Best and Worst Television Series Finales

The finale of "The Sopranos", my current favorite television series, rapidly approaches.

"It's fiction. It's just a TV show," I tell myself.

But, I can't deny these sick feelings of apprehension and disbelief that play too large a part of my life. Will Tony Jr. (AJ) get bumped off, leaving Tony Sr. with his conscience and the shambles of his life? Will Tony rat out his friends and go into Witness Protection? Will Uncle Junior escape from the loony bin and bump him off? Or will Tony kill himself?

My biggest feeling of dread, however, is that creator David Chase will blow it all at the very finale, placing an irretrievable stink on the entire series.

Okay, so I'm an avid tube freak. And as an avid tube freak throughout my entire life, I've done this dance of death many times, holding my breath as I count down to the end of all my favorite shows from "The Fugitive" to "Seinfeld." Some of these finales were worth the apprehension. Others only evaporated to feelings of disappointment and self-loathing for wasted time.

The "Seinfeld" Finale

This finale was a great disappointment. I loved the show, but there's an irretrievable stink on the reruns. To many, this stink came after the Michael Richards meltdown. For me, it was the lackluster phone-it-in finale. For me, the most natural finale would've been all the characters roasting in hell together for past selfish behaviors.

Instead, all their past sins played out in a court of law, placing an uneasy final moral compass on a show "about nothing."

The "Six Feet Under" Finale

My favorite series finale to date was for HBO's "Six Feet Under." Unlike "Seinfeld" which maintained its entertainment quality all the way through to its humdrum finale, "Six Feet Under" had both great and mediocre seasons, veering from sheer brilliance to ineffectual mediocrity. In fact, I stopped watching the show for a couple of seasons, especially during my favorite character Claire's self-indulgent foray into art school.