The 5: Creative Series Finales

This Week on the 5: Series Finales that Surprised Us With Their Creativity

When a series is popular, and a finale is announced, two things happen. First, speculation about how it will end runs rampant, and second, expectations skyrocket about how the writers will possibly do justice to the characters you’ve come to know and love or hate. There have been good finales, and bad finales, but these are five of the most creative ones we remember. Add your own in the comments.

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• Breaking Bad.  Breaking Bad had one of the most hyped series finales to a television show ever, and it showed by collecting over 10 million views for its penultimate episode. Not bad for a show that only broke 2 million viewers once in it’s first 4 seasons. What was great about the ending of Breaking Bad is how it wrapped everything up nicely without leaving any stone unturned. Using familiar shots and imagery seen during the first five seasons, Walter White was able to end his journey as from a high school chemistry teacher to a drug kingpin.  Creator Vince Gilligan said the show was like seeing a transformation from Mr. Chips to Scarface, which is exactly what the finale delivered, as Walt mowed down the neo-nazis with a cleverly rigged machine gun and was finally able to admit that all of his bad deeds were not just for his family, but to fuel his own desire to live free and feel alive in the final years of his life. While some finales lacked something or left their ending ambiguous, Breaking Bad, left fans with the perfect ending, complete with a bow on top.  Watch it here. 
• Newhart.  One of the most surprising and well received series finales of all times is not the type you would imagine be on this list. It’s not a Lost or Breaking bad where the whole show is full of excitement and twists and turns it was a beloved sitcom starring a popular sitcom star from another beloved past show. One of the big moments was when the two Darryls who had not spoke in the entire shows existence shouted in unison “SHUT UP!” at the loud abrasive Long Island wives that were annoying the hell out of them.The big shocker of the finale though? Dick, Newharts character in the show gets hit with a golf ball and wakes up in bed and next to him is not Joanna his wife from Newhart, but Suzanne Pleshette who played his wife from his old show “The Bob Newhart Show”, then the viewer realizes that this isn’t just some random couple but it is actually Dr. Bob Hartley and Emily from the show because they are in the bedroom set. Newhart says “I just had the weirdest dream” and you realize that the entire series of Newhart was just a dream of Dr. Bob Hartleys from The Bob Newhart Show in what some say was the most shocking finale of all time.  Watch it here.
• St. Elsewhere.  For 6 seasons, viewers watched the doctors, nurses and patients of St. Eligius Hospital go through matters of life and death. It turned out that none of it ever happened. The entire drama of “St. Elsewhere” was made up in the mind of an autistic child. The series featured Dr. Donald Westphall and Dr. Daniel Auschlander. Dr. Westphall had an autistic son named Tommy.  As the series wrapped, we find out that neither one of them are doctors. Donald Westphall, Tommy’s dad, works construction. Daniel Auschlander is Tommy’s grandfather who sits with him during the day. How is the autistic illusion revealed after 6 seasons? Viewers see Tommy holding a snow globe and concentrating on it. Donald comes home and expresses his frustration with not understanding autism. The series finale comes to an end with a close-up of the snow globe which contains a little St. Elsewhere. The hospital and doctors are all just a product of Tommy’s autistic mind.  Go to the 3:00 minute mark to see St. Elsewhere revealed as just imagination.
• Life on Mars(UK Version).  For the entire 2 season run of the BBC’s Life on Mars viewers were guessing on whether Detective Sam Tyler was in a coma or if he was always a cop in 1970’s Britain. After being hit by a car in 2006, he awoke to find himself in 1973 England.  Turns out he was in a coma the entire time, yet once he gets back to “his time” he realizes the experiences he had in the 1973 world was where he truly wanted to be. He throws himself off a roof in the current time period only to awake back in 1973 where he saves his friends from certain death, gets the girl and continues being Gene Hunt’s partner. Only until the spin off series Ashes to Ashes came on was it revealed that Tyler ended up dying when he threw himself off that roof and that during his fall he lived for another 7 years in 1973. Gene Hunt turned out to be a sort of guardian who ferried dead police from the real world to the next. Don’t even bring up the ending to the US version of Life on Mars.  Watch it on dailymotion.com.
• Six Feet Under.   Alan Ball’s acclaimed HBO series Six Feet Under ends spectacularly, with an extended flash forward set to Breath Me by Sia. As Claire drives away from home we see the eventual fates of all the principal characters up to their deaths. The final 7 minutes of the episode provides fans of the show with ultimate closure to the 5 season series. It was a show that began every episode with death and ended with nothing but, satisfying fans all over.  Watch it here.

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Life on Mars Ending by TheCircuitWizard