series finale series – saleintothe90s

384. “Mad About You” series finale (5/24/1999)

So, I remember watching the series finale of Mad About You that night, but I haven’t watched it again since it originally aired. I do remember feeling let down at the end however. This is what I remember from 20 years ago, maybe I’ll remember some forgotten details once I re watch it…which I will after I make this list:

– Janeane Garofolo was Paul & Jamie’s daughter Mabel all grown up and she had come out with a documentary about her life? Her dad’s life? The film was everything after 1999?

-Paul & Jamie bought the apartment across from them and merged it into theirs? Which didn’t make any sense. Everybody had to walk through P&J’s bedroom to get to the expansion?

-Paul & Jamie were pregnant again with twins but she lost the babies? I just remember the scene where Paul rushes into the apartment with a double stroller excited that he found one. He sees the message light on the answering machine and it’s Jamie. I was trying to figure out if this was early on when Mabel was still a one year old, and one seat in the stroller was for her, or Jamie was pregnant with twins.

-Paul’s dad died real early on in the episode.

-Paul and Jamie wonder who should give her the birds and the bees talk when Mabel is a teenager, but turns out they waited too long. When Paul sits down with her to discuss it, she interrupts him and says that she’s already had sex, or she was already on the pill. Paul decides to take Mabel out for bagels every Saturday morning so he can remain closer to her. I just remember them eating bagels and sitting on a stoop.

– Paul and Jamie separate for realz this time. Remember when they temporarily separated but then got back together and Jamie got pregnant with Mabel?

[That episode is titled “The Finale”, please don’t confuse it for this one like I almost did. In case you’re wondering about my bitmoji dressed like a snail, our power went on and off the entire time I was writing this. I went ahead and used that save video me website so I could watch the clips offline.]

– Jamie had become really cold at that point in her life and Paul had it.

-The last scene was everybody watching Mabel’s documentary in a movie theater and P&J were a little embarrassed. Paul (almost crying) asks Jamie if she would like to go out for pie.

-Clearly they hadn’t shot enough because the last five minutes were “home movies” of the two and Mabel in central park. The montage seemed to last for-ever.

-Before I re-watch, I also wanted to mention that I hate the theme song!

I found the episode on DailyMotion, and the username of the uploader is “Magic School Bus” … ms. frizzle is that you? It also appears that Ms. Frizzle recorded this episode from syndication, so there might be a tiny scene or two missing.

(part 1, part 2)

(Apparently it’s on the internet archive too, but it took forever to get the vid to play on my iPad. It has commercials though!) https://archive.org/details/MelrosePlaceHomeImprovementFinales1999

So, Mabel’s film was titled “The reason why I am this way”. Maybe a grad school project?. Janeane looks grad school age here.

The film starts with Paul & Jamie’s anniversary when Mabel was 1 in 1999. I was right!

A bird pooped on Paul! Nah, it was just Lyle Lovett the construction worker spilling paint. He married Jamie n Paul 7 years ago, but turns out he’s NOT an ordained minster, so they’re not officially married. This is so dumb. Such a trope, right?

Jamie is freaking out that they’re not really husband and wife. Paul is the rational one here, he says just go to city hall next week! Jamie is all “no, we gotta do it today, its our anniversary!” So they go, there’s a chapel at city hall, there’s a lady named Phyllis there as a witness and who throws rice (25¢ a throw!)

Stupidly, however, Jamie runs away. I do remember this freeze frame from the episode.

There’s lots of jumping around through time while all this is going on, I forgot about that, I just thought it was a straight up timeline.

We jump to 2005 where P&J are in therapy for the thousandth time, also when Paul goes in for a vasectomy. At first, I didn’t realize that Jamie was talking to her sister, Lisa in the waiting room since she had short hair. Jamie tries to explain to her that Mabel doesn’t need a sister, but Lisa guilt trips her. Jamie tells Paul that she thinks they made a mistake. They Michael Scott-eded it:

It’s 2011 and P&J are trying to give 11 year old Mabel the sex talk.

In 2004 Murray (remember, the dog? Yeah, the dog got forgotten somewhere in the series) got a girlfriend and they had puppies! There is the best scene ever where Paul teaches Mabel how to shoot video and Nat the dog walker (played by Helen Hunt’s then husband, Hank Azaria) does a play talk show with the puppies. IT’S TOO CUTE, I put it on instagram. I forgot that Hank was on the show. I still remember how heartbroken I was though when Hank and Helen broke up, though.

There’s a real quick scene in the sports shop that Paul’s family owns (which I forgot about in the series). Jeff Garlin (who I like to call “Daddy Goldberg” since I love him on The Goldbergs) is teasing Paul for all his vasectomies. blah blah. You know what I noticed? That old Sketchers shoebox! Those ugly chunky metallic shoes they made in ’95 ’96 used to come in those boxes. aw. ugliest shoes I ever had, they were most def. Airwalk Jim knockoffs. ANYWAY.

Mabel’s first film “Stabbing Bob” comes out in late 2021 when she’s 23. The whole family is there, including Cyndi Lauper who married Paul’s brother Ira. The whole family tries to get Paul and Jamie to sit together, so obviously something went DOWN between 2011 and 2021. This is when the syndicated version cuts off.

Part 2 begins again with Mabel’s documentary and her asking “Who do you think was responsible for my parents breakup? The one who ran away from the altar and changed her mind three times about whether or not her partner should have painful private surgery … or the other guy?” So when this film was made, Jamie and Paul were still broken up? Mabel is really tearing Jamie up a new one here. Jamie is the devil.

