On Television, There’s More Than One Way to Say Goodby : How Some Other Series Turned Off the Lights

Leave it to “St. Elsewhere” not only to come up with its own distinctive ending but also to pay homage within its final episode to another TV show’s finale.

During the last original installment of the NBC medical drama Wednesday night, five of the characters bid goodby to one another with a group hug that was inspired by the famous embrace that the cast of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” undertook when that comedy series concluded its seven-year run on CBS March 19, 1977.

As was so often the case with “St. Elsewhere,” the scene worked on two levels--both as a salute to the flagship series of MTM Enterprises, the company that produced “St. Elsewhere,” and as a reminder of how memorable the final episodes of TV series can be--at least to longtime fans.

Here’s how some of those endings have gone:

“The Mary Tyler Moore Show”: The TV station where Mary worked was sold and everyone was fired--except for the only one who should have been canned, bombastic anchorman Ted Baxter. After the characters engaged in their big hug in the newsroom, they all walked out the door. Then Mary returned briefly to turn out the lights.

“MASH”: After 10 1/2 years--more than three times longer than the real Korean War--the TV conflict finally ended on Feb. 28, 1983. As the characters went their separate ways, Hawkeye Pierce (Alan Alda) told B.J. Hunnicutt (Mike Farrell), “I’ll never be able to shake you.” Hunnicutt departed the 4077th by motorcycle; Pierce flew off in a helicopter--the reverse shot that had been seen in the credits for all those years of the choppers bringing in casualties. The 2 1/2-hour episode was seen by the largest audience in TV history--an estimated 122 million viewers.

“The Fugitive”: Dr. Richard Kimble (David Janssen) finally stopped running on Aug. 29, 1967. After four years of evading Lt. Gerard (Barry Morse), he caught up with the one-armed man (Bill Raisch) who could verify that Kimble hadn’t killed his wife. The two wrestled atop a tower until Gerard shot the one-armed man and set the stage for Kimble to walk free at last. The ABC telecast attracted what at that time was the largest audience ever for a series episode, with a 72% share of the audience. That record stood until the “Who Shot J.R.?” episode of “Dallas” on Nov. 21, 1980.

“One Day at a Time”: Ann Romano (Bonnie Franklin), no longer single and no longer with two daughters at home, got a new job and moved to London in the farewell episode that aired on CBS May 21, 1984. At the end, she stood alone in the bare apartment and recalled (via flashback) that day in 1975 when, as a new, frightened divorcee, she had told her teen-agers to “stick with me. We’ll make it, I promise.” Then she left, satisfied at having kept her word.

“Barney Miller”: Capt. Miller (Hal Linden) finally got his promotion in this ABC series’ last episode, which aired May 20, 1982. But he also got the news that the building in which the 12th Precinct was housed had been declared a historical landmark. So the show ended with his police staff being broken up and shipped to different precincts around New York. Barney was left to turn out the lights.

“Happy Days”: In a one-hour episode on May 8, 1984, Fonzie (Henry Winkler) adopted an orphan and Richie (Ron Howard) returned to attend the wedding of Joanie and Chachi (Erin Moran and Scott Baio). At the end, Howard Cunningham (Tom Bosley) looked into the camera and thanked viewers for having been part of the family.

“Magnum, P.I.”: In perhaps the most unusual ending ever for a series--at least until “St. Elsewhere”--the producers had Magnum (Tom Selleck) gunned down at the beginning of the final episode, leaving him to have an “out of body experience” in which he tried to come to terms with his family and friends. Only that episode--aired April 15, 1987--turned out not to be the final episode, as CBS unexpectedly ordered another season. New footage was shot for the repeat broadcast to clarify that Magnum hadn’t died. When the series ended for real this month, the producers were much more pragmatic: Magnum surprised everyone by rejoining the Navy, which brought closure to his private eye career in Hawaii but left him alive for possible reunion shows later.