Coolest ways to leave a show...... *spoliers* duh

[Falkus]

No, it was the final episode. Of course, if St. Elsewhere was a fantasy spun by Tommy Westphall's mind, that has interesting implications for a lot of other television shows: http://home.vicnet.net.au/~kwgow/crossovers.html

Wouldn't the more logical conclusion be that Tommy was actually a latent psionic who was telepathically linked to an alternate version of himself in a parallel dimension?

 

[Viking Bastard]

Or St. Elsewhere was a figment of his imagination, but the H:LotS crossover was
merely him incorporating TV characters into his fantasy?

 

[Falkus]

I think I prefer my psychic parallel dimesnion theory. This is television we're talking about, after all. Why should it be the simple solution?

 

[Kahuna Burger]

Nope. That is second best.
St Elsewhere was the best.

Chief surgeon's son was autistic. At the very end of the last episode you find out that the guy who was the chief surgean was just a blue collar working Joe. The entire show was from the son's imagination, staring at a plastic hospital in a snow globe.

well, if we're talking entire shows ending, I'll raise you Little House on the Prairie. They blow up the entire frickin town (except the church) and all walk off into the sunset singing "Onward Christian Soldiers" just to stick it to the evil land speculator.

Character exits, I liked Radar in MASH. Where at the end Hawkeye goes into his little room and sees that he's left the teddy bear behind. *real tears*

 

[Silver Moon]

I loved St. Elsewhere but wasn't overly fond of the ending. I thought a much, much better concept show was where Fiscus (Howie Mandell's Character) died and then kept bouncing around between Heaven, Hell and Purgatory - including close to a dozen cameo appearances from characters and patients who had died in previous episodes.

One reason that St. Elsewhere was so perpetually quirky and out-there was that whenever the writers and/or producers thought of a great concept they just went ahead and did it rather than saving the idea for later, since they didn't know if there would be a later (it was perpetually on the edge of cancelation for all seven of its seasons).

 

[PhoenixDarkDirk]

That crossover network is greatly expanded if you allow all media, as shown here.

A show that I think had a perfect ending was "Strangers With Candy." The school gets demolished, and Jerri returns with the teachers to her old life of petty crime.