Which television show or series absolutely nailed the ending?

Newhart

The usual: Six Feet Under, The Comeback, Newhart.

You’re going to piss off the people who insist that the ending of The Sopranos is genius, but it’s just that no one got it.

I’d also add Cheers, Frasier, The Good Place and Mary Tyler Moore to R2’s list. (I was writing them as that post came up).

Absolutely, Six Feet Under. A masterpiece.

The whole set of Suzanne Pleshette interviews on the Television Academy site is worth watching — what a great broad — but her reminiscing about the Newhart ending is great. She said they built the Bob-and-Emily bedroom in a corner of the soundstage and hid it so not even most of the cast and crew knew about it.

But the funniest was describing how she had to get there six hours early and be stashed away in a room by herself: "Six hours with no telephone or shopping!"

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Angel

Boardwalk Empire

The Thornbirds

Cheers

Ending of Sopranos was fucking GENIUS.

The final episode of “Peyton Place,” which saw Dr. Rossi bound over for trial for allegedly murdering his girlfriend Marsha Russell’s ex-husband, was one of the best of the series.

M*A*S*H*

The Bob Newhart Show (the 70s one)

The Fugitive

If the ending of The Sopranos confounds you, you're an idiot.

It was simple, shocking, and brilliant.

R11, it was a copout. An idiotic ending to an otherwise great show.

The Good Wife. SLAP HER DIANE!

R12 "Wah! I need to know EXACTLY what happens to Tony and his family!!!!!! Any kind of ambiguity scares ME! Or, having to draw my own conclusions!!! WAAAAH"

I’ve never understood the hate for The Sopranos and Lost endings. Yes you have to watch these finales multiple times but they are absolutely genius and powerful once you fully understand their contexts.

OK, whoa there, R15.

The Sopranos had a terrific ending.

Lost...different story.

The Sopranos was a strong show from beginning to end.

Lost had a brilliant pilot/first episode and a strong first season and each season got progressively shittier and shittier....albeit with a strong episode here and there but quickly back to "let's just make it up as we go along" nonsense.

The final episode where all the main characters heterosexually pair up in Heaven's Waiting Room, was stupid.

Breaking Bad. One of the best.

Roseanne was definitely consistent beginning to end.

The Sopranos ending fanboys need to go sleep with the fishes!!!

Am I the only person in the world who likes the Seinfeld finale?

Yeah, nobody tops Breaking Bad.

It's amazing because to a certain degree, they were flying by the seat of their pants up until the end. Not entirely, but..,

It's not like it was all mapped out across the seasons. Not at all.

Vince Gilligan Is a show running GOAT

R20 YES

The Comeback. A bit sentimental considering the tone of the whole show, but very nice anyway.

I vaguely remember being happy with the end of Friday Night Lights.

Mad Men

Some may disagree, but I thought "Big Love" stuck the landing despite a shaky last couple of seasons.

Mr. Robot

Oh please not MASH. They are a pretentious bunch.

I was compelled to watch ER when it ended, knowing full well it jumped the shark. So much so I forgot happened.

What happened* I meant

Although my affection for it waxed and waned throughout its run, The Leftovers has one of the best finales I've seen.

The Sopranos did nail the ending.

St. Elsewhere

"A Place To Call Home."

[quote]You’re going to piss off the people who insist that the ending of The Sopranos is genius, but it’s just that no one got it.

No R8, it SUCKED. And you know who else thought it SUCKED? James Gandolfini. He thought it was lazy & a cop out. Most of the people on the show thought it was stupid too

And they were all right.

The ending to The Shield was very good. The Shield was an excellent show.

R14, don't be a dumbass. Why watch a show if you don't want to know what happened to the family?

James Gandolfini and most of the people on the show thought it was a very lazy, stupid ending. Even the creator who wrote the shitty ending has admitted, it's a shitty ending.

No ending isn't creative. It's lazy. Dozens of shows have similar endings. They were canceled and the writers didn't get a chance to write an ending.

[quote]The final episode of “Peyton Place,” which saw Dr. Rossi bound over for trial for allegedly murdering his girlfriend Marsha Russell’s ex-husband, was one of the best of the series.

