In the earliest days of television , showrunners did n’t often bother with tying up a long - running show ’s easy ends . In a creation without cable or many reruns , aseries finalewas just another sequence . But as viewers got more emotionally invested — and as syndication and repeats grew — there came a need for decisiveness .
Newhartmay have had one of the adept , with asterisk Bob Newhart arouse up tie to hisThe Bob Newhart Showco - asterisk Suzanne Pleshette and understand his new serial had all been a dreaming — a sexual climax so memorable that Bryan Cranston by and by parody it after the end ofBreaking Bad . ( His affableMalcolm in the Middlecharacter , Hal , had plainly dreamed he was a crank trader . )
And then there are shows that ended with such stunning weirdness that it seems inconceivable spectator could be lead feeling anything but befuddled . The finale ofSt . Elsewhereproposed the show and its many character had been all in the idea of a youthful son with autism — a hypothesis that called into head the canyon of all of idiot box thanks to guest appearance from other television characters .
That was strange , but in television , it can unquestionably get strange . Check out eight other display that left viewers dazed and discombobulate .
1.Dinosaurs(1991-1994)
This Jim Henson Productions series about a nuclear family of anthropomorphic dinosaur show to be a modest hit for ABC . For four seasons , the Sinclairs — father Earl , female parent Fran , and kids Robbie , Charlene , and Baby Sinclair — declare oneself an animatronic take on prehistorical living . Baby Sinclair even have a popular catchphrase : “ I ’m the baby . Got ta love me ! ”
While plenty of watcher did , Dinosaurswas expensive to create and not plump out for a longsighted outpouring . And while dinosaurs were not known to talk or maintain down jobs , the show did take other portions of their existence literally . The seriesendswith the dinos , illiterate of their effect onclimate modification , inviting the Ice Age and thus their own extinction . Earl ’s employer uses plant - killing chemicals irresponsibly , define off a chain response of environmental catastrophe . By the end of the episode , snow is beginning to come down and it ’s obvious that the character viewers have come to sexual love — let in Baby Sinclair — are doomed .
“ From the second we first speak about the show , we discussed the idea that it was the domestication of these dinosaur that made them go out , ” series co - creator Michael Jacobstold Vulture in 2018 . “ The thing that human organism jazz about dinosaur was that , in the end , they were extinct , so we always had that idea in the back of our minds . The show would end by completing the metaphor and showing that quenching . ”
2.Family Matters(1989-1998)
Family Mattersis well screw as the ABC sitcom that introduced the world to Jaleel White , a.k.a . Steve Urkel . Though he was originally conceived as a venial sustain neighbor fiber for the Winslow family , Urkel became a pop polish sense experience . For the finale , which air on CBS following the show ’s mesh move in 1997 , the show abandoned any pretense of establish reality . In the two - part “ Lost in Space , ” Urkelsellsa patent of invention to NASA and is shot into space before being brieflymarooned . Steve nearly runs out of oxygen before he ’s capable to give to Earth . ( The episode attempt to meander in a subplot of Eddie Winslow , new strike as a bull , being shot during an fracas , a knifelike demarcation to Urkel ’s space odyssey . )
While it would have been unmanageable for the show to top that , it wasn’tdesignedas a finale . producer had gotten word of its cancellation too late to give it a more definitive send - off .
3.M.A.N.T.I.S.(1994-1995)
Before thesuperhero movieand goggle box burst of the new century , amusing book - vogue adventures were few and far between . One elision wasM.A.N.T.I.S. , a Fox serial that melt down for one season and featured Carl Lumbly as paralytic scientist Dr. Miles Hawkins , who regains the ability to take the air — and resist bullets — with the aid of an enhanced suit . ( The Mechanically Augmented Neuro Transmitter Interception System , for the acronym - curious . )
M.A.N.T.I.S.came under fire early on on for some puzzlingcastingdecisions . In the television movie that launched it , Lumbly was assist by lineament played by shameful actor . In the series , the fiber had been swapped out for white confidante .
It was perhaps no great loss when the show was strike down , though adecisionto have Lumbly front off against a gargantuan dinosaur was in sharp contrast to an otherwise grounded premise . ( The dinosaur was also mostly unseeable , presumably to save on extra issue . ) To fend off the wolf , Hawkins sets off an explosion , killing himself and Quaker Leora Maxwell ( Galyn Görg ) in the process . The goal .
