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How TV Shows Jump the Shark
Now that GM is saved for another six weeks or so, take a government-backed, pre-lunch coffee break and think about the TV for a few.
Via the wunnerful Arts & Letters Daily comes this National Post essay on how TV shows inevitably hit the crapper like some three-camera Spenglerian civilization:
Most episodic shows tell two stories simultaneously. One deals with fictional characters. The other is the narrative's slow evolution under the pressure of desperate producers and harried writers.
The second story demonstrates that the history of a TV series, like the history of a nation or an art movement, falls into four periods—primitive, classic, baroque and decadent....
The decadent era begins when writers lose interest in their themes and try to maintain audiences by concocting steadily more outlandish storylines.... Happy Days did in 1977 when Fonzie rode water skis over a Seaworld shark, making "jump the shark" a term for a program reduced to terminal silliness. (In 1997, a website, jumptheshark.com, began chronicling self-destructive TV shows.)
Not all shows go decadent (or at least not in a bad way). The last few years of Cheers, say, or Taxi, or the last half-dozen episodes of Get a Life!, etc. all suggest that shows can get decadent, surreal, and increasingly bizarre and be better than ever (at least to longtime watchers). I'd throw Seinfeld into the mix as a show that got more outlandish and better over its run right up to the last, generally rancid final episode. Now there's a challenge: Other than Newhart (the sitcom starring Bob as a Vermont innkeeper) has any final episode of any series ever ever been worth a damn?
TV shows, like the rest of us, die as we live, alone.
Bonus links: The first is to Fonzie jumping the garbage cans on Happy Days (embedding has been disabled!) early on in Happy Days' run. The second is to him literally jumping the shark in a later show, which even HD auteur Garry Marshall has acknowledged as godawful. The real takeaway? Happy Days pretty much always sucked, given that it was never really much more than a rip-off of American Graffiti drained of pathos, wit, and humor. Which is to say, it was a lot like George Lucas' previous movie, THX 1138, with Robert Duvall in the Ralph Malph role.
|6.2.09 @ 11:28AM|#
The last moment of the last episode of The Bob Newhart Show (which, for its later seasons was a very extended dream sequence) is the best finale ever. In fact, it's the best possible finale ever.
|6.2.09 @ 11:29AM|#
Now there's a challenge: Other than Newhart (the sitcom
starring Bob as a Vermont innkeeper) has any final episode of any
series ever ever been worth a damn?
Barny Miller
matt|6.2.09 @ 11:34AM|#
I think American Office has done a good job of changing
drastically without jumping the shark creatively. Some of the
characters are changing dramatically, with Michael being humanized
while Dwight hardens (perhaps into a workplace shooter, but they're
not edgy enough to do it).
Also, they've gotten topical without being preachy. I've seen them
cover all sorts of heavy issues without going over into
after-school special territory.
Then again, I love Starship and hate Jefferson Airplane, so maybe
I'm not the best guy to ask...
phalkor|6.2.09 @ 11:37AM|#
You can't fault sitcoms for ending terribly, it's in their DNA.
Similarly, soap operas like LOST and HEROES can't have nice endings
either. They are designed to keep going until the life has been
sucked out of them.
The only shows that I expect good endings are the shows where the
ending is known from the first episode. I've only ever seen this
done well in a few animes and other eclectic shit.
My recommendations:
Berserk
a good story told well, apparently it's a chunk of a way-too-long
manga. It's a little weird (in that queer Japanafag way) Still
good.
Perfect Hair Forever
I think it is just six episodes. This show delicately handles
complicated plot devices with enthusiasm and grace. However, this
show is for true scholars only.
¢|6.2.09 @ 11:38AM|#
The last episode of Twin Peaks was worth a damn, if you
regard it as a kind of meta-shark-jump.
Lynch had returned from vacation to find his show all fucked up, in
the usual decadent way, and already canceled, so he seems to have
decided to just smash it and throw the pieces around.
It wasn't good, but it was interesting.
¢|6.2.09 @ 11:39AM|#
There were seven episodes of PHF, phalkor. The last one was a lame coda tacked on about a year after the run ended. Miss it if you can.
Warty|6.2.09 @ 11:42AM|#
has any final episode of any series ever ever been worth a
damn?
Battlestar Galactica.
Hey, anybody else want to become cavemen?
|6.2.09 @ 11:42AM|#
While wildly uneven during its run, Alias did a fine finale. The final scenes with Sloane and Jack Bristow were a downright "Fuck, Yeah!" moment.
phalkor|6.2.09 @ 11:46AM|#
to be fair; I watched it only once while heavily medicated. The
version I remember is way better than reality.
Now I can't think of a single Williams Street cartoon that isn't
downright awful to the sober mind. Rats.
The Angry Optimist|6.2.09 @ 11:46AM|#
Little House on the Prarie. I'm serious! They were pissed at being cancelled, so Michael Landon blows up the town. How awesome is that?
|6.2.09 @ 11:47AM|#
I have to agree, the speed that shows deteriorate into hella
stupid these days, is indeed disturbing.
Mad Men managed to get better in season two. Still, it has
enough "wait what?" moments to worry me.
Breaking Bad went flying over the shark with the season
finale.
|6.2.09 @ 11:47AM|#
I liked the finale of Boston Legal.
Denny Crane and Alan Shore get gay married. The local chapter of
the Gay and Lesbian League, fearing the union would fuel the belief
that hetero couples would exploit same-sex marriage for tax breaks,
tried to put an injunction on their marriage license, but the judge
ruled that the government doesn't -- and shouldn't -- ask couples
why they're marrying.
There is also a story line about Denny Crane going to the Supremes
to get the OK to use an expirimental drug. The argument was whether
one dying man's right to save himself was worth risking the
pharmaceutical industry rushing unapproved and
insufficiently-tested drugs to a market of 5 million desperate
terminal patients, and those patients declining to participate in
future clinical studies that could yield better alternatives
because they wouldn't want to risk getting a placebo.
All in all a pretty good finale.
|6.2.09 @ 11:48AM|#
The rpoblem with series' finales is that very few live long
enough to have one, or at least one that matters. Even if they do,
it's as noted, after the life has been sucked out of the show and
lives on more zombie than TV show (I'm looking at you M*A*S*H) or
they rush to put one together as the new of cancellation comes
down. (Or they get unceremoniously cut off as Farscape
did.)
