Craziest Series Finales of All Time

A few months ago I wrote an article about crazy Nickelodeon Facts. In the article, I mentioned how the Angry Beavers recorded a finale where Dag and Norb realized they were about to be cancelled and they proceeded to break the 4th wall. This had me wondering, is this the craziest thing we've ever seen from a series finale? Well I did some research and I discovered the answer is no, not even close. Now, when I say crazy moments, I don't mean how crazy the montage was at the end of Six Feet Under, even though that was, in my opinion, the greatest ending of any TV show. I mean crazy like having a children's show end with the main character about to be tortured...

ALF Ends With ALF Getting Caught

Speaking of which, let's talk about ALF. If you have never seen the show ALF, then I'm sorry about your lost childhood. ALF followed an Alien Life Form (oh I get it now) who crash landed on Earth and ended up living with a family, the Tanners. The Tanners take care of ALF while he tries to figure out a way to return home. At the same time, the Tanners try to hide him from the government. We all know what happens in TV when the government finds an alien, it involves probing and dissecting. So what would be the logical way to end this show? Not the way they did it. It ends with the government catching ALF and the words "To Be Continued...." appear on screen. What happens next can only be assumed, (see earlier probing comment) but that is an unnecessarily dark way to end a show that was mainly enjoyed by children.

There was a sequel film called "Project ALF" that tried to fix everything, but it was too little too late.

Quantum Leap Ends With Sam Never Getting Back

I'm still mad about this ending. This is the opening narration for Quantum Leap: "Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished... He woke to find himself trapped in the past, facing mirror images that were not his own and driven by an unknown force to change history for the better. His only guide on this journey is Al, an observer from his own time, who appears in the form of a hologram that only Sam can see and hear. And so Dr. Beckett finds himself leaping from life to life, striving to put right what once went wrong and hoping each time that his next leap will be the leap home." It was a simple and entertaining premise, Dr. Sam Beckett would leap from person to person fixing their lives in hope that he would eventually be put back in his own body. It was a great show that was ruined by its ending. The last frame is a black background with the words, "Dr. Sam Becket never returned home." To be fair, the writers didn't know that this would be the last episode and when they found out they didn't have enough time to make real changes, so they put together this garbage. Many fans are still upset about this ending. Oh and by the way, if you're ever going to spell out the name of the title character on screen, make sure his name is spelled correctly.

Sledge Hammer! Ends With a Nuke Going Off

Sledge Hammer! was a police sitcom with great characters you've never heard of, such as Inspector Sledge Hammer, Detective Dori Doreau and Captain Trunk. It was actually a pretty solid show, but it struggled in the ratings. Due to the poor ratings, ABC decided to cancel the show. Knowing that the show was about to be cancelled, the last episode of the first season ends with Hammer accidentally destroying the city when he attempts to disarm a stolen nuke. The last scene shows a destroyed city and the graphic: "To Be Continued... Next Season?" The problem was that the last episode got so much attention that ABC decided to renew it for a second season. The second season was a prequel because there's no way to really advance a plot when the city is destroyed by a nuke.

So while it technically wasn't a series finale, I still felt that it merited a spot on this list.

A Show About Anthropomorphic Dinosaurs Ends In a Realistic Way

The show Dinosaurs was a children's TV show about giant Dinosaur puppets. Even though it was a children's show, it tackled real issues. Dinosaurs dealt with racism, environmentalism, endangered species, women's rights, sexual harassment, body image issues and more. While this stuff may be heavy, nothing was heavier than their final episode. Due to the dinosaurs not caring about the environment, there is an ensuing Ice Age. It ends with the Dinosaurs huddled up and waiting for their imminent death.

Not everyone is satisfied with how some shows have ended. *Insert How I Met Your Mother comment here*. While we may disagree on the plot to a final episode, or the way a character leaves a show, I think we can all agree that killing every character on a children's show is probably a bad idea.