Episodes with alternate endings filmed

[chris12]

I was reading that the episode of Dallas where JR's killer was revealed filmed multiple endings to m ake sure nothing got out, and also I read that the season 5 finale of Cheers taped a version where the Sam and Diane wedding actually went off, were there any other examples where an alternate ending to an episode not menat to air was filmed.

 

[Stanislav]

I was reading that the episode of Dallas where JR's killer was revealed filmed multiple endings to m ake sure nothing got out, and also I read that the season 5 finale of Cheers taped a version where the Sam and Diane wedding actually went off, were there any other examples where an alternate ending to an episode not menat to air was filmed.

I don't recall if Newhart actually filmed multiple endings to its famous finale, but they did actively leak rumors and false scripts with alternate endings to throw people off the track.

 

[azumanga]

Same for "The Simpsons", with their famous "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" episode.

 

[YEKIMI]

I think they also filmed alternate endings for St Elsewhere.

 

[bpatrick]

"I Love Lucy": When Lucy told Ricky she was
pregnant, Desi Arnaz was supposed to express
joy. Instead, he broke down crying. The scene
was refilmed, with him expressing joy, but the
studio audience thought the crying scene was
more effective, and that's the one that was left
in.

I'm also told that no one except the writers knew
the ending to the "M*A*S*H" episode where Henry
Blake's plane gets shot down until Radar announced
it in the OR. Did they film alternate endings to that
episode?

 

[pqgeorge]

I'm also told that no one except the writers knew
the ending to the "M*A*S*H" episode where Henry
Blake's plane gets shot down until Radar announced
it in the OR. Did they film alternate endings to that
episode?

Yes they did. But in the end, the actors were totally taken aback when "Radar" (played by Gary Burghoff) came in at the end of that episode to announce that Blake's plane crashed into the Sea Of Japan and that there were no survivors. That was the first time the actors knew about this particular ending. If you watched carefully at the eyes of the actors, they were just as shocked as the audience was the night it was aired. The night it originally aired, I was taken totally aback and wondered "did I hear what I just heard!?". If you look carefully at this scene, you'll see even Loretta Swit and Larry Linville had tears welling up in their eyes. They were real. Nobody can forget that night of TV history.

 

[landtuna]

MASH writers had to have lifted that "crash" ending right from the movie/play "Mr. Roberts".

 

[Ultimajock]

...which episode of The Prisoner had that alternate closing credits sequence where the wheels of the pennyfarthing bicycle faded into (IIRC) the Moon and Earth and the screen is filled with the word "POP"?...