Even the best shows need to end, and some of the classics had endings that are still remembered to this day. Apologies if you don’t see some of your favorites like Lost or The Sopranos on this list, as those series ended outside of the “classic” cutoff of 2004. But now, let’s get into some comfort shows, cult favorites, and overall stunners, and see how they all ended.
Cheers
In “One For The Road,” Sam Malone (Ted Danson) was this close to running off one last time with Diane Chambers (Shelley Long). But after the couple decided they’re better apart, Sam heads back to Cheers, in a finale that would become one of the highest rated TV episodes on IMDb, and surely wouldn’t be undone by any future guest appearances on a Frasier Crane spinoff.
Newhart
After eight seasons, Newhart’s series finale “The Last Newhart” seemed to have sold the entire town the Stratford Inn resided in… save for that respite run by Dick Loudon (Bob Newhart). However, in one of the most ingenious endings of TV history, the entire series turned out to be a dream in the mind of The Bob Newhart Show’s Dr. Robert Hartley (also Newhart). Now that is a proud member of the club for TV shows that ended well.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
WJM-TV's Six O'Clock News gang is fired… except for everyone’s favorite blowhard Ted Baxter (Ted Knight). With The Mary Tyler Moore Show’s cast of comedic ringers sharing a famous final hug, and the same box of tissues, our friends send the long running sitcom out during “The Last Show” the exact way it came in: with heartfelt laughs.
Friends
“The Last One” is, thankfully, not on the list of the most ridiculous Friends episodes. And how could it be, with the two-part finale seeing the gang finally move into their own lives. Ross (David Schwimmer) and Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) finally agree to set their relationship status to “they will,” and sweethearts Monica (Courteney Cox) and Chandler (Matthew Perry) move to suburbia to start their family’s life.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Sunnydale’s Hellmouth finally collapses… taking the entire town Buffy The Vampire Slayer called home with it. But not before claiming the lives of Spike (James Marsters) and Anya (Emma Caulfield), and helping Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) realize that there are plenty of other Slayers that she can assist in a world still filled with supernatural danger. And of course Angel (David Boreanaz) and Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) return, to make “Chosen” a proper send off.
The Dick Van Dyke Show
Rob Petrie (Dick Van Dyke) writes a memoir, which sends us into The Dick Van Dyke Show’s flashback laden finale “The Last Chapter.” Unfortunately for him, the publisher isn’t as pleased with the results as his wife Laura (Mary Tyler Moore). That’s ok, Alan Brady (Carl Reiner) plans to adapt it into a TV show; which puts a beautifully funny bow on this sitcom classic.
Angel
Angel (David Boreanaz) finally seems to defeat the forces of evil at Wolfram & Hart, with several of Angel’s gang of misfits surviving the aptly titled “Not Fade Away.” Unfortunately for fans, the spinoff to Buffy the Vampire Slayer ends on a pumped up cliffhanger that doesn’t feel like the end of a series. Not to mention the death of Wesley Wyndam-Pryce (Alexis Denisof) probably still rubs some fans the wrong way; especially when creator Joss Whedon admitted to the A.V. Club that the former librarian would have survived… if the show hadn’t been canceled.
Roseanne
While ABC’s Roseanne would not only find itself revived, but also spun off into the sequel series The Connors, the original run of Roseanne Barr’s hit sitcom ended on a rather odd note. After a final season of increasingly weird and out of place twists, Roseanne Conner was revealed to have become a writer, and husband Dan (John Goodman) had actually died… a decision that would be retconned in a series revival decades after the fact.
Frasier (NBC)
Everyone Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) knows and loves is moving on in their lives, with the Cheers mainstay having his own new lease on life waiting for him in Chicago. Moving to the Windy City for a new job and the woman he loves, “Goodnight, Seattle” was a finale that was sure to have the final say, and not be undone by a future Paramount+ revival series.
Blackadder
For four seasons Blackadder saw Rowan Atkinson and a who’s who of British comedians, including but not limited to Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Rik Mayall, and Miriam Margolyes, sending history up with a laugh. But in the series finale “Goodbyeee,” the World War I centered story ended with our heroes engaged in one final push into combat, which somberly transitioned to a field of poppies. Lest we forget.
