That's All Folks, TV Finales Trivia Quiz

Answer: Goodbye

The finale of "M*A*S*H" had the largest viewership in the U.S. at that time for a television series.

It resolved the next assignments for members of the unit after the Korean War ended. Margaret Houlihan was offered a choice post in the Army Administration for nursing. Charles Emerson Winchester was disappointed when he learned he was not chosen for a prestigious chief surgeon position at Boston Mercy Hospital. Later when that decision changed in his favor, he was overjoyed until he learned Houlihan had pulled strings to change the choice. Maxwell Klinger, after years of scheming to be sent home, fell in love with a Korean refugee, married her, and remained in Korea.

Colonel Potter decided to retire from the Army, taking a last ride on his horse Sophie before donating her to a local orphanage. Father Mulcahy suffered deafness during an attack at the end of the war and decided to leave the priesthood to work with the deaf.

Hawkeye had a traumatic nervous breakdown. While driving refugees near an enemy patrol, he had requested a woman keep her "chicken" quiet. When he found the "chicken" she had smothered was her infant, he had a breakdown. After the Army psychiatrist Sidney Freedman helped him recover from his guilt, Pierce planned to return to his hometown of Crabapple Cove, Maine to resume his practice.

In the final scene, Pierce was evacuated in a helicopter and saw the message "Goodbye" formed by rocks on the hillside - a parting message from B.J. Hunnicutt.

Answer: Gerard shot and killed the one-armed man

Dr. Richard Kimble had been convicted of murdering his wife, Helen, and sentenced to death. The Kimbles had had a heated argument before he drove away from their house to calm down. When he returned, he almost ran over a one-armed man near his home before discovering the body of his murdered wife. Their argument and other circumstantial evidence were enough to convict Kimble of murder and sentence him to death. While he was being transported to death row under the watch of Lieutenant Gerard, his train derailed, and he escaped.

Kimble drifted across the U.S. under assumed names, working various jobs while Gerard searched for him. Inevitably, someone in the town was placed in danger or needed assistance, and Kindle provided help. When the story of the mysterious stranger filtered out, Lieutenant Gerard rushed to the scene to capture Kimble, only to find he had left the area by hitchhiking or riding a bus.

In the first episode of the finale, the one-armed man was arrested for a barroom brawl, but was bailed out of jail by an unknown benefactor. The courtroom stenographer alerted Kimble, and he returned with hopes of confronting the one-armed man to clear his name. In the next episode, they had a knife and gunfight brawl, and Gerard saved Kimble's life by shooting the one-armed man. At this point, Gerard recognized Kimble's innocence.

In pre-Internet days, conspiracy theorists speculated that Gerard was the actual killer instead of being a dedicated policeman. The "Fugitive" story bears a similarity to "Les Miserables" in the dogged pursuit of Valjean by Javert or even "The Lone Ranger" as the altruistic stranger brought justice to a town.

The finale of "The Fugitive" was a landmark event in American television. Usually, shows did not have a wrap-up episode to tie up loose ends, particularly if executives hoped to restart the show at a later time. Executive producer Quinn Martin argued strongly for a definitive end and redemption for Kimble.

Although the show's audience had decreased over the years as the scripts fell into a pattern, the finale became one of the most-watched television series broadcasts.

Answer: Did J R Ewing commit suicide in his bedroom?

The show "Dallas" had perhaps the most famous cliffhanger in television history with the episode of "Who Shot J.R. Ewing". So it wasn't surprising that the finale to its 14th and last season was also a cliffhanger.

By this time, the powerful and bullying character of Ewing had been reduced to a broken man. He had lost his business to arch-rival Cliff Barnes, was near bankruptcy, loyal employees had left him, and his son John Ross Ewing had rejected him. At the end of the penultimate episode, J.R. had taken his father's pistol and was wandering around in a drunken stupor.

The final episode then veered into a scenario straight from the movie "It's a Wonderful Life". A spirit visited J.R. and showed him what life would have been if he had not been born. The Ewing fortune would have been lost earlier under his brother Gary's leadership, his parents would have died much earlier, and his brother Bobby would suffer from addiction. Although the presence of J.R. had many positive effects on the world, the spirit then tried to convince J.R. to shoot himself.

As J. R. raised the pistol to his head, his brother Bobby made an unexpected visit to the home and heard a shot ring out from the bedroom. He raced in and raised his voice in horror - but did J.R. shoot himself, the spirit, or miss entirely?

Answer: He woke up and realized it was just a dream

In "Newhart", Dick Loudon was an author who moved from New York City to rural Vermont to operate the Stafford Inn. The show featured a number of quirky neighbors and employees of the inn, which the Loudons operated.

In the finale, the entire town, except for the Stafford Inn, had been bought by a Japanese firm to build a golf course and entertainment center. The Loudons continued to operate the inn for five years afterwards in the middle of the golf course.

Former residents of the town then showed up for a reunion. After a golf ball hit Loudon and knocked him out, the scene shifted to the bedroom of Doctor Robert Hartley, the lead character in Newhart's earlier show, "The Bob Newhart Show". He woke up next to his wife Emily from that show, played by Suzanne Pleshette. He told her about the strange dream he had running an inn in Vermont surrounded by eccentric characters. Emily then told him that's the last time he'll have Japanese food before going to bed if he's going to have dreams like that.

Bob Newhart stated that his wife Ginny had suggested using the dream sequence earlier as a way of concluding the series.

Answer: The TV screen went blank

Cable companies carrying the "Sopranos" probably received a host of very angry phone calls complaining that the cable service had disrupted the "Sopranos" at the climax of the series. However, the blank screen was intentional, leaving viewers to decide how they thought the final scene ended.

