Tearjerking Facts About The Most Beloved TV Series Finales
Oh, that feeling when you start a brand new TV show. You become friends with the characters and feel like you’re actually a part of their story. You laugh when they do, cry when they’re sad, and plot revenge when they’ve been wronged.
We’ve all been there. The worst part? When your favorite show comes to an end. Here’s the good, the odd, and the ugly of TV finales. Fair warning: spoilers ahead.
TV Finales Facts
1. Friends: “The Last One”
52.5 million viewers tuned in to watch the last episode of Friends in 2004. The two-parter saw all six friends leaving Monica and Chandler's apartment together, everyone leaving their key behind. The pair were moving with their brand new baby twins, Jack and Eric, to a new home. Ross and Rachel finally ended up together, after 10 years of on-again-off-again on-screen angst. Phoebe and her husband Mike decided they were going to try for a baby.
And Joey? He went on to have his own short-lived show. The cast admitted to trying to stall production for this episode, as no one wanted it to end.
2. St. Elsewhere: “The Last One”
This finale left a few questions. Fans were left to question whether or not the entire series, which ended in 1988, happened in the imagination of Donald Westphall's autistic son. The final scene pans out to show Tommy looking into a snow globe with the miniature hospital inside. Was it all in his head? Even the cast seemed a little confused by the ending, and a little sad too. With this ending. there would be no chance the series would be picked up again, further down the line.
St. Elsewhere, CBS Studio Center
3. Angel: “Not Fade Away”
The companion series to Buffy the Vampire Slayer came to an end in 2004. Angel and his crew were in the midst of a battle with thousands of demons, but there was no resolution at the end—the screen fades to black mid-fight. Who lived? Who didn’t? No one knows…Unless you're a fan of comic books. After the finale aired, a comic book series was announced, and it picked up where the show left off.
Demons still abound, and Angel is still committed to saving people.
