If you know me well, you know that I’m into TV Series Finales. To be honest, awards shows, major sports games and series finales are the only legitimate “TV Events” these days. They’re reasons for people to actually gather round the set and watch something live (not on the DVR hours or days later).
Millions will certainly be doing that for two upcoming shows… just a few days apart. On Thursday May 16th, CBS will air the final episode of “The Big Bang Theory”. It recently hit a TV milestone. “Big Bang”’s 276th episode surpassed “Cheers” to become the longest-running multi-cam sitcom of all-time. “BB”’s series finale will be No. 278.
The show has averaged a little more than 12 million live viewers per episode this season, but I expect that number to jump up significantly for the finale. Jim Parsons, who I met at the Critics Choice Awards in 2016, said he wants to move on with his career. He’s been transitioning to more dramatic roles over the past few years, including one in the Ted Bundy film “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile”, now streaming on Netflix.
And then… there’s “Game of Thrones”. The HBO phenomenon has pulled-in record numbers through Live, DVR and digital platform viewing. Its highly-anticipated series finale (for diehards of the show) is May 19th.
If either “Big Bang” or “GOT” airs to more than 18.6 million viewers, they will surpass the original Finale of “Will & Grace” in 2006 to become the biggest TV Series Finale since “Everybody Loves Raymond” in 2005 (32.9M).
I can see one, if not both, of them pulling this off. So, will you be watching the end of arguably one of TV’s most successful comedies – and one of TV’s most successful dramas – ever? (And don’t expect to play catch-up without getting some social media spoilers.)