So what did I think of the final episode of “Friends?” It was an unpredictable episode with a predictable ending. I’m doing this separate from “Cowboy Pete,” which I’ll have a new one up of tomorrow.
I figured the twist involving Monica and Chandler becoming parents would be that the birth mother would change her mind, not that she was popping out twins (Chandler’s delivery of the line, “Join me, won’t you?” in urging Monica to come aboard on his rising panic underscores why Matthew Perry is one of the best comic actors alive.) And I figured Ross and Phoebe were heading to the wrong airport simply because they didn’t ask which one to head to, a question any New Yorker would *always* ask, if nothing else because there’s JFK and LaGuardia (let alone Newark) to distinguish between.
And I figured Ross and Rachel would wind up together for one simple reason: “Friends” has never been about being groundbreaking. It’s about being a satisfying way to kill half an hour. Producing a finale episode that deals with Ross losing Rachel for good without being a bummer would have been an amazing challenge for the writers, and one that they apparently wanted no part of. Can’t blame them in the least. Consequently, “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” remains the single best ending to a sitcom every.
What’s interesting is that the finale of “Friends” really underscores the nature of “Happy ending.” Happy endings only occur in fiction. In real life, all stories end sadly. “Until death do us part” sounds very romantic until, y’know, the death part. There were any number of moments in my first marriage where, if we’d faded to black and run the credits, it was a happy ending. For that matter, if I’d had the good grace to be run over by a truck seven years ago, that marriage would have been considered a success.
The truth is, Ross and Rachel won’t make it as a couple. No way. Saying “We won’t be stupid anymore” is nice, but it’s not enough, because stupidity isn’t the problem. The problem is, in the final analysis, they’re still just two people who care only about what they themselves want. And the proof of that is that not once, not a single time in all the back and forth, did either of them consider what would be best for their daughter. Ross never said that he wanted he and Rachel and Emma to be a family. Rachel gave no consideration to the difficulties of being a single mother raising a child in a foreign country with no support system (her sole focus was the money and opportunity the job offered.) They wanted what they wanted with no real consideration given to the other’s needs except in the most transitory of ways. Ross nobly decided to put Rachel’s needs above his own; that self-sacrifice lasted, subjectively speaking, less than a week, at which point it was “Screw it, I want Rachel to stay with me.” Interestingly he never once considered the notion of moving to Paris to be with *her* and their daughter. (As opposed to, I suspect, the far more adult and mature Frasier Crane whom, I suspect, is going to uproot and move to Chicago to be with his girlfriend.)
Am I making too big a deal out of it? Considering the massive amount of coverage it’s gotten, no, I don’t think so. The amount of ballyhoo elevates the amount of scrutiny to which something should be subjected. Plus the subject of fathers and their obligations toward doing all that’s humanly possible for their daughters’ best interest is something that I place a great deal of stock in…even when it comes to lightweight sitcom entertainment.
PAD
• 
Different tastes.
“Satisfying way to kill a half hour”?
More like die of boredom.
Where I can watch reruns of GET SMART over and over or, in a different genre, any B5 episode (the unfortunately few written by a certain Peter David standing out even among that cream of televised crop) and where I’ve had to go to great lengths to get a DVD set of James Burke’s original CONNECTIONS series because I’ve been wearing out the tapes, I almost fell asleep from lack of interest less than ten minutes into the only FRIENDS episode I tried to suffer through, and even the presence of one of my favourite actresses (Maggie Han) couldn’t keep me from turning the figurative dial partway through the one and only SEINFELD I tried to sit through.
I guess it’s a good thing the TV executives don’t use me in their test audiences.
What happen at the end after Rachel showed up at Ross’s door? My TIVO stopped recording at that point and I missed the very end!! =-(
Thanks,
James
“And the proof of that is that not once, not a single time in all the back and forth, did either of them consider what would be best for their daughter.”
My wife and I were saying the same thing last night. Where does Emma fit into the equation? That has been a running question in my house since she was born.
The thing to consider about writing this show is the core audience they are trying to reach. The demographic they are appealing to is, for the most part, not a demographic loaded with sons and daughters. Kids don’t come to the forefront of their lives, so they wouldn’t necessarily “identify” with the part children play in a parent’s life.
Let’s not forget that Phoebe had surrogate triplets many a season ago, and yet we never hear a thing about them. Ben, Ross’ child from his first marriage, hasn’t been seen in years.