"The Sopranos" was an American drama series that ran between 1999 and 2007. The series featured Tony Soprano, played by James Gandolfini, who was an Italian-American mobster trying to balance his family life with his criminal activity.

In the final episode, Tony attempted to end a mob war and tried to ensure his family's safety and future. He was at a dinner meeting with his associates when an unknown stranger entered. It was clear that the stranger was an important figure in the final resolution, but it was unclear what the outcome would be. The screen then went blank, and viewers were left to decide how it ended.

Answer: Anchorman Ted Baxter

A new station manager was hired for the Minneapolis television station WJM-TV, and he proceeded to make changes and fire a large number of people. Hit particularly hard due to its low ratings was the 6 O'Clock News, which affected the characters in the show.

Surprisingly, the one character who survived the purge was Ted Baxter, one of the primary reasons for the news show's poor ratings. He was quite pretentious, frequently unprepared, prone to mistakes, and lacking background knowledge. Briefly, Ted threatened to resign if the firings of the other staff members weren't rescinded, but he soon caved in to management pressure.

He signed off their final broadcast together and the staff gathered in a tearful group hug, singing "It's a Long Way to Tipperary". They walked out together, and Mary Richards walked back to turn off the lights and closed the door - a fitting end to the series.

Answer: Seinfeld

The "Seinfeld" show starred Jerry Seinfeld as himself, Jason Alexander as his best friend George Costanza, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as his ex-girlfriend Elaine Benes, and Michael Richards as his eccentric apartment neighbor Cosmo Kramer.

"Seinfeld" was a very popular comedy that ran for nine seasons and was noted for its witty, urbane humor. The conclusion to the show was highly anticipated, and the show's co-creator, Larry David, returned to write the script. Many people consider it one of the most disappointing television finales, directionless and lacking humor - very different from the regular show.

The show opened with Seinfeld and Costanza receiving notification that NBC had accepted their script for a TV series. They planned to move to California, but the main characters decided to fly to Paris to celebrate with one last party. On the way, the plane was forced to land in Latham, Massachusetts. While the plane was being repaired, the four characters witnessed an overweight man being carjacked, filmed it, and made "fat jokes" about the victim.

The city had just instituted a "Good Samaritan" law, which required bystanders to try and assist victims. Seinfeld and his friends were the first people arrested and brought to trial under the law. The prosecutor brought in people from Seinfeld's past to testify as negative character witnesses. Each was convicted and sentenced to one year in prison.

Answer: Rebecca Howe married secretly

Diane Chambers had worked as a waitress in the Cheers bar after graduating from college. She had an on-and-off relationship with owner Sam Malone before moving to California to write a movie script. After she won an award for her script, Sam congratulated her and invited her back to Boston.

She arrived with a man she called her husband to avoid romantic complications. Eventually, she and Sam rekindled their flame and became engaged, planning to move to California. However, when their plane was delayed, both reconsidered and parted amicably as friends.

The plumber Don Santry proposed to Rebecca Howe; but she inadvertently rejected him, and they broke up. He proposed again the following day, she accepted, and they had a secret wedding. As the finale ended, they were on their way to a honeymoon.

Former Cheers bartender Woody Boyd was elected to the city council. He gave the rarely employed Norm Peterson a job. Cliff Clavin was appointed assistant supervisor in the post office after bribing officials.

Carla Tortelli was widowed in an earlier episode, and her status was unchanged.

Answer: Blackadder led his men out of the trenches in a WWI battle

The first "Blackadder" series was set in the reign of a fictional King Richard IV. It was based on the premise that Richard III had won the Battle of Bosworth Field and was succeeded by Richard IV, one of the princes in the Tower of London. Edmund Blackadder was the second son of Richard IV, who attempted to gain the favor of his father by foolish actions.

The second series followed the adventures of descendants of Blackadder and Baldrick during the reign of Elizabeth I.

The third was in the Regency Period during the rule of George III. By this time, the Blackadder family had fallen on hard times, with Edmund being reduced to the role of butler to King George.

In the final series, Captain Edmund Blackadder was stationed on the Western Front with his goal being to survive the war. His various attempts at being assigned to a safer position failed. Ultimately, Blackadder and his compatriots charged over the top of the trenches into "No Man's Land". The picture went into slow motion amid the chaos of machine gun fire and faded into a field of poppies.

Answer: The six friends left together to have a final coffee

The television show "Friends" was an extremely popular American romantic comedy centered around six young New Yorkers.

Courtney Cox played the role of Monica Geller, the mother hen of the group, known for her obsessive-compulsive and competitive nature.

David Schwimmer starred as Ross Geller, her brother, who was a paleontologist at a museum. He seemed to be unlucky in love throughout the series.

Jennifer Aniston starred as Rachel Green, a fashion designer who had an on-and-off romantic relationship with Ross.

Matthew Perry starred as Chandler Bing, a data analyst and later a copywriter. He married Monica Geller in one of the later seasons.

Lisa Kudrow played the role of Phoebe Buffay, a self-taught musician and somewhat the flower child.

Matt LeBlanc starred as Joey Tribbiani, a womanizer with a starring role on a soap opera.

In the finale, the group started to break apart. Chandler and Monica had married and were moving to the suburbs. They went to the hospital to pick up the twins they were adopting. Rachel accepted an offer to move to Paris to work as a fashion designer. She and Ross had a final night together before she dismissed him with the thought that that night was a perfect way to say goodbye.

Phoebe tried to persuade Ross to tell Rachel what his true feelings for her were, but he was too afraid of rejection to voice them. After Rachel left for the airport, Phoebe drove Ross to catch her plane, but found out they had traveled to the wrong airport. Rachel's plane was delayed and Ross arrived, but she still boarded it. She later surprised him when she returned for the last gathering of the group.

In the final scene, all six placed their keys to Monica and Chandler's apartment on the table and left to have a final coffee together.