WhileM.A.N.T.I.S.may have fall categorical , Lumbly did see some manakin of superhero salvation . He appeared on the Disney+ Marvel seriesThe Falcon and the Winter Soldierin 2021,playingIsiah Bradley , an former recipient role of Captain America ’s ace soldier serum .
4.ALF(1986-1990)
Nothing was more indigenous of 1980s television thanALF , a sitcom about a furry alien from the planet Melmac who incite in with the Tanner syndicate to forefend signal detection . ( ShootingALF , which was a puppet , provedproblematicfor his human carbon monoxide - champion , who often had to duck holes in the storey to allow for the puppeteering . )
For the 1990 series finis , “ reckon Me Gone , ” ALF is able-bodied to tap a radio signal from others of his kind who are colonizing a “ New Melmac . ” Even though it means saying goodbye to his adoptive family , ALF decides to join his fellow exotic life forms — but is insteadapprehendedby government functionary eager to ascertain out more about the alien . The show ’s producer expect a fifth season — this one set on a military fundament — but did n’t get one . The impression viewers have is one of ALF possibly doom to a life of captivity . ( The notion was cancel with a 1996 television movie , Project ALF , in which he ’s a governance guest but seemingly whole . )
5.Dallas(1978-1991)
Most masses remember CBS ’s primetime soapDallasfor the mystery story involvingwho buck oil magnate J.R. Ewing(Larry Hagman ) or the it - was - all - a - dream time of year supply by presumed - deadBobby Ewing(Patrick Duffy ) .
No less memorable was the seriesfinalein which J.R. contemplates the many selfish and otherwise virtuously corrupt option he ’s made in quest of wealth and ego - satisfaction throughout his life . The two - parter is a riff onIt ’s a Wonderful liveliness , except J.R. slow substantiate people in his life would have been far well off without him . " Sue Ellen making it on her own , " J.R. says , shocked anyone could thrive without him .
egg on by a malevolent feeling named Adam that appears to him in a mirror — who isimpliedto be a demon , thanks to a not - very - subtle ruby-red suit and glowing violent eyes — a heartsick J.R. appear to take his own sprightliness , though that was retconned in subsequent made - for - televisionDallasmovies .
6.Little House on the Prairie(1974-1983)
Based on the bestselling , semi - autobiographic book series byLaura Ingalls Wilder , Little House on the Prairieoffered viewers in the ‘ 70s a spirit at frontier life in the tardy 1800s . This would probably be the last place where you ’d expect an explosion set bit worthy ofArnold Schwarzenegger , but the show provided it in the form of one final TV motion-picture show , Little House on the Prairie : The Last Farewell . In the film , the town of Walnut Grove is go down on to bits so that it does n’t fall into the hands of a land mogul . Series star Michael Landon suggest the close because the land leased for the show had to be returned to its possessor in its original state and the buildings had to go anyway .
7.The Hills(2006-2010)
While reality shows are n’t typically concerned with having series finis , MTV’sThe Hillsapproached things otherwise . The sometimes - lurid serial featuring a grouping of twenty - somethings — including Lauren Conrad , Spencer Pratt , Heidi Montag , and Kristin Cavallari — navigating life and love in Los Angeles was ostensibly chronicling rather than orchestrating their lives . But that was call into question during the last instalment , when Brody Jenner isseenstanding on a Hollywood backlot and besiege by set decorations . The implication was thatThe Hillsmay have been as fictional as any written show .
8.Byker Grove(1989-2006)
WhileDoctor Whoremains the BBC ’s most outstanding long - run series , other show have been in it for the farseeing haul . Byker Grove , which premiered in 1989 and ran through 2006 , was rivet on the various dramas of a youth club in Newcastle , England . The overall effect was one of pragmatism — the series tackled adolescent topic like gender and racial discrimination .
It was all the more jarring , then , to have the show conclude in the manner it did . For the 2006 finale , “ Deux Ex Machina , ” the entire stamp amount torealizethey’re fictional characters in a television show and that the series ’ author have plans to abolish Byker Grove . freshly have of this terrifying self - knowingness , the characters prove to write their own ending before being attacked by aTyrannosaurus rex . ( For those keeping count , this is the third timedinosaurshave dally a part in this finale inclination . )
It gets stranger . Despite finding a buried treasure that would presumably see the cast “ buy ” the Grove and prevent it from destruction , dynamite croak off and everyone perishes . Something to ponder the next time you feel like kvetch about the terminate ofDexter .
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