I’ve always seen the children of Friends as a way to keep the parents of their target demographic from losing interest in the growth of the characters.
Yes, I was sort of offended by how Emma was not part of the equation for Ross and Rachel. Of course, I’m traditional enough that I think they should have married and at least *tried* to make the relationship work when Emma was born.
That said, I can’t imagine any mother uprooting her child, even one as young from Emma, from her whole family — two sets of grandparents, her aunts and uncles, and, oh yeah, her father, who rather than possibly seeing her every day would see her once a month at best.
This *wouldn’t* be a good thing to do for Emma. Sure, she might make friends in Paris (with a single mother who has a tremendously demanding job and would probably have to leave her with a nanny a great deal of the time) but she might also be horribly alone. Compare that with her life in New York with what we know is a loving extended family and Rachel essentially made a lifestyle altering change for Emma (I don’t think I’m being facetious — we’re talking about Emma potentially winding up a completely different person than if she were raised near in family in New York).
All this for a job, when we’ve seen that Rachel has held a job for about two years at the most. It’s not even like moving to be with someone you love (that generally has a more open-ended future).
And if I were Ross, I wouldn’t be racing to the airport to keep Rachel here, I would be doing so to keep my daughter in my life. As goofy as Mrs. Doubtfire was, I imagine many single fathers can empathize with the line, “I need to see my children every day, not just on weekends.”
I worked last night, so taping “Friends” would have meant missing “Tripping the Rift” — and comedy with a crude purple space captain with lots of head tentacles trumps Pretty White People With Problems (to use an old Mad TV line) every time!
“Friends” has always been superficial. Early on half of them were supposedly poor (Phoebe was a street performer, Monica was unemployed, Rachel was a waitress), and they had two massive Manhattan apartments; they also dressed perfectly. A recent article in Time or Newsweek pointed out that the show was so light, even normally controversial events (gay marriage, single parenthood) came & went on the show with no real attention and lasting consequences. The article also pointed out that the show pretty much forgot about Ross’s other child, Ben. (From the comments above, I’m guessing he was barely or not mentioned in the finale.)
As for Ross & Rachel, I definitely could not care less. “Friends” has been one of the worst offenders of the A-B, B-A, A-B formula. Person A has a thing for Person B, but Person B doesn’t know it. Person B find out and feels for Person A, but by then Person A is with someone else. Then Person A falls for Person B, but by this time Person B is unavailable, and so on. Eris knows how many times “Friends” has run to this well. (The runner-up for this was “Frasier,” but they wrapped that up with Niles and Daphne’s marriage. And they didn’t have them breaking up and making up every few weeks.)
I won’t miss the show. While it did have some funny moments, overall it was mediocre excapism at best.
Now let’s get ready to discuss the “Invader Zim” DVD out Tuesday!
Agreed about the Emma angle of things…but (and don’t laugh, everybody’s got one)…
yes, you’re all reading WAY too much into it. the show isn’t (and has never claimed to be) anything but good escapist fantasy fun. that’s why 9/11 was never mentioned. that’s why they can own a huge apartment in manhattan but seemingly be unemployed at least half of the time. that’s why 6 people can spend so much time together, and never once in 10 years have a (serious) fight.
suspension of disbelief. embrace it for you’ll enjoy movies and tv that much more 🙂
I think PAD hit the nail on the head. Friends was never about being a breaking ground series. It’s a very conventional sitcom, which is why I knew from season one that Ross and Rachel would never have their “together forever” until the very last episode. It’s also why I knew Eric wouldn’t decide to keep her babies. I’m just thankful they got the retrospective crap out of the way in the first hour, rather than make a clip show like Seinfeld did.
A more daring final episode was Cheers, where Sam decides that he’s happy with his life rather than chase one last chance at “forever” with Diane.
As for kids on Friends, yeah, it was annoying how they were just props to be brought out when a joke was needed. I think the writers were petrified of turning the show into a family sitcom instead of one about urban twentysomethings.
Friends was never ground breaking like the way Seinfeld was. So there shouldn’t had been any doubt that Ross and Rachel were finally going to get back together. Personally, my biggest disappointment since the birth of Emma, all of a sudden, Ross’ son Ben seem to have vanished. Sure he got an honorable mention last night, but does anyone else find it amazing of the sloppiness of the writers to not have included Ben over the last few years? There should had been a story of him reacting to a new sister. Or if they wanted to write the character out, explain that he and the lesbian mothers have moved, or something.
that’s why they can own a huge apartment in manhattan but seemingly be unemployed at least half of the time.