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Leave it to Star Trek: The Next Generation to show us once more that “All Good Things…” do indeed come to an end. With Q (John DeLancie) resuming the prosecution of humanity he began in the series’ premiere, the finale sees Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) become the species’ greatest defender. The captain finally joins the ship’s regular poker game, with a future of motion picture and legacy-quels awaiting.
ER
Cook County General Hospital’s life on TV ended pretty much the way it started. As ER finally said goodbye with the episode “And In The End…” Dr. Carter (Noah Wylie) and his colleagues were swamped with cases that came from the same industrial accident. Ushering in what looks like the start of Rachel Greene (Hallee Hirsh) and her medical career, and with a recent reunion of old friends lingering in the air, life goes on.
Seinfeld
You’d be hard pressed to find a finale as controversial as Seinfeld’s “The Finale.” Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld), George (Jason Alexander), Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), and Kramer (Michael Richards) are all tried and convicted for violating the Good Samaritan law in Massachusetts, thanks to a parade of character witnesses who claim they are indeed the worst. It’s ok, Curb Your Enthusiasm’s series finale would relitigate, and seemingly correct this choice, in the funniest way possible years later.
Beverly Hills, 90210
One of the mainstays of ‘90s TV fittingly said farewell in 2000, as Beverly Hills, 90210 struck up “Ode To Joy” and sent West Bev’s finest fully into adulthood. Don’t worry: Kelly (Jennie Garth) and Dylan (Luke Perry) finally committed to each other in the end, in a decision that surely wouldn’t be undone by a CW legacy-quel series decades after the fact.
M*A*S*H
“Goodbye, Farewell and Amen” wasn’t just the last episode of M*A*S*H, it was a two and a half hour TV movie sending the men and women of the 4077 into that good night gracefully. The gang commemorated the end of the Korean War, and their eventual returns to civilian life. But not before B.J. Hunnicutt (Mike Farrell) sends Hawkeye Pierce (Alan Alda) a final message that would live in television history.
The Fugitive
“The Judgment” finally brought an end to The Fugitive’s search for the One Armed Man, with Dr. Richard Kimble (David Janssen) being exonerated for the murder of his wife. In a two-parter that was staggered between two weeks of airtime, Part II was billed as “The Day The Running Stopped,” with Dr. Kimble and his dogged pursuer Lt. Philip Gerard (Barry Morse) parting ways as friends.
St. Elsewhere
St. Elsewhere’s Season 8 finale "The Last One" implied the entire series to be the creation of Tommy Westphall (Chad Allen), the autistic son of series regular Dr. Donald Westphall (Ed Flanders). That decision led to what Unsupervised Nerds dubbed “The Tommy Westphall Universe,” which implies that other series like Cheers, Homicide: Life on the Streets, and even Law and Order: SVU exist in that same sphere, thanks to various crossovers and references.
The Golden Girls
“One Flew Out of the Cuckoo's Nest” saw The Golden Girls closing the Lanai one final time, thanks to Dorothy (Bea Arthur) marrying Lucas (Leslie Nielsen), uncle to fellow housemate Blanche (Rue McClanahan). The two-part episode ended the seven season run of the network TV mainstay, while leading to one of the great TV spin offs you might have forgotten, The Golden Palace.
Dinosaurs
While Dinosaurs seems rather short-lived when compared to some of these other titans of TV, ABC’s four-season sitcom still landed a crushing blow with its series finale “Changing Nature.” As a chain of events doomed Pangea to perish in a freshly begun ice age, we see Earl Sinclair (Stuart Pankin) and his family struggling to find hope in the bleakest of situations.
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’s series finale, the two-parter entitled "I, Done," spawned a meme thanks to the moment where Will (Will Smith) looks around at the mansion he called home for six seasons one last time. As the Banks family move on to the next chapters in their lives, the West Philadelphia transplant actually stays in California, ready to get an education and finally make a name for himself.
Family Matters
For a series that started with Steve Urkel (Jaleel White) as a secondary comic relief, Family Matters’ final episode “Lost in Space Part 2” showed how far the series had shifted in nine seasons. With Steve actually engaged to Laura Winslow (Kellie Shanygne Williams), and a mission to space ending in what felt far from a series finale, the show that switched networks from ABC to CBS during its run saw its nosy neighbor become the star of the show.
