So what happens when an ending goes completely off the rails? In a way that actually sucks most of contemporary-set American scripted TV into the inside of a snow globe? But now, viewers are picking shows out to binge watch, and they want to know that their time investment is going to have some payoff. Syndication used to be the method by which we would see old scripted shows, and a show’s rep needed to be good enough for you to stop flipping channels if you happened to land on an episode ( ooh! Quantum Leap is on! ). Television these days-or rather, television that jerks like me actually bother to write about-basically falls into two categories now: Heavily scripted and serialized “prestige TV” or reality show stuff that sounds like a made up show on 30 Rock. In the age of streaming in particular, I feel as if this is even more true than it’s been in the past. The finale (if you’re lucky enough to ever have a planned one air) might be one of the most watched episodes in the whole run of the show and the impression that lingers in the minds of most viewers long after the show ends. The first episode of a show has to hook viewers in for the long haul in a way totally unlike, say, the first pages of a novel. That’s All, Folks is a look back at television’s most unforgettable series finales.īeginnings and endings are important in all forms of fiction, but I’d argue especially so in scripted television. This year, Ken Lowe is revisiting some of the most influential TV shows that made it to an officially planned final episode. Most scripted television shows end in cancellation, so there’s something special about the ones that get the chance to go out on their own terms.
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