Back to 2005 and Jamie is pregnant, because Paul didn’t get that vasectomy. This is where everything is back on track with my memories of the episode. Except for those ugly ass pajamas. wow. Jamie is only supposed to be 42 here, the pajamas and glasses made her look 60.

2012, Mabel is 14 and she never did get that sex talk…perfect tribute to Whitney though, considering she had recently died.

Oh, no here comes the stroller scene in 2006. Paul is so happy, he says, “I found it! Last one in the city, and I found it! One big seat one little seat! 2 kids, one carriage! One big happy family. ” Uh, Mabel is 9. The “one big seat, one little seat!” makes me wonder if the writers forgot what year it was? Why would there be a big seat and a little seat?” Twins are the same size. Those stroller seats look the same size. Paul finds a note left by Jamie, so it wasn’t an answering machine message.

In early 2021 we see Jamie’s bff Fran, FINALLY. I was wondering where Fran was! She was married to Richard Kind and he left her so he could ride motorcycles like “Easy Rider”, (remember when Fran kept calling the movie “The Easy Rider” and it drove Richard crazy, he was like, “the name of the movie is EASY RIDER, NOT ‘THE EASY RIDER!”). Riffs is somehow still open, martini glasses are taller, forks have clear spiral handles, and Fran be looking like something that walked off the Enterprise.

Oh, and Paul left Jamie. Jamie now is wearing reading glasses around her neck. Oh, honey noo, you’re only 58. Here is Helen Hunt in 2018:

Paul said that Jamie is unkind and that was why he was leaving.

Aw, there’s my fozzie bear!

Costume and Makeup got Paul Reiser exactly right though!

After that, Paul & Jamie had to be straight with Mabel at all times. Ok, whatever:

So I was also wrong about Paul’s died dying when Mabel was little.

On the way to the funeral, Paul’s mom encourages the two to pay a bribe so they can buy the apartment across the hall. She says, “Then Mabel can have a room.” …. Mabel didn’t have a room? She was 13 in the Murray’s not real scene. Where did she sleep?! Now I remember thinking way back then that the episode left a lot of plot holes open, this being one!

I remember feeling kind of turned off by this elevator scene with the sad music after the funeral. I didn’t know the phrase back then, but now I know that it feels so forced. We get it. Paul’s mom is alone.

Casting didn’t do a good job with teenage Mabel, she’s supposed to be 18 in 2015 and it’s still the girl who played her when she was 12. w2g. I didn’t make a screen grab but I was right about Mabel having to cross her parents bedroom, and bathroom to get to her room. I was also right about the bagels!

It’s back to the scene in late 2021 where everybody is watching the end of Mabel’s movie, “Stabbing Bob”. I guess she was trying to be a lil Tarintino. Why did I think they were watching the documentary? Ha, at the end, Paul’s sister asks the family if they want to go out for pie. Yesss, the pie scene!

I did remember this from the pilot episode where Jamie kisses Paul on their first date when he turns to her. Jamie asks “buy me some pie?”, not Paul! I swore for 20 years I heard Paul Reiser tearfully saying, “I would like some pie” in my head!

Oh, one plot point that did get patched up was that Paul & Jamie asked the guy from city hall to come over and marry them in their apartment six seconds to midnight.

RIP, Murray the dog.

UGH, I was right about the long montage of the end that is just pretend home movies of the cast. It’s nearly four minutes long, and its set to country music. It’s hell. I remember actually leaving the room during this part 20 years ago instead of just you know, muting the TV. It completely ruins the quietness of the episode. It’s total filler.

The ending credits are on Youtube, it’s adult Mabel giving a rundown of what happened to who.

More from the series finale series: https://saleintothe90s.tumblr.com/search/Series%20finale%20series

/edit/

I was curious and went hunting around in google groups (which houses newsgroup archives) to see what people said about it online right after it aired:

Someone wondered too about where on earth Mabel slept until they expanded the apartment:

>2) Where did Mabel sleep before they got the second apartment and
>turned it into a room?
Shared with mommy and daddy?? Or maybe that little space before the
bedroom. Did they convert the appartments into one or move to the
other side? I was a bit confused about that.

>>I wish I had watched Ally (but that’s just my

>opinion).<<

Trust me, if you’ve watched the show at all this season, you’ve seen this
episode. Ally is depressed about no man, elaine whips out the video camera,
the biscuit bobs his head to Barry White, does a gymnastic dismount from the
toilet stall, stutters like Porky Pig, and all of the same fucking things he
does every single fucking episode. I really liked this show at first, but
I’m about to give up on it because the same shit happens week after week
after week. If David Kelley cannot think of anything new to do with this
show, he should hire a writing team, because it it going nowhere fast!

Brian

To know that Paul and Jamie’s genes resulted in that shrewish frump Janeane
Garofalo was one thing. But to be “previewed” twenty years of their misery
resulting in Mabel’s therapy for bad parenting was pretty unbearable.

Crap. Not quite as crap as the Rosanne finale, but more crap than the last

Seinfeld episode. I knew they were in trouble in the very first scene where

they set up the premise for the episode. Lyle Lovett tells them that he

wasn’t really an ordained minister when he performed their wedding ceremony

and that he was drunk when he said he was. (now there’s an original plot)

One problem: Lyle isn’t the one who told them he was a minister and everyone

was sober at the time.

Then they have Jannene Garofolo as their grown up daughter, recounting
everything thing that went wrong in their marriage, another lame plot
device.

There’re also a few little slips, like Paul buying a double baby carriage in
2005, when their daughter would be 8 or so.