BSG's could have been better, more cohesive, but I really think the
well ran dry on the show. Still, it was much better than most other
SF shows, including ALL of the Star Treks.
|6.2.09 @ 11:48AM|#
Now I can't think of a single Williams Street cartoon that
isn't downright awful to the sober mind. Rats.
Both The Venture Bros. and Robot Chicken are
produced by Williams Street.
|6.2.09 @ 11:51AM|#
I have to agree, the speed that shows deteriorate into hella
stupid these days, is indeed disturbing.
Seconded.
It seems like there is much more pressure these days to perform,
and networks are quicker to cancel these days, so I think shows
feel the need to do more and more to generate a buzz.
The other thing I think is that with so many shows on the air right
now, and many of the same themes being used over and over and over
(esp. in the Sitcom world) I think writers are trying too hard to
get theirs to stand out and to be different/edgy rather than
focusing on quality writing and characters.
|6.2.09 @ 11:51AM|#
Warty | June 2, 2009, 11:42am | #
has any final episode of any series ever ever been worth a
damn?
Battlestar Galactica.
Hey, anybody else want to become cavemen?
OH FUCK NO!!
BSG's whole second half of the last season should never have been
made.
And the final episode was the worst quality of episode to series
average ratio of any show ever by several orders of
magnitude.
It sucked sucked sucked.
affenkopf|6.2.09 @ 11:55AM|#
Similarly, soap operas like LOST and HEROES can't have nice
endings either. They are designed to keep going until the life has
been sucked out of them.
Not true. Lost has a definite ending after season 6 last year.
|6.2.09 @ 11:56AM|#
ChicagoTom,
If we're including season finales, then House, M.D. hit
one out of the park this year, too.
Dr. House's mental breakdown had been teased from the very
beginning, and heavily so over the course of this last season. The
contrast between his own lucidity regarding the interactions and
conditions of other people with his fatal blind spot (himself) was
handled beautifully, especially at the end when his trip to the
insane asylum was juxtaposed with the wedding.
I don't watch much TV, but when I do, it's usually one of the two
shows I mentioned. And that season finale would work as a series
finale if need be, such a strong note did it strike.
phalkor|6.2.09 @ 11:56AM|#
Both The Venture Bros. and Robot Chicken are produced by
Williams Street
Robot chicken doesn't count, as it is plotless. However, Venture
Bros. is a good call. Thank you for saving me from regretting how I
spent most of college.
|6.2.09 @ 11:56AM|#
I thought that Buffy ended well, even if the show was crippled during season 5 and rose from the dead to shamble on for two more seasons (oddly mirrored in the plot.) The series finale fit the overall thematic arc of the season finales, hit almost all the right notes and left the plot open-ended, but settled enough to stop at that point.
Jesse Walker|6.2.09 @ 11:57AM|#
I like the last line of the last episode of Deadwood. I
was going to say the final episode of Northern Exposure
was pretty good too, but then I realized was I wasn't remembering
the final episode of Northern Exposure; I was thinking of
the one where Rob Morrow leaves. I don't remember anything about
the actual final episode, other than that it included an Iris
Dement song.
For an interesting critique of the National Post piece, go
here.
|6.2.09 @ 11:57AM|#
The Fox show Millenium had possibly the greatest last
episode ever, at the end of the second or third season (some kind
of genengineered bird flu epidemic has broken loose, Our Hero
doesn't have enough vaccine for his whole family, and the final
frame is snowy static on a TV, with scratchy radio in the
background begging for help).
Unfortunately, they kept making the show for another couple of
years.
Mike|6.2.09 @ 11:58AM|#
"has any final episode of any series ever ever been worth a
damn?"
MASH
Death Note
Battlestar Galactica
and the best series end of all time goes to Son of the Beach, where
some nutcase fires a missle and all of the main characters die. The
End.
|6.2.09 @ 11:58AM|#
Now I can't think of a single Williams Street cartoon that
isn't downright awful to the sober mind.
Aqua Teen is always great, whether fucked up or not. In fact, if
you are really fucked up it becomes too difficult to follow.
It used to be that shows were milked for every drop of life they
could get out of them. This resulted in things like the final
season of Knight Rider with KITT having Super Pursuit
mode; the show was already dead but they got one more idiotic
season out of it with gimmicks. More recent shows, who are much
more concerned with their legacy on DVD, have become better about
pulling the plug before they get too stupid.
|6.2.09 @ 11:59AM|#
BSG's whole second half of the last season should never have
been made.
I bet you think that Harlan Ellison should have gotten his way and
made Dr. McCoy a drug addict in City on the Edge of
Forever.
The 2nd half of BSG's final season were some of the better episodes
of the series.
Now, you know what sucked? The Star Trek movie. It
SUCKEDSUCKEDSUCKEDSUCKED.
The Angry Optimist|6.2.09 @ 12:00PM|#
BSG's could have been better, more cohesive, but I really think the well ran dry on the show. Still, it was much better than most other SF shows, including ALL of the Star Treks.
Oh, I'm sorry, but no. Just no. I have watched all Star Trek series
and BSG, and BSG is booooooring. I mean it...it just does not hold
my interest.
|6.2.09 @ 12:01PM|#
The Fox show Millenium had possibly the greatest last
episode ever, at the end of the second or third
season...
You kept watching that? Ugh, I couldn't make it past the 2nd
season.
|6.2.09 @ 12:02PM|#
The last Mary Tyler Moore show where everyone but Ted Knight
gets fired was very good, almost as good as the last Newhart
show.
Frazier is a unique example of a show that started out good, became
great, then sucked, only to put it together for one last great year
like some rock band finally kicking heroine and doing one last good
record and tour.
|6.2.09 @ 12:04PM|#
"Aqua Teen is always great, whether fucked up or not. In fact,
if you are really fucked up it becomes too difficult to
follow."
Aqua Teen like many of your adult cartoon, Simpsons, B&B, South
Park, varies wildly from oh my God hysterical to unwatchable, often
within the same episode.
|6.2.09 @ 12:05PM|#
"More recent shows, who are much more concerned with their
legacy on DVD, have become better about pulling the plug before
they get too stupid."
