# How would you have ended a TV series? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 31, 2016, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-have-ended-a-tv-series/764601 "2016-08-31T21:12:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 5
**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:** [September 8, 2016, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-have-ended-a-tv-series/764601/81 "2016-09-08T02:16:00Z")
When it comes to final episodes, I always liked what “Perry Mason” did in “The Case of the Final Fade out”. The murder was on a film set so the detectives interview the crew, asking them what they did, and it was the crew for “Perry Mason”. They also got Earl Stanley gardner, who created the characters, to be a judge. Also rather than rehash the case over a steak dinner (the usual ending), Mason, Street and Drake are looking at their next case saying how interesting it is. But it doesn’t scream “final episode” if you don’t know the details. ---
**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:** [September 8, 2016, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-have-ended-a-tv-series/764601/82 "2016-09-08T02:35:46Z")
Beverly Hillbillies. Jed becomes President. Granny orders the army to meet at Appomattox Court House and grant the Confederacy independence. Jethro becomes Dean at Harvard, Ellie May turns the Pentagon into a zoo for her critters. Mr Drysdale is jailed for embezzlement while Miss Jane, the whistleblower, is fired and becomes a cashier at Wal Mart, thereby doubling her pay of what she made working for Drysdale. Dobie Gillis. He turns the grocery store into a profitable nation wide chain and hires Chatsworth, who went bankrupt, as his butler. Proposes to Zelda, who turns him down so she can marry Thalia Meninger. Maynard goes on a cruise and is never heard from again. Leander Pomfrit and Imogene Burkhart get married and adopt identical cousins. Davey Gillis is found playing basketball with Chuck Cunningham. Milton Armitage becomes an actor and his comedy “Is-it-tar” becomes a box office smash. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_John_Marcej)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2016, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-have-ended-a-tv-series/764601/83 "2016-09-08T02:57:44Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > I think a number of shows back then were cancelled after the filming for one season was finished. Erin Murphy, who played Tabitha on “Bewitched” (and is one of the few surviving members besides Bernard Fox) says they cancelled “Bewitched” that way and it was “okay, I can go to summer camp now”. I just remembered this today, another show from the 1960’s-70’s that actually had a “finale”. On the final episode of it’s 5th & final season of the Original **Odd Couple** Felix finally moves out and remarries Gloria leaving Oscar on his own once again. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2016, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-have-ended-a-tv-series/764601/84 "2016-09-08T03:24:43Z")
> [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](#): > > I just remembered this today, another show from the 1960’s-70’s that actually had a “finale”. On the final episode of it’s 5th & final season of the Original **Odd Couple** Felix finally moves out and remarries Gloria leaving Oscar on his own once again. And he ate “Goop mélange” to prove his love. (Needs something yellow) ---
**Author:** ![Lorne\_Armstrong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@Lorne\_Armstrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorne_Armstrong)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2016, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-have-ended-a-tv-series/764601/85 "2016-09-08T07:55:44Z")
Archie Bunker’s Place: Archie wakes up to discover that he dreamed everything from the end of All In The Family’s season five to the present. In other words, Edith is still alive, Archie never bought Kelsey’s Bar and is still working on the loading docks and, worst of all, Meathead is still in school and living in Archie’s house. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2016, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-have-ended-a-tv-series/764601/86 "2016-09-08T15:14:31Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > I always thought that Schultz would have been a better choice for “Papa Bear” than Klink. On the one hand, Schultz was (unless he was lying) owner of the largest toy company in Germany, and had his factory appropriated by the Nazis. He also was a [Social Democrat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Democratic_Party_of_Germany), so he definitely wasn’t a fan of the Nazis. On the other hand, he was just a Sergeant at a backwater POW camp. He probably didn’t have that much that could help the Allies, other than what he did do, which was see NOTHING!. > [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Someone else suggested that (or maybe it was you), but I don’t like it as much. Schultz didn’t really do anything except turn a blind eye to everything the Heroes were doing. If he turns out to be Papa Bear, it doesn’t really change anything. But if Klink turns out to have been in on it the whole time, now you get to re-watch the series with different eyes. When we all thought that Hogan had to avoid Klink, how many times was Klink actually running interference for him? When he says there has never been an escape from Stalag 13, it’s not arrogant boasting. It’s part of the con; in the same way that Hogan played Klink, Klink is playing his superiors. By mollifying them they’ll exercise less oversight on the camp, allowing the sabotage program to continue. Taking the whole series in total, Klink just seems genuinely incompetent. Not faking it, but really so. I vote Burkhalter. He had access at the highest levels, including Hitler himself. I believe he was [Nimrod](http://hh.wikia.com/wiki/The_Missing_Klink). Note that “Papa Bear” was also Hogan’s code name for a while. Continuity wasn’t a requirement for Hogan any more than it was for the Simpsons. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-have-ended-a-tv-series/764601.md?page=4)