Prisoner Cell Block H (what!? I used to stay up late watching it with my mom 
) was great for a bad Aussie soap/drama. Seeing that sadistic screw get her comeuppance after years of abusing the inmates made the whole series for me.
Favorites: MASH, Newhart.
Worst: Quantum Leap.
I may be alone in hating the last ep of MAS*H. I just loved Hawkeye Pierce. PTSD was NOT how he should have gone out - the only characters who seemed themselves in that episode were Hunnicutt and Potter. I’m still kinda miffed at Alan Alda.
For bests, I have to go with Newhart (which wasn’t so much good as it was surprising) and Forever Knight (went out with a lot of class, and the characters stayed true to the bitter end.) I loved ST:TNG, and it was a pretty good ending, but I was so disappointed that the show was done that I got very little enjoyment out of it.
Best: Fraiser - an ending true to what the show was all about
Worst: X-Files - Come on! I mean, really, come on!
Friends - What in the Hell was that… then again the series sucked after the first few years
They left it open for the movie.
There will be a DS9 movie some day. I just know it.
Another vote for Angel in the “best” category. I don’t care what Joss does with the characters from here on out, AFAIC they all died fighting the good fight about five minutes after the episode ended. Fantastic finale.
The Buffy finale, on the other hand…
Blech! The Scoobs are utterly inconsiquential in the “defeat” of the First and his idiotic plan. Buffy devises a hare-brained, moronic plan that made no sense whatsoever and would have gotten everyone killed if it hadn’t been for Wolfram & Hart. Lame, lame, lame. Which doesn’t mean that I don’t tear up when I hear Xander say “that’s my girl.”
Another one for the “good” pile: the finale of Power Rangers in Space. Exciting and does a great job of tying together the entire Power Rangers mythology up to that point. I sort of wish they’d done a clean break and started the mostly-unrelated series of teams with Lost Galaxy instead of Lightspeed Resuce (which is sort of moot given “Forever Red” and Tommy in Dino Thunder, but whatever).
I’d like to throw my vote in for Sleeping in Light. Excellent close to an exemplary series. Still makes me cry every time too.
I actually thought it was a good ending. I’m not really sure the show had anywhere else to go. If it had gone on, what would have happened? “Platypus Airlines” would have put more money and effort into the show, it would have lost its edge as the best but third-rated sports show, and the whole storyline would have gone downhill. There would have been some plot where Dana and Casey both found new loves they weren’t sure they really wanted, and Danny would have had more opportunities to stress out over his relationship with Rebecca. I think it was better left where it was, before it just started getting repetitive and trite.
It’s still one of my favorite shows ever.
Favorite: Mad About You. The last show was one of the best episodes of the entire series.
Newhart also makes it for sheer surprise value.
Mediocre: Frazier. Some fun moments but the last scene was dumb.
Bad: Friends, Seinfeld, Roseanne, ER (all episodes since the stupid helicopter falls on the doctor plot have been one long Worst Final Episode)
Uh, guys . . . Hello!
Sledge Hammer!
Brilliant! Perhaps all productions should create their “final episode” with the misconception that they will be renewed for the next season!
Indeed it was. At the time, it was probably what I least expected from the show, and I felt somewhat let down…but in retrospect, I have determined that I think it was a perfectly logical, if unexpected ending - after seeing the finale and reflecting on so many events in the various episodes, I realize that while these people are the main characters, they don’t fit the protagonist mode that well. IMHO, it’s kind of like watching a movie where at the end we find that the “protagonist” is really the bad guy - so, now it doesn’t seem like a letdown anymore. I mean, these people did some really reprehensible things…(not that most of us don’t from time to time, but that’s beside the point.)
I agree, I thought it was pretty good - even if it did sort of give the feeling of a chick flick, that’s not always a bad thing. 
Just how did Frasier end the series?
Uh. What? While it wasn’t that great, it wasn’t bad, either. The only thing I didn’t like about the finale was the flashbacks… that’s just not Trek SOP. Otherwise, it was great. Was it because Sisko ascended to the Celestial Temple or something? That they pretty much killed off the main character of the show shows balls and I loved it and it allowed the greatest last scene in Trek history with Jake and Kira staring out the Promenade window at the end, silently holding one another up.
I’m getting chills just thinking about it.
That is very unlikely. For one, DS9’s story is a bit intricate to just be thrown on the screen like the more episodic natures of TOS and TNG. For another, it’s also not as popular as those shows, nor has the TNG film franchise endeared itself to Paramount, making more Trek movies less and less likely.
And finally, Bermaga suck ass and hate DS9. You think it’s a coincidence that even Voyager gets more reference than DS9?
We’ll just have the books. Speaking of which, have you read the relaunch? GREAT, GREAT series of books. You need them if you don’t have them already.
Just to give a UK perspective on this:
Best comedy ending - Blackadder
Best sci-fi - Blake’s 7
I liked Northern Exposure’s last ep (I’d never heard Iris deMent before), but frankly, I thought the second-to-last episode was better and would have made for a better finale.
Twin Peaks, not so much, especially since they had no intention of tying up the loose ends either there or in the movie. Just mysterioso crap for its own sake.
Batman (Adam West version) ended with just another dopey episode. The guest villain was Zsa Zsa Gabor (Their first choice, Mae West, was unavailable).
Maybe ABC will get sold to an idealistic new owner? :dubious:
Sleeping in Light, for not only being great, but being a miracle, due to when it was filmed.
I rather liked the Buffy finale, as well as the Xena: Warrior Princess finale.
The Star Trek: Voyager finale was horrible. HORRIBLE. Ugh. :rolleyes: :mad: I need to go take a shower.
Worst: Three’s Company. Looked like it could have been written by some middle school kids. Two of the three get married and the third leaves town- all at once. It’s one thing to tie off loose ends, it’s quite another to cut them off.
Seinfeld: I never watched an episode except the last one. Then I wondered, what is all the fuss about?
Best: Newhart set the bar that will not be approached for some time.
The best ever was Angel. That plotline kind of came out of midair in the one or two episodes prior, but the end was fantastic, and exactly the correct wrap-up for the characters.
Prior to Angel, my favorite finale had been Twin Peaks. As convoluted as that show had gotten in the directionless second season, every single subplot was wrapped up and the last scene was astonishing.
I thought the Buffy finale was good, albeit not fantastic. I just watched Whedon’s commentary on it a few days ago. He ackowledges that the amulet comes out of nowhere, but he says “So what?”. It’s not about that. This is an excuse, cetainly, but a valid one – Buffy has always been written on at minimum two levels, and they haven’t always meshed. I agree that it was more important to answer the metaphor than the plot – and I can forgive a couple deus ex machinas anyway.
–Cliffy
P.S. Sports Night – I thought the finale was a solid ending, but any piece of crud would have been justified by that shot of Danny getting hit with the ladder.
Hey, what about The Office (the Christmas party)? I thought it was a sweet way to wrap up a few loose ends, and nice to see some of the characters be surprised that they may have a happy life.