But, to get to the root of why the episode (and the last two seasons for
that matter) failed: The whole permise of the show was that these two
likable, but occasionally goofy or even stupid, people were so much in love
that they would always be together no matter what. Corny, naive, romantic,
but also endearing. It made for a nice, comforting 4 seasons or so, but
after a while the formula gets old. So they started making the characters a
lot less likeable. Paul Reiser turned into Homer Simpson and Helen Hunt
became a neurotic version of Lucy Ricardo, until I had no idea why these two
people were staying together.

They got back to the original idea of the series in the last ten minutes,
but it was too little, too late. In the previous 50 minutes, their whole
marriage went to hell. Not only didn’t those two people belong together,
they didn’t even seem to care about each other. They did something similar a
few years back (marriage goes wrong, they still love each other and stay
together) but it was convincing and they didn’t do the gimmicky jumping back
and forth over 25 years thing. That was the perfect moment to end the
series.

I agree. I watched with the series finale of MAY with the morbid
fascination that I would have while watching a car wreck. I didn’t
*want* to do it, but I was drawn to it. And what a car wreck it was.

The plot of the finale should have insulted every thinking person. Did
anyone accept the premise that two sophisticated New Yorkers could
believe they were legally married without having a marriage license and
certificate? For those of you who have never been married, you
absolutely need such documentation for your bank accounts, health
insurance, social security, credit cards, mortgages etc. The
retroactive vitiation of the Buchman’s marriage is akin to the Bobby’s
dream sequence on Dallas a few years ago.

Jaime’s jilting of Paul at the “altar” was vapid. Tim Conway’s gag in
being both the marriage clerk and the justice of the peace was
predictable, and as predictably stupid as Conway’s similar gags on the
now ancient Carol Burnett show. The pronunciation of “Buchman” to
explain why Paul and Jaime had the same last name may have been amusing
to a ten year old, but I doubt it was funny to anyone more mature. A
justice of the peace would not play the wedding march with a dime store
cassette recorder while demanding that a prospective bride walk down
the courtroom “aisle.” Couldn’t they have done something interesting
with the marriage witness instead of using a stock character such as
the disinterested, magazine-reading rice-thrower? From a legal
standpoint, Paul and Jaime’s marriage at midnight was as ineffective
as “first” marriage because there was no witness (contrary to the
dialogue, a baby simply cannot be a legal witness to a marriage). Why
would a justice of the peace make a house call to perform a civil
marriage?

The whole vasectomy gag was asinine. Have either HH or PR been in a
hosptial? Did they do *any* research before they wrote this gag? Its
pretty safe to conclude that a surgical nurse would *not* lead a post-
operative vasectomy patient through a waiting room while he was wearing
nothing but a robe. Moreover, given Paul’s obvious pain from the first
vasectomy, don’t you think that Jaime would have known that Paul did
not go through with the second one? Wouldn’t Jaime have asked Paul if
he went through with the vasectomy before she purchased and used a
pregnancy test kit? Jaime’s miscarriage was telegraphed from the
beginning of the vasectomy gag.

The makeup aging of the characters was amateurish at best. The sex
talk difficulty with Mabel has been done by every sitcom since Leave It
To Beaver, and most have done it better. What was the point of the
puppy urination scene?

The breakup and reconciliation was sentimental tripe. In the real
world, people that fight as much as Paul and Jaime do not get divorced
and then, with one magic kiss, make everything OK.

Was it necessary to introduce a new character in the finale to narrate
the Buchmans’ life story? (As an aside, I hated the casting of Janeane
Garofolo (sp?). She looked like complete crap. Can’t that woman ever
look presentable? Someone should have given her a mirror and a comb
before they began filming the episode. She is a second rate Roseanne
knock off, and, judging from last night’s appearance, she is now
attempting to catch Roseanne in the weight department as well.)

The closing montage attempted to simulate a home movie circa 1960s such
as that used in the Wonder Years. But why would Paul and Jaime, a
1990s couple, have used such a medium for their home movies? Also,
even assuming the choice of medium was justified, why did they wave in
quick, jerky movements at the movie camera? Has anyone done that since
the 1960s?

In the end analysis, the MAY finale was incredibly lame. I got home in
time to catch the end of the Melrose Place finale, and, IMO, even that
show – as bad as it is – has more entertainment value than MAY. At
least they don’t take themselves seriously. I am delighted that MAY is
now over. I hope that the poor ratings associated with the show will
cause some retooling at NBC, especially in its high profile slots.

357. The Last Animaniacs (November 14, 1998)

(aw, I had that scene on a trading card in middle school, and it was later pasted on the cover for my planner in 7th grade in 1996)

For as much Animaniacs I watched from Summer of 1994 to about early to mid ‘96, I didn’t know when the series actually ended.

Probably my first memory of the show was when I was just beginning to lose interest in my Barbies the Summer of 1994. However, one last hurrah with my dolls was when I tried to recreate the episode “Warner Law”, which was a parody of L.A. Law. I don’t remember exactly how I incorporated that into my Barbies, I just remember crowding them around my Barbie Porsche, and sticking a “Warner Law” bumper sticker on the bumper out of an index card.

My second memory of the show was Christmas Eve, 1995. I finally got a Talkboy from Home Alone II, after failing to find one the prior two years. The first thing I recorded on that tape that was included?

Wakko’s burp concert. For some reason that episode was on on Christmas Eve. I kept that tape forever, and it definitely also had Seinfeld clips on it, like Newman going bezerk about the mail never ending. ~~Oh man, its 2:30 in the morning, and I can’t sleep, so that above .gif is making me laugh too much.~~

Oh! I also remember early on, wondering if the three were related to those old Bosco and Honey cartoons that Nickelodeon would show at 7:30 every night back in the early 90s.

