BABY BLUE

Guess I got what I deserve

Kept you waiting there too long my love

All that time, without a word

Didn’t know you’d think that I’d forget, or I’d regret

The special love I have for you

My Baby Blue………………………………………………………….

Not in my wildest dreams would I have ever conceived that one of my favorite songs, Baby Blue, from one of my favorite albums, Badfinger’s Straight Up (released in Dec 1971), would have been the final tune accompanying Walter White’s departure from the world of 'Breaking Bad.' Walt did indeed love his Baby Blue Meth.

Walt, aka Heisenberg; metamorphed from a mild-mannered high school chemistry teacher into the most ruthless drug-lord in North America. He finally admitted last Sunday Night to wife Skylar, "I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it. And I was, really ... I was alive.” So it went in the series finale of ‘Breaking Bad.’ In the end though, everything Walt did in the final episode, he did for love, in a strange sort of way.

All the loose ends were tied up: Walt has a tender goodbye with the long-suffering Skylar and his baby girl. He turns over the GPS coordinates to her to facilitate a plea bargain for the location of Hank’s desert grave. He gets one final glimpse of Walter Jr. The sanctimonious former Gray Matter partners Schwartz’s are duped/coerced into turning over Walt’s last $9,000,000+ over to his family without incurring Federal interference. The trashy Lydia dies a well-earned, slow, poisonous death courtesy of the ricin put in her sweetener and Uncle Jack and his Nazi/White Supremacist Brethren are blown away by Walt’s genius 'remote in the trunk' machine gun, with Walt himself putting the final slug into Uncle Jack. The shackled, tortured, enslaved meth cooker, Jesse Pinkman, strangles the calculating sociopath, Todd, with the chains that bound him! Best of all, Jesse, drives away hysterically free, into the night, off to a better life. And finally, Walt dies of a gunshot wound after lovingly admiring the meth lab with Baby Blue playing in the background. Gotta be the best series finale in all the annals of TV history. 

So, this begs the question, what are The Top 10 TV series finales of all time? Not surprisingly, I have come up with a list. You may be disappointed to see the conspicuous absence of the final episodes of Cheers, Taxi, Friends, or All in the Family. I never really watched any of those programs. I am ashamed to say I enjoyed the final episodes of The Brady Bunch, Bewitched and Dallas, but they didn’t make the grade. The final airings of 24, ER, and NYPD Blue were great, but they can’t crack my Top 10. You will never see the final episode of Seinfeld on my Top 10 Best list. I loved the show, but the final episode was the worst of the entire series run and was a huge letdown. So, without further adieu, here is the Top 10, in descending order:

10. St. Elsewhere

While never dominant in the ratings, St. Elsewhere was enough of a critical favorite that it lasted six seasons and won 13 Emmy's, and made stars out of cast members such as Denzel Washington and Ed Begley, Jr. In the final episode we learned that the entire six-season run was merely a figment of Dr. Westphal's autistic child’s imagination, as he gazed into a snow globe containing St. Eligius Medical Center. Most people hated the ending, I thought it was a nice touch.

9. Lost

I know, with Lost either you hated it or you loved it. I thought it was pretty dang good. From the first shot of Jack’s opening eye to the final shot of his eye drawing closed, Lost was a show that took chances and respected its audience’s intelligence. There was nothing like it on TV before and there very well may be nothing quite like it ever again.

8. Quantum Leap

I have fond memories of this little show because I always watched it with my daughter, Ari. This was the story of Sam Beckett leaping through time and space, sent by some unknown entity, to set things right in the universe. The finale

showed that Sam had the ability to leap home all along, he only had to will it. What was keeping him from doing so was the realization that the one person he needed to help was Al (he had refused to tell Beth in an earlier episode that Al was alive in Vietnam, so she married somebody else). So, Sam wills himself to that scene and tells Beth. Beth doesn't remarry, and at the end of the show it is explained that Al and Beth had four children and stayed married for nearly forty years, and that Sam never returned home. All was well.

7. M*A*S*H

The M*A*S*H finale was on of the highest rated shows of all time. A story of war, heartache, high jinks, and friendship.

As Hawkeye departs the site in a helicopter only to see Hunnicut has spelled out “GOODBYE” with the rocks below, remains as perfect a closing image as has ever been seen on TV.

6. Star Trek: The Next Generation

I loved this TV show! How can you not admire Patrick Stewart's Jean Luc Picard? The perfect contrast to the the swashbuckling James T. Kirk.

In the finale a confused Captain Picard  finds his mind shifting back and forth in time from the present to seven years in the past to 25 years in the future. Picard soon learns that this is the result of a massive anomaly that must be destroyed before it consumes all of space and time.

In the world of sci-fi television (heck, television in general), “All Good Things…” is a perfect finale, with the time anomaly allowing long-departed characters such as Tasha Yar to return as well as getting a glimpse of the character's futures. 

The episode ends with Jean Luc, now aware of the precious little time he truly has with the people he loves, stepping in to play  cards with his fellow crewman. It’s a pitch-perfect ending to a great sci-fi show.

5. Friday Night Lights
FNL was a great show about high school football in Texas that was really about so much more. The series virtually died of poor ratings, but salvation came in the form of a deal with DirectTV, which allowed the show to run for three more fantastic seasons. Coach Eric Taylor molded boys into men and was a great husband and father, the perfect role model.
The show always cared more for the lives and struggles of its characters than it did for football. And yes, the East Dillon Lions do win the State Championship. 
Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose......

4. Battlestar Galactica (2009)

In this series finale, Admiral Adama's small group of surviving humans finally find home: earth. But in a slight twist, it is earth 11,00o years ago. After surviving so much at the hands of the Cylons, they have a chance in begin again. Don't tell me you didn't shed a tear when President Laura Roslin finally passes on.

3. Magnum, P.I.

My favorite TV show ever. Thomas, Higgins, T. C. and Rick. I miss you guys. The series finale did not disappoint. Magnum re-ups with the Navy, finds his daughter, Rick gets married (maybe), and Higgins finally confesses to being Robin Masters, or does he? I guess we'll never know for sure.

2. The Fugitive

Wrongly convicted of murder, Dr. Richard Kimble, finally tracks down the one-armed man that killed his wife. Kimble's nemesis, Lt. Gerard shoots the one-armed man with a rifle. I have a vague memory of the murderer's corpse falling from the water tower. The finale aired in August 1967, I was 11. I guess it made quite an impression on me.

1. Breaking Bad

Note: Since Sunday’s telecast, Baby Blue has been getting about 5,000 downloads a day from iTunes and other sources. There is the possibility the song could slip back into Billboard’s Top 40. It peaked at No. 14 in early 1972. The power of 'Breaking Bad.' Not bad for a 42 year old song!