End Of An Age / Live-Action TV

• Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda exists in a time where the great civilization known as the Commonwealth had fallen. Cynically, attempts to recreate it have so far simply resulted in corruption of power.
• Babylon 5 uses this lightly at the end of the Shadow War. While it emphasizes the new beginning for the younger races, there are mentions that with the passing of the Old Ones the universe has lost some of its mystery and wonder.
• Most of the Powers That Be, and even the demons in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, are tired, and of mixed blood with humans. The True Demons left long ago. Angel actually managed to interject a sense of sadness that this had happened with the character of Illyria, an Old One (the gods among the True Demons) in a Fish out of Temporal Water role.
• Community: In Season Four, the study group grapples with the fact that their college careers are coming to an end and they will have to go out into the world again. Season five subverts it by bringing most of the cast back together again. The sixth and final season finally confirms the trope by having the remaining main characters leave one by one for various personal reasons, leaving only two by the end of the Grand Finale.
• Cranford chronicles the end of the agricultural age in England and the coming of the Industrial Revolution, as symbolised by the railroad. Elizabeth Gaskell, who wrote the three novels the TV series was based on, also wrote a nonfiction book about this transition, called The Last Generation in England; material from this was also used for the show.
• The Deuce is about the changing times in the entertainment district of Times Square. Initially dominated by pimps and hookers, it becomes an epicenter for the Golden Age of Porn as well as Mafia-owned bars and sex shops. In the final episode, Vince returns after many years away and sees that the refurbished, clean and wholesome district is nothing like he remembers, though he imagines all the old characters he used to know still haunting its street corners.
• The last episode of Dinosaurs brings this theme home after suggestively dancing around it for most of the series.
  Earl: Dinosaurs have been on this Earth for 150 millions years, and it's not like we're going to just... disappear.
• The final episode of Duck Dynasty, in which Si Robertson leaves Duck Commander to be a back-up singer for ZZ Top, was literally named after this trope.
• Game of Thrones: In the show's Grand Finale, the death of Daenerys, the exile of Jon Snow and the destruction of the Iron Throne all together represent the end of the Targaryen dynasty and most, if not all, of the influence Valyria had on the Seven Kingdoms.
• The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: In the first few minutes, we learn about how Morgoth destroyed the Two Trees of Valinor and turned the city of Tirion into a wasteland. As a result, the Elves had to leave for Middle-earth where they fought in the War of Wrath at the end of the First Age against Morgoth and His servant, Sauron.
  • By the end of Season 1, what was once the beautiful and picturesque Southlands was destroyed by Orodruin's eruption which turned everything into the hellish wasteland known as Mordor. The Southlanders lost everything and had to leave, and now the former Southlands belong to the Orcs.
• The O.C.
  • The gang graduate high school at the end of the third season. Additionally, Marissa is killed in a car accident, so the episode also marks the final time Seth, Ryan, Summer and Marissa are all together.
  • Season 4, and the series, concludes with Seth and Ryan going to college, and the Cohen family moving out of Newport Beach.
• One Tree Hill
  • The fourth season concludes with the majority of the cast graduating from Tree Hill High, with the season finale showing the teens attending their last high school party - appropriately, on the day that the computer systems are updated for the following year and they are officially no longer high school students. Out of universe, Season 5 picks up following a Time Skip of 4 years, effectively splitting the show into two distinct eras.
  • Season 6 marks the final time that the Core Five (Lucas, Nathan, Peyton, Haley and Brooke) are all together, with Lucas and Peyton leaving Tree Hill between seasons.
• There are multiple examples within Power Rangers, most of which reflect production changes happening behind the scenes.
  • The second season of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers featured "The Power Transfer" during the original Red, Black and Yellow Rangers departed the team - marking the end of the original line-up of Power Rangers.
  • The end of the third season of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers marked the point that the original costumes were retired, and the series began rebranding itself on a yearly basis as the Rangers received new powers and costumes.
  • Power Rangers Zeo sees Billy, the last remaining member of the original five, step down as a Ranger and ultimately depart the series.
  • Power Rangers Turbo opens with the team graduating from high school and saw Zordon and Alpha-5 depart as the Rangers' mentor figures, and by the end of the season, the remaining Rangers left over from Mighty Morphin and Zeo had all been replaced.
  • Power Rangers in Space is officially considered the end of the "Zordon Era" with this being the final season to directly carry on from the previous iteration of the franchise, and fittingly, Zordon's death. Subsequent seasons would introduce a new set of Power Rangers and tell a complete story over the course of the season on a yearly basis.
  • Power Rangers Wild Force was the end of the "Saban Era". The franchise was acquired by Creator/Disney, who nearly shuttered production (the finale was titled "The End of the Power Rangers" because of this) until they were convinced to film in New Zealand for a significant tax write-off. As such, there's a notable change in style, tone, and production quality between this season and Power Rangers Ninja Storm.
  • Power Rangers RPM, which took place after the computer virus Venjix has nearly destroyed humanity, ends with Venjix defeated and humanity free for the first time in years. One of the final shots is of a single flower growing in the wasteland outside of the city, a symbol of life persevering even after it's near destruction. It was also nearly the end of Power Rangers entirely, and preceded the first year where no new adaptations were made whatsoever—until Saban swooped in and bought the rights back from Disney, most fans figured this was the end.
