Having just watched the last Lost and 24 of all time, and enjoying and being confused by each one in its own way, I've been thinking about the elements that make a great TV series finale.
I've narrowed it down to 10 magic ingredients.
A series finale should:
- Be surprising by telling you something you didn't already know.
- Not be so surprising that it ruins the rewatchability of the episodes that have come before.
- Stand the test of time or get better with time.
- Be in keeping with the rest of the series.
- Take itself seriously, but not so seriously as to become pretentious.
- Avoid cliches, like "it was all a dream" or "a lion rushed out of nowhere and ate them!"
- Be self-referential, but in moderation.
- Bring back characters that have (inevitably) left the show or died.
- Tell us a little about what happens to everyone, while leaving some unsolved mysteries.
- Break at least one of the above rules.
**Spoiler alert!**
10. St. Elsewhere
This widely mocked hospital-drama finale set the standard for making viewers go, "What the hell!?" It's here in place of the Sopranos cut-to-black ending, which pretty much did the same thing.
Imagine ER ending this way: turns out the whole show took place in an autistic boy's head, inspired by a toy hospital in a snow globe.
Zany. Wacky. Crazy. Terrible. Memorable. And it's still being talked about years later.
Oh, yeah: and the credits rolled over the MTM cat, flatlining on a gurney.
So bad, it's great!
9. Oz
One of the most overlooked shows and finale ended the series in typical style: a poisonous substance is delivered to the prison, and it's evacuation time - onto yellow buses snaking around the prison.
Cue final shots of empty set. Lovely.
8. The Shield
What's worse than Vic Mackey, everyone's favorite crooked cop, landing in prison? How about a fate worse than prison: a cubicle lit by buzzing fluorescent lights. And I know of what I speak.
7. The Wire
The greatest TV show in history had one of the greatest finales: a "one more for the road" montage and a final, lingering shot on the show's star: Baltimore.
6. The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Hankies, group hugs, sentiment, comedy, a group Kleenex-grab, and...the last one leaving turns out the lights. Classy.
5. Late Night with David Letterman
The best talk-show farewell ever.
Tom Hanks delivers his best performance as himself (telling a hilarious story about working as a bellhop and coming face to face with Cher and Gregg Allman), and Letterman introduces the one guest he always wished he had on the show: Bruce Springsteen.
Bruce delivers some last-minute instructions to the band on his way out, and the resulting performance of Glory Days is ragged, energetic, and pure fun. The band members look like they're having the time of their lives. Magic!
4. The Office (British version)
Why the American version of the Office will never hold a candle to the original (yeah, I know: I'm a TV snob - but what are ya gonna do?).
The finale was touching, hilarious, actually found a way to make David Brent more of a buffoon and a hero, and cleverly solved the problem of how to make a romantic resolution seem original and true.
3. Newhart
I recall watching the first half of this finale and thinking, "This show is terrible! None of this makes any sense!"
Cue last-minute save: Bob wakes up next to his first TV wife, Suzanne Pleshette, and expresses the same sentiment. Presto! - the worst finale in TV history became the best.
When I saw Bob Newhart doing stand-up comedy live at the Concert Hall a few years ago, he brought a video screen along with him, just to show this:
2. Twin Peaks
A pleasant stroll through the Black Lodge wouldn't be complete without maniacal laughing, strobe lights, blood, and a dancing midget offering coffee.
After this mind-bending sequence, our hero - FBI agent Dale Cooper - becomes the embodiment of evil, smashing his head into a mirror, laughing, and asking the very rhetorical question (in his best Jack Nicholson impression), "Where's Annie?! Where's Annie?! Where's Annie?!"
1. Six Feet Under
The ultimate finale for every show: everybody dies. Executed with grace, style, and a lovely song by Sia.
A perfect illustration of the broad sweep of life, what it means, and how quickly it's over:
Have to agree with you - the finale of Six Feet Under was as close to perfect as I've seen.
ReplyDeleteI can't really agree or disagree, having never watched any of these shows. I think it might be interesting to make a top 10 worst series finales list, as this is usually one of the most messed up episodes in any TV series. My top 3 worst: Seinfeld, Quantum Leap and Friends.
ReplyDeleteSix Feet Under is by far one of the most touching and perfect series endings. What a better way to end a show that was all about the message "Everybody Dies"
ReplyDeleteStar Trek TNG "All Good Things" gets an honorable mention. Minus First Contact, I like to pretend the movies never happened and that was the end of Picard and crew.
I had Cheers as #1 when asked the same question this morning, with Blackadder (powerful last five minutes), Rome, Star Trek TNG and The Wire trailing to the top five.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with your endorsement of the SFU finale. Though I really wish any and all TV shows and movies would refrain from using "Breathe Me" ever again, because it just throws into sharp relief the fact that they fall far short of the mark.
ReplyDeleteI regret I never watched Six Feet Under (never too late, I guess), but that Twin Peaks clip sure brought me back. If I recall, it depressed me for a week. It wasn't just that Agent Cooper became the thing he was hunting all along -- if I recall, all of the main characters either were killed or had their lives destroyed.
ReplyDeleteOZ had a great ending. Loved that show.
ReplyDeleteBut as for your 10 rules, can you break one of the above rules by not breaking any rules, therefor breaking your tenth rule?
One of my favourite shows was Twin Peaks, except for a few poorly written episodes/dull plots in the middle of Season Two.
ReplyDeleteMust say, I'm surprised it made your list. It was not written as a series finale. David Lynch has indicated quite clearly that it was written to try and force the network's hand to commit to a third season. (You can verify this fact by watching a discussion with Lynch and audio commentary in the bonus features in on the DVD Gold Edition Box Sex).
Kenton: almost everything in that final episode was an unresolved cliffhanger, aside for the fact that Bob begins to inhabit Agent Cooper.
Season three would have been interesting, Lynch indicated (in those same bonus features) that the third season would have seen an internal struggle of Good and Evil within Agent Dale Cooper; all the while Dale Cooper being unaware of Bob... thus, investigating himself and his crimes unknowingly.
Kinda related, be sure to check out the 1992 film "Fire Walk With Me," directed by David Lynch. It was filmed and released after the series was canceled. A decent movie, but a prequel to the series. It does not address the unresolved story lines from the final episode of the series.