Speaking of, I just remembered the episode of Tiny Toons when Babs rescued them, until five seconds ago, I thought that Dot rescued them. In the Tiny Toons redesign (made to make the couple look less blackface) they totally look like descendants of the Warners.

I do remember losing interest in the show, because I didn’t like the sideshows, like the Goodfeathers, Mindy and Buttons, and Rita and Runt. I just wanted the Warner Bros (and sister), Bad Idea Guy, and sometimes Slappy the Squirrel, and very rarely Pinky and the Brain.

Turns out, Animaniacs ended in November 1998, months after its final regular show aired in May. I found a copy on this site, but I don’t know how reliable the site is.

The first thing I notice that instead of the usual theme, there’s this long extended clip show right in the middle of the theme song. Clearly a way to waste time? I know from all those years watching Simpsons, whenever they do an extended theme it’s because they’re short on time.

The episode begins with those dreaded Goodfeathers argue-watching a sunrise. Skipping though that.

“The Scoring Session” is a short where the three piss off a rhino conductor. They came in late (Dot), they interrupted (Yakko), and coming in unprepared (Wakko). Apparently in Animaniacs land, the cast members provide their own score to the cartoons. It’s not very good. Moving on.

I love the little parody of the CBS Special Presentation graphics from the 80s that leads into the three introducing us to the first 99 episodes of Animaniacs.

This was my favorite clip. Why does it look like they were potty training Dr. Scratchnsniff?

This was how the show ended.

I was disappointed in how the show ended, but this is why I started this series. I wanted to see what series finales are deserving of the series, and which ones are not. I wanted to see the kids go on one last adventure! Or get locked in the tower for years again. Maybe when the show is renewed on Hulu in a couple of years, they’ll escape from the tower in the first episode.

Every little rhyme that would be done at the end of the theme song, I never knew they did a “Frasier Crane-y!” one!

353. The final Cheers (May 20, 1993)

When I was little, I was mildly obsessed with Cheers. I watched it with my parents almost every day in syndication, before the news. I had the expanded TV Guide cover for the series finale on my wall above my bed the week this episode aired. Where they’re all trying to figure out Norm’s bar tab.

Right before I graduated from Mary Baldwin in 2010, I found a tape at the local library book sale, it was unlabeled. It just had the clip show and the finale on it, recorded off the NBC station in nearby Charlottesville, Virginia. I thought I accidentally got rid of the tape, until I found it again recently:

//edit, April 2023//

My clips I uploaded are long gone, but I found this on archive.org. I am having the absolute WORST time watching clips from there lately. Hopefully this is in fact the Cheers finale from that night and the clip show.

( I also found a syndicated version of the finale that someone recorded onto VHS in 2000 on archive.org. )

Four things about the clip show:

1. I am absolutely dead at the scene with Fraiser and his ivy vest, trying to Cliff Note Dickens with the gang.

2. Only Diane would wear giant shoulder pads, a suit, and a lace blouse with a collar almost up to her chin to her (almost) wedding to Sam.

3. Sam has grey hair behind the scenes at rehearsal, but you can tell in the makeup chair that they cover it up. Maybe with the stuff Doris used on Jay Sherman in the first episode of The Critic:

4. At the end, Bob Costas says, “CRANK UP THE VCR, THIS SHOULD BE A KEEPER!”

Notes for the episode

1. The crowd at the bar is watching the Cable Ace Awards. That was a thing back then, cable shows had its own award show because the Emmys didn’t recognize them – the awards would be discontinued in 1997. The boys were looking for for Kim Alexis, but instead Diane won a Cable Ace!

2. “Oh, yes, the beginning of your political career.
It started out as a small joke and turned into an enormous one.” – Frasier on Woody being elected to city council.

3. Rebecca is wearing about 50 yards of fabric. As we all did in 1993.

4. The first episode of cheers began with Champagne, (Diane and her Professor’s botched engagement) and the last episode of Cheers begins with Champagne (Rebecca and Don’s botched engagement).

5. The shot when Diane calls Sam looks like it was filmed six states away.

6. Carla’s major freakout when Diane enters Cheers.

7. I forgot that Diane and Woody knew each other, but they shared about 1 ½ years together on the show.

8. The scene where Diane and Sam, and their faux spouses eat at Melville’s upstairs was so strange to me when I originally saw this when I was 9. Was this the only time we saw the inside of Melvilles?! I just remember it being so PINK. Rebecca finally said yes to Don, btw.

9. Binging with Babish needs to make the dessert Sam describes to Diane:

You know, it’s just that they, uh, they have this great dessert here, but you have to order it for two.

What kind of dessert is it? Well, they start with ice cream.

I love ice cream.

Oh, no, but this is the best ice cream.

It’s sweet, rich, creamy.

What do they do to it? Cover it with lots and lots of thick raspberry sauce all over.

All over? They can’t stop themselves.

Sounds so sinful.

There’s more.

More? What more could they do? Well, they heat up the raspberry sauce.

How hot do they get it? How hot would you like it?

10. Aw, Woody got Norm a job with the City of Boston.

11. Hanger-oner Paul is in this episode way too much. Paul looks kinda duck-like to me.

12. Sam, ain’t noone curr that you and Diane are getting married. It’s bizarre that Sam would just walk away from Cheers like that so suddenly.

