The Best Series Finales......

[BobMurdoch]

Now that I have been catching up on my PVR recordings, I rewatched the final Buffy episode before archiving it.

SPOILER ALERT! DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN"T SEEN THE FINAL BUFFY YET!

It struck me that this was the most satisfying series finale I had seen in years. Tons of action, great character interaction with the core four deciding to go shopping after the crisis was over, humorous banter (Giles stole the show with his "I used to be a respected watcher, now I'm a wounded Dwarf with the mystical strength of a doily... <while playing Dungeons and Dragons the night before the big battle>), great music, plot twists in the fnest Whedon tradition (all of the slayers coming "online" at once thanks to Willow) and death scenes for key characters that really resonated. Spike had the best response to "I Love You" since Han Solo in The Empire Strikes Back (Leia: "I Love You" Solo: "I Know"): Buffy: "I Love You" Spike: "No, you don't. But thanks for saying it anyway." With all of the dark plotlines of the last two seasons, they rediscovered the magic of the series and mixed all of the elements together perfectly.

Compare this to other series limping out to rerun heaven. Cheers and Seinfeld flopped. Star Trek The Next Generation had mixed emotions for me. Deep Space Nine had a good sendoff, but killing off Sisko soured the show for me (did like the Cardassians switching sides mid battle to turn the tide of the Dominion War). M*A*S*H was awful as they showed Hawkeye having a nervous breakdown. Moonlighting had some funny bits, but still felt empty, like they couldn't wait to turn out the lights and go home. Quantum Leap had a good episode by fixing Al's past while bantering with God the Bartender, but then killed it for me by stating that Sam Beckett never came home (They couldn't shoot a little 10 minute homecoming? Hunter got revived, but Quantum Leap couldn't get remade for a TV movie?) . I'm only referring to long running shows that got to shoot a final episode. The Fugitive (the original version) which got to have Janssen catch (and kill) the one armed man, was great that way.

Sorry for the rambling...... My point: What are your favorite series finales? What shows got the final note right, and which runs fumbled on the way to the end zone?

[RandyAB]

I agree that I think one of the better sendoffs was Buffy. However I did feel that the ending was a bit rushed. I wish they would of ended it more like the season 3 finale of Buffy which gave them a little bit more closure for the season.

I do disagree though that Cheers and MASH were bad sendoffs. I think it showed a lot for Hawkeye to have a breakdown at the end, because he was the one who kept the group together through his joking the entire series. I also like how on Cheers they just made it seem like the show went on.

[gcutler]

Buffy was great of course "Might Be A Slayer, WILL BE A SLAYER!!!"

I liked Babylon 5 (didn't like most of last season) but the finale had some great moments.

Also liked "cheers", with all that was going on, Sam was back at his bar,

But sadly most of my favorite TV shows have no finale, they just fade away.

[oblio98]

Originally posted by cj9788
The best finale in my humble opinon was "Newhart"

The last thing I was expecting was for the whole series to be a dream. And for Suzane Pleshett (I know its spelled wrong) to be there.

As far as I am concerned it was one of the greatest.

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You beat me to it, but THIS IS IT!!

[djlong]

Finales?

Buffy - good. Not perfect, but good..
Quantum Leap - could have redemmed itself by changing just a couple words in the final 'page'. If it said Sam "had yet to" come home....

Babylon-5 - my personal favorite. Of course, it was planned that way from Day One so.....

M*A*S*H - Outstanding. Showing that Hawkeye was human after all...

Trek - TNG was ok. Played like a big episode instead of Something Special. DS9 was better but I try to ignore the Sisko sying bit.

[jrjcd]

the last episode of the original perry mason

the mary tyler moore finale

the knots landing finale was delicious

[Kevin G]

The Buffy finale was good - I just wish more of the season had been that way.

QL's finale took the show to a whole new level for me. I was disappointed by the tagline that he never returned home, but just as Sam changed Al's timeline, I'm sure Sam's could be changed in a TV movie or the upcoming series (hopefully?!)

But like gcutler, most of the shows I liked didn't get a finale.

[BobMurdoch]

Birds of Prey even managed to lap together a fairly satisfying finale (Mia Sara is exposed and brought down, but not before she offs Batgirl's boyfriend, Great fight scene in the girl's lair).

Meanwhile you've got Firefly, The Agency, and Fastlane which just end abruptly (I hate season ending cliffhangers). I hear that there were unaired Firefly episodes which will now see the light of day in a DVD release of the entire series' run.

[gcutler]

Originally posted by BobMurdoch
Meanwhile you've got Firefly, The Agency, and Fastlane which just end abruptly (I hate season ending cliffhangers). I hear that there were unaired Firefly episodes which will now see the light of day in a DVD release of the entire series' run.

Almost guaranteed that a show in it's first year will not get a proper series ending (since they will probably be cancelled before they get to producing the last episodes.)

[TerryC]

Newhart was great.

I also liked St. Elswere's finale. All those pop culture references made it a hoot. Even the silly snow dome twist at the end didn't ruin it for me.

[BobMurdoch]

Aargh. Just saw The Agency's final episode that resolved nothing with the North Korea plot.

Another cliffhanger without a resolution. Grrrrrr.

[Lyle_JP]

Almost guaranteed that a show in it's first year will not get a proper series ending
Not always true. Larry Herzog saw the writing on the wall with "Nowhere Man", and managed to pen a Season 1 finale that served well as a series finale if not picked up again (which it wasn't).

[Randy_B]

Another cliffhanger without a resolution. Grrrrrr

Talk about season finale interruptus: John Doe was starting to develop into a good show and POOF, the ending of that one REALLY takes the prize!

Buffy was well done, enjoyable from start to finish. Newhart gets my vote as best and most clever. MASH just took too long to get to the point. I am still holding out hope for some closure in a Farscape movie. Seinfeld was without question the worst.

[gcutler]

Originally posted by Randy_B
Seinfeld was without question the worst.

I think to some extent they got exactly what they wanted. There was series Canon, that no one evolves or becomes a better person, or even gets much happier and the last scene of them in jail was the identical scene from their first episode opening scene in the diner. It definately could have been better if not for the limitations they put on themselves.