I think ER and Law and Order either put lie to that theory or are
the exceptions that prove the rule. I am not sure which.
|6.2.09 @ 12:06PM|#
Sledge Hammer! blew up the city at the season one finale because they thought they were getting canceled, and it was great...and then they got surprise renewed and that screwed everything up.
|6.2.09 @ 12:06PM|#
The last Wonder Years where he went off to college was good. The only kid show I can think of that was smart enough to end when the actor grew up.
|6.2.09 @ 12:06PM|#
Avatar: The Last Airbender. One of the best TV shows ever made, IMHO. Three season run, the whole story was planned from the beginning, and they didn't try to keep it going just because it was going well. And Nickelodeon actually gave the creators a pretty free rein to tell the story they wanted, without any watering down. Plus, they had a good sense of humor about themselves. If you haven't seen the show and like TV, watch it now. I can't recommend it highly enough.
Russ 2000|6.2.09 @ 12:07PM|#
I like the last line of the last episode of
Deadwood.
But that wasn't expected to be the last episode. They were
expecting to do 4 more hours. Then the writers' strike hit.
I don't know where the last 4 hours were supposed to go, but
Swearengen's place burned down in actuality, Sol Starr became
mayor, and Bullock became cozy with Teddy Roosevelt. Who the fuck
would want to see that?
The Angry Optimist|6.2.09 @ 12:08PM|#
Aqua Teen, in the later seasons, is not very good. The earlier
seasons (1 & 2 - some of 3) are all classics.
JW - we at least are in agreement about the Star Trek
movie. Bad fanfic (unnecessary "throwing the Trekkies a bone" +
alternate universe + Spock "emnbracing" emotion = SUCK)
pretty much sums that one up.
Now: Will Riker v. that John McCain-looking MFer. Discuss.
Warty|6.2.09 @ 12:08PM|#
No way, Warren. It was brilliant.
Hey, you know that stuff that didn't make any sense? Angels.
Brilliant.
|6.2.09 @ 12:08PM|#
You have to admire Happy Days. It was the father of so much kitchy 70s TV. The show was to bad 70s sitcoms what the Buffalo Springfield was to 70s country rock. Happy Days spawned, Mork and Mindy, Laverne and Shirly, and Joanie Loves Chatchie. Now that is a legacy.
|6.2.09 @ 12:09PM|#
John, ER is a soap opera--and I mean in a "my stories"
kind of way--and L&O is an ultra-formulaic police procedural.
Changing the cast is how they "change" the show, so you get "new"
eras as new actors come in.
These things make money by churning out the exact same product
endlessly. They will only get canceled if they actually do nuke the
fridge by doing something actually different. As long as they stick
to the formula, they will go on.
Franklin Harris|6.2.09 @ 12:10PM|#
"has any final episode of any series ever ever been worth a
damn?"
Battlestar Galactica
Babylon 5 (although it was one of only two episodes in the final
season that didn't suck)
Cowboy Bebop
The Prisoner
Mystery Science Theater 3000
Alan Vanneman|6.2.09 @ 12:11PM|#
Actually, the final episode of Mary Tyler Moore always makes me cry, particularly if I've been drinking. Damn it, who can take a nothing day and make it all worthwhile? OK, maybe Angela Jolie, but after that you got nothing.
|6.2.09 @ 12:11PM|#
Hey, you know that stuff that didn't make any sense?
Angels.
Brilliant.
Warty, why haven't they been nominated for some kind of award for
that? It's just too much genius for people to handle, I think.
Jesse Walker|6.2.09 @ 12:11PM|#
and the best series end of all time goes to Son of the
Beach, where some nutcase fires a missle and all of the main
characters die. The End.
That reminds me of another good final episode: The Young
Ones, which concluded with all the main characters dying in a
bush crash.
There's also The Prisoner, of course.
|6.2.09 @ 12:12PM|#
The main problem with Williams Street is that they take an idea suitable for a 25 second Robot Chicken snippet and try to make a series out of it.
|6.2.09 @ 12:12PM|#
You have to admire Happy Days. It was the father of so much
kitchy 70s TV. The show was to bad 70s sitcoms what the Buffalo
Springfield was to 70s country rock. Happy Days spawned, Mork and
Mindy, Laverne and Shirly, and Joanie Loves Chatchie. Now that is a
legacy.
To do that, one would similarly have to admire the Surreal Life due
to spawning numerous bad spinoff reality shows (featuring Flava
Flav). Flavor of Love, Strange Love, I love New York, etc.
Promiscuity is not worthy of respect.
|6.2.09 @ 12:13PM|#
Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Agreed: excellent ending and not a bad show at all. It is one of
the very few shows I don't mind watching with the kids.
Now: Will Riker v. that John McCain-looking MFer.
Discuss.
If Riker lost an eye, he'd wimper for mommy. In a fight, Tigh would
grind his boot into were he just stabbed him with a rusty tent
spike and then spit in his face. All the while Riker is screaming"
"Beam me up, Geordi! Beam me up!"
The Angry Optimist|6.2.09 @ 12:16PM|#
OK, really, how do you people sleep at night, actually
defending the last episode of BSG? I'm totally
mystified.
Captain Picard came back from being a Borg. Adama went into an
old-man coma.
|6.2.09 @ 12:17PM|#
Jesse, shut up, or I'll tell everybody here that you have an iron-on cartoon worm on the back of your Y-fronts that says "Girl Bait".
|6.2.09 @ 12:17PM|#
I judge final episodes by whether or not they make me cry.
Cheers, The Wonder Years and The Mary Tyler
Moore Show all meet the criteria.
Franklin Harris|6.2.09 @ 12:18PM|#
Hey, you know that stuff that didn't make any sense? Angels.
Brilliant.
The writers said they were angels as far back as season 1. It's not
their fault if you didn't believe them.
|6.2.09 @ 12:19PM|#
Aqua Teen is always great, whether fucked up or not. In
fact, if you are really fucked up it becomes too difficult to
follow.
The last to Seasons of ATHF have been especially odd -- even by
ATHF standards. Not saying they are bad -- but really odd.
Also, Moral Orel had a very very dark final season/series
finale.
|6.2.09 @ 12:19PM|#
Captain Picard came back from being a Borg. Adama went into
an old-man coma.
Only after he and Data had that one lust-filled night after a
bottle of Romulan Ale and a hacked emotion chip.
And, Adama would never quote Shakespeare. Not at least without
getting his drink on and first flushing Picard out an airlock.
