Saying goodbye: how do we let go of our favorite TV characters?
This fall marks the end of several favorite television series that have outlasted the norm with their continuous series.
After long, successful runs of these beloved TV shows, viewers can look forward to final seasons with apprehension and excitement.
The Office (Nine seasons)
The Office is a witty comedy revolving around life in an office atmosphere at Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, Inc. From office romances to prank-pulling stunts by bored employees, The Office is really a big, dysfunctional family.
Michael Scott, played by Steve Carell, is an ignorant yet goofy regional manager, who despite bad work ethics managed to keep his Scranton branch from sinking during the weakening economy.
Scott made a lasting impression on the show for his infamous use of Thats what she said. Last season, Scott was absent from the office after retiring to Colorado with the love of his life, Holly.
Season 8 was a repetitive cycle of changing regional managers from the shows own salesman, Andy Bernard (Ed Helms), to a new face as Nellie Bertram (Catherine Tate) swooped in and stole Andys job from under his own feet. The season finale concluded with Andy fighting for the position back and succeeding in doing so.
In the upcoming season, the show may struggle to keep viewers entertained as some characters are not returning.
The Office returned to NBC at 9 p.m. on Sept. 20. The next episode airs Sept. 27.
Brittany Mulligan
Fringe (Five seasons)
The science fiction show in which the FBI has a special Fringe Division based in Boston, Mass., has been something of a modern day X-Files.
The Fringe team investigates cases dealing with everything from advanced technological experiments gone wrong to a possible collision of two universes.
Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble) is the shows mad scientist, who works in a lab at Harvard and helps the division by studying people with extraordinary powers. His son, Peter (Joshua Jackson), inherited his fathers intelligence and goes out in the field with FBI agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) during crisis calls.
Last season was a mind-bending confusion of seeing the team live in an alternate reality. The crisis was solved when Peter stepped into a machine that would fix universes. The result concluded with Peter himself disappearing, reappearing and being erased from everyones memory.
Not only was Peters agenda important, but the normal universes future was at stake from being controlled by an outside force of Observers.
This upcoming season will time jump ahead to the year of 2036, following events from the end of the Season 4.
Fringe returns to FOX at 9 p.m. on Sept. 28.
Brittany Mulligan
Gossip Girl (Six seasons)
The teen drama focused on the scandalous lives of the Upper East Side, based on a series of novels by Cecily von Ziegesar, revolves around the lives of two best friends Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester) and Serena Van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) and their three guy friends and love interests, Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick), Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley) and Nate Archibald (Chase Crawford).
The main source of drama from the show stems from an anonymous blogger, Gossip Girl, who reveals the main characters scandals and lies on the internet. The show changed the genre of modern teen TV into more mature drama-centric shows with an incredibly attractive cast and sexual, scandalous plot lines.
Season 5 managed to break the repetitive slump that seasons three and four had fallen into by returning the show to its original plot only crazier.
Though the season was provocative, confusing and ridiculous at times, it gave fans enough to stick around for one more season. The promo for Season 6 premiered a few weeks ago, and though it doesnt tell much, it looks like the season will be more scandalous than ever, bringing together all of the complicated issues of past seasons.
The original Gossip Girl is back to her old ways, Serena is apparently getting married and Chuck and Blair finally look like they are going to make it work. Avid fans have seen ups and downs from the show, but it looks as if its all coming full circle.
Season 6 of Gossip Girl premiers on Oct. 8 at 9 p.m. on The CW.
Shannon Gordon