
(Did Tony Soprano actually die in that last moment? And does it ultimately matter one way or the other?) Regardless, these are the notable showstopping installments worth studying as a way to do it right - or very, very wrong. Some are textbook examples of how to bow out as gracefully as possible others are perfect cautionary tales of last-episode pooch-screwing and a couple remain so divisive that it’s likely we’ll be debating them until the end of time.

So as we brace ourselves for what is sure to be a hotly contested and endlessly analyzed last hour of Mad Men, we look back at a handful of the best and worst series finales of the past few decades. Vahue smashes the cello and a depressed Dobbins spends his time watching TV. Hill is attracted to his talent and arranges another inmate to play with Dobbins while he practices. Slap a cop-out ending to a beloved show, however, and you’d better be prepared to kiss seven or eight seasons of good will goodbye. Eugene Dobbins (Zuill Bailey) A famed cellist, sent to Oz for murdering a rival. For better or worse, how a series handles its last hurrah can often determine its legacy: A great send-off can gain it entry into the television equivalent of Valhalla. Regardless of how Mad Men goes out next week - with a bang, a whimper or a sudden cut to black in the middle of a Journey song - Matthew Weiner’s canon-worthy TV show will be judged by whether its finale sticks the landing or not. Don Draper will wake up next to Suzanne Pleshette, who’ll tell him it’s all been a dream. Dorothys friends from the first Wizard of Oz movie have become icons, but with a brand new TV series coming, here are 6 book characters we want to see. Don Draper will be revealed to be airborne-heist legend D.B.

Don Draper will fall out of a skyscraper window, turning those ominous opening credits into a self-fulfilling prophecy.