You know, I think the funniest line in the episode was Chandler’s remark about how rent control made their apartment a “friggin’ steal.”
I didn’t even consider Emma for a second. If the show is going to ignore her (as sitcom babies are traditionally ignored, from Murphy Brown’s to, yes, Ross’ first child), then I’m gonna ignore her, too. But it did tick me off that neither Ross, nor Rachel, nor anyone involved in the show, apparently, considered that ROSS could go to PARIS. What, they don’t have paleontology in France?
Also, the duck and the chick? And the foosball table?? You REALLY want to spend your last show revisiting those things? Wow. Whatever. It’s your hour, I guess. Still, at least it wasn’t 50% clip show, like the cop-out final episode of Seinfeld.
James: What happen at the end after Rachel showed up at Ross’s door? My TIVO stopped recording at that point and I missed the very end!! =-(
They cut to Monica’s apartment where all six are finishing the move (Rachel’s wrapped around Ross’ neck).
Chandler cracks wise about the virtues of rent control. Joey mopes that the place is so empty. He also, hadn’t noticed that the walls were purple (or pink). He’s going to miss them so much!
Monica: Don’t worry, I left 3 Lasagnas on your fridge.
Laugh track.
Monica realizes that at one time or another they all lived in that apartment.
More jokes about the virtues of rent control.
Phoebe points out that Ross hadn’t lived there.
Monica explains that Ross lived one year with their Grandma (after college) ’cause he dreamed of becoming a dancer. (This coerced joke/revelation is there because…)
Monica tells Chandler she was asked to leave her keys behind, so she puts hers on the table; then follows Chandler.
Aparently Joey had his, still.
And Rachel too.
Phoebe (of course).
…and Ross (hence the joke).
They all agree they don’t have to leave right now, and figure they could go for some coffee.
Chandler asks if they know of a place (this is taking place as they exit the apartment and move towards the hallway).
We pan through the empty apartment.
Six keys sit on the kitchen den, then the door… the end.
Credits… (nothing, be back next week for Frasier.)
I agree with your assessment of Friends but I would have to take issue with MTM as the best ending ever. Newhart’s finale was simply the best ever, not just because you didn’t see it coming but because it just felt right.
I was thinking Ross could’ve gone to court to keep his daughter in America, but considering Emaa went the way of Ben (not seen in ages) it was never a serious option.
Funniest moment of the night was right near the end, Ross and Rachel talking about being together forever, and Ross saying “..Unless we’re on a break.” Perhaps the total blandness of the rest of the episode amplified the funniness of the line, but a good laugh was needed at that point.
With Airport Harassment, I mean Security like it is, I’m surprised Rachel wasn’t arrested for causing the “Airplane Falange”-scare…
Ross stated once before that he wouldn’t move from New York, back when Emily wanted to live in London, because he wouldn’t leave Ben. I’d assume that’s probably the reason he didn’t suggest moving to France as well.
JD
I second Newhart being the best ending ever.
And the crack about Ross and dancing lessons was unnecessary for the keys. It felt like a cheap laugh to me. Many people give out keys to friends/family. (to check on the place when you’re out of town/let you in if you lock yourself out..etc) I’d expect Ross to have a key being Chandler’s friend, and Monica’s brother.
Phoebe was supposed to have twins, and had triplets instead. That joke had already been used, they just varied it slightly. (Though the line about Erica thinking “two heartbeats” meant hers and the baby’s was funny…she must have failed health class if she thought the doctor could hear her heartbeat when listening in the area of her womb.)
I’ve always felt Schwimmer (Ross) was the best actor of the three guys — not exactly saying much. (And the actress who plays Phoebe for the girls)
The best sitcom ending was The Odd Couple. Not all that likely, but at the same time, it acknowledged that Felix and Oscar would never stop being who they are, and it brought the right kind of closure.
Never watched Friends. Never plan to. Hate most sitcoms nowadays. I say, give me the classics of the 60s and 70s, and don’t bother me with any of these raunchy, fiarly shallow shows. (After eight years of Joss Whedon, all sitcoms look bad.)
