TV shows that have satisfying final episodes, and shows that didn't.

Cafe Society
1

So The Office has ended and whatever one might think about the past few seasons; even I was wondering if they could pull off a satisfying conclusion to the show. Fortunately, I found the final episode to be pretty damn great. Maybe some of you have a different opinion.

I take it MAS*H will be listed, unfortunately I never really watched it.

Cheers is another one… I watched the show occasionally, but never saw the final episode.

I DID see all of The Larry Sanders Show, and I LOVED it’s final episode.

**The X-Files **had a crappy final episode.

My brother and I watched** LOST **together. Being a fan of the show The X-Files, I was always less optimistic about it’s ending than my brother. Unfortunately, I didn’t like the ending, nor did my brother.

Roseanne’s ending was just weird.

I could list a lot more, but I would rather hear from other Dopers.

2

I really thought the ending for Babylon 5 was good.

I could never figure out what happened on Quantam Leap though.

3

Newhart was satisfying.

4

Frasier.

Mary Tyler Moore.

ST: TNG.

5

St. Elsewhere had an unexpected and great ending

6

Two of my favorite TV shows ever:

Northern Exposure - in spite of an awful last season, the closing scene of the residents of Cicely, paired up or not, tucking up for the night with “Our Town” by Iris Dement playing, and the final shot of the young moose walking the darkened streets - OMG I cried buckets. I wanted to stand up and applaud.

The Wonder Years - voiceover by adult Kevin as he told what happened with his family and Winnie Cooper - same thing.

7

They knew it wasn’t going to get a second season, and under the circumstances, I’m happy with the way Aaron Sorkin & co ended Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.

8

I knew this would be one that someone would bring up… too bad it was before my time.

9

Six Feet Under had a great final episode.

10

I agree… if you’re saying it was a satisfying ending.

11

Numb3rs

12

Buffy and Angel both had satisfying endings. In fact both of Buffy’s endings were excellent.

Battlestar Galactica had an ending that, while true to the show, was complete shit.

13

I haven’t seen it, but from what I heard, the ending of the US version of Life on Earth was about as bad as you can get.

Considering how the cancellation was handled, the final episode of Pushing Daisies was extremely good. The two scenes were clearly tacked on, but the worked wonderfully.

14

The thing about the Cheers finale wasn’t they didn’t really end the show. Most shows which have “final episodes” basically close down the show.

The final shot of Cheers was Sam closing the bar and turning off the lights - but it was just for the night. While the show was over, the characters were all still there and would be back at the bar the next day.

15

As did 30 Rock, whose ending was also a sly tribute to St. Elsewhere’s.

16

Life on Mars (only seen UK version) ended well

17

best ending ever.

18

I liked the ending of Monk. Monk isn’t completely sane, or normal, he’s still obsessive, but he’s happy again.

19

As I recall, there’s still a lot of loose ends and we’re waiting for a comic book (or a movie! or a mini-series! or a musical!) to clean it up. I think a few panels of the comic were released a few years ago but I’d be surprised if anything else ever happens.

20

Night Court. The show had been going downhill for a while, and the last episode was crap.