The only series finales that really stick in my mind are:
Little House on the Prairie: They blew the whole damn town up!
Dallas: (maybe it was dynasty) The entire cast simultaneously dies by plummeting off a balcony
Both of which I would place these in the ‘so-bad it’s good’ category 
Every blackadder series ended with everyone dying!
<spoiler>
Not series 3! It ended with Blackadder becoming prince!
Another nominee for best: Quantum Leap. Poignant.
Dick knocked her out and left her on the ground, if I’m not mistaken.
My Nominee for worst ever ahs got to be LA Law
One parner retires because of his (IIRC) Colon cancer. and it was his retirement party. BFFHD. left me flat and wanting so much more from this sseries (No, I didn’t catch the recent reunion show)
THanks Mephisto.
spoiler (if I’m right)
That happens at the end of the episode, but during (or maybe just after) the credits, you hear dicks voice say “alien abduction” and see mary vanish. I am nearly positive I’ve seen this both there and not there.
No, no. The worst series finale ever was Quantum Leap. I mean, just text on the screen telling us, “Sam never made it home”? What the hell kind of conclusion is that?!
You’re right, there was an alternate ending…
<From www.3rdrock.com :
NEVER BEFORE SEEN SERIES FINALE TO AIR NOVEMBER 16, 2001
On May 22, 2001, 3rd Rock’s last original episode aired on NBC. It was a big
event as the world watched the four aliens leave Mary Albright, the Rambler,
and earth behind. That was the way things ended, but that’s not the end.
The cast and crew actually shot TWO ENDINGS to the series - the one that
aired, and one that didn’t. The reason two endings were shot is that up
until the end, the producers didn’t know how they wanted the series to end
so they shot two endings! The never-before-seen ending was shot secretly,
without a studio audience.
Word of this never-before-seen ending got out in the press, and fans around
the world started asking if there would ever be a chance to see the ending
that no one ever saw.
That opportunity is coming on Friday, November 16, 2001. The episode you saw
on May 22nd will be shown again, but with a VERY DIFFERENT ending! So watch
for the commercials and mark your calendar to watch 3rd Rock’s never before
seen ending because after that date, it will NEVER BE SEEN AGAIN!>
To me, Babylon 5 had two series finales: “Sleeping In Light,” as previously mentioned, and it is good, and “The Deconstruction of Falling Stars,” which was filmed as the first episode of Season Five but aired as the last of Season Four (before they went to TNT).
DoFS basically gives us a view of one hundred, five hundred and a thousand years in the future, as we see the Alliance has lived long after Sheridan, Delenn and the others created it. Although some people would misinterpret Sheridan’s role, and others down the line would try to discredit him, it’s clear that his vision has lived on after him.
My favorite part is the thousand-years-after story, where we see two monks discussing Earth’s status as a fallen empire and a galactic pariah. The younger monk is having a crisis of faith, saying that there’s no reason to continue trying to rebuild Earth’s civilization and no reason to believe that the Rangers (the Alliance’s version of the Jedi Knights) would ever help them. The older monk gently reminds him that reason and faith go hand in hand, in that they will take you farther together than either could alone.
After the younger monk leaves, we see that the elder is himself a Ranger, covertly helping the order “find” old technology in order to rebuild Earth. “And this time,” he says to himself, “this time we will make it better.”
Wonderful.
How’s about some old shows.
I vividly remember “Barney Miller”'s final episode, though I was just a young 'un.
It was pretty touching.
Even though it broke my heart, I loved this ending. I think I would have been dissatisfied if Sam went home and lived happily ever after. I love the idea of Sam leaping around forever and “putting right what once went wrong”.
I really loved the Newhart ending too, because I didn’t care for that show and LOVED the old one.
I loved the final episode of Quantum Leap. During an earlier leap, Sam had the opportunity to save Al’s first marriage (Al was a POW in Vietnam. His wife, thinking him dead, remarried). In the end, he has the choice of returning to the present or going back to save Al’s marriage, but giving up his opportunity to leap home forever. The final scene is Sam telling Al’s wife that Al is alive and will be returning, before the scene fades out and we get the text telling us Sam never returned home.
This was a great one.
What? Has everyone forgotten the final Mary Tyler Moore show?
Damn. Now that was a class act ending in a classy way.
my favorite one was Star Trek TNG. they should have made that into a movie!!
It is bad when one of the best ever final episodes in the history of television was not the final episode. But in Magnum’s defense, the final “final” episode might just have seemed so lame because of the excellence of the previous “final” episode.
That being said, I also loved the final Prisoner, the final Newhart and the final Fugitive.
Perhaps my favorite final episode though was the original Star Trek.
“Wait a minute TV!” I hear you cry. “That was just a regular…”
And you would be right. But that’s what made it so good. Because at the time, I knew it wasn’t over when I heard the announcement that it would not be back the next season. I knew it couldn’t be finished because there was no “final episode” to tie up all the loose ends. There was no closure. It would be back.
TV
I liked the KITH ending.
All the kids get buried alive in a mass grave marked “The Kids in the Hall 1985-1993” or some dates like that.
In the same vein as Married with Children is the last epsiode of SOAP. How many cliff hangers can 1 half hour show have?
The only other finales I can recall have already been mentioned and discussed, sigh.
My vote for best goes to The Wonder Years. It was conclusive, it was touching and it was realistic. That was the only T.V. episode that made me misty.
In the end, his girl friend goes away, he goes on with life, gets married to someone else and has kids. His brother took over the family business when his father died a few years later
Right on! Never watched the show, but seeing the finale made me wish I had watched a few. It was really damned good!
–
The worst ending is probably Seinfeld. Even though I kinda liked it, it just missed something that made Seinfeld special.
Do we really need the spoiler boxes for these??
Maybe I’m just mad because I don’t know how to do those…
Could anyone relieve me of my rage!?
PLEASE 