13. Diane: The screenplay for which I was so extravagantly honored was based on your life.

Carla: You were my inspiration. Really?

Diane: Yes.It’s the story of a resilient, hard working mother, bucking all odds to raise her six children.

Carla: Six? I got eight.

Diane: Good God! You breed like a fly!

Carla: Well, uh, this movie- people liked it?

Daine: They loved it, Carla.People were inspired by the plight of my heroine.

Carla: Yeah? Well, what happens to me? I mean, you know, to her, in the end.

Diane: Well out of the despair and frustration of her unmanageable life, she goes berserk and takes out a few people with an Uzi.

14. Sam and Diane’s airplane seats are gigantic. Sam is manspreading big time here.

15. Does Carla have BABY EARRINGS?! WE NEED CARLA BABY EARRINGS RIGHT NOW. SOMEONE PUT THEM ON ETSY.

16. Norm: Gonna go home to Vera.

Sam: Vera?

Norm: My wife.Maybe you remember her? That is her name, isn’t it? See ya

17. Sam: Doc, help me out here, man. You want a fine cigar? Huh?

Frasier: I’d love to, Sam, but Lilith just called and she wants me to bring home Chinese tonight.I I hope she meant the food.She’s been really weird lately and you know…

Speaking of Lilith, I wonder why she wasn’t in the final episode.

18. Aw, the sweetest scene is everybody coming back after pretending to be mad at Sam.

19. Rebecca’s outfit. She got married in that.

20. “Know what, Sammy, I love that stool! If there’s a heaven, I don’t want to go there unless my stool is waiting for me.”

21. I watched this with my parents when I was 9, when Sam said, “Sorry! We’re closed!”, 9 year old me began bawling. My mom took me to bed that night, and I was still crying, and she was like, “Cheers will still be on tv!”

Commercial notes

(for comparison, here are WICD’s commercials from Illinois.)

The Bud commercial with the guys rescuing the baby cows!

Ambush in Waco was a TV movie that was put together just a month after the Waco standoff ended. Tim Daly from Wings played David Koresh!

Mad About You ran a very special commercial where they watch Cheers, but Paul insists that he has never heard the Cheers theme song. Mad About You came on on Saturdays back in 1993!

There was a promo for the final episode of Saved by the Bell, and the first episode of the college years. Why do the boys look SO much older from the last episode of SBTB to the first episode of College Years? SBTB fans, help.

The reporter in the Channel 29 news report calls President Clinton “Mr. Clinton”… Mister? Look at that janky set. A faux plant and a broken computer.

Just like the Waco movie, there was a movie about Hurricane Andrew, which happened the previous Summer. I’m sure the people whose neighborhoods were blown away by Andrew really appreciated it.

“THE STARS ARE BACK ON NBC!!” “HEY! I NEVER LEFT!” Oh, yall know that Frasier’s dad, John Maroney was a guest on Cheers?

Oh god, Jay and Branford Marsalis. They didn’t get along. I found the entire Tonight Show episode on YouTube, where everybody gets drunk.

I want to thank everybody for all the notes I got on this post.

352. Seinfeld – The Finale (May 14, 1998) with commercials

(so the babies at Tumblr deleted this post and I didn’t even know it, I’m republishing in 2019)

(from these absolutely bizarre promos for the last episode)

I totally bought into the whole Seinfeld finale craze. I think from late April to May of 1998, it almost felt like we

all

lost our buns over it.

I even remember my mom buying me this unauthorized booklet (can’t even call it a magazine, it was just like a giant foldout) that claimed to know the Seinfeld finale. I’m so angry that I no longer have it, but from what I remember, the foldout predicted that either Elaine or Kramer would marry royalty? Or was about to, but eventually Elaine decided to marry Jerry instead? Something about royalty and Elaine and Jerry getting married, and possibly Jerry moving to LA.

I have my other commemorative Seinfeld magazines however:

(Entertainment Weekly, May 4, 1998, this copy was so dog eared by the time I was done with it 20 years ago, I had to tape the cover back on)

And of course, the scary

TV Guide

covers.

BTW, there were

many ads for Ponds nose strips and cigarettes in these old magazines.

It’s absolutely amusing now to remember how

upset

people were after the finale. I remember being let down by the second half of the show when it originally aired, with the courtroom scenes. However, I looked back on it a few years ago and realized that I don’t like the

first

part of the finale anymore.

Why would NBC call Jerry back years and years after the

Jerry

pilot was shot? In TV production time, that was like, 15 years ago. Why would NBC just hand Jerry the keys to a private jet.

I was so let down that they weren’t going to Paris. Stupid Kramer ruining it by hopping up and down like a dumbass on the plane. Wouldn’t you have loved to see the group in a foreign country all together? All the misunderstandings.

Access Hollywood

episode all about the finale. We have to talk about that episode for a few seconds, here are the two clips

(1, 2)

– in typical saleintothe90s fashion, I screwed up and hit record on the dvd recorder too early on that first clip. ‘Yall have to know by now that I’m a dumbass.

Access Hollywood made this mock yearbook/scrapbook thing? up and played it while Boyz II Men’s “it’s so hard to say goodbye to yesterday” plays in the background.

IT’S HILARIOUS

. Then the guy who plays the Seinfeld theme plays a ditty.

Five things about the clip show: (video clips 3, 4, 5, 6)

1. While its trite now, the clip show montage set to Green Day’s “Time of Your Life” made me bawl my eyes out that night back in 1998.

2. YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME?!?!?

3. I wanted to see the clip again of when

Poppie peed on the couch!

The first time I saw that scene I think I nearly died.

