Don’t Stop Believin’
By SteveIt’s pretty funny to think that one of the most groundbreaking shows in TV history ended not with a bang but with some Journey.
Some people say the ending resolved nothing, but it resolved everything: Tony remains a sociopath, Carmela an enabler in denial, Meadow is daddy’s daughter, AJ is an idiot who can be manipulated by anyone, blah blah blah. Tony will probably end up in jail, he might end up dead, or both. Life goes on, but it’ll never be the same. The FBI guy was excited that Tony was going to win, yet the big Soprano is even more miserable. Life goes on for Tony, but life sorta sucks.
June 12th, 2007 at 8:30 pm
ugh finale was brutal….
June 16th, 2007 at 1:37 am
Just watched the final 2 episodes back to back (I’m late to the party here)…
Yeah, ending could be a let down to some. But I agree with Steve’s short but sweet analysis, mostly.
Biggest let down to me is that there’ll be no more Sopranos. Guess it’s back to “The Wire” for me…
June 16th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
To this day, I have never seen the last episode of Seinfeld.
June 17th, 2007 at 4:24 am
Gyro - the writers did what they could with the Seinfeld ending. Of course, as with the Sopranos, some loved it and some hated it.
Might be worth seeing to satisfy your curiosity, eh? (Seinfeld ending, I’m talking)
June 17th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
I’ve been trying to remember what the first “event” finale would have been. MASH, maybe?
Anyway, never saw the Sopranos, and I haven’t been avoiding spoilers about it either. I guess I have seven years of TV to catch up on.
June 17th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
I would have loved some sort of Looney Toons grand finale. It would take some very, very epic classical music though. The 1812 Overture would probably have to be included.
By the way, it’s not that I’m afraid the Seinfeld finale might be disappointing (I don’t even care if it is), but rather that I’ve simply never seen it on TV at this point. I’ll watch it when Season 9 is released on DVD this Christmas.
June 17th, 2007 at 10:38 pm
—-Troy said—-
I’ve been trying to remember what the first “event” finale would have been. MASH, maybe?
—-end quote—-
Yes, I believe that’s correct. In fact, I think the MASH finale still holds the record number of TV viewers for a single show, ever. Pretty impressive…
June 17th, 2007 at 10:52 pm
The MASH one was certainly the most viewed, but I have no idea if shows like I Love Lucy had major send-offs in their day. I think MASH had something like 100 million viewers, but viewership would be relative for older shows.
The Sopranos reached over 11 million, which is particularly impressive when you consider HBO has something like 20 million subscribers. It also had more viewers than all but one network show, though it didn’t have its own highest rating ever.
June 18th, 2007 at 11:23 am
Steve: for some strange reason, I have a real fascination with sitcoms from the Norman Lear & Bud Yorkin days of television (70’s and early 80’s). Shows like All in the Family, Sanford & Son, The Jeffersons, to name but a few…
I think MASH was one of the few shows to have a big sendoff, since their final season network ratings were still very high (The Mary Tyler Moore show also had a big sendoff). Most shows, though, get the foreclosure notice due to increasingly bad ratings… the network then won’t provide a budget for a grand finale (marketing, etc.) Even a monumental show like All in the Family (which morphed into Archie Bunker’s Place) didn’t get a good sendoff.
Concerning I Love Lucy, its final episode was in 1957 (after 9 seasons). Some say the show had “jumped the shark” by that point, although ratings stayed high. But TV hadn’t invaded every living room in America like it would in the 60’s. So grand send-offs and hyped finales hadn’t yet been considered. I think the idea of TV syndication helped to change this, though.
Speaking of send-offs: how about ole Bob Barker and The Price is Right? I read that Rosie O’Donnell may take the show over… (boy I really dislike her)