Follow TV Tropes

Following

End-of-Series Awareness

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/comic_is_ending.PNG
King Dedede broke the news to him.

"He's here to save the nation,
So stay tuned to this station,
If not, we'll be unemployed,
Freakazoid! Freakazoid!"
Freakazoid! (opening theme)

A specific type of Medium Awareness, where the impending end of the series is referenced within the series itself. Such events generally happen during the Grand Finale or Finale Season, and at the bare minimum will imply it's the End of an Era. Depending on the series, this may be done in the form of events in the final batch of episodes having a double meaning that alludes to an ending of some kind, or characters directly Breaking the Fourth Wall.

Because this can sometimes imply a vocal dissatisfaction with the conditions (such as lack of viewers, Executive Meddling, Screwed by the Network) that could bring about an early end to a show, this may tie in with Biting-the-Hand Humor, and is generally used in media that lend themselves to it, such as Live-Action TV or Western Animation.

The opposite sort of lampshade to And the Adventure Continues. Contrast with The Resolution Will Not Be Identified, where an intentionally-written finale is not acknowledged as such in universe or on its network.

As this is an Ending Trope, unmarked spoilers abound. Beware!


Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Advertising 
  • British cigarette brand Lambert & Butler managed to do this with their long-running poster campaign, a Jeeves and Wooster pastiche featuring a smug yuppie type called Lambert and his snarky butler, using talking heads and speech bubbles with some witty banter in the style of a one-panel comic strip. The very last poster, released just before the UK banned tobacco adverts in 2003, had the duo's faces pixellated out in a manner deliberately invoking suspects on Police, Camera, Action!
  • For the cigarette brand Silk Cut, their ad campaigns often showed something made out of silk getting torn or cut up. Their last advertisement focused on the torn dress of a large opera singer performing for the audience, indicating that the fat lady has indeed sung for their campaign.
  • The long-running commercial advertisements (over thirty different commercials!!!) for Budweiser featuring the frogs and the talking lizards comes (almost) to its end. Louie the lizard informs the two remaining frogs that they are being fired. The frogs do not handle it well.