James B.|6.2.09 @ 12:20PM|#
How about the last episode of Night Court where aliens from Jupiter recruit Bull to come with them because they need someone who can reach stuff on the high shelves?
DADIODADDY|6.2.09 @ 12:20PM|#
John
Happy Days also spawned that technocolor hurl and enormous
diarretic dump I found in my toilet after it ended. So not funny,
not clever, not entertaining on any level. I couldn't watch more
that 1.5 minutes without becoming ill (and not a little
pshycotic)
robc|6.2.09 @ 12:21PM|#
SugarFree,
The last season of Buffy was awful. Better than season 5, but,
really, that isnt saying much (although Season 5 has one great
episode). Im still pissed that they didnt follow my story line idea
in season 7 - I wanted Faith to die and have an episode where
potential after potential becomes a slayer and then gets whacked.
Go thru 4 or 5 in a single fight.
Franklin Harris|6.2.09 @ 12:21PM|#
I can't believe we're having a Riker vs. Tigh argument. Really?
Not really. There's nothing to argue. A one-eyed Tigh can not only
beat the crap out of Riker, he can beat up Riker and Riker's
transporter-accident clone at the same time.
|6.2.09 @ 12:21PM|#
Funny for those that have watched Airbender. (It's in the "skepticism" section.)
|6.2.09 @ 12:23PM|#
"To do that, one would similarly have to admire the Surreal Life
due to spawning numerous bad spinoff reality shows (featuring Flava
Flav). Flavor of Love, Strange Love, I love New York, etc.
Promiscuity is not worthy of respect."
I don't see why you can't respect a job well done, even if the job
is being a whore.
James B.|6.2.09 @ 12:23PM|#
Also for you consideration:
St. Elsehwhere: it's all the kid's imagination
Quantum Leap Sam meets God (the Bartender)
Warty|6.2.09 @ 12:23PM|#
Warty, why haven't they been nominated for some kind of
award for that? It's just too much genius for people to handle, I
think.
The Episiarch Memorial Award for pointless mindfucking. All
proceeds from the awards show go to an autoerotic asphyxiation
awareness charity.
|6.2.09 @ 12:23PM|#
The Black Adder where everyone goes over the top and dies was a good if very downer ending to a show.
|6.2.09 @ 12:24PM|#
"St. Elsehwhere: it's all the kid's imagination"
That is a totally forgotten show. Much better than ER ever was for
my money.
|6.2.09 @ 12:25PM|#
I can't believe we're having a Riker vs. Tigh argument.
Really?
It's more bar fight porn.
|6.2.09 @ 12:26PM|#
Interesting to look at the arc of dramatic radio shows v. TV. In
radio, it was not uncommon for a show to last 15-20 years with the
characters completely unchanged throughout. Because you didn't see
the characters getting order, it was easier for the audience to
accept that Archie was always a teenager or that Gildersleeve never
got married or that Phil Harris' kids were always in grade school.
Having a camera around ruins that.
Aging actors can often have the effect of pushing the writers out
of their comfort zones, which leads to the problem referenced of
forced, outlandish plotting.
Also, the last episode of Justice League rocked.
Sean Dougherty
SeanDD@optonline.net
|6.2.09 @ 12:27PM|#
The Shield had a perfect ending.
I still have to watch Season 7 on DVD, but I assumed it would. It
had the perfect beginning, why not a perfect ending?
If I am recalling correctly, didn't SCTV have a completely
fucked up and surreal finale? Or was that the finale before the
last season with the reduced cast?
|6.2.09 @ 12:27PM|#
Other than Newhart (the sitcom starring Bob as a Vermont
innkeeper) has any final episode of any series ever ever been worth
a damn?
I agree with MTM and Barney Miller.
Everybody overlooked The Fugitive.
|6.2.09 @ 12:27PM|#
All the Star Trek finales were pathetically weak.
TNG's series finales was quite the snooze fest-another episode with
Q once again 'testing' the crew, time travel and characters with
'old' makeup on. Whoopty-doo.
DS9 had the everyone surviving prom, graduating high school and
moving to different colleges and Sisko was now an angel/prophet
whatever.. Weak, but not TNG weak.
Voyager couldn't resist the whole time traveler saves the day deus
ex machina style. At least some Borg cubes got blown up and Q,
er...the prophets...er the Borg Queen was there to make things
trivially harder then they had to be.
TV shows with series finales have gone down the path to suckage
(TNG Season 7 was probably the worst) or they've written themselves
into a corner where the viewers would be disappointed in
essentially character regression if they simply went back to 'daily
life' after winning the big game (DS9 war, etc.)
MASH had to end eventually as a series about a war probably
shouldn't last 4 times longer then the actual war. Then again,
there were only so many medical discoveries 50s doctors could make
in an army tent hospital and only so many moral lessons that could
be delivered by moonshine swilling, skirt chasing surgeons and
clerks who were still pathetically naive after 3 years of
witnessing 'meatball surgery', body stacking, and various other
behaviors at a military hospital not too far from the
fighting.
If the show has a series finale, it probably sucked-both the show
leading up to the end as well as the finale that finished it
off.
The Angry Optimist|6.2.09 @ 12:29PM|#
A one-eyed Tigh can not only beat the crap out of Riker, he can beat up Riker and Riker's transporter-accident clone at the same time.
But because John McCain is really a 2000 year old toaster! or
something!
|6.2.09 @ 12:30PM|#
Other than Newhart (the sitcom starring Bob as a Vermont innkeeper) has any final episode of any series ever ever been worth a damn?
Six Feet Under
EJM|6.2.09 @ 12:31PM|#
Other than Newhart (the sitcom starring Bob as a Vermont
innkeeper) has any final episode of any series ever ever been worth
a damn?
Since you didn't include the qualifier "prime time", I would
suggest "Rhyme and Reason" (one of ABC's "Match Game"-inspired
daytime shows from 1975); during the
course of the finale, some of the guest celebs essentially
destroyed the set.
And, of course, you can't forget the finale of the '78-80 version
of "High Rollers"--because of Alex Trebek's unusual behavior
throughout (part 1; part 2; part 3; part 4).
|6.2.09 @ 12:31PM|#
"MASH had to end eventually as a series about a war probably
shouldn't last 4 times longer then the actual war. Then again,
there were only so many medical discoveries 50s doctors could make
in an army tent hospital and only so many moral lessons that could
be delivered by moonshine swilling, skirt chasing surgeons and
clerks who were still pathetically naive after 3 years of
witnessing 'meatball surgery', body stacking, and various other
behaviors at a military hospital not too far from the
fighting."