Sounds more like a cliffhanger than a series finale.

[quote]No ending isn't creative. It's lazy. Dozens of shows have similar endings. They were canceled and the writers didn't get a chance to write an ending.

The ending was that Tony was killed. The clues are all there.

The ending of BTVS was ridiculous, but seeing Sarah Michelle Gellar as a war-torn soldier who survived was awesome.

The Sopranos had a superb ending. Only an idiot literalist would think otherwise.

The Americans

R33 - I thought I was the only one here who watched that show. (I loved it and loved the ending.)

I agree with others here who mentioned The Sopranos and (especially) Six Feet Under as having dynamite endings.

And I also loved VEEP's final episode.

[quote]Am I the only person in the world who likes the Seinfeld finale?

Yes, Larry, you are.

Angel--Perfect finale

I'm the ONLY person who doesn't care for the "Six Feet Under" Ending.

I ALSO thought the Seinfeld finale was perfect. Four miserable, selfish people who ruined lives go to jail for being miserable, selfish people.

Sopranos--Brilliant

Good Times--gives me a lump in the throat

The Parkers--Predictable but sweet

Peep Show--Right back where they started after 8 seasons

Three's Company--see The Parkers

Charmed--Should've ended with Phoebeast and Raige dying in the fight.

The Comeback

Righteous Gemstones

Broad City

Fleabag - perfect

R3 8 ALSO, it's pretty fucking obvious. The surprise attack (on him and his familly which is against mob ethics so he wouldn't be expecting it), all of his generals dead, and the FUCKING song for Christ's sakes.

"You know, uh, you really should wear more sweaters."

" Turn On." Nailed its final episode ( which also as the first), thereby cementing its place in history.

"Extras," Ricky Gervais' show about low paid extras working in London.

"After Life," Gervais' other show that dealt with death and the meaning of life.

Both of their final episodes were perfection. Gervais knows how to do a series correctly. He gives us just enough, doesn't wear out his welcome, then wraps things up exquisitely.

But didn't Gervais end the original THE OFFICE on a clunky, schmaltzy note? Sentimentality where the show never exhibited that before?

R50 I don't know about that one. I don't think I ever saw the finale of the original Office.

The Mary Tyler Moore Show

Falcon Crest - Jane Wyman's soliloquy was a quite effective way to calm the nerves of pretty much everyone. Everyone, I'm pretty sure with no exception, thought that the show's last two seasons were abysmal. In its last season the show was unrecognizable. Angela's speech to her grandfather was like a bow tie pulling all events of the show together reminding the viewers of the good times and the land. Always the land. It could have been written by Earl Hamner.

Can somebody explain to me why Dallas caught so much flak for turning a season into a dream but St. Elsewhere and Newhart were praised for turning all their seasons into a dream?

Newhart was mocking what they did on Dallas.

Also, Newhart turned the "it was all a dream" into a dream from a character on an earlier tv show.

If Dallas writers had the foresight to have Major Nelson wake up next to Jeannie and announce a crazy dream he had about an oil baron in Texas, it would have been wild and acclaimed. But they didn't.

[quote]Good Times--gives me a lump in the throat

Okay you HAVE to be trolling, r44

OZ....

R56 WHY? Both the Evans and Willona and Penny finally got out of the ghetto and through the magic of TV, they end up in the same duplex a floor from each other. The last scene gets me everytime.

Angel Buffy Battlestar Galactica Fringe Avatar The Last Airbender Titans Babylon 5 The West Wing

"Newhart" was the absolutely best finale.

Angel

Buffy

Battlestar Galactica

Fringe

Avatar The Last Airbender

Titans

Babylon 5

The West Wing

I loved the finale of the original Office in spite of the sentimentality because it showed that ordinary, flawed people can make decisions that change their circumstances. I also loved the ending of Peep Show, with the guys right back where they started. Based on that ending, I was able to correctly predict the ending of Succession early in season 2-- history repeats itself (self-made Tom taking over from self-made Brian Cox).

