I’ll probably get flamed for this, since I seem to be the only person in the world who holds this opinion, but I thought the final episode of Seinfeld was absolutely brilliant.
. . . But did you like the final episode of Seinfeld?
Nah, Jackalope, you’ll just get flamed for the triple-post. As to the content of your triad, I couldn’t agree with you less…of course I thought Seinfeld was on the air several seasons too long, but I did watch the “finale”. The last episode just showed that these people were worthless and pathetic…some payoff for those of you who may have watched the show regularly…I was glad I hadn’t invested any of my time watching the previous few seasons…
My contribution to the discussion? I have mixed feelings about the last episode of Night Court, but on the whole I thought it did pretty good.
I know it’s not in the spirit of the OP, but my nomination for the most frustrating series close was Twin Peaks. Of course, it was just supposed to be a season-ending cliffhanger, but when David Lynch found out that the show was cancelled, he didn’t change a thing.
“How’s Annie? How’s Annie? How’s Annie?” – evil Cooper
(I only clicked it once!)
The last episode of Seinfeld was brilliant for several reasons:
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Remember all the speculation beforehand about what was going to happen in the final episode? Jerry and George will turn out to be gay; they’ll start the show again; they’ll go to Europe; they’ll die in a plane crash; etc. Well, all of these things almost happened in the finale, and you could almost hear the ragings of fans across the country shouting, “I KNEW it! Pay up! Oh, wait…”
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The characters, shallow and self-serving for the entire run, finally got their just desserts. The courtroom sequence was hilarious, as every character they’d wronged over the nine years came back to air their grievances.
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But what made it great, instead of just good, was the final shot. The four are sitting in their jail cell, where they’re going to be for the next I-forget-how-long. Jerry points to George’s shirt.
Jerry: You know, I think the placement of that second button is what makes the shirt.
George: Didn’t we talk about this before?
Jerry: I dunno.
And they stop talking and we pan out and fade to black.
The answer to George’s question is Yes, they talked about this before, in the very first episode of the show. And the point is that the show ended when they ran out of stuff to talk about and started repeating themselves. From then on they’re going to be sitting around like the rest of us chumps, repeating the old jokes they used to tell and discussing the woman with man-hands again and again. And that’s not what we want to see. It made the end of the series necessary and definitive instead of arbitrary.
IMHO, of course.
(I sure hope this one doesn’t triple-post too…)
According to Vince Waldron in The Official Dick Van Dyke Show Book, episode 157, “The Last Chapter,” was both intended and aired as the series’ finale. “The Gunslinger” was filmed last, which is why it’s always shown last in syndication (as syndication follows production order). But “The Last Chapter” aired last. Waldron gives the original air date of “The Gunslinger” as 5/25/66, while “The Last Chapter” aired on 6/1/66.
“The Last Chapter” is, of course, a clip show, which are traditionally regarded with suspicion. But for The Dick Van Dyke Show, I think it works. We learn that Rob has finally finished his novel, and that Alan Brady has optioned it for TV. Thus, the show we’ve been watching becomes a show that the characters we’ve been watching can themselves watch, if you follow me. Plus the fact that Alan is played by Carl Reiner, whose life the show was largely based on in the first place, and you get all sorts of layers. Far beyond your typical clip show done to fill up a half hour because they couldn’t think of a new story.
“Fly Like an Eagle” actually.
Another show that didn’t get a proper finale was “Soap.” The last episode was a cliffhanger in which Jessica (Katharine Helmond) was in front of a firing squad that had just fired on her. The scene froze…and that was the end of it.
Curiously, Ms. Helmond reprised the character on an episode of “Benson” afew years later as a ghost. But her death was attributed to something else, I can’t remember what, which implied that she somehow survived the firing squad.
I liked the last episode of St. Elsewhere – one of the few shows I’ve ever watched through to the last episodes. (Well, that and Homicide, but I don’t recall the last episode of that – did they do anything in particular?)
Sorry to be nitpicky…
The title is “Looking for Space” - the last line of the song is “Sometimes I fly like an eagle, like an eagle I go flying, flying.”
You can find the song on several JD albums - first on the album Windsong in 1975.
“Daddy, what’s that bad man doin’ to my pet donkey?”
“Why, that’s not just a bad man, son. That there is* Hitler* … he’s ****ing your pet donkey.”
“Hill Street Blues” was great. Norman Buntz slugged that reptilian Chief Daniels. That was may favorite part of the series. The Hill Street Station gamely survived the fire. Capt. Furillo doggedly went about his business.
I gotta admit, I don’t recall this at all. I remember the TV Guide in the newspaper playing up the fact that the episode featuring the Gunslinger was the last episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show, and I recall the pictures of Dick Van Dyke dressed up in his cowboy gear reproduced in the magazine. I don’t recall a “Last Chapter” episode following that at all. I’ve never seen it in syndication, of course, but the fact that it exsts at all is news to me.
Possibly we live in parallel universes?
i used to watch HLOTS religiously. funny thing is i don’t quite recall the last show too well.
what i do remember though is the guy that was doing the internet murders got let off on a technicality. in the end he was found shot in the head and two of the detectives were investigating. i recall some one saying that the last scene was similar to a scene in the very first episode.
and then they made the movie… to kinda tie up loose ends. a slight disappointment though…
Took the words right outta my fingertips. I loved the Golden Girls ending. Night Court’s was pretty good, too.
I also loved the MAS*H finale. In fact, it’s one of my all time favorite television events. It was perfect. Simply perfect. Took all the realism and put it in our faces. Fabulous ending.
I can’t believe that nobody has mentioned The Prisoner.
One Foot in the Grave – I missed a bit of the last episode, and I’d love for the local PBS station to run the series again. After six seasons, crotchety Victor Meldrew is killed by a hit-and-run driver. The show ends with a montage of him suffering various indignities while the soundtrack plays the Travelling Wilburys’ End of the Line. It is both sadder and funnier than it sounds.
The Games – This was an Australian, cinema verite satire of the organizers of the Sydney olympics; sort of a cross between Sports Night and Cops. In the final episode, the staff impersonate The Seekers, singing The Carnival is Over at a rehearsal of the closing ceremonies, then loot the office and fly off to Athens. Not their best episode, but it couldn’t really end any other way.
MTM Show was probably my favorite, most fitting final episode. As far as the “gimmick” endings go, St. Elswhere’s ending was most memorable.
I loved the Twin Peaks finale – every loose end throughout the entire series was tied up. What happened between Andrew and Eckhart? We know. Will Audrey ever find happiness with Billy Zane? We know. How will the Doc/Mrs. Martell/Ben love triangle be resolved? We know. Will Wyndam Earle rule the black lodge? We know. Will Dale and his lovely new girlfriend ride happily off into the sunset? Heh heh heh… we know that too.
–Cliffy