It should have ended quietly four or five years before it did. But
of course that would have cost a lot of people a lot of money. Easy
for us to say that. If I were David Ogden Stires or Harry Morgan
playing golf every day off of my residual checks, I would probably
disagree.
|6.2.09 @ 12:31PM|#
All In The Family is a great example of a show going waaaaaaaaaay past its prime. Not to mention the laundry list of bad spinoffs.
|6.2.09 @ 12:31PM|#
Maybe Riker could get the drop on Tigh and sucker him with his
trombone.
The Episiarch Memorial Award for pointless mindfucking. All
proceeds from the awards show go to an autoerotic asphyxiation
awareness charity.
I like it. Next nominee: the entire FOX network, for pulling the
plug in things like Firefly and Sarah Connor.
|6.2.09 @ 12:34PM|#
I don't know much about Riker or Picard, but that doctor, OMG. She could rubber glove me anytime.
|6.2.09 @ 12:34PM|#
"All In The Family is a great example of a show going
waaaaaaaaaay past its prime. Not to mention the laundry list of bad
spinoffs."
No kidding. You have to admire Newhart, MTM and Carol Burnett for
killing off their shows while they were still good and leaving
money on the table. Self respect is a pretty rare comodity in
Hollywood.
Fluffy|6.2.09 @ 12:35PM|#
I think that with some shows one problem is the way the shows
are written.
Generally the first season of a show exists conceptually in
somebody's head when the show is being developed as a pilot. Think
"Heroes" or "Battlestar Galactica".
Then the series gets renewed, and they need more content to film
fast, so more writers get brought on board and the showrunner needs
to devise a through-line that coordinates the different work those
writers are doing. And then the show sucks. Again, think
"Battlestar Galactica".
In fact, BSG is pretty much the perfect example because sections of
seasons 2, 3 and 4 are good - the sections where a writer or small
group of writers is allowed to write a cohesive multi-episode
story. [Like the Iraqtica episodes.] The scattershot nature of the
storyline and the vast differences in episode quality seem directly
related to the "guest writer and guest director" phenomenon. I've
never watched "Lost", but my friends who do tell me this has
happened to "Lost" also.
|6.2.09 @ 12:36PM|#
The Fox show Millenium had possibly the greatest last
episode ever, at the end of the second or third season...
You kept watching that?
I think I watched two episodes of the zombie Millenium,
then pulled the plug.
|6.2.09 @ 12:38PM|#
Fluffy,
Same thing happens to music acts. A tight band works for years
getting better and writing a catalog of songs. They do a first
record that is a hit. And then the "talent" people from the record
company move in. The band then does a quicky second record under
the tootelege of A7R "geniuses" who are supposed to know what
sells. And the band quickly slips into terminal suckatude. Only the
really remarkable talents can survive that kind of abuse.
Art-P.O.G. (Internet Tough Guy|6.2.09 @ 12:39PM|#
The last episode of Twin Peaks was worth a damn
The Prisoner
The Office UK
Yes to all. I'm amazed that in hindsight I've only watched maybe five series finales in my life. Why did they cancel Greg the Bunny and On the Air?
|6.2.09 @ 12:39PM|#
I don't know much about Riker or Picard, but that doctor,
OMG. She could rubber glove me anytime.
Doc Cottle? Kinky. You do know he was "Dutch" on
Soap?
Soap didnt have a good send off. Screwed by the network as
Farscape was, ending with a cliffhanger.
|6.2.09 @ 12:43PM|#
Fluffy, you used Heroes and BSG as examples,
but what also connects those two shows is the fact that they both
have many, many character arcs going--some would say too
many.
This creates confusion in all but the most dedicated watchers, and
gives less time to individual character development. And how do you
handle more characters? Hire more writers.
I think BSG actually handled it pretty well, with
Heroes less so. But it will always eventually get out of
control.
|6.2.09 @ 12:43PM|#
Soap is one of those things you watch now and wonder "How the fuck was this on broadcast TV?" (I mean that in a good way.)
|6.2.09 @ 12:44PM|#
"Soap is one of those things you watch now and wonder "How the
fuck was this on broadcast TV?" (I mean that in a good way.)"
I haven't watched that in years. I am kind of afraid to. I don't
want it to turn out to be not as good as I remember it being.
Franklin Harris|6.2.09 @ 12:46PM|#
Soap didnt have a good send off. Screwed by the network as Farscape was, ending with a cliffhanger.
And then ABC did it again years later, ending Benson with
the cliffhanger election between Benson and the governor.
|6.2.09 @ 12:47PM|#
Forgot one: Babylon 5. Killer ending to a grand-arc show. (and
yes, most of season 5 sucked)
God knows the show had it's problems, but it's still
enjoyable.
Fluffy--I don't think it's reasonable to expect every episode to be
as good as the last. There will be suckage in-between
brilliance.
Budget has something to do with that. On BSG, for example, they had
to get rid of the Pegasus because its set was too damned
expensive to keep. However, the eps with Pegasus were good
episodes that broke up the show's plot a bit.
|6.2.09 @ 12:47PM|#
If I recall, Soap holds up pretty well. That show is nuts, and I remember all the adults freaking out over it when I was a little kid (freaking out in that they loved it).
|6.2.09 @ 12:47PM|#
John,
It holds up fairly well. You realize that the possession storyline
line goes on a little too long, but everything else is still quite
zippy. And if you watched as a kid like me, the multiple-level
innuendo is great.
|6.2.09 @ 12:48PM|#
Most of the watchable shows are like the hotty at LaVela during spring break. Fun to watch at first. Doin shots and flashing and kissing her bff. Eventually you get to the power puking and she pisses herself and well, that's when you are in "Archie Bunker's Place" territory.
|6.2.09 @ 12:51PM|#
JW, I kinda figured that. I just didn't want Epi to think I was oriented in that way. NTTAWWT.
|6.2.09 @ 12:54PM|#
If I recall, Soap holds up pretty well. That show is nuts,
and I remember all the adults freaking out over it when I was a
little kid (freaking out in that they loved it).
I'll second this. I remember just LOVING it as a child - I used to
stay up late to catch it (it was on at 10:30PM when I was a lad). I
saw it again recently and it still is pretty funny and watchable.
