# Best ending to a TV series ever. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 8, 2010, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ending-to-a-tv-series-ever/524120 "2010-01-08T02:26:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ending-to-a-tv-series-ever/524120/41 "2010-01-09T01:25:18Z")
> [@caligulathegod](#): > > I don’t understand why people are putting the names of the shows in spoiler tags. Well, maybe some people don’t realize that their favourite shows have ended. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ending-to-a-tv-series-ever/524120/42 "2010-01-09T02:13:28Z")
> [@Lakai](#): > > I am aware that the article says that Chase said Tony did not get whacked. Yet saying something doesn’t make it true. The article never mentions where or when Chase finally decided to reveal the secret behind the finale. It sounds like the author of that piece simply misinterpreted something Chase said. The start of the article says where and when Chase revealed the ending : “The creator of “The Sopranos” came clean about the show’s ambiguous ending in a book published this week.” ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ending-to-a-tv-series-ever/524120/43 "2010-01-09T03:18:18Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > The start of the article says where and when Chase revealed the ending : > > “The creator of “The Sopranos” came clean about the show’s ambiguous ending in a book published this week.” Where in the book? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ending-to-a-tv-series-ever/524120/44 "2010-01-09T04:46:39Z")
[Thread on TV series finales from just last month.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=544571&highlight=series+finale) I’ll just quote myself from that thread: > [@Best Series Finales](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-series-finales/521907/36): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![In\_Winnipeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a8b319/32.png) [@In\_Winnipeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Winnipeg)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ending-to-a-tv-series-ever/524120/45 "2010-01-09T05:16:30Z")
Yeah, I’ll go with _St. Elsewhere_, too…although _Newhart_ is definitely equal to it. The worst one had to be _Seinfeld_; it was ridiculously dumb. And the fact that _Crossing Jordan_ didn’t even _get_ a series finale was also ridiculously dumb. ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ending-to-a-tv-series-ever/524120/46 "2010-01-09T06:38:02Z")
Man, I _really_ did not like the end of “The Shield”. I thought that show was absolutely awesome, but the “In like a lion, out like a lamb” ending was way too luke warm for my taste. He was a protagonist/antagonist depending on how you looked at it, and the resolution was neither glorification, nor condemnation. To me, that’s a cop out, real life scenario or not. Nothing ended at all, it just went into a state of suspended boring-ness. As much as some might see the ending to **OZ** as a writer’s easy way out, I thought it was a credible way to a) change the venue, b) change the dynamic of the prison population in general, and c) create a suitable event for the show to go out on. FTR, the ending of “Arrested Development” has to come in a close second, mostly due to the forthcoming movie. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ending-to-a-tv-series-ever/524120/47 "2010-01-09T09:53:06Z")
> [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](#): > > How about **Life on Mars** > > The fact the main character actually chose to commit suicide to return to his fantasy was very unexpected (at least by me). Up there, definitely up there. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ending-to-a-tv-series-ever/524120/48 "2010-01-09T10:12:47Z")
> [@In\_Winnipeg](#): > > The worst one had to be _Seinfeld_; it was ridiculously dumb. And the fact that _Crossing Jordan_ didn’t even _get_ a series finale was also ridiculously dumb. Yes. Clip shows are filler episodes used when the writers can’t come up with new ideas on their own. They aren’t finale episodes. ---
**Author:** ![Lethal\_Babydoll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3be4f8/32.png) [@Lethal\_Babydoll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lethal_Babydoll)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ending-to-a-tv-series-ever/524120/49 "2010-01-09T11:11:59Z")
> [@dnooman](#): > > Nothing ended at all, it just went into a state of suspended boring-ness. And therefore Vic’s purgatory. Befitting a man who was both good and evil, but always a man of action. ---
**Author:** ![PrettyVacant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@PrettyVacant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrettyVacant)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ending-to-a-tv-series-ever/524120/50 "2010-01-09T14:56:27Z")
Re: Blackadder. This may well have been mentioned often on the board before but the ending owes a lot to the BBC mixing engineer. They had been completely stuck for how to end it and decided on this quite poor, scenery-shifting, plant-and-earth-thrown-onto-set charge where they fall down after about five strides into barbed wire. But the mixing guy slowed it right down to two strides and added the fade to poppies blowing in a field – just because they were stuck with this crap falling down thing. Good job, fella. ---
**Author:** ![Sparrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Sparrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparrow)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ending-to-a-tv-series-ever/524120/51 "2010-01-09T15:06:17Z")
Blake’s 7? Killing off the entire cast in a hail of gunfire! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![alfonzos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4bbf92/32.png) [@alfonzos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alfonzos)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ending-to-a-tv-series-ever/524120/52 "2010-01-09T20:18:54Z")
Put me down as one of the few people who enjoyed the ending of _Seinfeld_. I hate the way Elaine’s blurting of “I love you!” has been edited out in syndication. Anyway, my vote is vote _Mary Tyler Moore_ because it is a long way to Tipperary. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ending-to-a-tv-series-ever/524120/53 "2010-01-09T22:40:53Z")
Other than “The Fugitive” not too many TV shows of the 1950s and 1960s had final episodes that were heavily promoted. They must not have realized the ratings potential. One that had some nice touches in it was the Perry Mason “The case of the Final Fadeout”. Author Earl Stanley Gardner appeared as a judge and several members of the production crew appeared on screen. > **[Perry Mason : The Case of the Final Fade-Out (1966) - Jesse Hibbs | Synopsis,...](https://www.allmovie.com/movie/perry-mason--the-case-of-the-final-fade-out-vm351668)** > > Find trailers, reviews, synopsis, awards and cast information for Perry Mason : The Case of the Final Fade-Out (1966) - Jesse Hibbs on AllMovie - Appropriately enough, the 271st and final episode… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ending-to-a-tv-series-ever/524120.md?page=2)