TV Show Finales That Blew Everyone Away

While it was on the air, Six Feet Under blended quirky and poignant elements about as well as any series in recent memory, so it isn't surprising that its finale was a little bit of both. Fans of the Fisher family watched in stunned silence as youngest sibling Claire left California for a job in New York; as the desert scenery flashed past her window, we saw flashes of the future for the rest of the main characters. In typical Six Feet Under style, we got a glimpse of what happens to the family—including how they die. If you're not crying by the end of this one, then you probably have no soul.

As the title of the final Star Trek: The Next Generation episode references, all good things have to come to an end—in this case, after seven great seasons of highly acclaimed television. The series frequently explored social and ethical issues as the crew probed the depths of space, and the finale was no exception. In the final episode, now considered one of the best of the series, Captain Picard finds his mind jumping through three separate timelines, which forces him to think critically to solve the anomaly forced upon him by the omnipotent being Q. The quick-thinking Picard manages to solve the conundrum, and the show ends with a love letter to fans as the captain joins a poker game with the other crew members for the first time.

One of the most popular medical dramas of the '80s, St. Elsewhere followed the personal and professional lives of doctors and nurses in a less-than-prestigious Boston hospital as they make life-and-death decisions about the often-impoverished patients they serve. After six seasons and 13 Emmy awards, the show drew to a close in 1988, with a unique twist on the "it was all a dream" TV trope: a final scene revealing that the entire chronicles of St. Eligius exist solely within the mind of Tommy, the autistic son of "Doctor" Westphall. The revelation that Tommy imagined the entire series with the aid of a snow globe has spawned countless tributes and references in other popular TV shows, and there's even a theory that dozens of other series—including many of the others on our list—are really part of the "Tommy Westphall Universe."

In perhaps one of the most emotionally charged TV episodes of all time, the doctors and nurses of the 4077th M*A*S*H unit said farewell to viewing audiences with a massive 150-minute special finale. While the entire episode is filled with that clever mix of tender, funny, and tragic that made M*A*S*H such a success, there are a couple of standout moments.

In one such scene, Hawkeye—sitting in a psych ward—relives a memory of hiding on a bus from an enemy patrol, recounting how a woman on the bus smothered a squawking chicken to keep them safe from the approaching soldiers. We slowly realize (along with Hawkeye, as he realizes the truth he's been hiding from himself) that the woman actually smothered her own baby to keep it silent at his behest. Later, at the end of the episode, Hawkeye and BJ bid each other farewell, and as Hawkeye's helicopter lifts off, we see the message BJ left for him (and the over 100 million viewers that tuned into the finale): GOODBYE.

For eight years, fans laughed along with Bob Newhart while he dealt with strange guests and hilarious situations as the innkeeper in a small Vermont town. For the series finale, Newhart also went the "it was all a dream" route, but with a shocking (and hilarious) meta twist. After making a stubborn stand against Japanese developers who want to buy up the town, Newhart's character Dick Loudon collapsed after taking a golf ball to the head—only to wake up as Dr. Bob Hartley, from his previous series, the Bob Newhart Show. Turning dazedly to his Bob Newhart Show wife, Suzanne Pleshette, he tells her he had the strangest dream—and she sarcastically advises him that he should lay off the Japanese food before bed.

On the night Seinfeld concluded its acclaimed run, more than 76 million people tuned in to say farewell to America's favorite misanthropes. Show creator Larry David turned the episode into a who's-who of Seinfeld cameos, as characters from the show's past returned to testify against Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer as character witnesses in a trial. While some fans disliked the episode for being turned into a morality play, others loved it for the cameos—and for giving the four main characters their just desserts after all their years of casually callous behavior. Jerry closed out the show with a final stand-up routine, performing in an orange jumpsuit for his disinterested fellow prisoners, which ultimately upheld David's overarching credo for the show: "no hugging, no learning."

From 2008 to 2014, Sons of Anarchy lit up our screens with its high-powered, intense crime drama chronicling the lives of Jax Teller, his extended family, and the other members of the SAMCRO biker club. The final installment of an often bloody, always exciting modern Shakespearean tragedy, the series finale was just as bloody and tragic, as Jax eluded police on a high-speed chase before committing suicide by deliberately driving into the path of an oncoming semi. While many fans praised his decision as being a selfless way of saving his children's future, Jax still managed to be completely selfish in the end—just think of that poor truck driver, probably scarred for life by the incident.