Although I am biased
|6.2.09 @ 12:55PM|#
brotherben, the fact that you dig Gates McFadden is frightening
enough.
TNG: a show that couldn't even manage to include some eye candy in
the cast. Even VGR quickly got Jeri Ryan.
Warty|6.2.09 @ 12:55PM|#
Speaking of TV, anybody else think Breaking Bad's season finale was completely awesome?
|6.2.09 @ 12:58PM|#
Epi, does Marina Sirtis count as eye candy"
Fine, I'm a sick man. Gates McFadden stirs my loins in that
show.
The Angry Optimist|6.2.09 @ 12:59PM|#
Epi - what? you're not a Whoopi Goldberg fan?
But, hey, IMO, Marnia Sirtis > Kate Vernon. And who's the
eye-candy in BSG? Six? I mean, yeah, I guess, but what a terrible
character.
Franklin Harris|6.2.09 @ 12:59PM|#
TNG: a show that couldn't even manage to include some eye candy in the cast.
It's not their fault that Denise Crosby wanted out by season 1's
end.
|6.2.09 @ 1:01PM|#
Fluffy--Another exception that comes to mind is Babylon 5.
The entire last season was written by the show's creator, as were
the previous 2 seasons, but 2/3 of the last season sucked, mostly
due to the psychics story line, which didn't really add anything to
the arc and a lead character leaving the show.
Lieutenant Woof|6.2.09 @ 1:02PM|#
TNG's series finales was quite the snooze fest-another
episode with Q once again 'testing' the crew, time travel and
characters with 'old' makeup on. Whoopty-doo.
Fuck you, with a rusty Klingon dildo of pain.
|6.2.09 @ 1:03PM|#
Speaking of TV, anybody else think Breaking Bad's season
finale was completely awesome?
SPOILER WARNING!!!!!!!
737 Down Over ABQ - that was pretty clever. A little OTT for me
though. Good episode and a good season however.
EJM|6.2.09 @ 1:04PM|#
EJM,
Wow. I didn't know anyone knew so much about game shows.
Compared to, say, the many tape-traders and YouTube posters, I
actually know very little.
Speaking of YouTube, here are Betty White destroying
the Ca$hword "magic toaster" on the final Super Password,
a set of fake
Winner's Circle subjects from the final $20K Pyramid, various G-T staff
(including Mr. Goodson himself) dropping by during the final
ABC Password, Monty Hall and Jay
Stewart dropping by during the final ABC Split Second
(cancelled on the same day as Password; yes, that's the late Judd
Rose as a contestant), and Richard Dawson's
goodbye on the final ABC Family Feud.
|6.2.09 @ 1:05PM|#
And who's the eye-candy in BSG?
That's a joke, right?
It's not their fault that Denise Crosby wanted out by season
1's end.
My god, you're worse than brotherben. Crosby? Really?
Mary Crosby, sure, but...Tasha Yar?
|6.2.09 @ 1:05PM|#
That's OK, brotherben, I'm just relieved you weren't talking about Dr. Pulaski (second season). I just saw The Icarus Factor for the first time a couple of weeks ago and nearly threw up while she and Riker's dad were talking about their torrid love affair.
Franklin Harris|6.2.09 @ 1:08PM|#
My god, you're worse than brotherben. Crosby? Really?
She was in Red Shoe Diaries. If you're saying Zalman King
doesn't know attractive women, well, I wouldn't let him hear that
if I were you.
|6.2.09 @ 1:08PM|#
Whenever The Simpsons finally ends, the last episode
will be awesome. Just by virtue of being the last episode.
I should add that I always thought "jump the shark" referred to the
shape of the shark's dorsal fin (ie, the show rises up slowly along
the gentle curve of the front of the fin, and then "jumps" over the
tip and drops precipitously).
|6.2.09 @ 1:08PM|#
"My god, you're worse than brotherben."
Epi, There's no justification for being that ugly with people.
The Angry Optimist|6.2.09 @ 1:09PM|#
I'm not into Asians.
Oh yeah, I remember another lame plot line. "I'm in love with this
sworn enemy of mine who just shot you! Please, Edward James Olmos,
don't push her out of the airlock!"
"Uh, OK"
WTF?
|6.2.09 @ 1:10PM|#
Epi, Geordi and Data had serious hots for her, so he's in good company. Of course they were blind and artificial, respectively, so it might not help.
The Angry Optimist|6.2.09 @ 1:11PM|#
Epi - not really a joke. Like I said, there's Six, but her character was so painful to watch.
|6.2.09 @ 1:14PM|#
The real DS9 finale was the second-to-last
episode and it whupped the llama's ass with a belt. What was
technically the "finale" will never be spoken of again.
I also remember the finale of The Adventures of Briscoe County
Jr as being pretty strong, but I'm not sure that counts as I
haven't seen it in years.
|6.2.09 @ 1:15PM|#
She was in Red Shoe Diaries.
All this proves is that you watch low-grade soft-core porn.
Epi, There's no justification for being that ugly with
people.
I'm not the one into Dr. Crusher.
Epi - not really a joke.
Normally people here stun me with their attraction to ugly chicks.
Congratulations, you have done the exact opposite. You deserve some
kind of prize. Warty, what does the man win?
|6.2.09 @ 1:17PM|#
"She was in Red Shoe Diaries.
All this proves is that you watch low-grade soft-core porn."
Who doesn't? I recall the Red Shoe Diaries having a lot of really
hot women running around naked. What is not to love?
|6.2.09 @ 1:18PM|#
Now there's a challenge: Other than Newhart has any final
episode of any series ever ever been worth a damn?
I thought the final episode of The Wire was fantastic.
Same with The Sopranos.
Fluffy|6.2.09 @ 1:18PM|#
I just saw The Icarus Factor for the first time a couple of
weeks ago and nearly threw up while she and Riker's dad were
talking about their torrid love affair.
Wasn't that supposed to have been when they were younger, though?
Because if you run the wayback machine on Dr. Pulaski, you get what
she looked like when she guest starred on TOS, and she was TEH
HOT.
TEH HOT + 25 years = Dr. Pulaski. Unfortunately.
|6.2.09 @ 1:20PM|#
The Rome series finale was good, and an adequate stopping point... but it was supposed to have another season.
|6.2.09 @ 1:20PM|#
Epi, does Marina Sirtis count as eye candy"
Fine, I'm a sick man. Gates McFadden stirs my loins in that show.
