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I changed the description for the Farscape season finale, as it was not exactly accurate and sounded a bit too cheeky.
Is that actually what happened on the Cheers finale? All I really remember is them sitting around the bar talking, and then Sam telling some customer the bar was closed. But then that was 10 years ago :)
Did the 1990 Series Finales page get VFD'd? It's blank all of a sudden. Joylock 06:26, 28 January 2007 (UTC)
It resolved what was probably the longest-running plotline on the show, Fry's feelings for Leela. -- Antaeus Feldspar 17:50, 7 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Do we want the list of finales to go in alphabetical order or chronological order? I incline to the former.
Series episodic television programs eventually come to an end (except for Doctor Who), and when the production companies which make the shows know about it (or will admit to it) sufficiently far in advance, they often instruct/permit the writers to craft a Series Finale, which can tie up loose plot threads, satisfy viewers and fans, and, in some cases, set the stage for later series in a given fictional universe.
Some series also make a special dramatic point with their Season Finales, often using them as a cliffhanger to draw their audience back in for the following season.
One of the most difficult tasks in writing series episodic television is the job of writing a season finale when you don't know if it is also a series finale; very few instances of this exists, of which fewer were popular with fans.
Occasionally, as in the fifth season finale of Buffy, The Vampire Slayer, a season finale will be portrayed as a series finale by a network which is losing a series to another network--the jumping of a series from one network to another, uncommon in earlier days of television, is happening more and more frequently these days; examples include:
--Christopherlin 06:29, 8 Feb 2005 (UTC)
I would like to ask, what exactly is notable about the following series:
* Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (1990) * TaleSpin (1991) * Sonic the Hedgehog (1993) * The Lone Gunmen (2001)
other than The Lone Gunmen being a spinoff to The X Files, I don't feel any of the above series aew notable. I think better examples are needed here. Plus I agree with A. Feldspar above that Futurama did wind up having a series finale. The writers pretty much saw the series cancellation coming and wrote up a closer (The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings) that they felt would provide enough closure in the event that the inevitable happened. -- SterlingNorth 07:27, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)
Lone Gunmen is listed under shows without a finale. "The Lone Gunmen" itself didn't have a real finale, but an episode of the X-Files ("Jump the Shark") revolved around them (including Jimmy) and showed their fate (they lock themselves in with a man carrying a biological bomb and sacrifice themselves). This is worthy of a mention.
I changed the list of shows in the "shows without a series finale" bit because the previous list? (see above post!) Was ridiculous.
Feel free to change mine though, I just thought of some off the top of my head.
That's not how I remember it ending... I thought Sam was given a chance to deliberately save Al's first marriage, cutting Al out of the program in the new continuity, and causing Sam to be lost in time forever. in fact, I clearly remember onscreen text stating "Dr. Sam Beckett never returned home." 24.91.43.225 3 July 2005 09:44 (UTC)
Isserex's comment: It just says that "Dr Beck never returned home". It never said why he did not return. It could be because he chose (as Bartender Al said) or his changing of history.
Over the past month or so, I've noticed the addition of a few foreign-country series that had series finales. While this is fine (since Wiki articles are supposed to be written from a worldwide POV), I would propose placing all non-U.S. series in a separate section; I'm presuming these all to be British series, anyway. Whatayathink? [[Briguy52748 17:12, 17 January 2006 (UTC)]]
I am not sure what the criteria here are for "notable shows without finales." Apparently all a show needs is a couple of fans to assert its nobility on this page and it gets listed (Joan of Arcadia? My Wife and Kids?)
Okay, well, thanks to some inexplicable editing, there are now only THREE shows in history that have had notable finales, and one of them is Knight-Rider. What happened?? I agree that not every show in history should be listed here, but the current list of three is absolutely preposterous. If only three shows are allowed to be listed, they should certainly be something other than the completely unacceptable choices (excluding M*A*S*H; that was a big deal) that are there now. Chalkieperfect 00:51, 13 April 2007 (UTC)
Anyone else think these, too, should be given their own page(s)?Caswin 00:14, 21 August 2006 (UTC)
No, but describing the plots of the non-finale episodes is unnecessary for this page. A simple list of series (and possibly episode titles) with related links would be better. Kkachi 15:19, 5 May 2007 (UTC)
I don't think that the Thanksgiving episode schould be considered the seris finale as Put to Pasture/Future Schlock (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Put_to_Pasture_/_Future_Schlock) where more of a series finale, just cause it was the last new episode schouldn't make it the series finale.