Star Trek
Star Trek’s initial five-year mission actually only lasted three seasons on the NBC network, and “Turnabout Intruder” showed just how abruptly this cancellation was carried out. In what seemed like another day aboard the USS Enterprise, Captain Kirk (William Shatner) switched bodies with former lover Dr. Janice Lester (Sandra Smith), who then proceeds to try and kill Kirk to assume his command. By the end, everyone’s back in their own bodies, with a future in the motion pictures just around the corner!
Home Improvement
The three-part epic “The Long and Winding Road” saw Home Improvement end on a note that was both bittersweet, and totally bonkers. With Tim (Tim Allen) and Jill (Patricia Richardson) deciding to stay in Detroit after watching Al (Richard Karn) getting married in their backyard. While Jonathan Taylor-Thomas’ Randy would be a no-show for the finale, the series ended with the Tool Man’s ultimate hare-brained scheme: towing and tugging the family home to wherever they might choose to move to in the future.
The Wonder Years
In an act that resembles the bittersweet nostalgia The Wonder Years always embodied, "Independence Day" provides us with closure through one last narration from older Kevin (Daniel Stern). Young Kevin (Fred Savage) and Winnie (Danica McKellar) weren’t the endgame we all expected, family wounds were healed, and life went on.
Quantum Leap
Say the words, "Sam Becket never returned home" to any Quantum Leap fan, and they’ll probably glare at you as if you’d kicked their puppy. But that’s exactly how NBC’s sci-fi fan favorite ended in the episode “Mirror Image: August 8, 1953.” Dr. Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula) was doomed to this horrific fate, and a misspelled name in the final title card, before sadly never returning.
Dallas
In a series as wild as Dallas, a crazy finale was all but assured. Sure enough, the Season 14 two-parter “Conundrum” saved the nuttiest for last, as J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman) saw what life would have been like if he had never been born… and then was assumed to have shot himself after seeing the result. Five years later, the TV movie Dallas: J.R. Returns would prove that he didn’t shoot himself, allowing the Texas oil man to continue his reign of soapy terror.
The Cosby Show
After 8 seasons and 201 episodes, The Cosby Show saw “And So We Commence” closing the book on the Huxtables once and for all. What starts with Cliff (Bill Cosby) getting into another comedic scrape over graduation tickets eventually gives way to his son Theo (Malcolm-Jamal Warner) graduating from college. As the show drew to a close, our last image was of Cliff and wife Clair (Phylicia Rashad) dancing to the tune of a freshly fixed doorbell.
ALF
“Consider Me Gone” saw ALF ending after four seasons on NBC in a cliffhanger that was initially labeled “To Be Continued…” As ALF/Gordon Shumway (Paul Fusco) attempted to return home to Melmac, the nefarious Alien Task Force intercepted him at the last minute, and that was it. At least until the sequel movie Project ALF would provide a fitting, if not disappointing end, six years later, naming our alien wisecracker an official ambassador of Earth.
The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
The two-part episode “The Seven Wonders of the World Affair” drew The Man from U.N.C.L.E. to a close, with Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn) and Ilya Kuryakin (David McCallum) achieving the following result: "The battle (between good and evil) ends once and for all in favor of good." If only Guy Ritchie’s fan favorite film adaptation could have gotten the same ending.
Benson
Benson never intended to have a cliffhanger ending, but that’s exactly what “And the Winner is…” gave fans at the end of Season 7. Salon actually revealed that three different endings were filmed… with a tie being the most likely choice, leading into the hypothetical Season 8. But as it stands, Benson (Robert Guillaume) and Governor Gatling (James Noble) will forever be in a tie for the governorship.
Get Smart
In an ingenious spoof of Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels, Get Smart ended in a way similar to how The Man with the Golden Gun started. In “I’m Curiously Yellow,” Maxwell Smart (Don Adams) is brainwashed by an evil KAOS agent to sabotage his home agency CONTROL. But, as you might expect, the day was eventually saved… in an ending that kind of felt like another day at the office.
Freaks And Geeks
Nobody wanted to see NBC’s Freaks and Geeks end after just one season of magic, but alas that’s what "Discos and Dragons" did. After eighteen episodes of adolescent dramedy, Linda Cardellini’s Lindsay Weir ditched an academic event to follow the Grateful Dead on tour. Honestly, that feels like a rather poetic, if still unfortunate, way for creator Paul Feig’s beloved series to end.
