# good riddens friends or AWFUL series closers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 7, 2004, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddens-friends-or-awful-series-closers/243950 "2004-05-07T02:38:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddens-friends-or-awful-series-closers/243950/21 "2004-05-07T06:52:07Z")
I didn’t bother watching the Friends finale. But I did love the _Seinfeld_ finale. None of that predictable crap like Elaine and Jerry getting married or anything like that. A pure, dark, sucker-punch of comedy. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddens-friends-or-awful-series-closers/243950/22 "2004-05-07T10:15:29Z")
I thought the Seinfeld finale was among the worst ever. The best, in my opinion, were M.A.S.H, Mary Tyler Moore, Cheers, and the best of all, Bob Newhart. ---
**Author:** ![Ross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@Ross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ross)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddens-friends-or-awful-series-closers/243950/23 "2004-05-07T11:17:48Z")
imho the Seinfeld series didn’t end until the Saturday Night Live version, _Seinfeld in Oz_. Wherein Jerry continued his character in a maximum security penitentiary. “You missed out on the make-up sodomy?” “Missed out, baby!” “The make-up sodomy is the best part of getting nailed to a gymroom floor!” It also featured him being grilled by several inmates on why the series finale was so crap. Most seemed to think Kramer was the funniest. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddens-friends-or-awful-series-closers/243950/24 "2004-05-07T12:05:24Z")
The finale was OK. Not great, but OK. I would have had Rachel fly to Paris, and the next day go to the airport to meet her mother with Emma. Of course, instead of her mother, Ross brings Emma, tells her he loves her, tells her he’s arranged a year’s sabatical at a French university, and gets down on one knee and proposes. But then I’m a hopeless romantic. ---
**Author:** ![sj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@sj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sj2)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddens-friends-or-awful-series-closers/243950/25 "2004-05-07T12:09:45Z")
Hey guys, My Replay TV cut off the last bit of the last episode. I saw the Rachel coming back bit, but was there a closer at the end? Thanks ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddens-friends-or-awful-series-closers/243950/26 "2004-05-07T12:11:51Z")
> [@Darkhold](#): > > As for the finales I don’t know what everyone is expecting. I’ve yet to see one that was so good my jaw was on the floor. If anything I’m happy if they’re just good shows. Oh, come now. _Everyone’s_ jaw hit the floor at the end of the Newhart series finale. The surprise ending is considered one of the most memorable finales in TV history! For those who don’t know: _Newhart_ ran from 1982-1990. In the final minutes of the finale, Newhart gets bonked on the head with a golf ball. It fades to black. Then he wakes up in bed a little confused with a “honey, I had the strangest dream…”. In bed next to him, is Suzanne Pleshette, who played his wife on _his previous series_ that ran in the 1970s! _Newhart_ was waking up in _The Bob Newhart Show_. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddens-friends-or-awful-series-closers/243950/27 "2004-05-07T12:27:15Z")
I considered watching, given the incredible amount of hype, but figured out that the network was probably not going to show Jennifer Aniston naked and covered in baby oil. I passed on the whole thing. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddens-friends-or-awful-series-closers/243950/28 "2004-05-07T13:05:43Z")
I liked the finale. I’ll admit it. I liked the series, even when they did annoying things with the characters (and yes, I’m talking about shrill whiny Ross). I liked it even after they should have ended it when everyone started getting married and having kids. (It’s hard to have a show about 20-something singletons in the city when they’re all 30-something, married and having babies.) The finale wasn’t riveting television, but it fit with the rest of the series. And I have to say, it really gave me a hankering for Papa John’s pizza and my old roommate. Some of my fondest memories of college are of our Thursday nights sitting around in our sweatpants, eating pizza, watching Friends, and shooting the shit. (“Is it just me, or did they just make a premature ejaculation joke on prime-time national television?” “It’s not just you, Tam.”) Yes, **sj2** , there was a wrapup at the end. Everybody gathered in Chandler and Monica’s apartment as the movers loaded everything up to say goodbye to the place and to them. They left their keys for Treeger (all of them), and then went to get coffee. (I have to wonder, though, where’d they find time to go buy a double stroller on moving day?) ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddens-friends-or-awful-series-closers/243950/29 "2004-05-07T13:10:22Z")
I’m still kind of ticked off about the finale for _Xena: Warrior Princess_. Okay, so the show had been pretty lousy for the past couple of seasons and I almost never watched it anymore, but I tuned in for the last few episodes because I knew it was the end. I shouldn’t have. Gah. I don’t wanna talk about it. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddens-friends-or-awful-series-closers/243950/30 "2004-05-07T13:17:03Z")
I was kinda of hoping Courteney Cox would wake up, turn to Michael J. Fox in bed, and say, “Alex, I just had the _weirdest_ damn dream . . .” ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddens-friends-or-awful-series-closers/243950/31 "2004-05-07T13:24:11Z")
