50 Greatest TV Endings

Mr E

Just caught a glimpse of an ad for a TV Show thats on next Sunday on Sky One - 50 Greatest TV Endings. I expect that a large quantity are going to be from the 60s and 70s (especially if the host, Cilla Black, has any say!), but there should be lots of good stuff in there.

So lets get some predictions going.... what were the greatest TV Endings of all time?

Akrasia

Mr E wrote: »

Just caught a glimpse of an ad for a TV Show thats on next Sunday on Sky One - 50 Greatest TV Endings. I expect that a large quantity are going to be from the 60s and 70s (especially if the host, Cilla Black, has any say!), but there should be lots of good stuff in there.

So lets get some predictions going.... what were the greatest TV Endings of all time?

so its going to totally ruin 50 tv shows that you probably haven't seen before?


where do they come up with this ****e?

ixoy

Even though I'm only watching the series now, I know Blake's Seven will feature for how it ended.

Also I'd chuck in "Twin Peaks" ending and probably get "St. Elsewhere" in there too.

matrim

Angel had a great ending to the series too, but I don't think it will be there.

ejmaztec

I wonder if they're going to show Tommy Cooper's last TV performance.

mike65

Blackadder Goes Fourth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqzZPPEFUZ8

Mike.

chalkitdown1

Six Feet Under should win.




But it won't. It probably won't even be mentioned at all.

monkeyfudge

Most recently Enterprise had a fantastic ending... too bad the episode it was attached to was rubbish.

pixelburp

mike65 wrote: »

Blackadder Goes Fourth.

Mike.

+1 to this; a refined, tragic ending to a hilarious show. Captain Blackadder finally shows some mettle & it's good to hear that the rumoured sequel to "forth" never went ahead.

Might I throw in my own best ending? Spaced! Every characters arc tied up & the "will they or won't they" of Tim and Daisy is subtly answered

Photi

Sopranos will probably be up there, and Life On Mars perhaps.

spurious

Corrupt officer Joan 'The Freak' Ferguson finally getting locked up herself in 'Prisoner - Cell Block H'.

Basq

Only one can win in my mind I'm afraid (but as chalkitdown1 has said, it probably won't even place)... out of all the TV series I've seen (PLENTY!), not one even came close to the ending of 'Six Feet Under'.

Without doubt, the most satisfying end to a TV show ever!

Not ambiguous or open ended (see 'The Sopranos') and not up it's own arse and self-righteous (see 'Friends') - just PERFECT in every single respect!

And as a pleasant reminder to those who have seen it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVBiZdy6TpQ

WARNING: Don't watch if you haven't seen the series, or seen it in it's entirety. And if you haven't seen it, PLEASE DO!

I really cannot recommend it enough.. possibly one of the finest series to grace our screens.

DS9 or Quantum Leap come to mind.

Sandwich

ixoy wrote: »

Also I'd chuck in "Twin Peaks" ending

What ?!?!!?

Twin Peaks didnt have an ending - It had a great, great beginning - achieved by the fact that having no ending, they could do what they liked, without worrying about needing to keep things coherent for an ending.

KnifeWRENCH

I definitely agree with "Blackadder Goes Forth". Fantastic ending.

I only ever saw 2 episodes of "The Sopranos", namely the last 2 episodes! So I thiught the ending was very clever, but if I'd been a longtime fan of the show I might have been a bit pissed off!!

Agent Smith

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMEfIMsnORg

couldnt find a better clip on youtube

The Bollox

this is a very strange one, but anyone who saw it should agree with me. the ending to Mortal Kombat Conquest was fantastic. I was sorely tempted to stop watching after the first two episodes as the acting is woeful, but the fighting scenes are ok, and the very talented (see sexy) Kristanna Loken is in it. all in all the end justifies the means

Pigman II

Star Trek TNG had a great ending. It just ends with a bunch of friends sitting around a table playing poker. Always felt that if they'd killed the show here then Trek would be still be popular and fondly remembered across all demograpics today instead of just being the domain of tastless idiots who ate up whatever regurgitated rubbish was thrown at them subsequently.