4. “it seems like every week, a whole new set of problems crop out of nowhere, except for the Summer, when nothing seems to happen for months at a time…”

Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough.

Seven things about the episode

(end of clip

, 9,

12,

14)

1. Jerry’s mom packing cereal for Jerry.

2.No ketchup for George.

I never noticed before, but while George is waiting for ketchup from that bitchy lady, he says he “wants his 15 minutes [of fame]”. He gets it by the end of the episode!

3. Jackie and Teri Hatcher hooking up. I love that Jackie got so much airtime in the finale.

4. Pee party!

5. Jerry scolding Elaine for trying to call her friend about the status of her dad on a cell phone. Big faux pas he says. Big.

6. “You people got a little pet name for everybody”

7. I completely forgot that Susan’s dad bought a gun!

Ten things about the commercials:

A commercial spot for the finale cost nearly 1.5-2 million dollars. 1.That was Super Bowl level advertising back then.

1. The Apple “here’s to the crazy ones”

commercial

that was shown in the final commercial break that had an old clip of Jerry at the end. I got forklempt.

2.There was this cute Advil commercial that was made just for the show. If the pain is too much to bear on Thursday nights, take some Advil.

3. The Canon Elph camera that took Advantix Film. We need to discuss Advantix one of these days, but for now, I find it funny that the camera’s name sounds like “

Elf

”, and the lady in the commercial kinda looks like a pixie.

4. Snapple was obviously a big sponsor the finale, considering how many times Jerry drank it on the show. There’s this absolutely off the wall commercial involving a girl that sounds like ‘lil Dolly Parton, a Snapple abacus, and a corrupt politician stealing kids lunches.What’s that green Snapple?! It looks delicious!

5. Gardenburger had a commercial!

6. Dave Thomas from Wendys offers Jerry a Ham and Dijon Chicken Sandwich!

Quest for Camelot

got a commercial during the finale. A movie that tanked at the box office.

8. I

hated

those K9 Advantage flea medicine commercials back in the day! With the talking dogs! It makes me so uncomfortable. We should hear dogs thoughts, not see their creepy CGI mouths move!

9. The Gap

commercial

that played at the end with the swing dancing and the khakis, and the Brian Setzer. That is just like, end of freshman year of high school balled up into one 30 second commercial. I really think that the swing craze is one of the reasons why I feel no fondness for the late 90s.

10. The little NBC “Thank you, Seinfeld for nine great years” after the credits.

Ok I’m done, Bye.

1. Ross, Chuck, “`SEINFELD’ SHOCKER: $2 MILLION PRICE TAG,” AdAge, February 9, 1998.

http://adage.com/article/news/seinfeld-shocker-2-million-price-tag/31016/

Facebook | Etsy | Retail History Blog | Twit

352. Seinfeld – The Finale (May 14, 1998) with commercials

(from these absolutely bizarre promos for the last episode)

I totally bought into the whole Seinfeld finale craze. I think from late April to May of 1998, it almost felt like we all lost our buns over it.

I have my other commemorative Seinfeld magazines however:

(Entertainment Weekly, May 4, 1998, this copy was so dog eared by the time I was done with it 20 years ago, I had to tape the cover back on)

And of course, the scary TV Guide covers.

BTW, there were so many ads for Ponds nose strips and cigarettes in these old magazines.

It’s absolutely amusing now to remember how upset people were after the finale. I remember being let down by the second half of the show when it originally aired, with the courtroom scenes. However, I looked back on it a few years ago and realized that I don’t like the first part of the finale anymore.

Why would NBC call Jerry back years and years after the Jerry pilot was shot? In TV production time, that was like, 15 years ago. Why would NBC just hand Jerry the keys to a private jet.

Access Hollywood made this mock yearbook/scrapbook thing? up and played it while Boyz II Men’s “it’s so hard to say goodbye to yesterday” plays in the background. IT’S HILARIOUS. Then the guy who plays the Seinfeld theme plays a ditty.

/edit, 2022/

I also found the episode of Extra.

Five things about the clip show:

1. While its trite now, the clip show montage set to Green Day’s “Time of Your Life” made me bawl my eyes out that night back in 1998.

2. YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME?!?!?

3. I wanted to see the clip again of when Poppie peed on the couch! The first time I saw that scene I think I nearly died.

4. “it seems like every week, a whole new set of problems crop out of nowhere, except for the Summer, when nothing seems to happen for months at a time…”

5. Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough.

Seven things about the episode

1. Jerry’s mom packing cereal for Jerry.

2.No ketchup for George.

I never noticed before, but while George is waiting for ketchup from that bitchy lady, he says he “wants his 15 minutes [of fame]”. He gets it by the end of the episode!

3. Jackie and Teri Hatcher hooking up. I love that Jackie got so much airtime in the finale.

4. Pee party!

5. Jerry scolding Elaine for trying to call her friend about the status of her dad on a cell phone. Big faux pas he says. Big.

6. “You people got a little pet name for everybody”

7. I completely forgot that Susan’s dad bought a gun!

Ten things about the commercials:

A commercial spot for the finale cost nearly 1.5-2 million dollars. 1.That was Super Bowl level advertising back then.

1. The Apple “here’s to the crazy ones” commercial that was shown in the final commercial break that had an old clip of Jerry at the end. I got forklempt.

2.There was this cute Advil commercial that was made just for the show. If the pain is too much to bear on Thursday nights, take some Advil.

3. The Canon Elph camera that took Advantix Film. We need to discuss Advantix one of these days, but for now, I find it funny that the camera’s name sounds like “Elf”, and the lady in the commercial kinda looks like a pixie.

