A Look At 3 TV Series Finales

"Dallas" ended on this date in 1991... and came in second in the ratings that week, even with the inflated audience for a finale. That's a long way from the days when it set ratings records in the first half of the 1980s. It was one of the top TWO shows on TV in its fourth through eighth seasons (1980-85), but changing tastes and ABC's "TGIF" finally shoved the show into the Top 30... and then #61 for the final season. For a long time, this was the only episode I had ever seen of the show (since it was not something a kid should have been viewing), until I started watching the DVDs and reruns on SoapNET in the mid-2000s.

I vividly remember the opening montage from the finale, which re-capped 13 seasons of cliffhangers.


Speaking of series finales, here's two looks back at some of the best. Note that modern "news" people seem to think TV finales only got good with "Seinfeld" (or maybe "The Sopranos"), forgetting memorable endings for "The Fugitive" (1967, one of the highest rated programs in history), "The Odd Couple" (1975, for which Tony Randall won an Emmy), "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" (1977, Emmy nod for writing), "All In the Family" (1978, when it essentially morphed into "Archie Bunker's Place" -- and won Emmys for three of its four castemembers), "Barney Miller" (1982, another Emmy winner for Best Comedy), "Happy Days" (1984), "Hill Street Blues" (1987, Emmy nod for writing), "St. Elsewhere" (1988, Emmy nod for writing), "Newhart" (1990, Emmy nod for writing) and even shows that ended without knowing if they'd be back, thus avoiding an "official" ending (mostly I'm thinking of "WKRP in Cincinnati" and "Taxi").