As a writer, even a corny one at that, I think the Romantic thing to do would have been to beat Rachel to Paris (and have the Airport/I love U/scene there). You know, on account that Ross was at JFK and Rachel was in Newark.
So in some ways, I figured that’s what was going to happen because “the I changed my mind at the last possible minute and got off the plane” is so clich
On a lighter note, did any one keep thinking… “Oh!!! I bet NOW is when the Homeland Security People will take Rachel away. Nope? Maybe NOW!!!”
I really thought the left falange incident would’ve put her on the “no fly” list.
I kept thinking at the end: this isn’t the end of a series, this is the end of an apartment.
Aside from that, everything is pretty much status quo enough to continue the series should they want to.
The episode itself was pretty solid, when not scrutinized too closely. Good fun, some good jokes, some nods to running gags and themes. I had fun watching it but they played it very, very safe…
“I agree with your assessment of Friends but I would have to take issue with MTM as the best ending ever. Newhart’s finale was simply the best ever, not just because you didn’t see it coming but because it just felt right.”
“Newhart” was a great ending, granted, but it required knowledge of another television series in order to understand it. Granted,chances are that anyone watching “Newhart” had also been a fan of “The Bob Newhart Show,” but you can’t assume that. On that basis, the end of “Newhart” was essentially an in-joke, and if you weren’t in on it, then it left you scratching your head.
Whereas the final episode of “MTM” worked entirely within the context of the series. It contained the glorious twist of the single most incompetent person at WJM keeping his job while everyone else gets fired. It had the priceless visual gag of everyone in one clump shuffling from one side of the room to the other. And it forever hijacked the song “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary.”
PAD
Oh, and just for the record…I did see the ending coming in “Newhart.”
I was sitting there with my then-wife, I saw Bob get hit in the head with a golfball, and I said, “Watch him wake up next to Suzanne Pleshette and the whole series was a dream.” Twenty seconds later, that’s exactly what happened.
My future ex looked daggers at me. In retrospect, that might have been the beginning of the end of the marriage, right there.
PAD
They actually did address the reason for the apartment being so affordable many many years ago. (Third season, at the latest.)
It’s a silly sit-com. It gave me a number of laughs. I enjoyed it for 10 years. It had a predictable, but Feel Good ending. And it had enough “Serious Real World Logic Flaws” in its premise that it made for a great drinking game. But so what? It was a fun show.
I’m surprised at the amount of vitriole it brings out in people sometimes. (And then we can start with, “Oh, but it doesn’t bother you that Superman has x-ray vision,” etc. etc.)
I just like to laugh sometimes.
Agreed about NEWHART being the most clever and original (not to mention funny) ending.
I’d nominate the last episode of season 1 of MURDER ONE (season 2 was so different it may as well have been another show entirely) if it weren’t the wrong genre. If only for the tag line of the (finally revealed) killer telling (attorney) Hoffman “I want you to know. I enjoyed killing her. I took great pleasure in strangling her with my own hands.” To which Hoffman, on his way out, dryly replies “Some free legal advice: I wouldn’t make that the cornerstone of your defense.”
B5 should get it, given how solid the rest of the series was, but two things made the last episode less than perfect for me. The contract problems with Christian had her out of the last season and someone else taking her place in the B5 organization, but she’s back in the finale and, because it was shot the year before, the prominent new character wasn’t. Too, they didn’t cover the Telepath War, nor whatever happened to Bester.
Missed the ODD COUPLE one, however. How did that work out?
No More Thursday Handclapping
Food tastes stale, the world is not quite right, Friends has comes to an end (there’s a little bit of sarcasm there). Weep not you say? We’ll have “Joey” next year to remind us. ‘Tis true, but Joey was my least favorite friend.
No More Thursday Handclapping
Food tastes stale, the world is not quite right, Friends has comes to an end (there’s a little bit of sarcasm there). Weep not you say? We’ll have “Joey” next year to remind us. ‘Tis true, but Joey was my least favorite friend.
Excellent review. The bit about Ross and Rachel’s attitude towards Emma reminded me of this National Review column I just read at:
http://www.nationalreview.com/hibbs/hibbs200405070850.asp
Who says liberals and conservatives can’t agree every once in a blue moon?
As for my opinion on the finale: good, but not great…and no Dr. Drake Ramore in the clip show?!? Blasphemy!