5. Gardenburger had a commercial!

6. Dave Thomas from Wendys offers Jerry a Ham and Dijon Chicken Sandwich!

7. Quest for Camelot got a commercial during the finale. A movie that tanked at the box office.

8. I hated those K9 Advantage flea medicine commercials back in the day! With the talking dogs! It makes me so uncomfortable. We should hear dogs thoughts, not see their creepy CGI mouths move!

9. The Gap commercial that played at the end with the swing dancing and the khakis, and the Brian Setzer. That is just like, end of freshman year of high school balled up into one 30 second commercial. I really think that the swing craze is one of the reasons why I feel no fondness for the late 90s.

10. The little NBC “Thank you, Seinfeld for nine great years” after the credits.

Ok I’m done, Bye.

1. Ross, Chuck, “`SEINFELD’ SHOCKER: $2 MILLION PRICE TAG,” AdAge, February 9, 1998. http://adage.com/article/news/seinfeld-shocker-2-million-price-tag/31016/

352. Seinfeld – The Finale (May 14, 1998) with commercials (2024 edit with updated video links)

(from these absolutely bizarre promos for the last episode)

I totally bought into the whole Seinfeld finale craze. I think from late April to May of 1998, it almost felt like we all lost our buns over it.

I have my other commemorative Seinfeld magazines however:

(Entertainment Weekly, May 4, 1998, this copy was so dog eared by the time I was done with it 20 years ago, I had to tape the cover back on)

And of course, the scary TV Guide covers.

BTW, there were so many ads for Ponds nose strips and cigarettes in these old magazines.

Why would NBC call Jerry back years and years after the Jerry pilot was shot? In TV production time, that was like, 15 years ago. Why would NBC just hand Jerry the keys to a private jet.

So, I have clips on streamable of the original airing of the finale, commercials intact, including the clip show. I bought some used blank vhs tapes off ebay back in December, and there it was, in its full glory from the Philadelphia area, even including the incredibly cheezy Access Hollywood episode all about the finale. We have to talk about that episode for a few seconds, my copy is long gone from the internet (thanks, streamable), but someone put them up on the internet archive.

Ok, this is the closest I’ve found to my removed copy, six hours of nbc from that night on archive.org.

Five things about the clip show:

1. While its trite now, the clip show montage set to Green Day’s “Time of Your Life” made me bawl my eyes out that night back in 1998.

2. YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME?!?!?

3. I wanted to see the clip again of when Poppie peed on the couch! The first time I saw that scene I think I nearly died.

4. “it seems like every week, a whole new set of problems crop out of nowhere, except for the Summer, when nothing seems to happen for months at a time…”

5. Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough.

Seven things about the episode

1. Jerry’s mom packing cereal for Jerry.

2.No ketchup for George.

I never noticed before, but while George is waiting for ketchup from that bitchy lady, he says he “wants his 15 minutes [of fame]”. He gets it by the end of the episode!

3. Jackie and Teri Hatcher hooking up. I love that Jackie got so much airtime in the finale.

4. Pee party!

5. Jerry scolding Elaine for trying to call her friend about the status of her dad on a cell phone. Big faux pas he says. Big.

6. “You people got a little pet name for everybody”

7. I completely forgot that Susan’s dad bought a gun!

Ten things about the commercials:

A commercial spot for the finale cost nearly 1.5-2 million dollars. 1.That was Super Bowl level advertising back then.

1. The Apple “here’s to the crazy ones” commercial that was shown in the final commercial break that had an old clip of Jerry at the end. I got forklempt.

2.There was this cute Advil commercial that was made just for the show. If the pain is too much to bear on Thursday nights, take some Advil.

5. Gardenburger had a commercial!

6. Dave Thomas from Wendys offers Jerry a Ham and Dijon Chicken Sandwich!

7. Quest for Camelot got a commercial during the finale. A movie that tanked at the box office.

8. I hated those K9 Advantage flea medicine commercials back in the day! With the talking dogs! It makes me so uncomfortable. We should hear dogs thoughts, not see their creepy CGI mouths move!

10. The little NBC “Thank you, Seinfeld for nine great years” after the credits.

Ok I’m done, Bye.

1. Ross, Chuck, “`SEINFELD’ SHOCKER: $2 MILLION PRICE TAG,” AdAge, February 9, 1998. http://adage.com/article/news/seinfeld-shocker-2-million-price-tag/31016/

348. Two Newsradio finales, part 1: “Sinking Ship” (May 12, 1998)

“Oh! Good evening! I’m Phil Hartman, from the NBC sitcom… (someone whispers offstage, “Newsradio!”) Yes! Exactly! Those of you who faithfully tune into Newsradio whenever we’re on, enjoy following the misadventures of our little crew at WNYX. But, every now and again, we – and by ‘we’, I mean the inconsiderate jerks that write this crap, and then force me to say it – we like to kick back and say, ‘what if?’. For example, what if WNYX wasn’t a radio station at all, but rather a massive luxury liner named Titanic! Well, tonight, with a budget of over 200 dollars, we hope to answer that question!”

