Question of the Week
I’m feeling a little let down by the Sopranos finale. To be sure, there were things about it that I liked, but the series ended not with a bang, but a whimper. The finale is the writers’ last chance to say whatever it was they wanted to say when they created the series. It should be something spectacular.
There have been series finales that have knocked my socks off. My pick for best finale would be the last episode of M*A*S*H, an instant classic that did justice to the magnificent series it concluded. Over twenty years later, it still has the power to move me.
I also really liked the last episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, which used a time-travel scenario to pay tribute to how far the show had grown during its run. Picard actually goes back in time to the series premiere. Brilliant.
And who could forget the finale of Newhart, when Bob wakes up in his earlier series The Bob Newhart Show and realizes he dreamed the whole Newhart series?
Cheers brought back Diane for its finale. Seinfeld put the gang on trial for their lack of empathy throughout the run of the series. Deep Space Nine ended with a final battle of biblical proportions between the forces of good and evil, and the ultimate sacrifice by the central character to save the universe. Now that’s good teevee.
What was your favorite series finale of any TV show, and why?
June 12th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Leave it to Bill to mention two Star Trek series. What about 6 Feet Under? In a show about death, it killed off every character spanning years into the future, definitively ending any discussion of a movie. One of the best.