Talk:Series finale

Farscape
I changed the description for the Farscape season finale, as it was not exactly accurate and sounded a bit too cheeky.

Cheers
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 :)


 * Yes, indeed! :)

Did the 1990 Finales get VFD'd?
Did the 1990 Series Finales page get VFD'd? It's blank all of a sudden. Joylock 06:26, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Why is Futurama listed without a series finale?
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)

Alpha or chronological?
Do we want the list of finales to go in alphabetical order or chronological order? I incline to the former.


 * Agreed. Chronological makes little sense in this context. Cburnett 17:03, Jun 8, 2005 (UTC)

From finale (television)
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:


 * Buffy, The Vampire Slayer
 * JAG

--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)
 * The thing is, Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers and TaleSpin were shows that had beginnings, but no closures. Darkwing Duck had a plot thread revolving around the resurrection of Taurus Bulba that was supposed to be resolved in its fourth season, which never reached production because the show was canned. And Sonic the Hedgehog ended on a cliffhanger that was supposed to be solved in its third season, but ABC cancelled the series.

Lone Gunmen
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.

Finales That Aren't Finales
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.

Quantum Leap
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.

Differentiating US series from other countries
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)]]

Non-notable finales
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)

Non-finale shows placement
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)

Rocko's Modern Life/ As Told By Ginger
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".

Friends series finale
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)


 * Done. --Mathew5000 02:05, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Notable shows that ended without a series finale -> New page?
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
 * Seconded! It's crazy. Caswin 01:38, 4 December 2006 (UTC)
 * I agree that it's much too long, but on the other hand, is there really any use for an article on "TV shows that didn't have a series finale"? That seems awfully silly to me.  At any rate, that section is a total mess.  Way too many entries, many of them very poorly written, and the majority of them having no significance whatsoever (I do not happen to agree that Darkwing Duck is "one of the most notable shows" of any type). Chalkieperfect 01:00, 13 April 2007 (UTC)

get rid of non-notable "buffy" and "knight rider" finales (fan cruft); add "Newhart" and "St. Elsewhere"
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


 * Knight Rider is not notable. Buffy is, somewhat. Newhart and St. Elsewhere definitely need to be included. JAF1970 16:55, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

Quantum Leap
Oops. Forgot about Quantum Leap. JAF1970 20:23, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

The Prisoner
Completely forgot "The Prisoner" too :p JAF1970 07:13, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

spoiler tag not needed
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... &mdash; Carl (CBM · talk) 05:12, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

The King of Queens?
That show isn't particularly historic, and its finale isn't exactly special. JAF1970 04:13, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

Roseanne
Roseanne did have a memorable finale (everything was a dream after Dan's heart attack). JAF1970 23:57, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

Home Improvement
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)

Fair use rationale for Image:Allgoodthingsfinale.jpg
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BetacommandBot (talk) 04:37, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

Happy Days
What about the Happy Days finale? 76.126.29.36 (talk) 03:07, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Um, what finale? JAF1970 (talk) 04:03, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

About Animated Series finale
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)

De facto finales
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)
 * Second thoughts, I've self-reverted and invite comments. --Jenny 21:49, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Little House on the Prairie
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)

Image copyright problem with File:Goodnightseattle.jpg
The image File:Goodnightseattle.jpg is used in this article under a claim of fair use, but it does not have an adequate explanation for why it meets the requirements for such images when used here. In particular, for each page the image is used on, it must have an explanation linking to that page which explains why it needs to be used on that page. Please check


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This is an automated notice by FairuseBot. For assistance on the image use policy, see Media copyright questions. --20:46, 4 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Fixed. But I'm trying to figure out this guy stating it has Fair Use for the episode but not the Series finale page? Huh? JAF1970 (talk) 18:23, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

Global?
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)
 * I can't say anything for South Africa or India, but I'll guarantee there are several such finales among Japanese anime series (which raises the related question of why this list seemingly insists on focusing on live-action television series). I can't think of any offhand (working through a three-day-long watchlist with over 1000 items has completely fried my brain), but asking at WT:ANIME will probably get you somewhere. 「ダイノ ガイ 千 ？！」(Dinoguy1000) 06:33, 18 February 2009 (UTC)
 * You may notice the page doesn't go into detail about animation, let alone anime. Name a live-action Japanese series that's received worldwide press. Oh, and anime? It doesn't receive mainstream worldwide press at all. Wikipedia is skewed towards the computer geek, always has been, but honestly, mainstream press doesn't care about anime. JAF1970 (talk) 17:56, 18 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Eh, whatever. I'm really not going to argue this, it's not my cup of tea anyways. 「ダイノ ガイ 千 ？！」(Dinoguy1000) 21:11, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