-Dave O’Connell
Excellent review. The bit about Ross and Rachel’s attitude towards Emma reminded me of this National Review column I just read at:
http://www.nationalreview.com/hibbs/hibbs200405070850.asp
Who says liberals and conservatives can’t agree every once in a blue moon?
As for my opinion on the finale: good, but not great…and no Dr. Drake Ramore in the clip show?!? Blasphemy!
-Dave O’Connell
I didn’t watch the last episode. Frankly, I was just “Friend-ed” out after all the hype.
I do really think too much is being read into a sitcom. I mean, the very fact that it’s a “situation COMEDY’ divorces it from any “reality” in my view.
I mean, come on, during the entire ten year run, only ONE black person even had a recurring role on the show. In NEW YORK, of all places and NO H ispanics as far as I know. (Incidentally, the USA TODAY ran a picture of actors and their recurring roles on Friends. Guess who was missing?” Admittedly, the list was all comprehensive, but for simple notoriety’s sake it should have been there)
Re: The Odd Couple – I hope anyone who cares has seen this. I thus warn you otherwise of a spoiler…
Felix finally loosens up just a bit and remarries his ex-wife. It was a bit unlikely that such a thing would happen in real life, but it felt right.
As adorable as Jennifer Aniston was/is– the “Friends” writers have been characterizing Rachel as being more self-obsessed than ever during the show’s last several years.
So much so, that I quit watching “Friends” altogether a few years back. (Rachel was my favorite character.)
So it was no surprise, when I came back to the show about a year ago– that none of Rachel’s main character traits had changed with Emma’s birth.
Under those circumstances, her deciding to leave without considering Emma into the equation seemed perfectly natural.
I would like to note, however, that Courtney Cox looked absolutely stunning pregnant on “The Tonight Show”– proving once again that actresses who practice near anorexia is a bad, bad, thing.
While I agree that the ending for MTM and Newhart were classics, my all time favorite ending is, without a doubt, the final episode of “St. Elsewhere”. Classic!
Den,
The funny thing about the falangee thing is that it wasn’t Rachel’s fault. She simply had the “bad luck” to be seated next to a (literally) raving paranoid. She was obviously being rational & reasonable about the whole thing, in fact trying to distance herself from the whole paranoid scene, right up until the plane was completely emptied. It was the stunt that we heard over the answering machine that would have gotten her black-listed.
“(Incidentally, the USA TODAY ran a picture of actors and their recurring roles on Friends. Guess who was missing?” Admittedly, the list was all comprehensive, but for simple notoriety’s sake it should have been there)” – EClark1849
I’m guessing Aisha Tyler as Charlie…which is really odd considering that Greg Kinnear is there, and his role was dependent upon Charlie’s character existing (he showed up to win her back from Ross).
Bah, like PAD knows anything about raising a daughter 🙂
Have to say thumbs down to Mary Tyler Moore being
the “best” finale. If you can’t go with Newhart,
then you’ve got to consider MASH. I thought
St. Elsewhere was clever, but I wasn’t a fan.
Some who were said they felt cheated.
Kindof thought the ending might involve Ross going
to France, but this worked out just as well.
Will they continue as a couple? Doesn’t matter.
They’re forever locked into limbo as a couple
walking off into the sunset. Or to the coffee
shop.
I thought Ross might propose, but then, I figured
they’ll probably save that for a Joey sweeps
episode. I think it’s going to need all the help it can get.
I hesitate to mention this. This is just a
whacky notion that hit me during this week’s
Frasier. I agree with PAD that Frasier will
probably be moving to Chicago. It’s easy to
presume that from the previews.
I wonder if he’ll set up shop as a psychiatrist?
Maybe buy out a retiring doctor’s practice?
sadly enough, in this day and age, the self obsessiveness I think is a pretty accurate portrayal of how people act. Selflessness and consideration of others – even when it comes to family or children went the way of the dodo a long time ago. I would imagine both Rachel and Ross’s behavior are pretty typical.
The funny thing about the falangee thing is that it wasn’t Rachel’s fault. She simply had the “bad luck” to be seated next to a (literally) raving paranoid.
But that’s what would’ve made her getting banned funny! Because it wasn’t her fault.
As for my opinion on the finale: good, but not great…and no Dr. Drake Ramore in the clip show?!? Blasphemy!
He was in it. They aired the shot of him taking his tumble down the elevator shaft.