Our Friends in the North has a great (and similar) ending too. Four friends in the same room for the first time in 30 years. Nothing needs to be said between them and nothing is. Then that little bit with Geordie Peacock walking over the Tyne bridge to camera. Chilling.

Driver 8

Six Feet Under for me too, I have to say

zuutroy

Cheers was very good.

ixoy

Is it actually the final episode or is it just the end of an episode? If its the latter than surely Dallas will be in there with Bobby Ewing in the shower.

Sandwich wrote:

What ?!?!!?

Twin Peaks didnt have an ending - It had a great, great beginning - achieved by the fact that having no ending, they could do what they liked, without worrying about needing to keep things coherent for an ending.

Yes but to me its memorable due to sheer frustration at never having a resolution. Maybe not so much greatest as most damned frustrating.

"Six Feet Under" had a superb ending, and I'd like to throw in "Babylon 5" for its final moments too.

Conor108

ST: Voyager?

*Runs*

Mr E

ixoy wrote: »

Is it actually the final episode or is it just the end of an episode? If its the latter than surely Dallas will be in there with Bobby Ewing in the shower.

I think its last ever episodes of shows, ixoy... The last episode of Dallas (with the devil in the mirror and the gunshot) was pretty memorable though, and I'd expect it to feature somewhere in the top 50.

Zaph

[noparse]M*A*S*H[/noparse]

The Black Oil

basquille wrote: »

Only one can win in my mind I'm afraid (but as chalkitdown1 has said, it probably won't even place)... out of all the TV series I've seen (PLENTY!), not one even came close to the ending of 'Six Feet Under'.

Without doubt, the most satisfying end to a TV show ever!

Not ambiguous or open ended (see 'The Sopranos') and not up it's own arse and self-righteous (see 'Friends') - just PERFECT in every single respect!

And as a pleasant reminder to those who have seen it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVBiZdy6TpQ

WARNING: Don't watch if you haven't seen the series, or seen it in it's entirety. And if you haven't seen it, PLEASE DO!

I really cannot recommend it enough.. possibly one of the finest series to grace our screens.

Amen, sir.

Doctor DooM

mike65 wrote: »

Blackadder Goes Fourth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqzZPPEFUZ8

Mike.

I really don't think this has ever been matched.

Running Bing

Sopranos was the perfect way to end the greatest television show of all time so it has to be that.



Absolutely beautiful ending.

Sandwich

The end of the second series of The Office (we forget the superfluous Christmas specials) - Brent in the chicken outfit pleading for his job. The Office was the king of cringe but that really set a new high.

nyarlothothep

Star Trek TNG, had a nice resolution to the judgement on humanity story arc and made a good philosophical point on where humanity needed to go from the vantage point of the 24th century in order to progress.

Sad Professor

Babylon 5 had a fantastic ending. Unlike a lot of shows which try and squeeze everything into the last episode, much of B5's main arc was resolved long before the end, allowing the final episode to be a kind of epilogue to the series. I'm hoping Lost is going to do something similar.

While I have some nitpicks about the editing, The Sopranos had a great ending too. The music, the family sitting around the table, it was perfect.

TNG's series finale was also great, especially the last scene. Hated DS9's though. Too many stupid battles and crap. That show needed another season to wrap things up properly.

SP

kerash

My vote goes to Third Watch, my fav show ever! Aww, the thought of it makes me well-up:( It never should have been axed imo, however t'was a fantastic ending for the fans, they wrapped it up nicely.

ziedth

I thought angel had a very good ending but also agree with ST:THG,

but if i could only pick one now it would be black adder, i remember at the time thinking it was cock, but TBF i was only 12

plastic membrane

ixoy wrote: »

Is it actually the final episode or is it just the end of an episode? If its the latter than surely Dallas will be in there with Bobby Ewing in the shower.


