Question of the Week: Series Finales

It’s Wednesday, so that means another Question of the Week…

I was watching “I Love the 80s Strikes Back: 1988” on VH1 last week and it had a feature with Gilbert Gottfied showcasing the “What the----” moment of the year. That moment was the series finale of “St. Elsewhere.”

“St. Elsewhere” was the critically acclaimed hospital drama that gave us Ed Begley Jr., Howie Mandel, Denzel Washington and Mark Harmon. The show followed both the personal and professional lives of the doctors and nurses at St. Eligius Hospital in Boston.

When the series came to an end after six seasons, viewers expected a lot of sappy scenes and we got them, but we also got one of the most original endings ever. While looking at a wide shot of the hospital, the building started to shake strangely. The camera pulled back to show St. Eligius Hospital in a snowglobe in the hands of Dr. Westphall’s autistic son, Tommy. His relatives (some of whom we knew as characters from the show) sat around wondering what he was dreaming up while looking at that globe. What he was dreaming up was the entire show, which turned out to be a total figment of his imagination.

Personally, I found the ending totally original—just like “St. Elsewhere” itself—but as Gottfried pointed out, I am apparently the only one.

Which leads me to this week’s two-part Question of the Week: What do you think was the best series finale of all time? What do you think was the worst series finale of all time?

I’ll give you my answers later in the week, so keep checking if you’re curious…

Just click on Post Comment to answer.