Magnum Mania!

Last night was the series finale of Medium. Although I was never a big fan, we watched it more because of my wife liking it, I really enjoyed it and was somewhat moved from the bittersweet nature of the episode. I won't go into detail about it. Watch it online if you missed it. But it dealt with death (a series lead character dies in the first 10 minutes of the episode), life and happily ever after.
It got me to thinking about other series finales. Of course MPI is one of my favoriets for sending a beloved TV show off into rerun heaven. I also liked the way Northern Exposure ended its run. I have never seen the final episode of the Mary Tyler Moore Show, but I did see how Newhart ended. If you don't know what heppened there-look it up; it will be worth it.

What other memorable series endings do you recall?

When I think of incredible show finales I always think of Newhart. That one was probably the most clever thing I have ever seen. I saw Bob Newhart speak in 2009 and he said his wife came up with the ending as a joke and I guess everyone loved it.

I also loved Magnum (always cry) and I really love the Golden Girls finale as well, where Dorothy marries Blanche's uncle played by Leslie Nielson. It's such a great, sweet and sad ending.

AmandaByNight wrote:When I think of incredible show finales I always think of Newhart. That one was probably the most clever thing I have ever seen. I saw Bob Newhart speak in 2009 and he said his wife came up with the ending as a joke and I guess everyone loved it. .

I wholeheartedly agree, it was the best TV Series ending in history.

Steve wrote:

AmandaByNight wrote:When I think of incredible show finales I always think of Newhart. That one was probably the most clever thing I have ever seen. I saw Bob Newhart speak in 2009 and he said his wife came up with the ending as a joke and I guess everyone loved it. .

I wholeheartedly agree, it was the best TV Series ending in history.

Did you not gasp when he woke up with Emily! It was so incredible.

I would like to see the final MASH again. I only remember bits now. I think at the time, it was the highest rated episode of any show ever (or maybe that was Who Shot JR... ).

The Hannah Montana series finale was surprisingly touching. Lord help me for knowing that and commenting on it.

Oddly enough, I can't recall seeing that many series finales in my time. MASH, St. Elsewhere, Magnum, Northern Exposure, L.A. Law, Seinfeld stick out in my mind.

Just came across this, but the Magnum finale "Resolutions" was apparently the fifth most watched series finale of all-time! Behind only MASH, Cheers, Seinfeld and Friends! 50.7 million, 32% of households, 48% share! You just don't see those kinds of numbers in series finales anymore.

My favorite finale is Miami Vice. This might change when I watch Season 8 of 24 (I just finished S5 today). I've only seen the Magnum finale once or twice and don't remember too much.

Edit: Seinfeld finale was great too.

StarchedUndershirts wrote:My favorite finale is Miami Vice. This might change when I watch Season 8 of 24 (I just finished S5 today). I've only seen the Magnum finale once or twice and don't remember too much.

Edit: Seinfeld finale was great too.

What I liked about the Miami Vice final was the montage at the end to "Tell Me" by Terry Kath (also played at the end of the movie "Electra Glide in Blue"). A powerfull song that is so hard to find downloads of...........

Steve wrote:
What I liked about the Miami Vice final was the montage at the end to "Tell Me" by Terry Kath (also played at the end of the movie "Electra Glide in Blue"). A powerfull song that is so hard to find downloads of...........

Yeah, that montage was great. The other thing I liked was how the last exchange between Crockett and Tubbs is the same as the one at the end of the pilot. Crockett asks Tubbs, "You ever consider a career in southern law enforcement?" Tubbs replies, "Maybe, maybe..."

It's kind've surprising there aren't more great series finales that immediately spring to mind, even though most classic shows were never given advance warning of cancellation. Still, you'd think the number would have grown considerably over the past few decades. Instead, I think there may actually be more disappointing finales that people remember than satisfying ones. (Some- such as St. Elsewhere- even manage to routinely make both lists!)

Among 80s shows, I'm always reminded of the Alf finale, in which Alf was finally going home...the spaceship was overhead...then the government showed up and surrounded the elusive alien. The ship left and "To Be Continued..." appeared onscreen.

Dallas also had a humdinger of an ending, with J.R. being led through his own version of It's A Wonderful Life, only with the "angel" ultimately revealing himself to be an agent of the Devil and J.R. ending up pulling the trigger (offscreen)!

Both finales were "resolved" years later, with tv movies that somehow managed to leave fans even more disappointed.

A somewhat opposite scenario occurred with Walker, Texas Ranger, which ended its original run with a two-hour finale that managed to resolve all the characters' storylines while throwing in everything but the kitchen sink.

A few years later they decided to make a tv movie, but only two or three of the actors returned. It was a fairly forgettable affair, capped off by Walker's wife being shot in the chest- literally during the closing minute. The moral to the story? Don't include a cliffhanger ending before the network has committed to a follow-up movie.

AmandaByNight wrote:When I think of incredible show finales I always think of Newhart. That one was probably the most clever thing I have ever seen. I saw Bob Newhart speak in 2009 and he said his wife came up with the ending as a joke and I guess everyone loved it.