  • Power Rangers Cosmic Fury is both a Milestone Celebration for the 30th anniversary of the franchise: the main villain is a reconstituted evil Zedd, Billy returns to mentor the team, there's a nod to future events, and even Zordon returns in spirit to guide the rangers one last time. It's also the Grand Finale of the original continuity, with Jonathan Entwistle’s upcoming series acting as a hard reboot.
• Revolution takes place 15 years after the Blackout stopped electricity from working and ended human civilization as we know it. The events of the series mark the end of the post-Blackout scavenger period where the desperate survivors tried to build a new life for themselves in a world without electricity. The young people coming of age barely remember the pre-Blackout world and new nations have formed on the ruins of the old USA.
• Rough Diamonds: This drives the plot of the series as the Wolfson family is forced to adjust to the changing landscape of Antwerps' diamond business. The Wolfsons are traditional Hasidic Jews and have been Atwerp diamond brokers since the beginning of Antwerp's diamond district. They survived wars and revolutions but in the present, their family business is on the brink of ruin. Decades earlier, the family patriarch was able to make diamond deals worth millions of dollars on the strength of his word and reputation alone. His children cannot get a loan from a bank and their business partners refuse to give them credit. They have to engage in increasingly shadier deals that could not only ruin the family financially but also send most of them to prison.
• The typically much darker second series of each generation in Skins is pretty much this for the end of the age of teenage rebellion and innocence and the beginning of adulthood and responsibility. The Gen 1 finale rammed it home with the group's separation, while Gen 2 wove it through the series and addressed it on a more individual level.
• Sons of Anarchy: The death of John Teller caused the Sons of Anarchy to transition from a group of irreverent, free-spirited toughs into a dedicated criminal enterprise. When Jax Teller assumes leadership, he promises to take the club fully into the modern age and turn it legitimate. Unfortunately, he largely fails and becomes a tragic figure. In the end, the remnants of the club must struggle on as a lesser, more low-key and principled club.
• This is occurring the background of The Sopranos, which was broadcast around the Turn of the Millennium. The show depicts The Mafia in decline and struggling to adapt to a changing world. Tony Soprano is shown to still be rich and wield significant local influence, but his gang is gradually losing the neighbourhoods and businesses they used to control to new competitors or the forces of gentrification. It's highlighted in an episode in the final season when Patsy and Burt try to extort protection money from the manager of an obvious Starbucks stand-in, but find that as a tiny cog in the corporate machine, he doesn’t have the authority to pay them, and a multinational corporation isn’t intimidated at the prospect of one of their hundreds of stores being vandalized. Finally they resort to threatening him personally but he can’t even pay them under the table because his bosses will notice the discrepancy in the books and fire him.
• Stargate SG-1: The Stargate system is a leftover from a much older galactic civilization. Most of the dominant alien races barely understand the technology they use, and the ones who do are dying or gone. This is a type 2, as Terran humanity is implied to have potential equal to or greater than the old powers, but things will probably still keep declining for a while. The advent of the Tau'ri (Terrans) brings about the downfall of the thousands-year reign of the Goa'uld "System Lords" (who arguably were a society already in decay but still held power over most of the galaxy).
• Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Borg invasion and Battle of Wolf 359 marked the final end of the Federation's isolationism and decades of (relatively) peaceful space exploration. Going forward, the Federation began to take a much more active role in the domestic policies of other space empires and focused more on military preparedness.
• Upstairs Downstairs depicts, through the changes in the Bellamy household, Victorian England slowly yielding to modern Britain (with the Revival guiding the following household to the end of the pre-WWII and Cold War era). Downton Abbey does the same with the Crawley household.
• Vikings: The last season chronicles the death knell of the golden age of the vikings. The last of the great heroes, such as Ragnar and his sons, have mostly died out, and characters frequently state that we will never see their like again.
• Walking with Dinosaurs: The final episode, "Death of a Dynasty" is about the last days of the dinosaurs, after over a hundred million years on Earth. Even without the comet, they're on the way out, between a poisonous environment and newer species outperforming them.
• The Wire: Subverted. As a motif throughout the show, characters are constantly proclaiming that it's a "New Day" in whatever circle they run in, and now everything will be better. But it turns out that this new era is essentially no different than the last era.
• Nickelodeon: In the early 2010s - beginning around late 2012, shows such as iCarly, Victorious and Big Time Rush were coming to an end after several years on the network. Also, in 2013, the stars of iCarly and Victorious, Miranda Cosgrove and Victoria Justice, both retired from Nickelodeon and began careers more focused on films. In addition, new sitcoms began to premier - including Henry Danger, Game Shakers, The Thundermans, etc. 2013 was the end of an era for the classic/golden age of the Nickelodeon sitcoms that produced shows such as Drake & Josh, iCarly, Zoey 101, Victorious and even non-Schneider sitcoms, Big Time Rush and Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide. And with the ousting of Dan Schneider as a sexual predator, it's unlikely any projects like those with him at the helm will come to be.