Major funding for backstories provided by an anonymous donor, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation.

From Virginia Humanities, this is Backstory.

Welcome to Backstory, the show that explains the history behind the headlines. I'm Nathan Connolly.

I'm Brian Balla. I'm Ed Ayers.

And I'm Joanne Freeman.

If you're new to the podcast, well, you're just in top for the last episode that is.

After more than 12 years on your public radio airways and podcasting platforms, Backstory is coming to an end.

And since we're a show that explores different aspects of American history, we thought there's no better topic for today's episode than a history of Finalees.

So on this final episode of Backstory, we're going to look at different kinds of Finalees throughout American history.

We'll consider the end of some legendary political careers and how presidential Finalees weren't always a given.

We'll look at how social movements also come to ends and sometimes don't.

And we're going to talk to University of Virginia, men's basketball coach, Tony Bennett, to discuss the power of sports and how a big game can serve as a finale, whether you win or lose.

Now, if you're anything like me, when you hear the word finale, the first thing you think of is, well, television.

So that's exactly where we're going to start with the boob tube.

After all, television Finalees from Seinfeld to the Supranos have become cultural touchstones.

They're major television events that are debated for weeks, months, and sometimes even years later.

But television Finalees weren't always the norm.

In the early days of television, shows just kind of disappeared.

So you have to know you're going to end in order to have a finale.

Jennifer Cation Armstrong is the author of several books about television.

And she says there was a time when popular series like Gilligan's Island simply went off the air without any sort of conclusion.

Hold on a second, Ed. Are you saying that Gilligan is still on that darn island?

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