I thought this was an interesting read, especially since we discussed some of these finales on this forum.... I really disagree about their comments on
M*A*S*H* though....
http://entertainment.msn.com/news/article.aspx?news=158612
nless you've been living in a cave with your eyes closed and your fingers stuck in your ears, you know that "Friends" has bid a fond farewell to Must-See TV, never to be heard from again except for those thrice-daily reruns.
No, it wasn't the best episode ever, and yeah, we only laughed once (kudos to you, Matthew Perry), but it deserves props for giving fans the ending they wanted and deserved: Ross and Rachel reconciled, Monica and Chandler the parents of twins, Phoebe happily settled, and Joey starring in his very own spin-off.
(Story Continues Below...)
Series finales are a tricky business -- what works for one show might be disastrous for another. See, we viewers are a loyal bunch. We get emotionally invested in our favorite characters, who we've probably spent more time with than our own friends and families. Not only do we want them to have a fitting send-off, with plenty of laughter and tears, just like the network promos promise, but we want closure, or at least the closest thing to closure you can get with people who don't actually exist.
So with "Friends," "Frasier" and "The Practice" gone, and "Angel" ready to sign off, we've picked five shows that got their goodbyes right -- and five that should be relegated to the couch potato hall of shame.
First, the worst...
WORST
5. "X-Files," The Truth (May 19, 2002)
You want the truth? Apparently creator Chris Carter thought viewers couldn't handle the truth -- at least not all of it. The convoluted two-hour finale not only wastes time recapping the previous eight seasons, but it annoyingly clears up some major plot points off screen. FBI agent Fox Mulder (the returning David Duchovny) is put on trial for murder, but soon goes on the lam with sorta girlfriend/"miracle"-baby mama Scully (Gillian Anderson). Faster than you can say "trust no one," he chats up the ghosts of the Lone Gunmen and confronts Cigarette Smoking Man, who reveals the truth: the alien invasion is scheduled for Dec. 22, 2012. A date. That's it. That's all we get (well, that and CSM dies -- again). At least fans got a nice little bit of continuity at the end, when Mulder and Scully play snugglebunnies at a Roswell motel in homage to the first episode. "Maybe there's hope," says Mulder. Or maybe there are still so many unanswered questions that fans will fork over their cash for the second installment of the big screen "X-Files" franchise, which is in development.
4. "Seinfeld," The Finale (May 14, 1998)
3. "St. Elsewhere" -- "The Last One" (May 25, 1988)
2. "Roseanne" -- "Into That Good Night" (May 20, 1997)
1. "M*A*S*H*" -- "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen" (Feb. 28, 1983)
M*A*S*H* though....
http://entertainment.msn.com/news/article.aspx?news=158612
nless you've been living in a cave with your eyes closed and your fingers stuck in your ears, you know that "Friends" has bid a fond farewell to Must-See TV, never to be heard from again except for those thrice-daily reruns.
No, it wasn't the best episode ever, and yeah, we only laughed once (kudos to you, Matthew Perry), but it deserves props for giving fans the ending they wanted and deserved: Ross and Rachel reconciled, Monica and Chandler the parents of twins, Phoebe happily settled, and Joey starring in his very own spin-off.
(Story Continues Below...)
Series finales are a tricky business -- what works for one show might be disastrous for another. See, we viewers are a loyal bunch. We get emotionally invested in our favorite characters, who we've probably spent more time with than our own friends and families. Not only do we want them to have a fitting send-off, with plenty of laughter and tears, just like the network promos promise, but we want closure, or at least the closest thing to closure you can get with people who don't actually exist.
So with "Friends," "Frasier" and "The Practice" gone, and "Angel" ready to sign off, we've picked five shows that got their goodbyes right -- and five that should be relegated to the couch potato hall of shame.
First, the worst...
WORST
5. "X-Files," The Truth (May 19, 2002)
You want the truth? Apparently creator Chris Carter thought viewers couldn't handle the truth -- at least not all of it. The convoluted two-hour finale not only wastes time recapping the previous eight seasons, but it annoyingly clears up some major plot points off screen. FBI agent Fox Mulder (the returning David Duchovny) is put on trial for murder, but soon goes on the lam with sorta girlfriend/"miracle"-baby mama Scully (Gillian Anderson). Faster than you can say "trust no one," he chats up the ghosts of the Lone Gunmen and confronts Cigarette Smoking Man, who reveals the truth: the alien invasion is scheduled for Dec. 22, 2012. A date. That's it. That's all we get (well, that and CSM dies -- again). At least fans got a nice little bit of continuity at the end, when Mulder and Scully play snugglebunnies at a Roswell motel in homage to the first episode. "Maybe there's hope," says Mulder. Or maybe there are still so many unanswered questions that fans will fork over their cash for the second installment of the big screen "X-Files" franchise, which is in development.
