Great last episodes? Page 5

Quote: zooo @ March 25 2009, 4:09 PM GMT

Am I thinking of the right one?
They went off in a car, and got arrested or something?

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Yes. They got arrested for doing nothing when a fat man was carjacked. And at their trial a succession of people they'd mocked over the years came back and testified against them. They ended up in prison.

I agree, the short twenty minute episodes were best, but I thought this finale was pretty good. And better this than Elaine and Seinfeld getting married and having a baby, or the usual predictable end to American shows.

Well yes, better than that.

I will never watch the last episode of One Foot in the Grave again. I hated the way they ended it.

Always enjoyed the way series six of Red Dwarf ended, with Rimmer finally being the hero. Promised greatness and we got series seven. Bugger.

I recently enjoyed the last episode of series 10 of Are You Being Served? (just released in Australia). It featured Mike Berry performing a great song by Manhattan Transfer.

Quote: Balf @ March 25 2009, 5:23 PM GMT

Always enjoyed the way series six of Red Dwarf ended, with Rimmer finally being the hero.

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That was a great, exciting ending.

Quote: Tim Walker @ July 14 2008, 6:37 PM BST

Hi De Hi had just simply wonderful characters played to perfection by great actors. Mainstream? What about the grumpy, drunken old sod of a children's entertainer? Most would probably consider that an alternative comedy character, wouldn't they?

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No.

Almost every single last episode from the major series has been brilliant - mainly as they can do whatecver they want with it and effectively kill the character off like The Office did with David Brent by making him sort of cool. My favourite one has to be Larry Sanders when he was interviewing Sean Penn and he slagged off Gary Schandling.

Edited by Aaron.

The finale of Seinfeld was a disappointment for me. Now, before you start to comment, hear me out. When the last season of Seinfeld started to roll, they had already started the countdown to the last episode: 12 episodes left, 11 episodes left... This went on for the entire season. The last month of it airing it was all that was on TV. Rival networks were interviewing the stars on late night TV and it was all that the entertainment shows talked about. On the week of the finale, stores were selling Seinfeld party kits (they did this with the end of Friends as well). So, finally the episode airs...and that's it. A lot of our critics hated the episode, as did a lot of fans. I remember watching it and thinking, Hmm. Just like a regular episode. I don't know what could have made it better for me. I think if the media hoopla wasn't as bad it would have set expectations lower.

That said, I loved the ending of Blackadder.

Quote: chipolata @ July 27 2009, 10:36 AM BST

No.

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Hi-De-Hi! was ultimately a comedy about failure. All the characters were failed entertainers and/or deeply-flawed individuals. It was occasionally almost melancholy in its approach. To make what was actually quite a bleak subject into a mainstream sitcom success was something of a triumph.

Quote: AndreaLynne @ July 27 2009, 1:48 PM BST

The finale of Seinfeld was a disappointment for me. Now, before you start to comment, hear me out. When the last season of Seinfeld started to roll, they had already started the countdown to the last episode: 12 episodes left, 11 episodes left... This went on for the entire season. The last month of it airing it was all that was on TV. Rival networks were interviewing the stars on late night TV and it was all that the entertainment shows talked about. On the week of the finale, stores were selling Seinfeld party kits (they did this with the end of Friends as well). So, finally the episode airs...and that's it. A lot of our critics hated the episode, as did a lot of fans. I remember watching it and thinking, Hmm. Just like a regular episode. I don't know what could have made it better for me. I think if the media hoopla wasn't as bad it would have set expectations lower.

That said, I loved the ending of Blackadder.

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The problem with the last Seinfeld was that it was so indulgent, with the long courtroom scene. This really was at odds with the relative brevity of the rest of the series.

Quote: Tim Walker @ July 27 2009, 3:27 PM BST

Hi-De-Hi! was ultimately a comedy about failure. All the characters were failed entertainers and/or deeply-flawed individuals. It was occasionally almost melancholy in its approach. To make what was actually quite a bleak subject into a mainstream sitcom success was something of a triumph.

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I'd agree with the first part, but I think a lot of hugely succesful mainstream shows have been about failure. Steptoe and Son, Cheers, etc.

Quote: john lucas 101 @ July 27 2009, 3:30 PM BST

The problem with the last Seinfeld was that it was so indulgent, with the long courtroom scene. This really was at odds with the relative brevity of the rest of the series.

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Yes, but I'd guess they were under intense pressure from the network and the viewing public to come up with something special, hence the finale we got.

Or even worst last episodes.. for example Steptoe's bittersweet curtain call, excellent but hardly a last hurrah! OFAH's actual final episode, tired and embarrassing. Psychoville WTF! It had better get recommissioned. But the best ever last episode has to be the final installment of Plaza Patrol, mainly because it was the last episode!

Quote: Sebastian Orange-News @ July 27 2009, 10:49 AM BST

effectively kill the character off like The Office did with David Brent by making him sort of cool.

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I don't think it made him look even "sort of" cool. What it did was alter the persepective for the viewer. It showed to an extent that Brent was right about what he complained about, that TV documentaries are "crafty. They edit things to make you look bad". (Which is true.)

Brent would have effectively still have appeared un-reconstructed in the final two episodes, if it were not for four (I feel) key scenes. One: where he is selling the cleaning products as a travelling salesman, the "who does your tampons?" scene - should us he has a degree of courage in the face of adversity and invited genuine sympathy for him as a character. Two: telling Finchy to f**k off, which shows not only insight and self-awareness, but also one of the few times he is acting with genuinely unselfish motives. Three: having a fairly normal conversation with Carol, without really putting his foot in it - and importantly having demonstrated the ability to listen to somebody else. And Four: the closing vox-pop voiceover about "making a difference".

Without these four key scenes, the view of David wouldn't change. However, with them, we realise that although we may not have misjudged Brent completely, we didn't every side to this man. And I think the last episode was written and played beautifully.

Seinfeld's ending was terrible, the only real way to've ended a show about nothing though would've been with a normal episode and it was a bit too popular for that so they didn't have a choice.

Best ending was Blackadder. Each series better than the last, then Goes Forth just got more and more perfect, brilliant.