Yes but to me its memorable due to sheer frustration at never having a resolution. Maybe not so much greatest as most damned frustrating.

Heartily agree. It was a cliffhanger designed for the fabled and much needed third season. I still cant watch it its so frustrating

For sheers ballsiness i have to go for The Soprano's.

pickarooney

Moonlighting, having broken then fourth wall consistently, finally kicked it down and ran around the car park with its pants down. I liked it.

stopyourshoppin

pickarooney wrote: »

Moonlighting, having broken then fourth wall consistently, finally kicked it down and ran around the car park with its pants down. I liked it.

oh my god I'm in shock - I didn't think anyone would mention Moonlighting! I have to say I absolutely hated the way the last series ended, I felt totally let down but I think the best ending of an episode was when Maddie and David finally spent the night with eachother and Be My Baby was playing over the scene - the acting and writing were perfect in that episode.

I think Friends ended very well and using Nick Drake was perfect.
And Blackadder as someone mentioned had a heartbreaking ending.

Pigman II

stopyourshoppin wrote: »

I think Friends ended very well and using Nick Drake was perfect.

Nick Drake used in Friends? What scene?

stopyourshoppin

Pigman II wrote: »

Nick Drake used in Friends? What scene?

oops sorry i didn't realise i'd typed nick drake (was listening to album as posting!) - i meant jefferson airplane's song - don't know the name of the song if anyone can enlighten me? something 'journey'? might be way off with the title but i think that's part of it

Mr E

I think they kind of cheated with this show. In a show of "50 Greatest TV Endings", they had some strange choices (mainly around characters leaving soaps and dramas). I also thought there was a VERY heavy bias towards UK shows. Here are the top 15, along with some of the ones mentioned earlier in this thread.

43: Moonlighting
28: Blakes 7
21: Twin Peaks

15: Buffy (Slayers Awakening, Sunnydale Destroyed)
14: Inspector Morse (Death of Morse)
13: The Vicar of Dibley (Wedding)
12: Emmerdale (Plane Crash)
11: Theres Something About Miriam (The Crying Game)
10: Coronation Street (Hilda Ogden leaving)
09: Blackadder (The final charge)
08: Lost (Death of Charlie)
07: The Office UK (Christmas Party)
06: M*A*S*H (Hawkeye and the Chicken, End of the War)
05: Blind Date (Cringe... how did this make the top 10?)
04: The Royal Family (Death of Nana)
03: Cold Feet (Rachel's Car Crash)
02: Only Fools and Horses (Millionaires - The real ending before the specials)
01: Life on Mars (Sam's Fate)

mike65

What? No slavish domination to US imports shocker?

Mike

Mr E

Some very strange omissions, Mike.... Choosing strange entries like the Gold Blend ads with Tony Head (not even a bloody TV Show!) over endings like The Sopranos (not in top 50)?

mike65

Okay, ads are not right.

Mike.

ixoy

Mr E wrote: »

21: Twin Peaks

Out of curiosity was it the ending of the Laura Palmer storyline that featured or the end to the second season?

Wasn't overly impressed with this to be honest - too much bias towards the UK shows and, in particular, soap opera storylines being counted as "endings". The #1 choice seemed too slanted towards recent times (even though it was a fantastic show). If they must do soaps, we deserved no less than that tractor heading for Biddy...

Mr E

For Twin Peaks, it was Cooper, Bob and the Mirror (S2).

pixelburp

Mr E wrote: »

11: Theres Something About Miriam (The Crying Game)

Jeez, can't believe that exploitative piece of car-crash TV got into the poll. Kinda shows how much of a nonsense those polls can be.

is_that_so

Wasn't it "as voted by you"?

Mr E

Yes, true, but if you think about it, who would possibly vote Blind Date as number 5 on that list? There was definitely producer intervention..... perhaps a lorra lorra producer intervention.

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

Mr E

OFITG was mid 40s I think.... pretty low down the list (probably unfairly low)

The end of Last of the Summer Wine was missing too. Didn't really like the show, but the final episode was very moving.