Dec 10, 2018
It’s been five years since Jesse Pinkman took off like a bat out of a drug-making hell in the final episode of Breaking Bad. It’s been more than a decade since Tony Soprano may or may not have been whacked by that dude coming out of the Holsten’s bathroom. It was 20 years ago that Jerry, Elaine, Kramer, and George were sentenced to jail time for, well, basically for being jerks, in the Seinfeld series ender. And viewers have been debating those television series finales ever since they first aired.
On this week’s Pop Literacy, Jennifer and Kim talk about the history of series finales with Syracuse University Professor Bob Thompson, whose Syracuse Press TV book series just released Television Finales: From Howdy Doody to Girls. Thompson, the founding director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse, helps us recall the best and worst series finales ever (the Sopranos and Seinfeld enders have landed on both those lists through the years), reveals the finale that touched him and then made him angry (one word: purgatory), and shares some insights into what makes a good series wrap-up episode and whether or not he thinks viewers will be left satisfied by upcoming finales of Game of Thrones and The Big Bang Theory.