I used to watch Newhart with my mom back in its first run, but somehow I missed the finale. Several years ago I caught his stand up act in Toronto (again with my mom) and as a part of his act, he dropped a screen and showed the end sequence of the finale. Brilliant. I'm glad I got to see it that way too.

Other finales that stand out in a good way for me are MASH, Northern Exposure (although I sort of think of the Rob Morrow departure episode as the finale - the actual finale wasn't great), Seinfeld (which I watched with thousands of others at the Sky Dome in Toronto), and Cheers.

I think several don't stand out, because I really never saw them. Often a show has run its course by the time the decide to can it and the audience is much smaller than it was at its apex. I mean I really liked Happy Days, but who was watching near the end?

Styles Bitchley wrote:

AmandaByNight wrote:When I think of incredible show finales I always think of Newhart. That one was probably the most clever thing I have ever seen. I saw Bob Newhart speak in 2009 and he said his wife came up with the ending as a joke and I guess everyone loved it.

I used to watch Newhart with my mom back in its first run, but somehow I missed the finale. Several years ago I caught his stand up act in Toronto (again with my mom) and as a part of his act, he dropped a screen and showed the end sequence of the finale. Brilliant. I'm glad I got to see it that way too.

Other finales that stand out in a good way for me are MASH, Northern Exposure (although I sort of think of the Rob Morrow departure episode as the finale - the actual finale wasn't great), Seinfeld (which I watched with thousands of others at the Sky Dome in Toronto), and Cheers.

I think several don't stand out, because I really never saw them. Often a show has run its course by the time the decide to can it and the audience is much smaller than it was at its apex. I mean I really liked Happy Days, but who was watching near the end?

Wow, I would love to see Newhart's stand up. I saw him speak at a screening of two of his movies, Cold Turkey and Hot Millions. He's brilliant.

Speaking of Happy Days, which I do not remember the ending of, I do remember another sitcom quite well, Three's Company. That was a pretty good send-off, although it did become a spin off. Three's A Crowd is still one of my favorite shows. Robert Mandan 4ever!

And speaking of the Mandan (as I often do), the finale for SOAP is so frustrating because it's not the finale at all. Talk about leaving too many cliffhangers. I know Katherine Helmond reprised her role on Benson to say she was in limbo... That kind of upset me for some reason.

I think M*A*S*H Sticks out for me. I was pretty young, and I remember it being a really big deal.

I still consider Limbo to be the Magnum finale, and I think it's one of the best shows I've ever seen. Incredibly moving.

I thought the Seinfeld finale was a classic, they all got what they deserved.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, although I was big fan of the series, I thought the finale (and last season in general) was weak.

Sopranos . . . a LOT of opinions about this, but I really liked it. It stopped and made you think and left you with a lot of questions, like the show did.

The Cheers finale I thought was pretty good, but the best part of that, for me, was when Sam adjusted the Geronimo picture on the wall, which was a nod to Coach, who had passed away earlier in the series. Again, IMHO, that series ended when Diane left.

Hmm. I forgot to mention the Lost finale, which I found to be a disappointment. Others have said they like it though. For me, it just confirmed that the writers - just like the audience - didn't actually know where their story-lines were taking them!

too often finales are shows that ran out of gas. The memorable ones are the great ones. Newhart was a show I did not watch on a regular basis, but if you watched tv you couldn't help but see commercials and such. Nowadays with so much tv spread across cable networks, it's easy to get lost in the shuffle.

For me, Newhart might've been the most clever........truly great idea. Mary Tyler Moore people remember, but it wasn't great.......I think last scene is simply Mary turning out lights and closing door at the tv station.

Cheers was good........but maybe too clever in trying to be unpredictable. The loose end type of endings I do not like.

M*A*S*H* was tough.........a show I watched in syndication over and over again was ending.........it was emotional and powerful.

Miami Vice for me was disappointing......the show was on fumes and the ending seemed to be missing something. It just doesn't stand out except the final scene........but if I remember there was a writer's issue that year and episodes were skipped and shown later........messy.

St Elsewhere had one of those AHA moments.......a kid's snow globe and autistic mind was the entire series......very clever. The ending superceded the series in general.

Happy Days........not very strong............the episode with Richie leaving and saying goodbye to Fonzie was more emotional than any, IMO.

Soap......clearly left us in limbo, but if you think about it......the show was destined to end in a similar fashion.......every episode left you hanging so the end would have been a cliffhanger of sorts anyways. Great show.

Friends......that was good......everyone got the Ross/Rachel payoff they wanted.

Seinfeld.......dumb, but appropriate.....a show about nothing had a nothing ending.

Magnum........wow.........AT THE TIME.......I was extremely disappointed. The format was different and the 'movie' feel left loyal fans cold. Not to mention the useless Tidewater storyline. In the end though, the payoff is Magnum getting his daughter back.........something I couldn't appreciate as much then as i do now being a father. The end scene with the wedding was eh, nothing memorable. As finales go, not good. As the finale to Magnum goes......it was must see just to see what happened...but not much beyond that. a 2 hour movie with some puzzling plotlines.

The NEW Battlestar Galactica had a very clever ending........they tied up that bow nicely. Solid show for sci-fi fans.