becomes even jumpier and more paranoid because he’s heard stories about cannibals on islands like this. “Cannibals Jerry! CANNIBALS!” We see him hiding in the bushes, unkempt, with beard stuble,and jumping at every little sound thinking he hears war drums. > > Elaine-Realizes that the only men available to her for the rest of her life are Kramer, George, and Jerry, and that she only has a few of her “Today Sponge” contraceptives with her so she is afraid to use them because she can’t afford to have non-sponge-worthy sex anymore. > > Jerry-Looks around at George in his underwear, Kramer in his bush, and Elaine agonizing about her sex options and says to himself, “Oh my God I’m stuck with these people…FOREVER.” > > -Gilligan’s Island them plays with Sienfeld theme twangyness. > > THE END \*\* I like it! Very clever and more entertaining than the way the writers really ended it. ---
**Author:** ![DreadCthulhu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DreadCthulhu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DreadCthulhu)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-endings-for-tv-series/163262/22 "2003-03-23T00:29:40Z")
I would have ended Dukes of Hazard with the boys jumping the General Lee over a shark. 🙂 Almost any sitcom would be better if a random sociopath killed all main charactors in the final episode. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-endings-for-tv-series/163262/23 "2003-03-23T00:30:24Z")
**Sock Munkey** , have you ever read or seen the play _No Exit_ by Sarte? I think you’d enjoy it. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-endings-for-tv-series/163262/24 "2003-03-23T01:11:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ranchoth \* > \*\*D’oh…that would have helped, wouldn’t it? :smack: > > I wouldn’t have “killed off” Odo, for starters. And probably not Sisko. And I would have killed off Kai Winn several more times.\*\* 😃 😕 Odo wasn’t killed off. He went to the Gamma Quadrant. I thought that was really cheesy, myself. If he _had_ been killed off, it would’ve been fine with me. I thought the whole Bashir finds the Cure in Sloane’s mind episode to be really insulting… just like the deus ex machina crap they pulled with having the Prophets closing the wormhole. Not to mention Sisko’s mom being a Prophet and all that. Guh. DS9’s my favorite Trek series but they really screwed around too much with some of the more metaphysical episode. I’d’ve been happy if they had cloned Winn Adami like the Dominion cloned Weyoun so we could’ve seen her die in twenty different agonizing ways. > [@](#): > > **And, going farther back, I like to think I would have been able to revitalize the series without bringing in Worf. (Sorry, big guy.)** No complaints here. I never liked Worf anyway. > [@](#): > > **Overall, I think I would have stayed with the “exploration” theme from the early days a bit closer. Probably would have had the war with the Dominion stay “Cold.” Or at least, given a _little_ more credit to Starfleet military development than was shown onscreen.** _Nooo!_ Big ass space armadas, battles, and explosions rock! It allowed us to see the seedier underbelly of the Federation and got rid of that utopian sappy taste that you get from watching too much TNG. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-endings-for-tv-series/163262/25 "2003-03-23T01:16:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Derleth \* > \*\*About the end of Quantum Leap: > > He died. He was dead the moment he vanished into the Accelerator. What Ziggy was pulling around, and what Al was talking to, was a ghost. Or a soul. Sam’s spirit was saving others, doing good works on Earth presumably to gain entrance into Heaven/Paradise/etc. The show essentially was a religious/SF crossover, making it quite possibly the best example of that genre ever to hit prime time TV in America. (This coming from an avowed atheist, mind you.) \*\* No, that doesn’t work because of the episode where he went back to the center and remembered he had a wife. That clearly established that his living body was back in the center and he wasn’t a ghost. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-endings-for-tv-series/163262/26 "2003-03-23T01:36:10Z")
It doesn’t get any better than Bob Newhart sitting up in bed with Suzanne Pleshette beside him and saying, “I just had the weirdest dream.” If there were a national referendum mandating that ALL television shows\* end their final episodes with that scene, I’d vote for it. \*[sub]Yes, I include _Survivor_, _American Idol_, and _Sixty Minutes_ in this.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Sock\_Munkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Sock\_Munkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sock_Munkey)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-endings-for-tv-series/163262/27 "2003-03-23T01:39:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jeanster \* > \*\*I like it! Very clever and more entertaining than the way the writers really ended it. \*\* Thank you! It’s nice to be appreciated. 🙂 > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Derleth \* > \*\ ***Sock Munkey** , have you ever read or seen the play _No Exit_ by Sarte? I think you’d enjoy it. \*\* Nope, but you have my curiosity up now so I’ll try and find so I can give it a read. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-endings-for-tv-series/163262/28 "2003-03-23T03:22:08Z")
I kinda like the way DS9 ended. Sisko never really clicked with me, so I didn’t mind his turning into a spirit (or whatever that was that effectively killed him off). I was more upset that Odo returned to the Founders. I agree that Kai Winn’s death needed to be longer and much more painful 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-endings-for-tv-series/163262/29 "2003-03-23T03:36:20Z")