Another example being As Told By Ginger, it's season finale "The Wedding Frame" (which is only available on DVD but showed abroad) was released to DVD which close up its loose ends in the series (http://www.hey-arnold.com/Ginger/Season3.html) though it also lasts episode shown was a Thanksgiving episode "Ten Chairs" .
Unless there are objections, I am going to remove the Friends/Joey reference from this line: "sometimes a character or two may be set up for a sequel series (i.e., Cheers begetting Frasier; or Friends begetting Joey)" because as I recall, the Friends finale did not set up Joey. Friends ended with the character Joey planning to stay in the apartment in New York City. Then Joey began, and he had basically changed his mind and decided to move to Los Angeles. --Mathew5000 00:35, 29 November 2006 (UTC)
Should the section in this article "Notable shows that ended without a series finale" be moved to a new page, it's getting a tad long for a single heading, more-so for just a simple list. I vote for a new page like the other sections for this content to be moved to
Buffy finale, fancruft. Ditto Knight Rider. Must we put up with this?
See Why doesn't TV know when (or how) to BOW OUT? for discussion of notable finales, esp. Newhart's "most unexpected moment in TV."
--Ling.Nut 19:44, 15 April 2007 (UTC)
Fancruft? There the detailed breakdowns of the episodes, what's so "fancruft" about it? Buffy's finale IS noticable, and Knight Rider's spin-off canocity is unclear to the point this was the closest thing to a conclusion
If the powers-that-be-utter-morons had'nt deleted the series finales articles, or had at least merged them all in one, we'd have shows like Newhart already there in contrast to what we have now.
I'll see what I can do about including the others, but I should'nt be having to clean up the mess the idiots have directly caused themselves by thinking with the "delete button" first, and what was good for any future version of an article later. I really should bring this up with 'em, and tell them to save any information that comes with too many articles on the same subject.
Dr. R.KZ. 19:49, May 7th 2007 (UTC)
I second the motion that Newhart should be included. The last episode was one of the best, most truly originial shows ever in the history of television. While it did not have the giant ratings of M*A*SH or the Fugitive, it was one of the most critically praised programs ever shown on tv. The series was great as well. The fact that it did not win any Emmys means nothing. The Emmys have a very long history of giving the same awards to the same people and same shows year after boring year.204.80.61.110 18:26, 11 June 2007 (UTC)Bennett Turk
Oops. Forgot about Quantum Leap. JAF1970 20:23, 24 June 2007 (UTC)
Completely forgot "The Prisoner" too :p JAF1970 07:13, 27 June 2007 (UTC)
How in the world is a spoiler tag needed on a section that makes it clear that the finales of various shows are being discussed? Our readers are not so stupid that they cannot realize that reading about finales is going to give away the endings... — Carl (CBM · talk) 05:12, 30 June 2007 (UTC)
That show isn't particularly historic, and its finale isn't exactly special. JAF1970 04:13, 12 July 2007 (UTC)
Roseanne did have a memorable finale (everything was a dream after Dan's heart attack). JAF1970 23:57, 6 September 2007 (UTC)
I have removed an unsourced statement regarding one of the co-stars in Home Improvement being written out of the finale, and speculative reasons as to why. My rationale is WP:BLP. Feel free to restore the information if a valid source can be provided. 23skidoo (talk) 16:40, 29 November 2007 (UTC)
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BetacommandBot (talk) 04:37, 12 February 2008 (UTC)
What about the Happy Days finale? 76.126.29.36 (talk) 03:07, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
I think the reason why animated series finalies are unimporant.Beause in America only cartoons for children hide their agenda of their last episodes to prevent the kids from knowing hat theuir shows ended.(including disney channe lstars shows).And second of all Only japanese shows show like that —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.83.40.224 (talk) 17:07, 4 June 2008 (UTC)
I've been bold and removed an incredibly long list of programs that did not have finales in the accepted sense (their last episodes contained no resolution). These were labelled de facto finales, which I think was a misnomer. They were last episodes or last broadcast episodes, but not finales. --Jenny 21:46, 30 June 2008 (UTC)
Would this programme be considered for the Notable Series Finale section? The final episode featured an evil property developer buying up the land the town of Walnut Grove was built on... so they have to move on... but to avoid him getting all their hard work for free they dynamite the entire town and march off singing Onward Christian Soldiers. Not sure if the series itself counts as notable, though. Anyone? I'll write it up if there's general approval.Dantheman123 (talk) 08:33, 2 July 2008 (UTC)
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Fact is, most popular entertainment has come from English speaking countries. Name a single TV show finale from, say, South Africa or India that has made worldwide press? JAF1970 (talk) 06:18, 18 February 2009 (UTC)
Are the finales of "Friends" or "Seinfeld" or "Frasier" really all that notable? They're pretty typical, mundane finales. They don't break any ground, they don't get "creative" in any way -- these are just popular shows that ended with something.
