posted
There have been memorable ones, historic ones and ones that stunk. After years of enjoying a series, which ones do you think went out with a bang? Which ones were less than satisfying?
The Good: -- "Cheers": Diane's return was essential for a proper wrap-up to the series and nice to see the creators felt that way despite the rocky relationship she had with the people on the show. Rebecca was kinda pushed to the side, but at that point I was annoyed with her character anyway. The fact that she was left out of the chat session at the end seems to say the creators felt her character wasn't really a part of the gang. The highlight though was them chatting at the end. It boils down to people feeling fond of these characters and having them all just talk and hang out was a nice way to say goodbye (the nod to Coach was also very touching). I actually hope the creators of "Friends" do something similar since that's how the show started -- as a group of friends hanging out and talking about stuff.
-- "Larry Sanders": It was proper to have the fictional show end as the show itself ended. The emotions by the cast seemed genuine and Hank of course in his misery almost steals the show again. Ending it with Hank, Larry and Artie was perfect. And of course the Jim Carrey appearance was off-the-wall funny.
-- "The Prisoner": Talk about a show that kept getting weirder and weirder. And if you thought the Matrix had an ambiguous ending ...("Who is number 1?" "You are number 6." (or should that be "*YOU* are, number 6..."))
The Bad: -- "Seinfeld": What a let down. I can understand wanting to take a trip down memory lane with all those past characters, but it left the *main cast* nothing to do for a big chunk of the show other than sit there and react. And the plot had none of the insane twists and turns and unexpected interweaving of plotlines that made the show fun. If they had created an elaborate, frantic plot that included all those characters it'd have been one thing, but seeing them just march into the courtroom one by one was uninteresting.
-- "X-Files": I used to love that show. But then Duchovny left, the stories got too bogged down with its own continuity and honestly, I don't even remember what happened at the end other than Mulder was "seeing dead people".
The Somewhere in Between: -- "Buffy the Vampire Slayer": It hit a lot of the right emotional notes and had a lot of good stuff in it, with the awakening of all the potentials and a huge battle with the ultimate evil, some funny moments etc... but I thought the plot fell short. It wasn't worth the buildup, I don't think their plan made any sense and I hated the use of the amulet that came out of nowhere yet saved the day; I mean, tell me -- *what* was their plan??? To just go in the hellmouth and kill those thousands of uber-vamps by hand???
[ November 13, 2003, 08:35 AM: Message edited by: DrakeB3003 ]
From: New York, NY | Registered: Jul 2003
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-- M*A*S*H. Probabaly the best finale I've ever seen. The Korean War is over. The crew goes home, but some pay the price: Hawkeye in terms of his sanity, Father Mulcahy in terms of his hearing. Wonderful irony was found in Klinger, who for so long wanted to go home to Toledo, staying in Korea to help his wife find her family. The final scene -- Hawkeye in the helicopter, looking at BJ's final message -- was deeply emotional. The war (and the series) truly was over.
The Bad:
-- Roseanne. The last season of Roseanne was bad, with far-fetched stories and developments that took Rosie and her family out of the wonderfully realistic working class setting. But the last episode was in insult to longterm viewers: Not only was everything we saw during the last season "fake," but so was much of what we'd seen before, thanks to Rosie's imagination as a writer. (See also "St. Elsewhere.")
The In-Between
-- Star Trek -- The Next Generation. The spectacular plot had something to do with Q and future version of Picard and Data as a university professor. But, after all this time, what I remember most is the final scene, in which Picard, stepping out from the isolation of command, joins in the poker game with the rest of the crew. An aptly low-key ending that focussed on the human side of the adventure.
-------------------- The Semi-Great Gildersleeve - writing, super-heroes, and this 'n' that
From: The Stasis Zone | Registered: Jul 2003
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-- the Mary Tyler Moore Show: New owners come in and fire everyone except the incompetent Ted Baxter. A teary farewell group hug and they all leave together, but Mary comes back to turn out the lights. Smaltzy but satisfying.
The Bad:
-- The Golden Girls: Morphed into the dreadful Golden Palace.
-- St. Elsewhere: We discover that the whole series was just the imagination of an autistic boy.
-------------------- Five billion years from now the Sun will go nova and obliterate the Earth. Don't sweat the small stuff!
From: Boston | Registered: Aug 2003
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Cheers. That show went from my junior high years through my college years. Every Thursday night me and my family would watch the last great night of television, before cable choked what little life was left from the Big Three. Cosby and Cheers in one night! It was like saying goodbye to an old friend. I was really rooting for Sam and Diane, but it was not to be. Somewhere in Hypertime, those same people are there, in the same bar. Hopefully, some of them have found happiness.
Next Generation: I thought the ending was perfect. Too bad they couldn't have left it there, instead of putting out substandard films.
