Finale: Considering the Ends of Television Shows
Edited by David Lavery (Middle Tennessee State University) and David Bianculli (TVWorthWatching.com)
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At least since the end of M*A*S*H (1972), the final episodes of television series have often become "cultural spectacles" (as Joanne Moreale deems them in an important essay on the Seinfeld finale). Recently, the finales of Life on Mars, The Sopranos, and Battlestar Galactica proved controversial, engendering water cooler debates around the world. The final episode of LOST in May 2010 may likely prove the most-buzzed in the history of the medium. TV finales fascinate us because they bring "’verses" to an end—in the case of long-running shows, very complicated ‘verses, exposing in the process our cultural obsessions, our "reading" practices, our imagined identities, our fascination with television. I am developing a collection of essays on TV finales and I hope you will want to contribute. To the right you will find a comprehensive (but by no means all-inconclusive) list of possible British and American television series contributors to Finale might want to write about. I remain open to other suggestions. Send me an e-mail at david.lavery@gmail.com and propose (briefly, succinctly) the essay you might contribute to the book. Tell me a bit about yourself as well (if we do not already know each other). |
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Possible Subjects Absolutely Fabulous Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. Alias All in the Family Angel Arrested Development The Avengers Babylon Five Battlestar Galactica Blackadder Beverly Hillbillies Blake's 7 Bonanza Buffy the Vampire Slayer Cheers Cracker Dallas Dark Shadows Deadwood The Dick Van Dyke Show ER Everybody Loves Raymond The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin Family Ties Farscape Father Ted Fawlty Towers Firefly Frasier Freaks and Geeks Friends The Fugitive Gilmore Girls Green Acres Gunsmoke Hill Street Blues Homicide: Life on the Street I Love Lucy Inspector Morse L.A. Law Larry Sanders Show, The The Last of the Summer Wine League of Gentlemen Life Life on Mars UK Life on Mars US Lost L-Word, The Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman Mary Tyler Moore Show, The M*A*S*H Miami Vice Mission Impossible Moonlighting My So-Called Life Mystery Science Theater 3000 Nip/Tuck Northern Exposure NYPD Blue The Office UK One Foot in the Grave Only Fools and Horses Prime Suspect Prison Break The Prisoner Pushing Daisies Quantum Leap Red Dwarf The Rockford Files Rome Roseanne Roswell The Royle Family St. Elsewhere Seinfeld The Shield Six Feet Under The Sopranos Star Trek Star Trek: The Next Generation Stargate SG-1 Supernatural Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles thirty something This Life Till Death Us Do Part Twin Peaks Veronica Mars West Wing The Wire The Wonder Years Wonderfalls Xena: Warrior Princess The X-Files Yes Minister Z-Cars |