I think all those popular 80's shows never, ever had a final episode...



Difff'rent Strokes went out with Arnold doing a news report on teens taking steriods, and only Him, Sam, and Mr. D. were the only cast.


Silver Spoons went out with the family going to a cabin in the woods in the winter and a tree crashes through it and Kate and Edward can't have privacy because they kids are around them.



Gimme A Break went out with Nell's mother bringing home a Jazz musician and Nell thinks that he could be her father.....NOW THIS WAS VERY CLIFF-HANGER LIKE. I ACTUALLY THINK ANOTHER SEASON WOULD HAVE WORKED TO RESOLVE THIS MESS.


Punky Brewster had a final episode, but only Brandon married in it...that was so stupid...not much closure there.


Webster I think got blasted into the future from his computer....or something like that.



THE ONLY SHOW RAN IN THE 80'S THAT HAD AN OKAY FINAL EPISODE WAS FACTS OF LIFE.



FACE IT, NONE OF THESE SHOWS KNEW THEY WERE GETTING CANCELLED OR COMING BACK FOR ANOTHER SEASON. ONCE THEIR LAST EPISODE AIRED....IT JUST AIRED.

Those were all good examples of once hit shows not getting a proper send off. Another show that didn't get a proper final episode was the Jeffersons.

You're in the minority... TFOL had a horrible finale, and many people think that...

It crossed decades, but The Wonder Years was a very forced ending. It didn't really resolve itself...

Originally posted by jayman75
You're in the minority... TFOL had a horrible finale, and many people think that...

It crossed decades, but The Wonder Years was a very forced ending. It didn't really resolve itself...

I agree, the FOL finale blew.


How can people forget the Mash finale tho? that aired in the 1980's. So did Happy Days.

I'm happy you guys agree that the FOL farewell was weak. I thought I was the only one.

I do think the 90's and today have been kinder for departing series.

Nowadays if a show has run for more than 4 or 5 seasons, the networks will tell them soon enough if they plan on cancelling the show, so they're able to do some kind of wrapup to the show, instead of fiascos like Jeffersons and Diff'rent Strokes which ran for years, yet the finales were just regular episodes.

Yeah the "Punky Brewster" finale stunk... i always wished that it would have ended with Punky's mother coming back and Punky telling her to go away because she has a great life w/ Henry.

Yeah, a lot of 80's shows had no "proper" series finales, and Small Wonder was no exception. :(

For The Facts Of Life, they should of had Mrs. Garrett returned. Or they could of had a character die.:( They also could of had the WHOLE cast return for the finale.