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Of course, these finales — while critically derided — generate huge numbers. The "Seinfeld" farewell drew 76 million viewers, and the closest a TV show has come since was the final episode of "Friends" six years later. Some 52.5 million tuned in — and advertisers paid a record $2 million for 30-second spots — as Monica and Chandler moved to the suburbs to raise twins, Joey moved to L.A. (for his disastrous "Friends" spinoff), and Ross and Rachel remained stuck in second gear.

Interestingly, networks never thought of the gold mine they had in their soon-to-be-canceled shows until 1977, when "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" signed off in what would become an era-defining "group hug."

"We'll all need some Kleenex," says the curmudgeonly Lou Grant as the cluster of Mary's friends and colleagues migrates en masse to Mary's desk for tissues.

Things got even more weepy a few years later for the final episode of "M*A*S*H" — a two-and-a-half hour cry fest, wherein Hawkeye suffers a nervous breakdown, Father Mulcahy goes deaf, and the perpetually AWOL Klinger falls in love and stays in South Korea, even though the war is over.

The final scene shows Hawkeye looking down from a chopper at the 4077 MASH unit, where his buddy B.J. has left a message in rocks that reads "Goodbye." Call it over-the-top sentimentality, but 106 million people were watching.

One might long to return to a more innocent time, when TV shows were simply canceled with little fanfare, and usually for good reason. "The Brady Bunch" left the air with Bobby selling hair tonic that made Greg's hair turn orange. Perhaps it only figures. The Bradys never acknowledged sex. How could they address cancellation?

Just a year after "M*A*S*H," "Happy Days" signed off with Fonzie adopting an 8-year-old boy. He had literally and figuratively "jumped the shark" in an episode seven years earlier — and this final installment only proved the point.

In the years since, a hit TV show has rarely hit the chopping block without a big send-off, even if it was long past its prime. Even shows that existed just for laughs took the time to mark their end, and these are often among the show's most-watched episodes.