That was a great final episode. I offer another series which is probably unheard of by 98% of this board: Blake’s Seven. A low budget sci-fi series where the heroes are fighting the evil empire. In the final episode they finally get locked in combat with the enemy - and are all killed. The shock factor was incredible.
MAS*H
Another Newhart vote. And I even saw it coming as soon as the scene lighting was all dark.
I’d like to say something on behalf of The Prisoner. When they first made it they had no idea that people would read way too much into it, so it really isn’t all that bad. "oh, the leg bone’s connected to the… "
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Blackadder
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Newhart
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After hearing about it for years, I recently saw the final episode of The fugitive on Nick at Night or TV land: the narrator always had a very depressing last line in all the episodes, telling the audience that the hero once again was on the run.
Then the doctor, in the last episode, encounters the one armed man, and proves his innocence. The depressing narrator at the end says:
“August 29th, the day the running stopped.”
While the Dr. is walking, without fear and at ease, in front of a police car.
Perfect!
The ending of the final Quantum Leap was originally much different, but they changed it at the last minute when they learned the show had been cancelled.
The intended story had Sam leaping, now under his own control and not limited to travelling within his own lifetime. Al realizes that the only way he’ll find Sam is to leap himself.
Read the original scripted ending here.
Eric
Twin Peaks is my favorite – every loose end (and there were hundreds) is tied up neatly.
–Cliffy
No question about it: “Newhart” is the all time best AND funniest ending ever.
And another vote for ST: TNG. A marvelous finale that was SO much better than any of the lame-ass movies that have followed it.
“The Prisoner” is at the top of my list, too. Many people hated it when it originally aired, and some people still regard it as a surrealistic cop-out (including Cecil, I believe), but I for one loved it. No “rational” explanation for the show’s mysteries could have possibly sufficed anyway – the only truly surprising way to end the show would be to consider all its mystery elements symbolically rather than literally.
My favorite bit: a vicious machine gun battle set to the tune of the Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love.” THAT was trippin.’
Santos, I’ve never seen that. I love everything but the very last scene. I’ll have to check out the .midi when I get a chance.
Yay, I get to nitpick!
Ahem. There was an episode in which Enoch discovered that he was not, in fact, a super-evolved future Sleestak. Much to Enoch’s horror, he found that his advanced race of Sleestak were the ancestors of the primitives he encountered in the Land of the Lost. His race didn’t evolve, they devolved.
But, it was indeed a good finale. Haven’t thought about that for years.
That’s the original ending? That was great! Why the hell couldn’t they have just cut the “too be continued” and left it at that?
Seinfeld
Just Kidding 
Didn’t Little House on the Prairie end with the entire town blowing their own houses up, just to spite a greedy speculator?
Now that’s entertainment to a ten-year-old!
[sub]okay, my mom didn’t let me watch violent TV, so I was reduced to Little House on the Freakin Prairie. Not my fault![/sub]
Daniel
Babylon 5 has the single greatest ending(with Kudos even being given to their alternate last episode, "Deconstruction of Falling Stars, which aired when they didn’t think they’d be back for Season 5).
Newhart, of course.
MAS*H
MASH and Cheers.
Home Improvement! Driving down the highway with their house in tow!
This probably doesn’t really count, but just after the final episode of Cheers when there was a LIVE farewell special and they had all the cast at the real bar that was the model for the t.v. bar. Someone (one of the major newscasters, I can’t remember who) was trying to interview them, but pretty much all of them were DRUNK OFF THEIR ASSES! They just kept giggling and throwing teasing barbs at each other. It was pretty funny–though a little undignified.
How did “Twin Peaks” end? I never saw the final episode. IIRC, towards the end, Leo was the mindless patsy of an evil madman who hated Agent Cooper; Shelley, Audrey & Donna were all entered in a Miss Twin Peaks pageant (and the evil madman planned to kill one of them); Ben Horne turned out to be Donna’s biological father; Major Briggs was kidnapped; there was a lot of talk about the Black Lodge; and everyone was having muscle spasms in their hands. After that, the network switched the show’s timeslot around so fast, I couldn’t keep up with it.
You need to watch it, and not to have some geek like me spoil it for you on a message board.
I believe Bravo is currently rerunning the series, if you get that channel.
–Cliffy
Jay Leno, wasn’t it? Seems to me NBC went straight from Cheers to the Tonight Show, live from Boston.
Yep
Enoch “This is not the past. It is the future. The sleestak are not what my people were. They are what my people will become.”
Shocking and rather depressing.
In a later episode, Marshall is captured by the sleestak and thrown into a pit for sacrifice to a big monster thingy. He is somewhat surprised to see a sleestak already in the pit. He’s floored when it talks to him. The sleestak explains that he is a throwback. Though he looks like an average sleestak, he has the mental development of Enoch’s people. Every now and then, a throwback is produced. The sleestak always kill them.
BTW-In a very smart decision, we never see the big monster. My WAG is that they knew they had the budget to build a big monster. But not the budget for one that didn’t look really cheesy. The monster is just off camera roaring.
Great finale. The effects, makeup, etc were bad. But sometimes the writing and acting were incredible
Quantum Leap-There’ve been threads in this forum in which the finale was discussed and disected. The bartender is NOT God. He says “I’m not God Sam.”
Mad About You-I didn’t really watch the show. But, the finale was on the tape after the program I wanted to watch. The final episode covered some 20 or 30 years. Major events happened. Some characters died.