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Best & Worst Endings to TV Series

T

The Voice of Reason

One of the worst that comes to mind is "Who's the Boss."

There was a Labor Day marathon on the Hallmark Network and I saw the final episode of the show, which to me didn't make sense.

I do remember reading years ago that the reason the show ended the way it did was to milk it in syndication.

The best ending of a TV series was "The Fugtitive."
 
The Voice of Reason said:
One of the worst that comes to mind is "Who's the Boss."

There was a Labor Day marathon on the Hallmark Network and I saw the final episode of the show, which to me didn't make sense.

I do remember reading years ago that the reason the show ended the way it did was to milk it in syndication.

The best ending of a TV series was "The Fugtitive."
Click to expand...

"Newhart" ending was full of win.
 
The Voice of Reason said:
One of the worst that comes to mind is "Who's the Boss."
The best ending of a TV series was "The Fugtitive."
Click to expand...

As someone old enough to have actually watched the two-part ending of "The Fugitive" back in 1967 I've always considered that show to have one of the best endings in TV history.

As for the worst endings; my choice is "The Sopranos." Sure one can use their imagination as to what happened to Tony and his family; but if this was truly the end of the series, then end the damn thing and don't let people hanging.

I for one highly doubt there will be a "Sopranos" movie in the future since most of the series actors have moved on to other projects. Besides I don't think Gandolfini wants to by type-cast as Tony Soprano anymore.
 
The Fugitive definitely is on the top of the list with me and Newhart definitely so. I'll add the last episode of Hawaii Five-O where McGarrett finally gets Wo Fat into prison after 12 years to the list.

The absolute worst to me was the last episode of Dallas where Joel Grey portrayed an angel and J.R. had his It's A Wonderful Life experience to see what life would be without him.
 
Best - Newhart

Worst - The Sopranos

For a long time I thought the ending of Seinfeld was the worst, but the longer I think
about it, the idea of sending them all off to jail for general insensitivity towards their fellow man
was kind of a cool idea.
 
Add my vote to the Newhart ending as best.

I wasn't as bothered by The Sopranos ending as some of you. But I understand why people were angered by it - you've given years of loyalty to a show, and the writers decide to be oh-so-clever and keep everybody hanging.

To me the worst ending was St. Elsewhere. If you accept it literally, you have to assume that all those years of realistic life-and-death medical drama was only the imaginings of Dr. Westphal's autistic son Tommy, and Westphal is really (can't remember exactly) - something along the lines of a blue-collar worker. The problem is - the literal interpretation makes no sense - an autistic boy - or any young boy for that matter - wouldn't have the world experience to make up the dramatic situations that the show had portrayed.

If you DON'T take the ending literally, it's hard to know how to interpret it.

Either way, it seemed like a kick in the teeth to the loyal viewers.
 
I remember feeling like I was in the minority when I liked the "Seinfeld" finale. I thought it showed that the 4 main characters were finally being held accountable (at least a little bit) for all their misdeeds.

Here's an obscure classic ending...The final episode of "The Davd Letterman Show" (his 1980 daytime talk show), in which he spent much of the show offering tributes to the game show that was to replace him, "Las Vegas Gambit".
 
I would have to say one of the worst endings of a TV series would be the finale (though they did not promote it as such) of "The New WKRP in Cincinnati". The New 'KRP really had none of the "magic" of the original series back in the late 70's and early '80's. The Program Director "Donovan Aderhold" (Mykelti Williamson) was scheduled to be returning after a trip. A plane crash occured on the last episode. Nobody knew if Donovan was on the plane. And that was the end of the series.

Much as they tried to bring back the original feel of the old series, with guest spots with Tim Reid, Loni Anderson and Howard Hesseman.... it just wasn't the same.
 
Man! I feel totally inadequate. I saw only a handful of The Fugitive and Hawaii 5-0 episodes but not the ending episode of any of the above. None were on my "must watch" list.

For the record, I was not a regular viewer of M*A*S*H either but I did watch the ending. Sucked.
 
I definitely agree with the finales of "Newhart" and "The Fugitive"
(saw them both); I'd add the last "Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson
having guests (the actual last show was a clipfest), notably Bette
Midler, who sang a medley of Johnny's favorite songs. It was as close
as he ever came to tears on the air.

My vote for the worst goes to the last telecast of Jerry Lewis' short-
lived Saturday-night show in 1963. On it he railed at ABC CEO Leonard
Goldenson and the efforts ABC was making to get something out of him
about the content of the following week's show. Like a spoiled child he
said, "I don't do like I'm supposed to." A far cry from Jerry the humanitarian
we're used to today.
 
Best: The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson (He went out with a bang!)

Worst: Rocky and Bullwinkle (an abrupt ending when you hear a shot leaving speculation that Boris Badinoff got his in the end.)

Bullwinkle "We may be a little bit hard to find but don't give up."

Rocky: WE'RE not!"
 
"A far cry from Jerry the humanitarian we're used to today."

Not me; I'm more used to "Jerry the old over-egoed paycho."

Nick D on WGN radio says he likes to watch Jerry just for those moments when he cracks. When I see those moments, I wonder why his family doesn't say, "hang up your bow tie and forget it."
It's realllllly pitiful.
 
Another one I liked: the last broadcast of the network version
of "What's My Line?" in 1967, with host John Daly as the Mystery
Guest; also the contestants from the first broadcast in 1950 were
brought back (the very first contestant, a hatcheck girl, was pursuing
a show-business career); clips of the first appearances of panelists
Arlene Francis, Martin Gabel (her husband), Steve Allen, and Bennett
Cerf were shown; a worker at an employment agency was a contestant;
and, at the end, Mark Goodson, Bill Todman, and Johnny Olson came on
camera.

"I've Got A Secret" ended as only Henry Morgan could end it. After
Bill Cullen, Betsy Palmer, and Bess Myerson gave lengthy, heartfelt
farewells, Henry said simply, "I've had fun."
 
Braves2005 said:
The absolute worst to me was the last episode of Dallas where Joel Grey portrayed an angel and J.R. had his It's A Wonderful Life experience to see what life would be without him.
Click to expand...

Of course, the ending, in which a shot emanated from J.R.'s office, was a cliffhanger, which wasn't resolved until a reunion special a few years later.
 
My favorites are Newhart, MASH, and The Fugitive. I was a kid at the time of the Fugitive's final show, so I didn't care about seeing it at that time, but I did get to see it when NBC reran the first episode and both parts of the final episode when the Fugitive movie with Harrison Ford came out. I also liked the final episodes of Barney Miller and Cheers.

As much as I liked Seinfeld, the final episode made no sense. I didn't watch The Sopranos regularly, but I did see the final episode, and I wasn't too thrilled with it either.

I think the last episode of The New WKRP was meant to be a cliffhanger where Donovan would have missed the plane, but since it was cancelled we never got to see it.
 
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