Since you're in the '70s ballpark, what about the Best Series Finale being "The Mary Tyler Moore" show? Done with real affection & humor & the first time I can recall writers giving the cast & characters a send-off . . .
Most startling character death for me was Joe Coffey in "Hill Street Blues", sudden & sharp, in the day long before spoilers . . .
"Which is why Buffy stands apart from characters like Emma Peel, Olivia on Fringe, Xenia, Sydney Bristow, et all - she is the only one who did not allow herself to be defined by a man, become his sidekick or his wife or mother. She stood apart and became a leader. Took on a traditional male role and made it her own."
Again, MTM was first in a decade of firsts & nearly firsts, and, following her, Nancy Marchand as newspaper publisher Mrs. Pynchon in the forerunner of all the ensemble dramas, "Lou Grant".
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branchandroot
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Date: 2010-06-01 05:20 am (UTC)Most startling character death for me was Joe Coffey in "Hill Street Blues", sudden & sharp, in the day long before spoilers . . .
"Which is why Buffy stands apart from characters like Emma Peel, Olivia on Fringe, Xenia, Sydney Bristow, et all - she is the only one who did not allow herself to be defined by a man, become his sidekick or his wife or mother. She stood apart and became a leader. Took on a traditional male role and made it her own."
Again, MTM was first in a decade of firsts & nearly firsts, and, following her, Nancy Marchand as newspaper publisher Mrs. Pynchon in the forerunner of all the ensemble dramas, "Lou Grant".