OK, I was going to start a thread about my pet-peeve about series finales, but I’ll mention it here (despite the two typos in the thread title!). Howcum all the women have to wind up married, engaged and/or with kids? **Friends** : Monica’s married with twins; Rachel’s engaged (essentially) with a baby; Phoebe’s married and planning a “von Trapp family.” **Sex and the City** , fer chrissakes: Carrie’s back with Big; Charlotte and Miranda are both married with babies; even Samantha has found Mr. Right. Well, I lived the _Friends/Sex and the City_ life 15, 20 years ago, and it rarely ends up that way: most of my formerly sexy, slutty, funny, trendy friends are single, childless no longer in NY, and are struggling with either no jobs or soul-sucking jobs. And—mind you—we’re all still pretty happy and satisfied with our lives. But according to Sitcomworld, women are only half-people unless they wind up with the Hubby and the Baby. I’m not mad enough to do a Pit thread over it, just vaguely disgusted. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddens-friends-or-awful-series-closers/243950/32 "2004-05-07T13:34:10Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > OK, I was going to start a thread about my pet-peeve about series finales, but I’ll mention it here (despite the two typos in the thread title!). Howcum all the women have to wind up married, engaged and/or with kids? Because this is the limit of writers’ imaginations. When they’re out of ideas and the series is headed south, marry someone up or have them get pregnant. It generally spells the imminent demise of the series, and is just a mechanism to prolong the influx of dollars until it dies a squealing death. Note the HUGE difference between the old shows in the clips and the finale. The bagpipe scene alone was worth watching the clips. The finale was a huge, predictable yawn. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddens-friends-or-awful-series-closers/243950/33 "2004-05-07T13:46:59Z")
I would have to say that, for me, the most disappointing series finale was the one for Quantum Leap. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddens-friends-or-awful-series-closers/243950/34 "2004-05-07T14:38:09Z")
Here’s seconding the X-Files finale, an episode so bad it made the Brady Bunch pastiche a week prior look like Epic Television. ---
**Author:** ![Squee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@Squee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squee)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddens-friends-or-awful-series-closers/243950/35 "2004-05-07T14:53:04Z")
> [@](#): > > I would have to say that, for me, the most disappointing series finale was the one for Quantum Leap. Refresh my memory… I swear I watched this finale, but I can’t remember what happened! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddens-friends-or-awful-series-closers/243950/36 "2004-05-07T14:53:08Z")
I would’ve liked to see Ross get a completely new hairstyle in the finale. He was actually appealling as the sister’s boyfriend in _The Wonder Years,_ where his hair was longer and curly. So much has gone into making the _Friends’_ women look fabulous, why didn’t it ever occur to someone to remove the grease from Ross’ hair? ---
**Author:** ![Stonebow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Stonebow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stonebow)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddens-friends-or-awful-series-closers/243950/37 "2004-05-07T15:03:22Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > OK, I was going to start a thread about my pet-peeve about series finales, but I’ll mention it here (despite the two typos in the thread title!). Howcum all the women have to wind up married, engaged and/or with kids? Let’s not act like this is a new phenomenon- doesn’t EVERY SINGLE ONE of Shakespeare’s comedies end in like manner? ---
**Author:** ![jeevwoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@jeevwoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jeevwoman)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddens-friends-or-awful-series-closers/243950/38 "2004-05-07T15:06:41Z")
> [@Squee](#): > > Refresh my memory… I swear I watched this finale, but I can’t remember what happened! 🙂 It was all about how god was directing Sam’s leaps and how Sam never returned home. It was pretty disappointing that it turned out to be so religious. But then they also wanted to ‘prove’ that Lee harvey Oswald Jr acted alone, so I suppose it wasn’t too out of place for them. I thought \*MASH \* was one of the best and _Seinfeld_ one of the worst. The _Friends_ one pretty much ended as it began, which was fine with me. Pretty sad they killed off the duck and the chick, though. And why was the new chick names Chick, Jr? Shouldn’t it have been Yasmine, Jr? ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddens-friends-or-awful-series-closers/243950/39 "2004-05-07T15:14:03Z")
Since Seinfeld & Xena finales have both been criticized, that is the sign for me to propose my alternate versions- Seinfeld finally pretty much stays as shown until the end- as the Jury announces their conviction, we see Newman munching on snacks & laughing- I would then have had him start choking on his mouthful of chips- as Newman chokes, the four main characters have their moment- Kramer thinks “Newman’s choking! I gotta save my friend!” & rushes over to help. George thinks “Newman’s choking! If I try to help, maybe the judge will go easy on me!” & rushes over… Elaine thinks “Newman’s choking!..I, I’ve always loved him! I’m coming, Newman!” & rushes over… Jerry looks askance at all of them & thinks “Let the fat bastard choke.” Xena- I’d have gone back to the proto-C’tian theme they started about Xena’s daughter Eve heralding the twilight of the Greek gods & the coming of the One God of Love- the remaining malevolent deities are out after an expectant couple making their way to a small village during the census, Xena & Gabby & Eve fight hostile gods & the troops of a paranoid king to deliver the couple safely to where they have their baby- in a stable, and as shepherds & Magi & Ares & Aphrodite & Xena & Gabby & Eve look adoringly at the Holy Family, Xena & Gabby look adoringly at each other & move in for… and the credits roll. (I’ve never been sure whether to include the kiss or not.) Call me a heretic but I did not care for the MASH finale. The Newhart finale was wonderful! ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddens-friends-or-awful-series-closers/243950/40 "2004-05-07T15:37:08Z")
> [@Stonebow](#): > > Let’s not act like this is a new phenomenon- doesn’t EVERY SINGLE ONE of Shakespeare’s comedies end in like manner? Our Miss Brooks, Mary Richards, Rhoda Morgenstern, Laverne De Fazio, Murphy Brown, three of the four Golden Girls and Maddie Hayes all wound up unmarried and (except for the Golden Girls and “Murphy’s Invisible Baby”) childless at the end of their series. I guess that’s a thing of the past: 21st-century sitcom women have to have a husband and child or it’s “too sad an ending.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddens-friends-or-awful-series-closers/243950.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddens-friends-or-awful-series-closers/243950.md?page=3)