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Post by topbilled on Feb 18, 2023 23:52:36 GMT
I don't know anyone else who does this, but I like to focus on the final seasons of long-running hit shows. Maybe because I like to see how well-oiled the machinery is at the end, to determine if they're going through the motions and sleepwalking in the final episodes...if the show has well and truly jumped the proverbial shark...or if there is a desperate attempt to regain viewers by bringing in new cast, new writers, new producers, whatever...or maybe if the show has been consistently good throughout its run, to see how the show goes out on top.
There are only a few TV series that I feel went out on top. I'd include M*A*S*H, Cheers, Frasier, Hill Street Blues and St. Elsewhere among this elite group. I don't mean just strong final episodes, but the entire final season was strong and built to a suitable ending.
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Shows that ran out of steam and had disappointing final seasons (meaning they should have been canceled a year before they actually were canceled): Falcon Crest, The Facts of Life, Rhoda, Sisters, The Waltons, Diff'rent Strokes and Roseanne (the final season where they won the lottery and Dan died should never have happened).
Shows that had bumpy final seasons because an important member of the cast died, quit or was fired and the show really couldn't survive without them: Dennis the Menace (Joseph Kearns), Hazel (Don DeFore), Chico and the Man (Freddie Prinze), Welcome Back Kotter (John Travolta), The Streets of San Francisco (Michael Douglas), Laverne & Shirley (Cindy Williams), House Calls (Lynn Redgrave) and the reboot version of Dallas (Larry Hagman).
Shows that had decent final seasons but were abruptly dropped by the network without getting a proper final episode: Soap (ends on a cliffhanger), Gunsmoke, The Jeffersons, Cybill (ends on a cliffhanger) and Benson (also ends on a cliffhanger).
Shows that had strong final episodes but the last season as a whole was really not as good as what had come before: Newhart, Picket Fences, Brothers & Sisters, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Alice, One Day at a Time, Charlie's Angels and The Nanny.
Shows that had nosedived in quality but rebounded in the final season: L.A. Law, Moonlighting, Murder She Wrote, Good Times, The Love Boat and Knots Landing.
Shows that were cancelled more than once, so technically they had more than one 'final' season: Cagney & Lacey (brought back because of a letter writing campaign), Remington Steele (also brought back because of a letter writing campaign), Mama's Family (found new life in syndication), Webster (had its run extended in syndication) and It's a Living (also revived in first-run syndication).
Shows where the final season wrapped up major plot points and the final episode served as a launching pad for a continuation series: Three's Company (transitioned into Three's a Crowd); M*A*S*H (the farewell episode set the stage for AfterM*A*S*H); The Golden Girls (last episode led into The Golden Palace without Bea Arthur); Maude (last episode relocates the title character and her husband to a new city with new supporting characters, but Bea Arthur wanted out so the continuation series had to be retooled without her); and Inspector Morse (last episode paved the way for Lewis a few years later).
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Post by jinsinna13 on Feb 19, 2023 15:03:01 GMT
Great post, topbilled.
I have a few that I'd like to add.
The Big Bang Theory is another rare show that went out on top. The entire final season was strong and had a great ending.
The original Hawaii Five-O had a rough final season because of the departure of James MacArthur after eleven seasons. MacArthur quit because he wanted to do other things, but his absence was very noticeable. What made it worse was his character fell victim to the Chuck Cunningham Syndrome.
WKRP in Cincinnati, The Addams Family, and The Munsters had decent final seasons before being cancelled.
The final season of The Andy Griffith Show was basically set up for its spin off Mayberry RFD. |
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Post by topbilled on Feb 19, 2023 15:41:35 GMT
Agree about the original Hawaii Five-O. In fact most of the episodes from the last season were not included in the syndication package because it was so dire without James MacArthur. A fan can watch up through the end of the 11th season, then skip to the series finale at the end of the 12th season and be perfectly content!
Mayberry RFD is basically The Andy Griffith Show 2.0 without Andy, of course.
I think when Don Knotts leaves at the end of the 1965 season, it could easily be called Mayberry which would include the color episodes of those later seasons plus the episodes of Mayberry RFD. It became more about the community and its peripheral characters, and less about Andy, Opie & Barney, who were the main focus of the early black-and-white years.
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Post by topbilled on Feb 19, 2023 15:51:25 GMT
One show that I think had an interesting final season is Wagon Train. This is because the previous season they had switched to color and expanded to a 90 minute time slot (episodes are really 73 minutes long) to be more like The Virginian. They even had a special final episode at the end of season 7, which wrapped things up and brought closure to everything. But then ABC decided to renew WT at the last minute for an eighth and final season, at a reduced budget.
This means they went back to one-hour black-and-white episodes and lost one of their cast members (Scott Miller) with no explanation given as to where he'd gone!
As a result of this abrupt change of (re)format, seasons 1-6 and 8 feel like its own show, and that expanded season 7 seems like a different series. Incidentally, season 7 was syndicated separately and not included in the original syndication package with the one-hour b&w episodes.
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Post by sepiatone on Feb 19, 2023 16:40:57 GMT
It's hard to top(no pun intended) that OP list of yours, TB. I can't agree with several because you mention some shows that I never watched or liked.
But even with some shows I did like their final seasons showed distinct signs of "petering out". Running way longer than they should have as the premise also ran out of fresh ideas available to them. MY THREE SONS was a good example of this, as well as the aforementioned ANDY GRIFFITH last season and spin-offs.
ALL IN THE FAMILY, IMHO, should have called it quits once Gloria and Meathead moved into their own place. Carrying on with Quinn Cummings didn't really(I think) help all that much.