(Commando303 (talk)) —Preceding undated comment added 01:49, 7 April 2009 (UTC).
For anyone interested in improving the article, addressing the tags in place, making it more readable for readers, why not do so here. Alastairward (talk) 19:58, 11 August 2009 (UTC)
Wikipedia is not an indiscriminate collection of information. At present a lot of the article is composed of a long list of links and episode synopses. Little of this addresses the subject material and it reads poorly. I would suggest breaking it up into prose and taking more from the cites. Alastairward (talk) 19:58, 11 August 2009 (UTC)
From Wikipedia:Reliable sources; "Reliable sources are credible published materials with a reliable publication process; their authors are generally regarded as trustworthy or authoritative in relation to the subject at hand." and "Sources should directly support the information as it is presented in an article and should be appropriate to the claims made".
For example, the following have been used to support notability but do not appear to do so;
Alastairward (talk) 19:58, 11 August 2009 (UTC)
The Ropers (1979-80) was a spinoff of Three's Company (1977-84), but it did not spring from the series finale. Assignment: Earth was a backdoor pilot that was presented as the last episode of the second season of Star Trek. That episode wasn't the series finale, although Star Trek's prospect for a third season may not have been known when the episode was produced. Andy Griffith to Mayberry R.F.D. fits the bill, Star Trek, possibly with a qualification, but the Ropers doesn't. It appears that the the proposed Carmine spinoff from Laverne & Shirley is an appropriate example. Just1thing (talk) 23:05, 15 September 2016 (UTC)
Akin to the Newspeak Dictionary as being an "improvement". The article is now completely useless and uninformative, with no interesting examples or reason for people to ever visit the page. I don't care, though. Do whatever you want to the page you own. JAF1970 (talk) 19:49, 18 August 2009 (UTC)
WE need an article which is about the series finales of youth oriented shows unlike Adult and mature oriented shows,We need to understan its difference therefore Iam putting the Animated series finale section back until you find out about its difference. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Alfred123123 (talk • contribs) 13:34, 9 September 2009 (UTC)
SO put the animated series finale back or put a new section called youth oriented series finale so we can understand. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Alfred123123 (talk • contribs) 16:57, 9 September 2009 (UTC)
Shouldn't this page have a brief synopsis of the series finale for shows that indeed had a finale? That is what I came to this page looking for. If that info is located elsewhere, then shouldn't there be a link on this page to that other page? Does anyone know? Thanks. (64.252.124.238 (talk) 15:32, 25 October 2009 (UTC))
Sorry to say, this article was simply not at all to WP standards. Most of it was original research, completely non-objective discussion or conclusions with no citations at all. Encyclopedic articles can't be fan-like essays on the subject, which this was. Extensive lists, and individual opinions and conclusions on the subject, and extensive detail which is not relevant to the article, all needed to go. The article is much more encyclopedic now. Additions should be verifiable, and extensive discussions of individual show's finales should go on those shows' article pages, not here.Njsustain (talk) 10:03, 13 January 2010 (UTC)
All right, I know I may be in the minority but I don't think the Lost series finale The End is all that notable. The ratings were just average, it didn't break any records. Plus the entry seems to be based just on Emmy nominations. The End was nominated for seven awards--Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series, Outstanding Direction for a Drama Series, Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series plus Creative Arts Emmys for Art Direction, Camera Editing, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Music Composition. With the exception of the guest actress award, these are all awards the series has been nominated for before--how is that notable? Awards aside, the Lost series finale did just what a series finale is supposed to do. It ended the series. It wasn't the highest rated finale ever (M*A*S*H), it wasn't controversial (The Prisoner) or unique (Newhart, St. Elsewhere). So instead of getting into an edit war, I'd rather just come to a consensus on this. Bhall87Four Scoreand Seven 18:33, 12 August 2010 (UTC)
I know Canada and Australia use the term the same way as the US, which other countries other than the UK use it their way? Since there's no cite and a citation needed tag, this needs to be clarified and corrected.07:15, 18 December 2010 (UTC)~ —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.226.113.6 (talk)
With all due respect to "The Fugitive," the first was "Howdy Doody" and the second was "Leave It To Beaver." Or if they weren't, what came before them? Specifically, when "Howdy Doody" did its final 60-minute send-off, was it inventing something or following the lead of some other show? 71.162.113.226 (talk) 01:18, 22 September 2020 (UTC)