# TV series that ended well
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-that-ended-well/169291
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [April 17, 2003, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-that-ended-well/169291 "2003-04-17T13:21:25Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2003, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-that-ended-well/169291/1 "2003-04-17T13:21:25Z")
Right now we are entering the final lap of Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s run. It was pretty well known before the season that this 7th season would be the last.
I for one am extremely underwhelmed with how this season has gone. Without going into way too many details for anyone who is not a fan, this season’s episodes are all over the place. They seem to be staggering towards some major resolution, but they keep cluttering things up by introducing new characters that go nowhere and detract from the characters/relationships viewers have developed feelings about over the past 6 years.
I can’t remember any other shows of a similar serial vein, which dealt with a much publicized final season. Maybe X-Files, tho I feel that show had been on somewhat of a downward swing the final couple of seasons. I DO remember shows such as M_A_S\*H, Cheers, and Seinfeld which had - IMO - extremely dissatisfying final episodes.
Can anyone remember a longrunning TV show that dealt extremely well with a final season/ep?
How about any shows that did not obviously try to wrap things up, even tho folks knew the final show was the last?
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### Author:  [@stolichnaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolichnaya)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2003, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-that-ended-well/169291/2 "2003-04-17T13:28:09Z")
I always liked the last Cheers episode.
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### Author:  [@Drastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drastic)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2003, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-that-ended-well/169291/3 "2003-04-17T13:28:35Z")
\Newhart\ ended pretty well. (“You should wear more sweaters.”)
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2003, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-that-ended-well/169291/4 "2003-04-17T13:37:50Z")
[rant]Buffy is still a first-class show and I’m tired of the whiners who seem to think otherwise. Christ, people dislike the show because they _killed Tara_ – one of the best dramatic moments ever shown on TV (and I liked Tara a lot)[/rant]
Anyway, the **Dick Van Dyke** final show was a classic, as was the ending of **Mary Tyler Moore**. There was also **The Fugitive**.
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### Author:  [@Mullinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mullinator)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2003, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-that-ended-well/169291/5 "2003-04-17T13:44:41Z")
I would disagree with Cheers. I think their final season was one of the best of the series. Granted, they revolved around some outlandish situations, but this is a TV show. THe true barometer of how good it is doesn’t necessarily reside in the randomness of the situation, but rather in the humor level culled from that situation.
The last episode was vaguely maudlin, which is fine. The apparent need to include Diane Chambers was probably unnecessary and ceertainly seemed to drag it down a notch or two. But, on the whole the laughs were consistently solid at the end, the characters still felt vital and productive, and issues seemed to be closed as if life was going on for the characters, not as if everything was completely done.
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### Author:  [@Gorgon\_Heap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgon_Heap)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2003, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-that-ended-well/169291/6 "2003-04-17T13:54:50Z")
I also agree that Cheers was good. “I’m the luckiest man in the world,” said Sam. Great stuff.
Star Trek TNG was pretty good. And I always love the way John “Q” Delancy said, “A little puddle of _goo_.”
Hmmmmm. I can’t think of any others, but I never watched that much TV.
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### Author:  [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2003, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-that-ended-well/169291/7 "2003-04-17T14:02:11Z")
My recollection of the Cheers finale may be tainted by my recollection of all the related hoopla, the interview show, etc. As a rule, however, I would express a preference for not artificially reintroducing old characters.
I was not thrilled with the end of DS9 either.
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### Author:  [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2003, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-that-ended-well/169291/8 "2003-04-17T14:16:06Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by RealityChuck \*
> **Anyway, the Dick Van Dyke final show was a classic**
😕 I don’t remember **DVD** having an “ending.” I just took a look at an [episode guide](http://www.tvland.com/shows/dvd/episodes8.jhtml) and found this for episode 158:
_“The Gunslinger”
The Petries and their friends are transported to the Wild West when Rob dreams he is a frontier sheriff. Carl Reiner guest-stars._
Is this the one you’re talking about?
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### Author:  [@Southpaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southpaw)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2003, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-that-ended-well/169291/9 "2003-04-17T14:31:52Z")
**Labdad** :
I think **RealityChuck** is talking about DVD episode 157, _The Last Chapter_: Rob’s autobiography conjures up scenes from the past and leads Alan Brady to buy the book for a television series.
I don’t know why they aired _The Gunslinger_ as the last episode, but if you watch them, its clear that _The Last Chapter_ was intended to be the final episode.
Back on topic, how about the final episode of **Quantum Leap**? I liked how Sam helped Al get reunited with his first wife. I’m not sure how I feel about Sam never returning home, though.