4. "Seinfeld," The Finale (May 14, 1998)
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For Jerry, George (Jason Alexander), Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), and Kramer (Michael Richards), the end of their nine-year run amounted to so much yadda yadda yadda. Granted, after NBC's frenzied promotion of the Larry David-penned episode, expectations were higher than Elaine's hair -- and impossible to fulfill. But the existential, self-referential 75-minute conclusion, in which the not-so-fab four are sentenced to a year in jail for failing to aid a portly carjacking victim, left us utterly unsatisfied. The show about nothing had tried to make a point about something -- and it paid the price in laughter. And yet, we still agonized over whether it deserved to be on the worst list, mostly due to its steadfast refusal to break from its guiding philosophy: "No hugging. No learning." Even after they're confronted by the many people they've wronged, from Babu to the Bubble Boy, our anti-heroes are still the same petty, selfish, minutiae-obsessed people they've always been. How do we know? Jailbird Jerry needles George about the buttons on his shirt, just as he did in the pilot episode. 3. "St. Elsewhere" -- "The Last One" (May 25, 1988)
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Fans of the medical drama received a nasty surprise in the final episode, which probably should have just faded out with the dedicated staff at St. Eligius hospital saying their farewells. In the last scene, we see Dr. Westphall's son Tommy (Chad Allen) sitting on the floor of a dingy living room staring at a St. Eligius snow globe. Turns out Dr. Westphall (Ed Flanders) isn't an M.D. -- he's a construction worker, and Dr. Auschlander (Norman Lloyd), who died earlier in the episode, is now alive (and also not a physician). "I just don't understand this autism thing, Pop," Westphall tells Auschlander as he puts the globe on top of the TV (ah, such symbolism). "He sits there all day long in his own little world, staring at that toy. What's he think about?" Get it? The six years the audience invested in the hospital staff's trials and tribulations were nothing more than the feverish imagination of an autistic child. Mind-blowing, huh? It's just too bad all those betrayed viewers couldn't sue for malpractice.2. "Roseanne" -- "Into That Good Night" (May 20, 1997)
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It was a demoralizing end for the ferociously funny blue-collar Connor clan. In its final season, the once-groundbreaking sitcom had come under Roseanne's control and grown bloated with bad ideas sold as satire. The family wins the lottery; patriarch Dan (John Goodman) has a heart attack and leaves Roseanne for another woman; Roseanne mingles with the rich and famous and battles terrorists on a train. The coup de grace? In the finale's closing moments, we learn through Roseanne's somber voiceover that everything that had come before (not just the previous season but everything) was a novel written by Roseanne after Dan died of a heart attack. In the new "Roseanne" world order, Jackie is a lesbian, Darlene is married to Mark, and Becky to David. Say what? But even worse than the unraveling of a family we had come to know was the New Age sentiment behind it. ''I learned that no one could stop me but me,'' explains Roseanne. ''I learned that love is stronger than hate. And most important, I learned that God does exist. He and/or She is right inside you, underneath the pain, the sorrow, and the shame." Especially the shame of a lousy last episode.1. "M*A*S*H*" -- "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen" (Feb. 28, 1983)
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We know, we know, there are lots of you out there who think the two-and-a-half-hour finale is pure genius, but we think after 10-and-a-half increasingly sentimental seasons, the still top-rated show had lost the plot -- literally. In the syrupy, self-righteous swan song, earnest Everyman surgeon Hawkeye Pierce (Alan Alda, who co-wrote and directed) suffers a nervous breakdown after witnessing a mother smother her baby on a bus. He recovers and returns to the 4077th in time for the war to end. Tears, manly hugs, and more tears build up to the big heart-tugging conclusion. As Hawkeye's helicopter takes off, he sees that best bud B.J. (Mike Farrell) has spelled out "goodbye" in stones on the ground. Someone give us a schmaltz-ectomy -- stat! Still, 106 million people tuned in for the pop-culture event (it's still the all-time ratings champ), many of whom we expect will write in to tell us just how wrong we are.
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