Good:
Buffy. It may not have been an epic ending, but the possibilities are out there, and they tied up the central theme of the series--Buffy's sense of being alone and different--quite nicely. I hope to see Buffy again, someday (on Angel?).
Effing Horrible: Seinfeld. Made me glad I had already stopped watching the show.
Will be Horrible: Friends. Is there any way they can wrap the mess that show has become without being a treacly weep-in? Is there any way the hacks that are currently writing/helming that show NOT going to go for maximum sentimentality? I don't think so.
-------------------- The only consistent feature of all of your dissatisfying relationships is you.
Don't judge me!
Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
For me, the best was Newhart - the end of the series where he had the inn in Vermont(?)On the last show, he woke up in bed with Suzanne Pleshette (his wife from his previous series) and said he had the weirdest dream. He then looked at Suzanne and said "You should wear sweaters more often."
Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
"Star Trek: The Next Generation" would have been under the "somwhere in between" category for me. I liked the story, the time jumping, the alternate futures for the characters and the presence of Q as a powerful and malevolent entity (rather than as a mischievous Mr. Myxptylk type of joke). I didn't like the fact that the cosmic reset button was pushed at the end and nothing "really" happened and I didn't think the big revelation that it was really Picard's fault was all that big a surprise or all that hard to figure out.
If Q was testing humanity, he should've thought of something more interesting, imo. If he had tested a sci-fi fan or writer, he'd have gotten the answer long before Picard
From: New York, NY | Registered: Jul 2003
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
The final episode of Dallas, with its distorted "It's a Wonderful Life" scenario, was a nice premise, but didn't quite live up to its potential in the execution, as I recall.
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Quislet, Esq: -- St. Elsewhere: We discover that the whole series was just the imagination of an autistic boy.
I thought this article was fascinating -- apparently, because of all the tie-ins and crossovers with St. Elsewhere, a VERY large number of other shows also technically never happened:
posted
THE PRISONER -- whatever you were expecting-- THIS WASN'T IT!!! Weird topped by weirder, clmiaxing in a violent shoot-out as The Beatles' "All You Need Is Love" plays over the soundtrack. And then-- at last-- (and depending on your opinion)-- Number 6 finally escape... or, he DOESN'T. Or maybe it's all going to just start up all over again. Or, maybe NONE of it really happened at all-- except in his daydream. (AAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!!!!!)
THE FUGITIVE -- On his way to follow Fred Johnson (the one-armed man who killed his wife), Richard Kimble is stopped by Lt. Philip Gerard, who arrests him and takes him on a train ride back home-- as narrator William Conrad put it-- "to die." Except, in Part 2, Gerard almost inexplicably loosens up for the first time in 120 episodes, and gives Kimble time to prove he's telling the truth. From COMPLETELY out of left field, we discover one of Kimble's neighbors actually SAW the MURDER-- and remained silent for fear he'd be thought of as a coward for standing by and letting it happen.
Going to meet the witness at the local amusement park, Gerard is SHOT by Johnson. then, in the most amazing moment in all 120 episodes, hard-nosed cynic Gerard GIVES KIMBLE his GUN and tells him to go GET the guy! Atop a high tower, Johnson admits to Kimble he DID kill his wife-- and NOW he's gonna him HIM! But Gerard shoots him, and Johnson falls to his death-- BEFORE he can admit his guilt to the police!!! At this point, it seems UNBELIEVABLE that Gerard would still want to take Kimble in-- but luckily, the witness finally steps forward and clears his name.
There were a lot of "problem" based shows in the 60's (and later)-- the kind where a premise is set up, and if the problem is ever solved, the series is over-- which is why they mostly never did. These may be the only 2 instances in the 60's where such shows WERE brought to conclusions. A damn shame more of them (GILLIGAN'S ISLAND, LOST IN SPACE, THE TIME TUNNEL, LAND OF THE GIANTS, CAPTAIN SCARLET AND THE MYSTERONS, UFO, SPACE: 1999, TERRAHAWKS, V, etc. etc. etc.) didn't follow their example.
Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
Not only is Dwayne McDuffie's article at The Slush Factory fascinating, it contains a link to a site for TV crossovers. Fun stuff!
-------------------- The Semi-Great Gildersleeve - writing, super-heroes, and this 'n' that
From: The Stasis Zone | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Stu! What a great article! I cannot believe that many shows can be so inter-connected. And I want to know how the hell Knight Rider would take out Star Trek. Does anyone remember something from KR that ties into Trek continuity?
From: Utah | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Okay, found my own answer in the link Greg mentioned for TV crossovers. I could kill the whole day reading through that site!
From: Utah | Registered: Jul 2003
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Hyperpath: Email this page to someone!
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