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### Author:  [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2003, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-that-ended-well/169291/10 "2003-04-17T14:39:37Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Southpaw \*
> \*\*Back on topic, how about the final episode of **Quantum Leap**? I liked how Sam helped Al get reunited with his first wife. I’m not sure how I feel about Sam never returning home, though. \*\*
I loathed the last episode of Quantum Leap and thought it betrayed everything they had set up over the entire rest of the series. It was a huge cop-out.
For a good series ending…there are very few.
I liked the ending to MASH, but the final season that led up to it sucked.
The Miami Vice series finale was pretty good, although again the season up till then had been disappointing.
Magnum PI had a pretty good series finale.
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### Author:  [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2003, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-that-ended-well/169291/11 "2003-04-17T14:57:54Z")
Didn’t Magnum have a cool ending with him dying and walking into heaven, then they renewed it for another season?
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### Author:  [@Mooch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mooch)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2003, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-that-ended-well/169291/12 "2003-04-17T15:19:36Z")
I always thought that the 1 season run of **Nowhere Man** ended well.
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### Author:  [@Mars\_Horizon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mars_Horizon)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2003, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-that-ended-well/169291/13 "2003-04-17T15:21:01Z")
**Babylon 5** ended well, if on a bittersweet note.
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### Author:  [@refusal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/refusal)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2003, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-that-ended-well/169291/14 "2003-04-17T15:27:09Z")
Although it only ran for 2 series, **The Young Ones** had a superb ending in its “Summer Holiday”-parody final episode:
They crash off a cliff in a bus, land safely at the bottom, and just when they think they’ve survived, the bus explodes.
The last episode of **Blackadder Goes Forth** is also widely admired for its pathos and general comic genius. Except then they made a series of shitty specials. Proof that if the creators can decide when to end a show, and are willing to get out while it’s still popular, then you’ve a good chance of a great finale.
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### Author:  [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2003, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-that-ended-well/169291/15 "2003-04-17T15:31:04Z")
**Blake’s 7**!!!
Best. ending. ever.
Everybody dies.
And series one is finally coming out on DVD!!!
And Ashley Judd will show us how to make a teleport bracelet out of a washing-up liquid bottle and some sticky-back plastic!!!
I am so happy!!!
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2003, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-that-ended-well/169291/16 "2003-04-17T15:35:05Z")
**Barney Miller** had a good final episode that wrapped everything up (as did the aforementioned **The Fugitive** and **Mary Tyler Moore** , which I would’ve brought up if no one else had).
The Dick Van Dyke Show did _not_ have a “final episode”. As noted above, the last one was “THe Gunslinger”, which could have occurred at any time in the series – it was just a dream episode. I remember when it was broadcast, and feeling disappointed that the show didn’t go out with a bigger bang.
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### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2003, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-that-ended-well/169291/17 "2003-04-17T15:36:55Z")
_Father Ted_ and _Waiting for God_ had good final episodes (Dermot Morgan had decided that was the last _Father Ted_ season—it was just a coincidence that he keeled over dead the day after filming it!).
I thought the last episode of _Moonlighting_ was a slap in the face to those of us who stayed with it through its last couple of awful seasons.
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### Author:  [@FairyDust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyDust)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2003, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-that-ended-well/169291/18 "2003-04-17T15:41:12Z")
I missed the final episode of 3rd Rock From The Sun.
☹
Can anyone here tell me what happened in it? Was it a good or bad final episode?
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2003, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-that-ended-well/169291/19 "2003-04-17T15:54:28Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by RikWriter \*
> **I loathed the last episode of Quantum Leap and thought it betrayed everything they had set up over the entire rest of the series. It was a huge cop-out.**
Same here. Somewhere around here is a link to what is supposedly the original script for that epsiode before it was changed to be the series finale. I like that script much better and would have been great if they had stuck to it up until Sam leaped again after getting back to Al’s wife. They should have showed him leaping but not where he ended up, then a fade out with the line “Sam never made it home.”
I liked the finale for “Home Improvement”: the Taylors moving their entire house.
On preview, a summary of the last “3rd Rock” for **FairyDust** : •The crew gets recalled to their homeworld
•Dick reveals to Mary that he’s really from another planet
•a huge going away party is organized and put on (Dick’s?) credit card
•Elvis Costello is hired for the party and performs “Fly Me to the Moon”
•Dick erases Mary’s memory at the last minute (konks her on the head)
•They may have gone back for Mary but I don’t remember
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2003, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-that-ended-well/169291/20 "2003-04-17T16:00:07Z")
Oh, and yeah that was another good finale.
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