I went with MASH.

i liked the show.. but i would vote for Seinfeld's finale as the worst of all time

I'm surprised that so many people actually liked the finale to Seinfeld. There are MANY fans of Seinfeld who felt the entire run of the show was effectively ruined by that finale, which was in many ways written so unlike the average Seinfeld episode.

I'm also surprised that there are so few people who liked The Mary Tyler Moore Show finale. It was a great show, still considered by many to be the best sitcom finale ever done.

This opinion has always surprised me. Ruined the entire run of the show? In many ways, it catured the essence of the entire series and the unique humor of the David/Seinfeld collaboration.

Don't confuse not voting it the best of all time with not liking it. Going up against these other shows is a difficult thing to do, and from the posts in this thread, many of us would list it #2 or #3.

das

Loved Seinfield. Loved the finale. It was bold, and pointed out that these were incredibly self absorbed people.

Favorite was Newhart.

Non-sitcom it would be St Elsewhere.

Friends? It was okay. Frankly I am glad that a long running series has a finale instead of letting you hang for years and years (Gilligan's Island, Lost in Space, etc).

I think I understand why people disliked the finale to Seinfeld. We were to enamored of the four main characters in the show that when the finale showed them in real life to be not very likeable people, viewers felt cheated.

Another reason for less love for the MTM finale is that probably not many in this forum are old enough to have watched MTM to begin with. Also, I never recall MTM being a show that was heavily syndicated like MASH has been. I have caught most of the MTM episodes on TVLAND.

ding. ding. ding. Tell Mr. Dog what he has won.

The Office had the best finale ever. Left you feeling all warm and fuzzy without getting falsely mushy or changin the characters 180 degrees. I hate (HATE) it when the last episode of a sitcom is turned into some deep sappy drama out of the blue.

D

Newhart
Friends
Mary Tyler Moore
Seinfeld
Cheers

I'd rather watch the "I Married Dora" series finale than "M*a*s*h"!

I win.

The lady who played the mom on the Wonder Years... saw her on a Vh1 special about final episodes... she was really pissed on how they ended the show.

For those like me that missed the ending of TWY
http://home.datacomm.ch/mpuppis/epis...ummer_id.shtml

http://home.datacomm.ch/mpuppis/epis...odeguide.shtml

But this wasn't the last line...the last line was "I'm the luckiest son of a bitch alive"...then he goes and straightens the Geronimo picture (which was a memento from Nicholas Colasanto's trailer on the set)...THAT was far more emotional than just saying "Sorry, we're closed" for this viewer...

I haven't seen it in a while, but I think "Sorry, we're closed" was the last line.

Followed by Sam straightening the Geronimo pic, and walking into the back room.

Rob

<small></small>I thought it was sad and kind of unnecessary. However, they certainly eschewed a saccharine ending.

I loved Wonder Years. I was disappointed in the finale though. The last few minutes were gold where they tell us what happens to them all in the coming years. Very emotional when they mention dad. But the rest of the episode was kinda blah.

^When they filmed that last episode of The Wonder Years they didn't know at that time wheather or not it would be picked up for the next season. The closing monologue was added after they found out the series was cancelled and that would be the finallie.

Uhh, you better go back and watch that final episode again. "Sorry, but we're closed" is indeed the last line. Not that "I'm the luckiest son of a bitch alive" wasn't emtional at all, but rather, "we're closed" is what truly closed the series.

I'm also going with Newhart in a close victory over Cheers (which was a better show, but the ending had too much filler). Besides, no matter how much Diane drove Sam nuts, I don't think he rushes off to marry her on a moment's notice; glad she came back though.

It'll be interesting to see how Fraiser wraps up. I think they've put too many eggs in Laura Linney's basket; how emotionally satisfying can it be to end up with a gal that's just been shoved down the viewer's throat as a story arc in the final six episodes?

My vote for by far the most bitter finale ever? Ellen. She might as well have given the camera the finger for sixty minutes than show that episode; it would have been funnier as well. Anyone else catch that one?

My problem with the Seinfeld finale is that the second half of it was essentially a clip-show. Perhaps if they brought the other characters onto the stand and had them humorously depict the antics of Jerry, George, Elaine and Cosmo, it would have worked a lot better. Instead, they show highlights that we had already seen. I always felt that they took the easy way out.

By the way, I always thought that the guy who knocked on the door of "Cheers" was Jim Valvano, right before he died. But I never knew for sure. Anyone?

My memory is fading. Did they show any actual clips in the second half of the finale? I just thought they brought in a parade of guest stars who testified about what had happened, but I don't remember any clips.

But the point wasn't to suddenly turn the Fantastic Four into jerks. The point was acknowledgement that they were jerks all along, and where exposed as such when taken out of their "safe" environment of Manhattan.

1. MASH, MTM, Cheers, Bob Newhart

Blackadder for me beats everything hands down from going from the usual laugh a minute to the most poignant thought provocking ending ever - even depressing in a way when you see the guys go over the wall out of the trenches to face the german machine guns. As it fades away from the killing field in black and white to a field full of red poppies.

I just thought the Blackadder ending was pointlessly over the top and out of whack with the tone of the entire series, IMHO.