One show that ended on a high note, simply because in all of it's 11 years it never once hit a low note, was THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW.
And actually, I lost interest in WAGON TRAIN once Ward bond died.
Sepiatone
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Post by topbilled on Feb 19, 2023 17:56:58 GMT
It's hard to top(no pun intended) that OP list of yours, TB. I can't agree with several because you mention some shows that I never watched or liked. But even with some shows I did like their final seasons showed distinct signs of "petering out". Running way longer than they should have as the premise also ran out of fresh ideas available to them. MY THREE SONS was a good example of this, as well as the aforementioned ANDY GRIFFITH last season and spin-offs. ALL IN THE FAMILY, IMHO, should have called it quits once Gloria and Meathead moved into their own place. Carrying on with Quinn Cummings didn't really(I think) help all that much. One show that ended on a high note, simply because in all of it's 11 years it never once hit a low note, was THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW. And actually, I lost interest in WAGON TRAIN once Ward bond died. Sepiatone
Archie Bunker's Place jumped the shark when they killed Edith off going into the second season and though the writing remained fairly strong during all four seasons with decent performances from Carroll O'Connor and the supporting cast, it just didn't feel the same anymore.
I can't remember if I mentioned this in another thread, but before Don Grady died, he told me that the original plan for My Three Sons was to phase Fred MacMurray out, and to lead into a continuation series with his character Robbie and Tina Cole's character (she played his wife Katie). That's why Robbie and Katie had boy triplets, because the show was supposed to change focus to Robbie's three sons. However, Don didn't want to continue, as he was more interested in pursuing a music career. He quit and was written out but Tina continued on the show without him, which really didn't make sense...I think Katie would have taken the boys and moved with Robbie to where his new job was. The last season is painful to watch.
If they had dropped Fred MacMurray and the rest of the cast, or used some of them in guest appearances or in a recurring capacity, and just focused on Robbie & Katie's family situations, this slight revising might have breathed new life into the series. But I agree with you, those last few years after Beverly Garland and her daughter are brought in, are kind of sub-par even if the writing was still above average. The show ran too long. |
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Post by jinsinna13 on Feb 19, 2023 20:53:53 GMT
It's hard to top(no pun intended) that OP list of yours, TB. I can't agree with several because you mention some shows that I never watched or liked. But even with some shows I did like their final seasons showed distinct signs of "petering out". Running way longer than they should have as the premise also ran out of fresh ideas available to them. MY THREE SONS was a good example of this, as well as the aforementioned ANDY GRIFFITH last season and spin-offs. ALL IN THE FAMILY, IMHO, should have called it quits once Gloria and Meathead moved into their own place. Carrying on with Quinn Cummings didn't really(I think) help all that much. One show that ended on a high note, simply because in all of it's 11 years it never once hit a low note, was THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW. And actually, I lost interest in WAGON TRAIN once Ward bond died. Sepiatone
If they had dropped Fred MacMurray and the rest of the cast, or used some of them in guest appearances or in a recurring capacity, and just focused on Robbie & Katie's family situations, this slight revising might have breathed new life into the series. But I agree with you, those last few years after Beverly Garland and her daughter are brought in, are kind of sub-par even if the writing was still above average. The show ran too long.That is so cool you knew Don Grady! I'm currently watching the early episodes of My Three Sons, and Robbie is my favorite character. I miss him.
I agree about My Three Sons running too long. It jumped the shark when Dodie (Beverly Garland's daughter) was introduced. I haven't actually seen the final season, but from what I heard, it was a mess. I don't blame Don Grady for leaving when he did.
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Post by sepiatone on Feb 20, 2023 15:06:27 GMT
Actually, I thought Dodie was kinda cute. And she did get most of the funniest lines. But as cute as she was it was too much to ask her to carry the show.
And too, I noticed(for me) that THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES lost much of it's spark once they switched from black&white to color.
Another of my favorites from back then, PETTICOAT JUNCTION, slid downhill towards the end when both the youngest daughter, Betty Jo, got married and had a child. I could have lived with that, but Bea Benaderet's absences from illness and eventual death (cancer) brought about no Kate Bradley on the show in '68 made the last two seasons not worth the bother. I mean, a valiant effort was made in replacing Bea with June Lockhart as a doctor who worked her practice out of the Shady Rest and became the Mother figure for the three sisters. But as much as I liked Ms. Lockhart, it still couldn't salvage the show. I always felt that once it was clear Benaderet's health was too poor for her to carry on they should have found a way to gracefully and painlessly end the show.
Sepiatone
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Post by gerald424 on Mar 9, 2023 0:14:00 GMT
I don't know anyone else who does this, but I like to focus on the final seasons of long-running hit shows. Do you know about the Ted McGinley ? 
His career has been to replace departed actors or help a show (Happy Days, The Love Boat, Married With Children), when its leveling off or heading down hill (jumping the shark).
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Post by topbilled on Mar 9, 2023 0:22:52 GMT
I don't know anyone else who does this, but I like to focus on the final seasons of long-running hit shows. Do you know about the Ted McGinley ?
His career has been to replace departed actors or help a show (Happy Days, The Love Boat, Married With Children), when its leveling off or heading down hill (jumping the shark).
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Post by gerald424 on Mar 9, 2023 1:04:28 GMT
Do you know about the Ted McGinley ?
His career has been to replace departed actors or help a show (Happy Days, The Love Boat, Married With Children), when its leveling off or heading down hill (jumping the shark).
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