I forgot to watch FRIENDS last night as I was in the middle of listening to King Crimson’s most recent cd.
My favorite last comedy episode was BARNEY MILLER.
SPOILIER WARNING
BARNEY MILLER ended with all of the detectives going their separate ways as their building was delcared a historical monument since it was discovered that Teddy Roosevelt worked out of it when he was NYC’s Police Commissioner. What I remembered was that Barney finally made it to Inspector. I won’t tell you anymore in case any of you who don’t know are interested in actually seeing the episode.
As for NEWHART, Peter, is it possible that you heard of the ending earlier? The reason I say this is that a friend told me of the ending a year previously when it looked like the show was going off the air at that point in time. I assume that the script was being held in reserve for quite a while.
J. Alex
Actually, I think fullest appreciation of the “Newhart” finale required knowledge of two other shows – not only “The Bob Newhart Show”, but also the incredibly cheap “Bobby shower” routine in “Dallas”. Newhart, in his traditionally understated way, thoroughly skewered his (former) employer, CBS, in that scene. I loved every second of it. 🙂
Honestly cant say with the exception of checking out Jennifer Aniston or catching something funny from Matt Perry while flipping channels i ever watched Friends or truly understood the appeal.Of course i dont get Seinfeld either.This is not a slam on the shows ,there are people who think im a moron for enjoying Angel,and Smallville on a regular basis.Different strokes is all it is.
Besides i hate getting involved in too much series television as it seems like a lot of the shows i enjoy become cancelled not too long after i begin watching.Murder One ,Twin peaks,American gothic just to name a few.
As far as series finales go one of my favorites /least favorites was Quantum Leap the fact that they mention Sam never returned home was kind of a downer even though Al was reunited with his one true love.Worst series finale had to be the Xfiles.My god what a mess the last season and a half of that show was with the quest for Mulder episodes (ugh)
Off topic saw that Charisma Carpenter is going to be in Playboy.Be still my beating heart!!!!
Kelsey Grammar is already making noises about wanting to return to the character of Frasier in a different city with a different supporting case. Chicago would probably work.
Personally, I hope they don’t do it. I was tired of the character about five seasons ago. It would have to be an amazing new ensemble to breathe new life into the character.
I’m mad they had Duck Junior and Chick Junior but no Marcel Junior. That is all.
And here, I always thought Charles Schulz had been the one to hijack “Long Way to Tipperary.” It was weird to be watching MTM and be reminded of WWI.
The thing I adore most about this thread is that people are actually CONSIDERATE enough to put spoiler warnings in front of show descriptions for:
Barney Miller, St, Elsewhere, Newhart, Mary Tyler Moore, etc.!!
I guess with the rapid proliferation of TV DVD box set collections– you can NEVER be too careful whose $69.95 + investment you might be ruining!
And, young whippersnapper that I am, I connect “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary” with Crow T. Robot in the MST3K movie.
Hey, where’d everybody go?
(I’m sure I’d have loved the MTM finale, having heard so much about it and the series as a whole … but a bit before my time. MASH, yes; Cheers, yes; MTM, no.)
TWL
Off topic saw that Charisma Carpenter is going to be in Playboy.Be still my beating heart!!!!
Possibly the most disappointing layout in a trend of disappointing celebrity layouts. Better pictures pretty much anyplace else she’s been featured.
I definitely agree with Peter, and with those of you who thought the ending of FRIENDS was, uh, flat…especially the whole Rachel/Ross thing!!! Others here have already pointed out the Emma thing, so I won’t go there again…
There were some great bits…my favorite being Joey saying to Ross…”could you get me a muffin?”
BTW, the hype wasn’t over last night…at work today the television in the lounge was tuned to OPRAH, and it was Oprah doing her obsequesious and fawning best (I swear that woman gives James Lipton a run for his money!) with the cast.
One tidbit I did find out about Matt Le Blanc in, of places, IN STYLE magazine…he dyes his hair because he is gray!
Mindy
Re: best Sitcom finales: Has everyone else forgotten “Goodbye, Farewell, Amen”? Now _that_ was a way to end a series.
But what do I know; I liked the Cheers and Seinfeld finales better than Newhart’s any old day…
The most hilarious comment on the “Friends” finale has to go to Jon Stewart.
I’m paraphrasing here but he said something close to:
“Folks, I don’t even watch the show and I’m sick of it.”