Marina Sirtis was hot enough in her own way, I suppose, but the
Deanna Troi character seemed so ridiculously vapid that I quickly
lost interest. I mean, her bodacious rack* only provided so much
distraction. The drivel that came out of her mouth soon took
over.
Brotherben, I think one has to be a more mature type to appreciate
Gates McFadden. These callow youths cannot be expected to have such
finely developed tastes.
*I wanted to give Tim C or Nick G credit for that but can't check
which one because I can't access Suck.com because it doesn't meet
'[my firm]'s Acceptable Internet Use Policy because "Tasteless
& Offensive" is not allowed'. Fucking prudes.
VM|6.2.09 @ 1:21PM|#
@ The Angry Optimist | June 2, 2009, 11:46am:
Blowing up Walnut Grove and walking off singing Onward Xian
Soldiers. quite the image.
@John 12:06 - good call on the Wonder Years. It had to end that
way!
What about NYPD Blue? I watched that through the 1997 season,
stopped watching until the final one, and kinda like how they did
that.
Then, the all-time bestest end was the final episode of TJ Hooker.
You know - the one where Hooker knows the victim, and the aging
guest-star-has-been turns out to be the guilty party, and Hooker
gave his tough cop-toe-the-line speech? gold.
bitwonk|6.2.09 @ 1:23PM|#
THX1138 is a GREAT MOVIE. Came out in 1970, when a lot of people
pointed to long-haired hippies and drugs as what was wrong with
America. In THX1138, everybody has short hair and it's illegal not
to take your drugs and they're all being oppressed by fascists.
Just like in real life.
It's out on DVD with 5.1 audio, etc. Sordid story of Warner fucking
Francis Ford Coppola's movie company over it, nearly driving them
out of business. It would be a different world if that movie had
gotten the attention it deserved when it came out.
Warty|6.2.09 @ 1:26PM|#
Warty, what does the man win?
He wins the mental image of Goatse man. Yeah, just try to get it
out of your head, fuckwad.
Isaac Bartram|6.2.09 @ 1:26PM|#
Then, the all-time bestest end was the final episode of TJ Hooker. You know - the one where Hooker knows the victim, and the aging guest-star-has-been turns out to be the guilty party, and Hooker gave his tough cop-toe-the-line speech? gold.
Isn't that every episode of TJ Hooker?
The Angry Optimist|6.2.09 @ 1:29PM|#
Warty, now you're just into shameless self-promotion territory.
|6.2.09 @ 1:34PM|#
Who doesn't? I recall the Red Shoe Diaries having a lot of
really hot women running around naked. What is not to
love?
The lack of penetration shots?
I have never seen an episode of TJ Hooker. I want that on my
gravestone.
No way, dude. The first time you see Shatner whip that baton
between the legs of some punk running away from him, you have a
certain type of epiphany: that THE SHAT IS BACK.
EJM|6.2.09 @ 1:38PM|#
I have never seen an episode of TJ Hooker. I want that on my
gravestone.
But, what about Barbary
Coast?
LarryA|6.2.09 @ 1:38PM|#
My nomination for best, most consistent, long-run-but-not-too-long series with one cast and a good finale has to be Friends.
|6.2.09 @ 1:38PM|#
TNG: a show that couldn't even manage to include some eye
candy in the cast.
You're just suppressing the memory of that massive boner that you
got every time Wesley walked on camera.
VM|6.2.09 @ 1:43PM|#
SUPPRESSING????
HELL NO!!!!! CELEBRATING!!!!!
*heads off to Stevo's bunk to perform "the Crusher"*
|6.2.09 @ 1:49PM|#
You're just suppressing the memory of that massive boner
that you got every time Wesley walked on camera.
That was a boner of rage, not lust. At least that's what I tell
myself.
"Let's go watch some gay porn to get our hate back."
|6.2.09 @ 1:49PM|#
My nomination for best, most consistent,
long-run-but-not-too-long series with one cast and a good finale
has to be Friends.
Seriously? I guess they're right when they say there's no
accounting for taste...
|6.2.09 @ 1:51PM|#
Friends has got to be the worst hit shit-com of all
time.
Yes, shit-com is intentional.
Franklin Harris|6.2.09 @ 1:52PM|#
"That was a boner of rage..."
That's what I'm naming my band: Boners of Rage.
|6.2.09 @ 1:55PM|#
"The lack of penetration shots?"
Generally the super hot chicks won't do those. You either have to
give those up and have super hot women or get them and have not so
super hot women. I will take the former. Some penetration shots
just shouldn't be made.
|6.2.09 @ 1:55PM|#
The first season of Friends was watchable. It all ended when the monkey left the show.
|6.2.09 @ 1:56PM|#
Didn't Star Trek NG have Bing Crosby's daughter in it? The one with the short blond hair? I recall her being in Playboy and looking pretty good.
The Wine Commonsewer (TWC)|6.2.09 @ 2:02PM|#
.......given that it was never really much more than a
rip-off of American Graffiti drained of pathos, wit, and
humor.
Absolutely. And well said.
Jesse Walker|6.2.09 @ 2:04PM|#
The Office UK
If you mean the final episode of season two, you are correct. If
you mean the subsequent Christmas special that served as a
tacked-on happy ending, you're wrong.
MNG|6.2.09 @ 2:07PM|#
Silly me, I've been on the Friedman thread arguing about
deregulation and monetarism, when the action has been here all
along...
"TNG: a show that couldn't even manage to include some eye candy in
the cast."
I would've done it with Gates McFadden....
|6.2.09 @ 2:17PM|#
"But the more elegant "The Hate-Fuckers" would be better."
That sounds like a porn paperback from the 70s.
|6.2.09 @ 2:17PM|#
The Rome series finale was good, and an adequate stopping
point... but it was supposed to have another season.
I liked the finale as well although you could tell in the last half
of the episodes they were cramming a lot of ideas into the story.
It was obvious they were trying to sum up a lot of strands they had
planned for another season. I couldn't help but feel the Egyptian
episodes were meant ot have been told over an entire season.
|6.2.09 @ 2:17PM|#
Friends has got to be the worst hit shit-com of all time.
