Best TV Series Finales

And now, after my last post about some of the worst series finales in TV history, it's time to discuss some of the best.  These finales provided closure for fans and were just the right amount of sappy.  These are just a handful of what I consider the best; I will likely write about more of them in a later post.  My descriptions also contain spoilers about the episodes (how else could I describe them?), and links to scenes from the episodes are included below my descriptions.  Please comment and let me know if you agree.  Here we go!

1.  Frasier (2004): It's pretty difficult to end any long-running sitcom, let alone end the tenure of a character who has been a fixture on primetime tv for over 20 years (Dr. Frasier Crane appeared on Cheers for most of its 11-season run before moving to its spinoff Frasier for another 11 seasons).  But the ending of Frasier managed to be warm-hearted and pitch-perfect, providing closure as well as new beginnings for each of its characters.  Niles and Daphne celebrated the birth of their child in a veterinarian's office after Eddie the dog had accidentally swallowed Martin and Ronee's wedding rings, then Martin and Ronee got married in the same office so that Niles and Daphne didn't miss out.  Frasier accepted a new radio job in San Francisco, then (as revealed in the final scene) changed his mind and instead moved to Chicago to follow his love Charlotte.  Even Roz (who nobody really cared about) got promoted to station manager at KACL.  The next-to-last scene, of Frasier reciting part of Ulysses during his final radio show in Seattle as his friends and family looked on behind him, surely brought tears to the eyes of many fans.

Frasier series finale

2.  Murphy Brown (1998):  Serving as a sort of follow-up to the women-in-the-workplace sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Murphy Brown followed the personal and professional lives of Murphy and her friends, journalists at the fictional newsmagazine show FYI.  In the finale, Murphy faced surgery after another cancer scare, during which she imagined interviewing God while under anesthesia.  She and co-anchor Jim both decided to leave the show, then they had a last minute change of heart and decided to continue doing the show that they loved.  In the end the show flashed forward 10 years, where good friend Eldin proposed to Murphy, but she turned him down and instead hired him to do more work on her house (a sort of inside joke, as Eldin had been endlessly painting Murphy's house throughout most of the series).  The finale plot was unexpected and sweet while keeping the sharp humor and sarcasm of the show that the viewers had loved.  In the clip below, Bette Midler appears in the episode as Murphy's final secretary.  A slew of famous faces had appeared during the show's run in the secretary job; Murphy could never seem to keep anyone around in the position for more than an episode.

Murphy Brown series finale

P.S.  Murphy Brown is jumping on the reboot bandwagon and will be returning sometime next season.  Here's hoping that it retains the wit that endeared fans to the original.

3.  ER (2009): ER went through a lot of ebbs and flows during its 15-season run, but it always remained a must-watch Thursday night staple for its die-hard fans.  Viewers loved the dizzying fast pace of crazy medical cases in the ER, as well as the slower touching moments.  The show was able to successfully turn over much of its cast multiple times during its run, deepening its realistic hospital setting.  The finale was a typical episode in that it featured a mix of funny cases with serious ones (a boy swallowed a rosary, a mother dies during childbirth). It also featured several throwbacks to some of the first episodes of the series (Dr. Carter showed a young doctor how to insert an IV into a patient, just like another doctor had shown him in the pilot).  The best parts of the finale, though, were the return of many fan-favorite characters from earlier in the series (Dr. Benton, Dr. Corday, Dr. Weaver, Dr. Lewis) and the reveal that the daughter of Dr. Greene (who had died tragically several seasons before) was applying for a spot in the teaching program at the hospital as a prospective medical student.  It was a great nod to the early days of the show, as well as the deep family roots of the medical profession.

ER series finale