Have you ever just watched the series finale of a show?

[NewHeavensNewEarth]

There are some shows I'm curious about, but not curious enough to devote hundreds of hours to watching them. So sometimes I skip the entire show and just watch the series finale. I did that for "Lost" and "Orphan Black," and I have no regrets. Have you ever done that with a show?

It's kind of like skipping to the last page of a book you have a passing interest in. If I did more that more often, my library at home would be a lot more slim & trim.

 

[Butters]

I haven’t, but I’ve watched a TV show about finales for shows I mostly haven’t seen. Thanks to that, I don’t need to watch Lost, moonlighting, the sopranos, mash, and a shit load of others.

 

[NewHeavensNewEarth]

I haven’t, but I’ve watched a TV show about finales for shows I mostly haven’t seen. Thanks to that, I don’t need to watch Lost, moonlighting, the sopranos, mash, and a shit load of others.

Sounds like the ultimate spoiler show!

 

[Butters]

Sounds like the ultimate spoiler show!

The ultimate spoiler show was Scariest Movie Moments (or similar). I remember it well. I’d enjoyed a great night out, picked up pizza on the way home, and turned on the tv in time to see Ring spoiled. As foreign language movies go, Ring is ok, but watching it knowing what’s going to happen. Bummer.

 

[Avro Arrow]

I am going to move this thread to TV & Media. But first, to answer the question:

No, I have never done that. (But then I have never skipped to the last page of a book, either.) If I'm curious about the show, I'll start at the beginning. If it grabs me, then I will end up watching the whole show at some point. If it doesn't, then it really doesn't concern me how it ends.

As they said in Voyager, it's not the destination, it's the journey. Orphan Black was such a great show that I can't even fathom watching just the finale and being satisfied. As with all individual opinions, of course, YMMV.

But speaking of journey, here we go to TV&M!

 

[Relayer1]

It's pretty rare for me to get all the way to the finale of shows I'm following - I'm certainly not going to waste time watching ones for shows I'm not watching...

 

[NewHeavensNewEarth]

It's pretty rare for me to get all the way to the finale of shows I'm following - I'm certainly not going to waste time watching ones for shows I'm not watching...

Sometimes it's just to see what all the hype is all about. I don't mind 1 hour in the place of 40 hours or more.

 

[Timewalker]

I don’t need to watch Lost, moonlighting, the sopranos, mash, and a shit load of others.

You're missing a really good show by not trying out M*A*S*H... and I say that as someone who watched the finale before I'd watched more than half a dozen regular episodes.

I've seen quite a bit of the series now (not all, but that's because I've never been able to see it from the beginning), and most of what I've seen is okay. The only irritating thing is the actress who played Keiko in Star Trek is also in the finale - she whines a lot in that as well.

 

[Pondwater]

Yes. The How I Met Your Mother finale. It was pizza night at a friends’ house and they had that on.

 

[thribs]

I watched the last two Breaking Bad episodes on their own. I got the gist of it.

 

[John Clark]

You're missing a really good show by not trying out M*A*S*H... and I say that as someone who watched the finale before I'd watched more than half a dozen regular episodes.

Agreed. I started off with the later series as it started a bit early for me, but have now seen it all (along with the film) and have them all on dvd. I haven't seen the spinoffs though. (Pretty sure we have all the books though.)

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I don't get this approach. Long TV shows are about the journey more than the destination. It's like going to the Grand Canyon and only stopping at the gift shop.

If I didn't have time to invest in long TV shows, I'd watch movies.

If you only read the last page of a book, you may know how it ends, but you haven't read the book. You haven't gotten emotionally involved in the characters, felt suspense for what's going to happen next, speculated about the mystery, gotten excited about it. You've just picked up a piece of trivia.

 

[Mojochi]

The closest I have to this is Frasier. I never watched it during it's broadcast years, but remember how insanely popular people made it out to be

So a year or so ago, I threw some up on Netflix, over the course of a week. Watched a couple from season 1, jumped ahead to a couple midway thru, that's thumbnail had Lillith guesting, because I liked Cheers

Then I was like... "Radio psychiatrist, yada yada, dad, dog, chair, nothing in common with his kids, yada yada, brother 'with they/won't they' with British maid, a couple other people maybe, so on & so forth ... I think I got the gist." So I skipped ahead to the finale stuff, some of which might've had Sam & Diane? who were probably better left in obscurity imho

 

[Timewalker]

Agreed. I started off with the later series as it started a bit early for me, but have now seen it all (along with the film) and have them all on dvd. I haven't seen the spinoffs though. (Pretty sure we have all the books though.)

There are M*A*S*H books?

 

[John Clark]

There are M*A*S*H books?

Yep. Not counting the background book for the series, there's M*A*S*H, M*A*S*H Goes to Maine and M*A*S*H Mania, all by Richard Hooker.

After that by Richard Hooker and William Butterworth, there's
Goes to New Orleans,
Paris
London
Vienna
San Francisco
Morocco
Miami
Las Vegas
Hollywood
Texas
Moscow

I know my Dad got them all, but looking now, I haven't actually read all of them so I guess I'm digging them them out.

 

[kirk55555]

You're missing a really good show by not trying out M*A*S*H... and I say that as someone who watched the finale before I'd watched more than half a dozen regular episodes.

I've seen quite a bit of the series now (not all, but that's because I've never been able to see it from the beginning), and most of what I've seen is okay. The only irritating thing is the actress who played Keiko in Star Trek is also in the finale - she whines a lot in that as well.

MA*A*S*H the TV show is excellent. Although I'm one of the few people who much prefer the show once Col. Potter and Major Winchester came in, its worth watching all the way through.

I've avoided the movie like the plague. I've only seen clips of it, but its pretty messed up. Very much of its time in all the worst ways (not that the TV show doesn't have its problematic moments, but its very different).

 

[fireproof78]

MA*A*S*H the TV show is excellent. Although I'm one of the few people who much prefer the show once Col. Potter and Major Winchester came in, its worth watching all the way through.

That's a minority position? That's how my wife, parents and friends all are! O_o

The movie is entirely different in tone and its purpose was very different. My wife has watched it, but I have not, just because I prefer the TV show. However, I do know that in the pilot episode one actor reprised as a general, as well as Gary Burghof, though he played Radar a bit differently.

Regardless, M*A*S*H is TV at its best and I still watch it to this day.

 

[John Clark]

I liked Blake, but Winchester was far more of an interesting character than Burns (in my opinion anyway). I also liked Potter a lot.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

If it's about finding out what the hype is about, instead of watching the finale a better approach is to ask fans of the show what a good episode to use as a standalone entry point.

Lost is a particularly good example of a show where the last season is the weakest of all the seasons and not a good representation of why the show is hyped. I also would strongly recommend against using the finale for Battlestar Galactica.

 

[gblews]

Yep, I had never seen a single episode of Six Feet Under and got caught up in the series finale when it aired. I liked the finale so much that it made me go back and watch the entire series.