JimRochester

I watched the big three ratings wise:

MASH
Cheers and
Sienfeld
I remember the hype surrounding them well. I don't remember the stories at all. I do remember Newhart very well. Probably one of the most inventive endings to a series.

Chuck finale really touched me. Sorry to see that series go

By the time they wrapped up Scrubs 2.0 it was junk.

Dragon Tattoo

I was too young during Seinfeld, so it didn't hit me.

The biggest for me was probably LOST.

The Cow

MASH and Cheers were good ones.

I also liked Star Trek TNG and Smallville enders. Twin Peaks was interesting.

Reserving this spot to come back and add Breaking Bad at some point (hopefully).

islandclaws

The biggest one for me was The Sopranos. The anticipation and intensity in my house was so thick you could've cast it as an extra on the show.

tommyp007

Most anticipated:

Cheers
Frasier
Sopranos
NYPD Blue
Newhart
X-Files
Friends
Big Love

NORML54601

Six Feet Under
The Shield

DeanoBKN

Six Feet Under
The Sopranos
The Shield

Honestly, as a huge fan of Lost S1-5, by the time the finale came, I just didn't give a shit anymore.

mhg83

Buffy (WB series finale!)

The Shield

Lost

kstublen

In looking at the list of most watched television series finales, there are a lot of shows I wasn't old enough to have seen when they aired; either that, or I wasn't even alive at the time. I feel like I watched the Seinfeld finale when it aired, but I really can't be sure. I'm pretty sure I watched Friends and Frasier too.

I'm positive that I watched ER (after not having watched it for many years), Lost (I watched every episode on Blu-ray and Hulu before watching the finale live), Monk, 24, Malcolm In The Middle, The New Adventures Of Old Christine, King Of The Hill, My Name Is Earl, Scrubs, Prison Break, and Dollhouse

For me though, 24 was probably the biggest, at least personally-speaking. From the time 24 premiered back in 2001 until the time it concluded in 2010 I watched every episode live, except for one single episode. And the only reason I missed that one was because I was in college and had an exam being administered at the exact same time. I actually gave serious thought to skipping the exam to watch 24, but I knew that would be a really dumb decision. 24 was a huge part of my life; I was finishing middle school when it began and almost done with law school when it ended. Needless to say it was bittersweet to have the show finally come to an end after all those years.

Dragon Tattoo

Oh God, how could I forget 24? To date the only show I have re-watched every season more than once. The fact that this and LOST ended within a week or two of each other, too. I don't think any finale season will ever be bigger for me.

hippie68

Six Feet Under.

MLBFan24

24 for me, mainly because it is my favorite show. Somewhat similar to kstublen's story, I watched it all live except for two (missing those two live..... haha)

I was in high school when it premiered, made a few friends thanks to 24 in college, and then in the workforce when it ended. Kind of mind blowing how time flies.

Wolf359

Angel
The Shield
Deep Space 9

Wolf359

Double post

JuryDuty

Star Trek TNG
Friday Night Lights

TimeandTide

The ones that resonated with me the most:

Friday Night Lights
Battlestar Galactica
The Shield
MASH

Cardsfan111

The biggest ones to come to mind:

Cheers
Seinfeld
24
Lost

The first two, I specifically recall tuning in live when they happened. The others were seen via DVD.

EEz28

Lost - saw it at the Alamo Drafthouse. Pretty awesome catching it on the big screen

The Wire - one of my fave shows ever and found it to be a great end

LiquidSky

Six Feet Under
Buffy
Angel

The Bus

The Sopranos. It's also one of two episodes I ever saw (the first was the other).

Seinfeld. I had seen the pilot a few weeks prior so I got the shirt-button reference which was the final line.

Lost. Aside from Seinfeld, probably the big TV event for me.

Mind of the Married Man. A underrated HBO series. There was no proper finale, just a last episode.

DJariya

Friday Night Lights: It reasonated with me emotionally. I loved the characters and followed the show from day 1 on NBC to it's 3 Directv seasons. It was IMO a perfect wrap up to all the storylines.

Smallville: I've loved the whole Superman mythology since seeing Superman 1 back in 1978 as a kid. For a show that was never supposed to last 10 seasons, I thought the series finale was a pretty good culmination of all the events that I watched through 200+ episodes.

I loved 24 and watched it for all 8 seasons through the highs and lows, but I don't think the Series Finale was the perfect end for the show since it was more of a transition to the upcoming movie.

AJW

Quantum Leap

Michael Corvin

It's funny looking back at the ones that had the most impact, at least for me,

MASH
Newhart
Seinfeld
Cheers
Wonder Years
Quantum Leap
Chuck

ALL have very forgettable finales but it's the final 5 minutes or final shot that stick with you and make them special.

Like DJariya, I loved 24, Smallville and Friday Night Lights but none of those finales had enough of an emotional punch to push them into that 'special' status. They were all "business as usual.". FNL & Smallville came close with cool closing shots but they just lacked that emotional gut punch.

JimRochester

i do remember seeing Quantum Leap, but i jumped on that bandwagon kind of late so it didn't have the emotional impact some of the others did. I remember seeing the Cosby Show finale too but with so many of these shows, they jumped the shark so long before the finale, the finale didn't mean much. All the characters you grew to love were all but gone.

I'll add Friends to the list. The whole Rachel Ross ending and the apartment reflection wasn't bad.

Cellar Door

Does Serenity count?