For the second part of my series on series finales, I wanted to bring up the two Newsradio finales. I say “two”, because after the fourth season in 1998, the show was briefly canceled.1

Between the fourth and fifth seasons, as we all know, Phil Hartman was murdered by his wife, Brynn on May 28, 1998. It was surprising that NBC brought the show back for another season. The cast and crew debated on whether to even continue with the show after Phil’s death:

[DAVE] FOLEY: We all went to Paul’s house for a wake for Phil with the cast and crew. Everyone was debating, it was a discussion as to whether or not we should do another season. As Tom Cherones said, in reference to Brynn, “She’s taken enough away, don’t let her take each other away.” That was the argument that won everyone over. It’s bad enough that we miss Phil as much as we do, let’s not have to miss each other as well. I think it was a good decision and I’m certainly glad we had that extra time together. 1

–

So, Sinking Ship, what I consider the first Newsradio series finale, which you can watch here, on DailyMotion.

Oh, my mvp of season 1, Beth isn’t in this episode. She was off filming ~~Tin Cups?~~ Pushing tin.

“I’M A BIG O’L ICEBERG AND I’M COMING TO GET DAAAVE!”

“Bill, why can’t you use a briefcase like everyone else?”

I’m dead at the attention to detail on the coffee urn, since Dave drinks 40 cups of coffee a day.

(upon being yelled at for not looking our for icebergs)

“Aw Gee, Wiz!”

“Matthew! What have I told you about swearing on the ship? I will not have it!”

“Darn…”

“Matthew!”

“Shucks!”

“Well, I never!”

ooo Dave still loves Lisa. Lookit that rock.

But common man poor stranger Walt has other things in mind….

Nah. It was just Matthew running his humidifier. When the big ass iceberg hits.

Joe can’t even fix it with his duct tape.

Lisa doesn’t want to wear the necklace because she thinks that other people will think that they’re back together.

Jimmy James just wants to save Dogs Playing Poker.

Dave can’t survive without coffee, so he drowns himself, and Jimmy’s a great looking corpse.

“Did you bring any food?”

“No…”

1. Burns, Ashley, and Chloe Schildhause, “An Oral History Of ‘NewsRadio,’ The Sitcom That Broke All The Rules”, Uproxx, https://uproxx.com/tv/newsradio-oral-history/6/ .

commercial for this episode

347. The last episode of “Cybill” (July 13, 1998)

I wanted to start a new series this spring, where I look at last episodes of shows that I watched growing up, that never get put on those “worst series finales of all time” lists. Some of these shows I hope to write about are shows that audiences may of largely forgotten about when the show finally wrapped up.

Like Cybill. I had no clue that Cybill wrapped up in 1998. I really thought we had Cybill and Maryanne until 2000. Christine Baranski was nominated for all the awards back in the day for playing Maryanne.

I actually remember watching the series premiere of Cybill in 1995, the night before we went back to school from Christmas break in sixth grade.When I was little, I watched Cybill Shepherd in Moonlighting so of course I had to watch Maddie on the small screen again.

However, by 1998, CBS had pulled the plug on the show, and the final four episodes ran during the Summer doldrums. Guess what though, I found the show on Amazon Prime. They have the whole series for free if you have amazon prime. That rarely happens, to have the entire series of something. I found a copy of the episode on dailymotion, but its not the greatest quality.

At the end of the series, Cybill finally got a break and became a co-host of a public access-lookin’ morning show. This show is so ratchet that Cybill’s daughter, Zoey is the band. Their guest is someone who plays with hula-hoops in the parking lot of the Labrea Tar Pits on the weekends.

Maryann wants to redecorate the set, and do something with co-host Julie’s hair, but Cybill says that a home of bats would be displaced. Maryann’s suit is bangin’. I don’t know why Cybill has a flower in her hair. I always wanted Christine Barankski’s hair volume,

The producer of the show’s last name is Addison …. JUST LIKE DAVID ON MOONLIGHTING. WHAAT. Cybill has a crush on him, but she’s not going to act upon it so she doesn’t jinx her job.

Meanwhile, at ~~martinis~~, Lunch, Maryann’s credit card was denied. The waiter freaks out. “…your credit card … reejjected!”

All of her cards have been rejected. “My babies!” she says.

She’s broke! Don’t breathe into that Chanel bag, you need to sell it, Maryann!

Turns out her business manager was bribed by some Doctor Dick? I had to do research on Dr. Dick, but he was Maryann’s exhusband? He has power of attorney over her now.

She can’t go shopping anymore to solve life’s problems. I know that feeling all too well. Oh, right after this, Cybill’s producer came over to the house to kiss her and let her know the show’s been canceled.

So Maryann blows up his stuff? How did she get the explosives.

oooph, Cybill was right, there are bats living under that hair. Cybill gave her a bag full of her old shoes for arts & crafts and she got forklempt and ran off. So Maryann filled in, and waxed nostalgic about all the times Dr. Dick fooled her.

So… turns out that Dr. Dick was on the boat that Maryann blew up. He’s dead.

We never figure out what happens, cuz CBS pulled the plug.

347. The last episode of “Cybill” (July 13, 1998)

The producer of the show’s last name is Addison …. JUST LIKE DAVID ON MOONLIGHTING. WHAAT. Cybill has a crush on him, but she’s not going to act upon it so she doesn’t jinx her job.

Meanwhile, at ~~martinis~~, Lunch, Maryann’s credit card was denied. The waiter freaks out. “…your credit card … reejjected!”

All of her cards have been rejected. “My babies!” she says.

She’s broke! Don’t breathe into that Chanel bag, you need to sell it, Maryann!

Turns out her business manager was bribed by some Doctor Dick? I had to do research on Dr. Dick, but he was Maryann’s exhusband? He has power of attorney over her now.

So Maryann blows up his stuff? How did she get the explosives.

So… turns out that Dr. Dick was on the boat that Maryann blew up. He’s dead.

We never figure out what happens, cuz CBS pulled the plug.