Did anyone watch the final episode of ER last night? As Chelley pointed out, it was on for three hours!I didn’t watch any of it, but I’ve never been an ER fan. I remember trying to watch it years ago and saying that, no matter how cute I thought Noah Wyle was, it was just too gory and too overly dramatic. Specifically, I said, “Why would I want to watch a show that makes me cry every week?”
Oh, the wisdom of teenagers. Flash forward a decade or so to me, sitting alone on my couch every Thursday night, wiping tears as I watch Grey’s Anatomy. (Is anyone else still watching? Now that they got rid of – again – Denny, it’s getting good again. Of course, by “good,” I mean slightly more plausible and even more gut-wrenching. Goooood.)
Anyway, the big to-do over ER has made me think about other TV finales that I’ve watched.
And there are many. Because – and I have no real explanation for this – I have a sick addiction to goodbyes. They tear me up and break me down…but I can’t look away.
Example 1: Watching – and bawling during – the first several episodes of 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter after John Ritter died.
Example 2: Turning on Michael J. Fox’s final episode of Spin City, despite the fact that I’d never watched it on a regular basis. And then sobbing. Like a baby.
Example 3: Watching the last two seasons of Friends, even though I hadn’t been a faithful viewer ever before, because I’d heard it was going off the air. Can I just say…that moment in the finale where they all pull out their keys to the apartment? Killed. Me.
And most recently, Example 4: Tuning in to watch Scrubs, a show I’ve always saved for reruns on cable, because I read that this is its last season.
I’m not sure what’s wrong with me. (And please, that is not the question I’m asking here, so keep all guesses and diagnoses to yourself!) But I do love a good finale.
What about you? Do you have a love/hate relationship with TV finales? Any favorites? (For ideas, TV Guide picks a few good ones.)
