Some of the Best Season Finales

The other night while pursuing things to watch on my iPad…I found a number of the best television series finales. So, I watched them. My all time favorite series was the Sopranos and I remember my initial reaction to watching the finale. I felt sad that this would be the last time that I would be part of the Soprano Family, the last time I would share Sunday evenings with them. We all had become family; the good and the bad. Being Italian didn’t upset me that they were a Mob Family. Sometimes, I wish that I was part of the Mob Family and could send a few of my enemies to sleep with the fish.

But the Sopranos finale left me empty. The song by Journey, Don’t Stop Believin’ filled the screen with the diner scene. It was a perfect song that Tony played as he waiting patiently for Carmella to arrive, then his son, and finally his daughter. The diner was filled with people and I saw a few that made me wonder – what were they going to do? When Meadow comes in finally after attempting a number of times to park her car at the curb…she walks in and the screen goes black with the same song playing. I have re-played that scene over and over. But the first time when the scene went black…I jumped up because I thought my cable went out. I stood up yelling…”What the hell…” Then the credits rolled by and I realized what the hell had just happened.

I was glad that it went black. I didn’t want to see my beloved extended family get wacked. But, I decided that just maybe they would return. Now with the real death of James Gandolfini (Tony)…they won’t be coming back. I can still enjoy Sunday nights with the Soprano Family on reruns.

I started to watch a few more series finales…I watched the Mary Tyler Moore Show and laughed and cried with the ending. The comedy writing and timing was impeccable as was the cast. I laughed through the old Bob Newhart Show where they blended both of his series into one crazy ending. Then I watched Lost and found the finale well done and now I want to watch it all over again.

I ended up watching Six Feet Under. I remember it took me three different attempts to watch the series before I was hooked. I loved how they would show an accident or death and give the name, date of birth and date of death. The finale has the daughter of the funeral home owners traveling away in a car to her new life. As she travels we see how each of her family members age and die with their name, date of birth and death. When I watched this with my youngest daughter…we cried at the ending but then we realized it was probably one of the best written finale endings ever.

I know there were many more series finales that made that list or your list. But these are mine. What are yours?