"Arrested Development"

The writers had three long seasons of imminent cancellation to ponder endings to the dozens of story lines that this critically acclaimed ratings dud juggled every week, and they didn't disappoint. For sheer manic lunacy, you'd be hard-pressed to find a more hilarious, head-spinning 120 minutes of entertainment than the goodbye of the Bluth family. Appropriately enough, the series finale was actually four episodes that Fox wanted to purge itself of, scheduled opposite the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, no less. Still, the tiny audience that tuned in saw George Sr. cleared of criminal charges, Gob and teenager Ann's secret relationship, several different relatives trying to hook up with each other, the origin of the Frozen Banana stand and Buster's final battle with the killer loose seal. After a family appearance on "Mock Trial with Judge Reinhold" featuring the house band "William Hung and His Hung Jury," Michael (Jason Bateman) delivered a touching, tear-filled speech upon the realization that he was going to be stuck with his crazy family for a long, long time. If only we were all so lucky.

"Moonlighting"

Some great series finales come from a proper goodbye, and others arise out of last-minute necessity -- as was the case with this late '80s classic. Approximately two years after the writers stopped caring, audiences stopped watching and Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd stopped talking to each other, ABC abruptly cancelled the irreverent detective show. For one final time, the magic and creativity of the series returned: After a typical series setup offering a mystery to be solved, Maddie and David returned to the Blue Moon office to discover that all the furniture and props were being taken away. After a network executive informed them that the show had been cancelled, the disbelieving characters scampered frantically around the studio lot, confronting their no-longer-in-character co-stars and additional execs, who chastised them for losing the sexual chemistry that once made the show a success.

"Twin Peaks"
It might be the only time David Lynch's bizarre universe is compared with "Moonlighting," but once again a show past its prime returned to brilliance under the duress of cancellation. Angry and jaded by Hollywood's rejection of the drama it once embraced, Lynch returned to direct an insanely bleak second-half to the two episodes that were hurriedly combined for a finale "movie." Fearlessly killing off a main character in practically every scene, Lynch seemed like a child determined to take his ball and go home if they wouldn't play by his rules. Finally, the series creator took the character closest to audiences' hearts (Kyle MacLachlan as Special Agent Cooper), cryptically split him into an evil doppelganger and then trapped him in hell (aka The Black Lodge) indefinitely. The last image Lynch gave his audience was a bloodied, babbling Cooper looking into a mirror, laughing maniacally while realizing his cruel final sentence. The episode was viewed by a tiny audience, yet remains one of the most fiercely noncommercial (and hard to find) TV episodes in the history of the medium.

"The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson"
OK, it's cheating a little bit, but it's impossible to discuss TV's greatest send-offs without including the final days of history's greatest talk show. Technically, "The Tonight Show" is still on the air, but millions of Jay Leno refugees will tell you that the magic left with Johnny Carson after he spent his final days on-air getting serenaded, smooched and sainted by everyone from Bette Midler to Robin Williams. After the enormous hype surrounding his retirement, Carson revealed that he had considered putting on a re-run as one last joke for his final night but that NBC had squashed the idea. So instead, he sat in front of what he called his "shabby" little set one final time and had a very personal, very quiet evening with the world. "The greatest accolade I think I received: G.E. named me 'Employee of the Month,'" Carson revealed with a trademark twinkle in his eye. "God knows, that was a dream come true." Carson fully retreated from the public eye after that evening, making our memories all the more powerful. Johnny was one of a kind, but his finale should serve as the template for future goodbyes to our most beloved entertainers.