I must say that the five minutes or so that I've seen of Friends
made me realize that Newton Minow was a prophet after all.
kinnath|6.2.09 @ 2:32PM|#
While not the best finale per se, when the sitcom Action was cancelled in the middle of it's first season, the lead character has a heart attack just prior to the final commerical break -- apparently as part of the regular story arc. Returning from the break, a paramedic in an ambulance declares the guy dead at 8 pm Thursday night -- that's all folks . . . .
Warmongering Lunatic|6.2.09 @ 2:43PM|#
It's not their fault that Denise Crosby wanted out by season
1's end.
Actually, it is. The weak-ass writing of the first season,
especially for Yar, was what drove her off.
EJM|6.2.09 @ 3:13PM|#
... with Jon Erik Hexum saying, "hay gaiz. check this
out..."?
Actually, that happened while he was on Cover Up.
D.A. Ridgely|6.2.09 @ 3:22PM|#
My 13 year old son's favorite TV shows are professional wrestling and Friends. We're going on Maury next week.
RogerX|6.2.09 @ 3:25PM|#
Other than Newhart (the sitcom starring Bob as a Vermont
innkeeper) has any final episode of any series ever ever been worth
a damn?
Six Feet Under
100% in agreement here. Best series finale ever. I still go back
and watch the last 15 minutes sometimes out of nostalgia. True to
whole series, true to characters, closes all doors with
finality.
They built up Battlestar Galactica to have all kinds of potential,
but it all came crashing down in epic failure. Heavy handed,
rushed, and behaviors completely out of character for all the
majors. Ron Moore made it very clear that they were winging it week
to week, with little regard for the endgame, and it really
showed.
Mister DNA|6.2.09 @ 3:44PM|#
165 comments and no one mentions Arrested
Development?
Sure the last episode wasn't all that great, but the series had the
most awesome "Jump the Shark" reference ever.
And if we're including anime finales, the last episode of
R.O.D. the TV was great.
|6.2.09 @ 4:05PM|#
I think Married With Children deserves an honorable mention here because how many shows can jump the shark (the Seven season) and then show the wisdom to reverse it by killing off said shark jumper. Well played.
|6.2.09 @ 4:16PM|#
Freaks and Geeks, people. Of course, the show was
canceled during its first season so it didn't have a lot of time to
degenerate into suckage, but Lindsay and Kim running off to follow
the Dead brings me to tears every time.
As for really bad ones, well, Chris Carter deserves his own circle
in hell, doomed to watch seasons 6 through infinity of The
X-Files for eternity with only occasional breaks for the
straight-to-hell arcs of Millennium and The Lone
Gunmen.
|6.2.09 @ 4:28PM|#
@Mister DNA: Yeah good call on AD
Also, I still say that The Wire and The Sopranos
both had finales that lie somewhere between solid and
spectacular.
alan|6.2.09 @ 4:56PM|#
It would be a worthwhile project for a small group of film
editors to edit out Will Riker & his dotty mother out of every
episode of Star Trek TNG. Even though I'm not a Treckie fan, and
only enjoy the show on the occasional channel flip through, I have
to admit we could possibly wind up with the greatest show ever. And
speaking of strong ending, actually this one had a pretty good one.
Better than the TNG movies.
I'm with TAO, I really do despise BSG.
alan|6.2.09 @ 5:07PM|#
You can't fault sitcoms for ending terribly, it's in their
DNA. Similarly, soap operas like LOST and HEROES can't have nice
endings either. They are designed to keep going until the life has
been sucked out of them
Here you couldn't be more wrong. The producers had in mind a five
year story arc because the last thing they wantedto do was to
repeat X-Files failure. They negotiated with ABC and got a six year
story arc deal, but with reduced episodes from 23 per season for
the first three (I think twenty-one story episodes, plus two clips
was the standard) seasons and varying afterward with 17 story
episodes this year. So they maintain around the same number of
episodes they had planned without a lot of filler (I agree about
the tailsectioners, that was season 2 a long time back, and even
that season ended very well).
Lost has had a history of good finales. 2,3, and this seasons were
very good mind fucks, and off centered events ('come on, damn you,
why. wont. you' fade to white). I'm sure the series finale next
year will be off the top of the charts.
Other good series finales -- Cowboy Bebop, and The Wire, even if
someone didn't get what was coming to him, after all, the theme of
the show was TANJ.
alan|6.2.09 @ 5:13PM|#
"TNG: a show that couldn't even manage to include some eye
candy in the cast."
I would've done it with Gates McFadden....
Blehhhh!
|6.2.09 @ 10:31PM|#
Man, I am pissed that the Sarah Connor show ended, but it did kind of end on a cool note.
MJ|6.2.09 @ 10:36PM|#
BSG suffers in its ending in that many of what the writers had
told the audience were plot points with great significance to the
overall story arc were thrown in for other reasons without much
aforethought as to how it was going to fit together (yes, Hera, I
am looking at you). The writers having had fun throwing crap in the
mix the first three seasons had to somehow tie up in a neat little
bow in the fourth. No wonder the package came out a bit lumpy. I
did overall enjoy that series
Babylon 5 at least had an excuse for its fifth season. They thought
they were not getting the fifth season until almost the last minute
and rushed the overall arcs to a conclusion at the end of the
fourth. Leaving the fifth season with not much of a reason for
existing.
|6.2.09 @ 10:48PM|#
The hotties in BSG,
Starbuck, not really hot, but good enough
The asian cylon
xena, getting older, but still hott.
number 6, in her various forms.
the hot dog hispanic pilot that got bitchy with starbuck
The indian cylon that murdered Chief's wife
Some of the harem of the funny little english guy.
That is just off the top of my head.
Was a good show but ended in the suck. Who wants to be a cave man
indeed.
Hey, were there still cylons on Caprica?
And after 150,000 years wouldn't the Cylons evolve to near
Godhood?
|6.2.09 @ 11:01PM|#
Starbuck, not really hot, but good enough
Starbuck is "not really hot," am I watching the same show as
everyone else?
Maybe I just have a thing for pilots ....
Robert|6.3.09 @ 10:29AM|#
Not only will the concluding installment of Lost be a
record setter, it'll really sell the DVDs of the complete serial.
Viewers will have been so thoroughly mindfucked, they'll want to
figure out how that was accomplished.
Marshal Law had the same thing happen to it as Sledge
Hammer!.
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