Do you remeber which one it was for you? Mine was Home Improvment when I was 7 or 8 and my mom explained what cancellation was. We watched it until the very end and my mom started to get emotional so I left the room. Great memories huh?

Well, there were some that ended without a finale like Hogan's Heroes and GI, but, the first show that I remember with an actual scripted finale, was Mary Tyler Moore; the one with the group hug and Mary turning off the lights of the newsroom...it also remains the very BEST finale I've ever seen!

One of the very first finales I ever saw back in the 1970's,was the last episode of "Perry Mason",titled "The Case of the Final Fade-Out"(1966)

Never seen it, but, thats the one where he actually LOSES a case, right?

The first scripted finale I remember seeing was Mr. Belvedere's. That aired in 1990 or 1991.

It was probably The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

Well, there were some that ended without a finale like Hogan's Heroes and GI, but, the first show that I remember with an actual scripted finale, was Mary Tyler Moore; the one with the group hug and Mary turning off the lights of the newroom...it also remains the very BEST finale I've ever seen!

Yep!

Lou Grant: "I cherish you people." :crying:

Yep!

Lou Grant: "I cherish you people." :crying:
Speaking of MTM and finales, did the Rhoda show get a "real" finale or was it just cancelled??

Speaking of MTM and finales, did the Rhoda show get a "real" finale or was it just cancelled??
I believe it just got canceled. It left the air in December. I don't even know if all the episodes ever aired on network tv. I never saw the last show...of course I abandoned the show before then.

I believe it just got canceled. It left the air in December. I don't even know if all the episodes ever aired on network tv. I never saw the last show...of course I abandoned the show before then.
That's what I thought - thanks, Sonny.

The first finale I saw was Family Ties.

That's what I thought - thanks, Sonny.
You're welcome. :)

I think for me it was also MTM.

Mine was probably Good Times.

Probably either The Cosby Show or Golden Girls.

the first finale that i can recall is the "newhart" finale. my step-dad was a huge fan and he though it was hilarious how the whole show was a dream.

the first finale i remember watching was Full House. i got sad! :(

Do you remeber which one it was for you? Mine was Home Improvment when I was 7 or 8 and my mom explained what cancellation was. We watched it until the very end and my mom started to get emotional so I left the room. Great memories huh?


My first finale was Fresh Prince in 1996 followed by Married with Children in 1997.

Mine was "Mary Tyler Moore" when I was 7.5 or so, but it didn't sink in at the time because it was on in reruns at 4 or 4:30 on our local CBS affiliate, IIRC. (I think that's the network it was on. It was a local affiliate, anyway.) Yes, I watched it then - probably 1-2 times a week - but also in the original run sometimes, it was right before my bedtime. It was a good, quality show and I remember thinking Ted was funny the way he mispronounced stuff.

As I thought about it, though, it kind of made sense; to my young mind then, I think I figured it was like a story, and I'd seen the ending, now I could watch some of the stuff that happened in between.

This may have perhaps led to my concept of a TV show as like a letter to a pen pal, except that you can't write your pen pal back very well and ask about stuff. Your pen pal obviously isn't going to tell you everything - and sometimes they just get stuff messed up in their letters. :-) (Okay, we've just come up with a new term for TV writers - "absent minded pen pals." :-)

Benson