The show, which had always provided razor-sharp show-biz satire by using real names and real entertainment figures, had spent its sixth and final season with Shandling’s titular talk show host preparing to exit his program (his successor: a hot young comic named Jon Stewart), and the show managed to parody the over-abundance of good “gets” typical of these affairs. The talk of television in spring of 1998 was the conclusion of the long-running and wildly successful Seinfeld, but another observational comic’s groundbreaking sitcom was also singing off: Garry Shandling’s innovative and influential HBO series The Larry Sanders Show concluded with a terrific, hour-long final episode entitled “Flip,” penned by Shandling and Peter Tolan. The results were television magic: a heartfelt conclusion, anchored by the now-classic image of the tearful WJM news team moving as one to the tissues on Mary’s desk. ![]() Brooks) and featuring the return of such departed, spun-off cast members as Rhoda and Phyllis. Like the M*A*S*H closer (which sported eight writing credits), the MTM finale was an all-hands-on-deck affair, penned by six of the show’s most venerable writers and creators (including future Oscar winner James L. By year seven, ratings had declined - not to an embarrassing degree, but enough that Moore and company decided to call it a day. Moore’s eponymous workplace comedy was a groundbreaking popular and critical success, ranking among TV’s highest-rated shows in its first six seasons. But the conclusion dodged the easy win of Sam and Diane living happily ever after, closing instead with a jovial scene of bar byplay (what the show had always done best) and a bittersweet, Eugene O’Neill-esque coda of Sam, almost at one with the bar, locking up, shutting off the lights, and turning away one last patron with a firm, “Sorry, we’re closed.” So the finale was a big event, with a Bob Costas-hosted retrospective leading into the 98-minute final episode, “One for the Road.” As expected, loose ends were tied up and old friends returned - specifically Shelly Long, who had left at the end of Season 5. (Imagine such a thing these days.) When it finally did, it became the Peacock’s top-rated series - even surpassing the juggernaut that was its Thursday night companion, The Cosby Show - going out at the close of Season 11 as TV’s top show. James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles’ Boston-based barroom sitcom was a remarkable success story for NBC: though it dwelled in the ratings basement in its early seasons, networks execs believed in the show and waited for it to find an audience. ![]() It remains the highest-rated series finale ever, and was the highest-rated television program of any kind until the 2010 Super Bowl. And viewership was astonishing: the show was watched by 125 million viewers, with 77% of all sets tuned to CBS that night. It was appropriate, though, as “Goodbye” had the depth, nuance, and pathos of a very good movie it dealt, as the show’s best episodes had, with the genuine psychological horrors of war, but with grace, wit, and emotion. ![]() “Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen,” the 1983 final episode of the long-running Korean War series (11 years - eight more than the war itself) set the bar for epic sitcom finales: It ran 135 minutes, considerably longer than not only an average episode (30 minutes) but most feature films. Bringing a long-running sitcom to a close is a tricky bit of business (how ya doin’, Roseanne), but The Office joins a handful of shows that have done it very, very well. Last night, NBC brought down the curtain on The Office in rather a lovely fashion, with a series finale that was warm, nostalgic, and plenty funny.
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