I'm with you, R58. I still remember that ending to this day (and saw it in reruns as a kid in the '80s).

I watched Lost from day one, and I didn't have a problem with the last episode. I can understand the frustration of having the show toss a million mysteries at the audience and then never solve them. But the resolutions to each character's story worked for me.

Patsy Parisi gives the ending to The Sopranos two big thumbs up.

Knots Landing! Mack and Karen going into their house. Val and Gary are remarried and going back into the house they moved into in the pilot. Then Donna Mills aka Abby drives up and announces that she is moving back into her old house and tosses her hair back and you know she is ready for some good trouble. Yay! ………… ALSO - I really enjoyed the ending of NYPD Blue. Andy Sipowictz after years of being a screw up lush pulled it together - put on his glasses and be became Lt.

[quote]The Comeback. A bit sentimental considering the tone of the whole show, but very nice anyway.

I think it needed it. The penultimate episode was so fucking DARK — Mickey almost dying, Mark finally, finally walking out on Val, and the reveal that Jane was going to call the documentary "The Assassination of Valerie Cherish."

Going from videotape to an omniscient film POV was genius.

[quote]And I also loved VEEP's final episode.

For all the outrageous dialogue and situations in VEEP, in the last episode where Selena stabs Gary in the back over almost nothing earned a gay gasp from me.

The ending of The Sopranos was open ended so they could make a movie or another series down the road. Only James Gandolfini's death prevented that from ever happening.

But yeah, it's eye rolling to hear how profound it is from people. Like it's a Truffaut or Ingmar Bergman movie.

St. Elsewhere had the quirkiest, most interesting finale so far.

Good or bad, you make the call. But no show has ever wrapped up things in such a unique way.

St Elsewhere's finale was unexpected but not all that surprising. The show was half satire most of the time and verged on absurd drama. i liked it. it was appropriate.

Despite that the series went off the rail midway through, I really enjoyed the series finale of Nip/Tuck.

I didn't like the ending of The Sopranos at all. The show started out about being Tony in therapy with Dr. Melfi, and they just abandoned her as a character a few episodes before the ending--they had her terminate his therapy, and he was perfectly okay with it. I felt like they lost track of what the show was about.

Boardwalk Empire. That otherworldly future lady who just shows up on the boardwalk and shows Nucky the TV, signalling the end of jazz age and the start of the mid-century.

Then he's killed by the grandson of the child he pimped out to get his first position of power. I loved Six Feet Under but that was the best and cleanest ending I've seen.

R73, she terminated the therapy because she realized he was an bad person and the therapy was just making him a more functional bad person. I think it was the perfect end for the therapy part of the show. She was wrestling with the ethical implications of treating a criminal for the entire series.

I didn't like the ending of The Sopranos but I thought the Melfi ending was satisfying and made sense for her character.

The Sopranos nailed it you basic unimaginative cunt.

And the final shot of Dr. Melfi gets my vote for the wittiest of the series' many allusions to THE GODFATHER.

[quote] Roseanne was definitely consistent beginning to end.

I thought that was one that didn't end well - the whole last season was a mess.

Battlestar Galactica

I actually liked Orange Is the New Black's series finale. Very hard to tie up so many character story lines in a final episode but I think they did justice to each one. Some are sad, some are happy, some are hopeful, and some are tragic.

Lots of cameos of returning characters. They drew a lot of dialogue parallels from the first eps. Then they came full circle with Piper narrating her first lines of dialogue in the first ep and repeating them in the last scenes of the series. It was a satisfying full circle moment. "I've always loved getting clean."

Fuck you OP, The Sopranos nailed that finale and THEN SOME- Its perfect-

And I agree about The Comeback- stunning finale (and I hope it will not be the finale)

Fuck you gently with a chainsaw, finook R81!

OP, Eat your manigott.

You are not alone, R20.

I was never a huge fan of Cold Feet, but I thought the final episode - the aftermath of Helen Baxendale's character's death - was excellent. (The show did get revived thirteen years later, so that episode is no longer the finale, but I still think it should count.

Twin Peaks!

Has anybody else noticed that only WASPs love the Sopranos ending?