Also, I wasn’t very satisfied with _Star Trek: Voyager_’s ending. They definitely needed a wrap-up episode. Just before the series finale, I read in TV Guide that they had written two different final episodes for Voyager. One where they made it home safely, and one where they didn’t. I wonder how the “didn’t make it” version would have gone. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-endings-for-tv-series/163262/30 "2003-03-23T03:49:43Z")
_ **KA-BOOM!** _ ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-endings-for-tv-series/163262/31 "2003-03-23T04:06:54Z")
The “didn’t make it” ending ep of _Voyager_ should’ve been like the Year In Hell ep. Just have things get worse and worse, killing off evry major character except Chacotay. Then, bring back the aliens from another dimension. Or the Dinosaurs! Yeah, the Dinosaurs. They want to access Voyager’s computr for all they can find out about humans because the guys in charge want to end once and for all the “ilegal” concept of “distant origins.” Realising that all of humanity is at risk, Chacotay, the only one on the show who showed himself to be able to think beyond his own self, made the agonizing choice to destroy Voyager completely, sacrificing himself and the hundred or so left of the skeleton crew to save our butts. Our = Earth/Federation. The truly selfless part? No one would ever know it. No final subspace messages, lest the Dino follow it. No time capsual space bouy with final messages, lest the Dinos figure something out from it. Just a final scene (much like climax of _Titanic_) showing the absolute last thing happening to each group of crew members. Finally, the sensaitve Chacotay, eyes _filled_ with tears, pushes a button himself (he wouldn’t even let the computer possibly foul it up). Final scene: U.S.S. Voyager, battered and broken, surrounded by Dino ships… a dark nebula in the bakground allowing only a smattering of stars to shine through… NO SOUND AT ALL… Then, a soundless explosion, visually like Praxis going boom in _STVI:TUD_… Closing credits over a SOUNDLESS space scene… the Dino ships moving off… all we see is the Dark Nebula. That’s how I would’ve ended _Voyager_ ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-endings-for-tv-series/163262/32 "2003-03-23T04:09:23Z")
Dude, I can’t believe I’m sayin’ this… especially to you, but that _rocked_. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-endings-for-tv-series/163262/33 "2003-03-23T04:11:29Z")
I have icredible bouts of creativity when I’m depressed. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-endings-for-tv-series/163262/34 "2003-03-23T04:13:12Z")
Check your email. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-endings-for-tv-series/163262/35 "2003-03-23T08:11:07Z")
Excellent ending, **NoClueBoy** , except for that final scene. it needs Bob Newhart. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-endings-for-tv-series/163262/36 "2003-03-23T15:09:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kaylasdad99 \* > \*\*Excellent ending, **NoClueBoy** , except for that final scene. > > it needs Bob Newhart. \*\* One of the Dino ships is named _D.S.S. Bob Newhart_ 😃 Or, Newhart does a StarFleet press conference, stuttering, hesitations and all, explaining that _Voyager_ has missed the last three expected call ins and is presumed lost. Then, he does one of those funny phone call skits of his to the Borg, since that’s what everyone will think happened. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-endings-for-tv-series/163262/37 "2003-03-23T19:48:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SolGrundy \* > \*\*I would think that _any_ ending was better than the “X-Files” long, protracted death rattles and eventual petering out. I stopped watching not long after the movie came out, so I don’t know how the series actually ended or even remember what state the characters were in when I left it. I’ve tried reading the summaries online, but it’s just a convoluted mess. Maybe there _was_ no good way to end it, after they’d let it get to that state. \*\* See, I wrote this in place of “The Truth” to amuse philes [http://www.geocities.com/theevilwriter/nearpurple.doc](http://www.geocities.com/theevilwriter/nearpurple.doc) What do you think? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-endings-for-tv-series/163262/38 "2003-03-23T20:28:55Z")
I’ll resurrect this thread on May 21 because I’m pretty sure the series finale of BtVS will disappoint and piss me off. ---
**Author:** ![vl\_mungo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc8723/32.png) [@vl\_mungo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vl_mungo)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-endings-for-tv-series/163262/39 "2003-03-23T21:59:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DreadCthulhu \* > \*\*Almost any sitcom would be better if a random sociopath killed all main charactors in the final episode. \*\* I watched the last episode of Cheer just waiting for the moment when Cliff would finally snap. He was definitely one of the most profoundly disturbed characters ever to appear in a sitcom. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2003, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-endings-for-tv-series/163262/40 "2003-03-24T01:20:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pepperlandgirl \* > \*\*I’ll resurrect this thread on May 21 because I’m pretty sure the series finale of BtVS will disappoint and piss me off. \*\* Would it disappoint and piss you off even if they have Bob Newhart waking up and telling Suzanne Plesh– OW! Okay, I’ll stop now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-endings-for-tv-series/163262.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-endings-for-tv-series/163262.md?page=3)