Topic: Exceptional Series Finales

[addicted2dvd]

I have been thinking for a while now that I wanted to do some sort of TV Marathon of exceptional series finales. There is a couple things about this though... first of all it has to be something I have seen before... as I can't skip over to the series finale before watching the entire series. I also hope to have a nice amount of episodes I can watch for the marathon... I am thinking at the very least 10 or 12 episodes. As of right now I have 175 series completed. You can see the list of titles HERE.

Without going through the list yet myself I can think of 3 series with exceptional series finales...

- Angel
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Charmed: Forever Charmed
- Ellen
- Friends
- M*A*S*H: Goodbye, Farewell and Amen
- Smallville: Finale

So help me create a good list... What is some of your favorite series finales?

[Jimmy]

Millenium if you took the second season as the end of the serie

[addicted2dvd]

  I haven't watched Millennium in years! Barely remember the show!

[Jimmy]

I'm surprise you haven't as a lot of episodes are "horror" themes. More real world horror than monster horror but horror in my book (and more frightening as it can be true in real life).

[DJ Doena]

I haven't watched Charmed. M*A*S*H was great. But Smallville? No. Don't get me wrong, I love the show even with all its faults. But the final episode contradicted everything season 10 was building up to (Clark letting go of his past, Lois had already learned to live by his side, ...). I thought even Lex's cameo was rather pointless.

A series ending I really loved was All Good Things... from Star Trek: The Next Generation and Sleeping in Light from Babylon 5. IMHO the B5 ending was the best finale I've ever seen.

If you consider the final episode of season 8's Stargate SG-1 (Moebius) as an "end of an era" kind of episode (it was the last one with the original cast) then that was pretty cool, too.

[samuelrichardscott]

Best finale ever belongs to the best show ever... The Shield.

The finale is perfection.

[addicted2dvd]

I added Buffy, Angel and Friends to the above list. Now have 6 total listed.

I'm surprise you haven't as a lot of episodes are "horror" themes. More real world horror than monster horror but horror in my book (and more frightening as it can be true in real life).

Which shows are you thinking of?

@Karsten
I obviously loved the Smallville finale... as I already watched it like 4 or 5 times counting original airing.

Unfortunately I don't have any of the other shows listed yet.

[Jimmy]

The one with Lance Henrickson... Is there another one using that name

[addicted2dvd]

I misunderstood you... thought you were talking about other series like it.

[addicted2dvd]

I added Ellen to my list from a suggestion at Invelos.

Another one I would love to add is Medium... but unfortunately I don't have the last 2 seasons.

[Najemikon]

Just seen Sherlock Series 2 finale. That's pretty frickin' awesome!

[Achim]

Just seen Sherlock Series 2 finale. That's pretty frickin' awesome!

You are using the word series wrong...

Hmmm, I always did wonder what you call "an entire series" (in the American sense) in the UK...

[MEJHarrison]

I see Babylon 5 was already mentioned.  Good!

I'd also add probably the best finale I've ever seen: Six Feet Under

The finale to The Wire was also pretty good.

But I have to say Pete, I was disappointed with Buffy, Angel and Smallville.  Guess we just have different tastes when it comes to finales. 

[addicted2dvd]

With Angel... would have loved to seen the entire final battle... but other then that I enjoyed it. But yeah... I am used to being alone on a lot of the stuff I like

[Najemikon]

Just seen Sherlock Series 2 finale. That's pretty frickin' awesome!

You are using the word series wrong...

Hmmm, I always did wonder what you call "an entire series" (in the American sense) in the UK...

How very dare you.  Actually, I don't think we feel the need to have a word for a multi-series collection. Just that: "collection". That has always sufficed.

Season is wrong for British TV drama because our shows aren't dictated by any particular rules or objectives. Drama's tend not to be in competition with one another and there has never been an obvious time of year for showing something. Series length is never guaranteed (Torchwood for instance), nor is a follow up series at all.

I have no problem with the reality shows like X-Factor or Strictly Come Dancing being referred to as seasons because the format is fixed and predictable. Otherwise, I'm waiting for the next series of Sherlock with no idea at all if there even will be.