Really "Notable"?
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).
 * Um, yes. They've been in many lists for Best Finales Ever, as well as having superhigh ratings. For instance, an estimated 25.2 million people tuned in Thursday to NBC's last episode of "Frasier," which won a record 31 Emmys, including five for best comedy, in its 11 seasons - and is considered one of the best ever. Friends was seen by 51M. Just because you didn't watch them doesn't mean tens of millions in the US alone didn't. JAF1970 (talk) 17:18, 7 August 2009 (UTC)
 * If you can supply notability, you really should. If something is notable because of ratings or critical review, please cite it in the main article. Alastairward (talk) 18:01, 7 August 2009 (UTC)
 * You're joking, right? Take any TV Guide "BEst Finales" list and the ones posted were listed. Do you actually know ANYTHING about television? There's even citations on many of them. For example, more people watched the Cheers finale (80+M) than MASH. Seinfeld had a total audience of about 76.3 million people. That's not notable? JAF1970 (talk) 00:15, 10 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Adding citations proving notability. Please refrain from deleting content til I'm finished. JAF1970 (talk) 00:40, 10 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Added a ton of citations from news articles and "best of" lists. I can do more, but not now. Am tired. JAF1970 (talk) 01:28, 10 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I'm not joking and no, you do not own this article. I should point out that articles should not be a simple list of indiscriminate information and that cites should be from reliable sources. Alastairward (talk) 07:53, 10 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Why do I "own" the article because I put a ton of cits on the shows to prove they're notable? JAF1970 (talk) 14:27, 10 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Your demand that we not edit the article because you aren't finished with it. Your edits do not address the tags at the top, that it doesn't represent a world view and nor does it address the fact that the episode is creeping into a list of indiscriminate information. I'll edit it myself later when I have more time. Alastairward (talk) 14:39, 10 August 2009 (UTC)
 * No, I'm not finished adding citations. And you're cutting valid lists, too. You wanted notability - and I defy you to prove, say, the ending of The Prisoner is not notable. You've already shown you don't know notable finales at all (you didn't think Frasier, Friends, etc were notable.) You have to have SOME level of expertise in the genres of articles to edit them, and you've shown none. JAF1970 (talk) 05:52, 11 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Be civil please. No expertise is necessary, all we need are cites. Many of those that you've provided are not from reliable sources. Also, if we use the cites that you've provided in the way that you're using them, we're just going to have a long list of episode outlines, which isn't useful to the reader. A thorough rewrite is definitely pending. Alastairward (talk) 08:10, 11 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I'm being civil, but if you don't know that Clarabelle speaking was a touchstone in television history (especially with what a major children's show Howdy Doody was)... JAF1970 (talk) 05:10, 12 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Being uncivil includes attributing reasons for removal of material that the removing editors did not quote. Never did I say anything about not liking the material added. Alastairward (talk) 10:04, 12 August 2009 (UTC)

Article improvement
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)

Number of examples
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)

Cites
From 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 Houston Pilgrim; No assertion of this being a reliable source or notability of this finale.
 * tvseriesfinale.com; No assertion of reliable publication process, no assertion of notability of shows listed.
 * New York Daily News; Reliable certainly, but makes no assertion of the finale's notability other than calling it "outrageous".
 * The Knight Shift; A personal blog, which generally isn't deemed a reliable source.
 * They are notable finales that were noted in print magazines. Some of these finales have won awards - if you think All Good Things... is not notable, for instance, you're crazy. JAF1970 (talk) 04:49, 12 August 2009 (UTC)
 * [WP:BRD]], you were bold and edited, I reverted the edits, I invite you (again) to discuss the above. Please discuss the additions that I have removed, with reference to wikipedia policies. As it stands, I am perfectly entitled to remove much of the content of the article. Alastairward (talk) 10:35, 12 August 2009 (UTC)

Finales launching spinoffs
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)

Article "Improvement"
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)
 * Why not discuss the above? Wikipedia is not a simple indiscriminate list of information. That's what I was trying to do with those lists, turn them into something a bit more informative. Before, there was an episode name, then a description of the episode, with no information on what made it notable actually extracted from the cites. Why not add episodes in that manner? What did we gain from that long drawn out list of "de facto" finales or a separate article on animated series? Alastairward (talk) 20:24, 18 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Because you've attempted to take ownership of the article, with such statements that science fiction is not notworthy enough. All of the citations are quite valid. You're still going on WP:IDONTLIKEIT. JAF1970 (talk) 14:30, 21 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I'm going on the idea that Wikipedia isn't a directory of list of indiscriminate information. The long lists do nothing but state show titles. The section on animated and de facto finales appear to be uncited and those sections that are cited appear not to have anything taken from the cites themselves.
 * Instead of edit warring, why not accept the invitation to address the issues raised regarding the article? Since you've looked at some cites, why not extract useful information from them? Alastairward (talk) 16:05, 21 August 2009 (UTC)

About animated and series finales for youth oriented shows
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)
 * We need cites above all else. Provide them and the material can certainly stay. Alastairward (talk) 15:20, 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)
 * I said that we needcites first. All material you add must be verifiable by a reliable third party source. Please provide such sources and the material can stay. What evidence, besides what you wrote, is there to suggest that animated series deserve to be treated to their own section? Alastairward (talk) 18:11, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

Synopsis of finales
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))
 * There are external links for that sort of stuff, Wikipedia isn't a simple indescriminate list of information. Alastairward (talk) 10:35, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

Edit for Encyclopedic content and WP standards
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)

Lost Series Finale
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)

"many commonwealth countries"? Isn't it just the UK?
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)

Howdy and the Beaver
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)