No I never noticed that.

The Big Bang Theory. Sheldon got the Nobel he always wanted, gave a wonderful speech that he never would have at the beginning of the series, then they're back at the apartment eating take-out as always. Life goes on.

R87 It’s a fucking lie and I ain’t even Italian American.

R88, that's a shame.

I have.

David Chase is a Protestant, though, so maybe he was speaking to your people.

The Facts of Life finale!

Another vote for The Americans.

Ozark. I need to back and watch again

After watching the first season of Ozark, I wanted to suck Jason Bateman’s dick.

The Jeffersons

[quote]I loved Six Feet Under but that was the best and cleanest ending I've seen.

Breaking Bad was another clean ending.

Another vote for Knots Landing

The Americans, Six Feet Under, and The Bob Newhart Show.

Battlestar Galactica was a great show, but its final season and finale were garbage. The final stab at giving some totally unnecessary spiritual relevance to the series failed terribly. Starbuck was an angel all along? The cylons will re-emerge as Digipets? Please.

The Wire. Good old Jimmy McNulty looking out over Baltimore, with the same old terrible things happening again and again.

End of final table read for Big Bang Theory.

Every time I hear about someone raving about the Sopranos ending, I know they're a WASP douchebro. Clear giveaway.

Friends had a good ending, though rather obvious.

Ross & Rachel, of course, got back together (did anybody really think she wouldn't get off the stupid plane?), Monica got her babies, and they left the apartment that was the center of it all.

Fame. As I recall, they brought back a lot of the show’s former cast members for some sort of event at the school. They were also celebrating Leroy as he was finally going to leave the school to pursue his career as a dancer (he had become an assistant teacher in the last couple of seasons). This was obviously because, if the show had been renewed for a seventh season, Gene Anthony Ray had announced he wasn’t planning to return.

R27 killed Loretta Swit!

r103, give it a rest. Nobody but you sees the Soprano ending as an indicator for a social divide. And repeating your statement over and over doesn't make it any more accurate.

The original "Perry Mason." They gave bit parts to some of the crew and staff. Dick Clark was the killer. Estelle Winwood. Denver Pyle. James Stacy, Jackie Coogan. And Erle Stanley Gardner (author of PM novels) as a judge. What more do you need?

"Parks and Recreation" made me happy from first episode to last.

I just love all of the hints that Leslie eventually became President, and all of the flash-forwards for every character.

Just made me very happy.

Kind of like a funny version of my other favorite finale, "Six Feet Under."

The Sopranos finale sucked because David Chase thought of it, instead of trusting his writers. Chase was intimidated by every writer on the show because they were toying with his vision.

^^^^David Chase was a fucking Protestant. I'm amazed he nailed Italian-American Catholic culture as well as he did.

The Good Fight ending, I loved it but then I loved the series.

[quote]David Chase was a fucking Protestant.

Doesn't sound like it.

R25, the ending of “Big Love” is great. That last scene with Bruce Dean and Grace Zabriskie (Bill’s parents) is haunting.

I liked how “Friends” ended. Most of the events in the episode -Chandler and Monica becoming parents and moving to the suburbs and Rachel going to Paris-had been the subject of multiple episodes so it wasn’t like one of those final episodes where every life-changing event comes at you in one episode, like “Good Times” or “Alice”.

Star Trek Discovery

I actually didn't like Friends. It was just a dumb show about 6 straight rich white people. Even back then something bothered me about how they joked about anything queer, how they continuously insulted the one guy in the show with advanced education and an intellect, how they would repeatedly push themes on traditional male/female roles.

It was a mediocre show with tons of micro aggressive themes that I just couldn't stand.

Friends was a MAGA-lite show, we just didn't know it then.

Leave It To Beaver had the first primetime sitcom official ending episode, and it was well done.

R103 Then you're an idiot.

R102 I HATE the BB Theory but that was a touching video. I will NEVER forgive Kaley Cuckoo for ruining the last season of Charmed. I mean...it was def time to wrap it up but her character with those over-glossed lips and bob was awful

R120, may you wake up to a decapitated horse.