    Anime & Manga 
  • The last episode of the Aggretsuko shorts aired on TBS has Retsuko getting a phone call telling her that the show is losing its timeslot. She demands an extension, and then asks the viewer to keep up the support for the show. Although this was indeed the end of the shorts, the series then got a reboot on Netflix.
  • Azumanga Daioh: In the penultimate episode, the On the Next segment features the girls concerned that they'll die when the show ends, to which Yukari assures them that they'll "live on in the hearts of viewers".
  • Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo: The characters (including the narrator) are well aware of the show ending and act like they're counting down to the end. However, they are shocked that the series ends just before an epic fight, and the narrator complains that he was never visible through the entire series.note  Dengakuman, who is the one to announce that this point is indeed the end, is the only one who doesn't react like the others, instead cheerfully waving the viewers goodbye.
    This is how our show ends?!
  • The first Negima! Magister Negi Magi anime has Satsuki and Zazie narrating the next episode preview for the final episode, during which they both point out they've yet to have any lines.
  • In Cowboy Bebop, the preview at the end of episode 25 has Faye saying "It's over?"
  • One of the chapter covers in Doctor Slump had a character on a phone stating there was only one volume to go before the series ends.
  • Happens oh so very much in Gintama, often with plenty of Self-Deprecation from the characters as well. In fact, there's a whole episode based on the fact that the anime was unexpectedly cancelled (as opposed to all the times they were expecting to be cancelled) and the characters try to plan a fitting ending for the series.
    • The last chapter in Shonen Jump had the cast wondering how the series could end in the middle of the final battle, with Gintoki explaining that it would finish up in Jump GIGA. When the extra chapters in that magazine couldn't finish it off, the last chapter made mention of the series app, where any remaining chapters would reside. The editor even used Gintoki's likeness to apologise to the readers.
  • Played for Drama in The Hunters Guild: Red Hood: The Hunters Guild, aware they are being observed by higher beings known as Readers for entertainment, creates the rules of the world and scenarios for conflicts and stories, under the fear that if those higher beings lose interest, their reality will end. The antagonist doesn't believe a world where everything and everyone is controlled is worth living in, so, during the last few chapters, he interrupts the Guild's storytelling to force it to end. The actual ending of the manga hints that the world continues to exist but that the Readers can no longer observe them.
  • The final episode of I Can't Understand What My Husband Is Saying begins with Hajime ranting about how he feels when a Slice of Life Thirteen Episode Anime is ending, and how he wishes he could see what happens to the characters afterwards. He also notes that just before an anime ends, something happens, like a graduation. And at the end of this anime? Well, the episode is titled "Me, Her, and Another".
  • The Funimation dub of Crayon Shin-chan spent its third season finale shattering what was left of the fourth wall.
    Narrator: Boy, this show's been swearing more this season. That's either a sign that the Supes support it... o-or don't care about it! Hey Zach! We're not getting canceled, are we!?
    ADR Director Zach Bolton: Nah, they got like 600 of these in Japan. We'll be doing this for years!
  • Chronicles of the Going Home Club has this trope turn up as early as episode 4, with the cast trying to avoid cancellation or retooling into a fighting anime. Discussion of the ending also comes up in episode 11 (out of 12).
  • In Medaka Box, the antagonist Anshin'in-san claims that the motivation for their master plan (Namely, having Zenkichi dethrone Medaka as the main character of the series) is that "Any manga that goes over 10 volumes is just coasting. And this series is already three volumes over the limit." Ultimately subverted, as Medaka reveals that Anshin'in doesn't have true Medium Awareness, but rather a psychological condition where she believes she's a fictional character, and needed to see something impossible like a protagonist being dethroned before she could commit suicide and end her existence. As such, the series continues after Medaka beats her.
  • The last episode of GO-GO Tamagotchi! has Mametchi thanking the viewers for watching their show at the end. He and his other Tama-Friends (including Dream School, a sentient building) all wave and say goodbye as the screen fades out.
  • The last chapter of Mitama Security: Spirit Busters was about Rena moving into a new apartment. Mitama and other characters from across the series help move her in, but, to her confusion, they each turn to the audience at some point and say that "[Their] adventure is just getting started". Rena gets goaded into saying it in unison with the rest of the cast, but when she actually does it, everyone's already gotten bored and walks out, frustrating her even more. For bonus points, the chapter ends with the revelation that everyone moved into her new apartment complex, and the spirits hanging outside her apartment spell out "Fin".
  • The 55th and final episode of Kira Kira Happy Hirake Cocotama ended with Ribbon telling the audience to cherish their experiences and that the Cocotamas will love them forever.
  • The final episode of the Ranma ½ anime ended with Ranma and Akane saying goodbye to the audience and running off.
    Ranma: We waiting for something, Akane?
    Akane: No. We're done.
    Ranma: Shall we?
    Akane: Yup.
    Ranma & Akane: [to the audience as they run off] See ya!
  • The Japanese dub for the final episode of Transformers: Animated had the show's entire cast sing the opening theme, and cheering after the song is over.

    Comic Books 
  • During Peter David's run on Captain Marvel, Rick Jones developed Comics Awareness, knowing he's in a comic book and that it was about to be cancelled. The final issue of the series was entirely about the fact that it was the final issue of the series.
  • The last issue of the first Mini Series of Ambush Bug had the title character celebrate the end of his series by hosting an after-party.
  • In a Robert Kanigher issue of Wonder Woman (1942) during The Silver Age of Comic Books, one story was about Kanigher himself dropping most of the supporting characters to retool Wonder Woman into something closer to The Golden Age of Comic Books, as well as characters wondering whether or not he has a yellow bowtie.
  • Robert Kirkman's Irredeemable Ant-Man, staring superhero slacker Eric O'Grady got the can at #12 leading to this cover. Which has various references to the previous cancelled titles from Marvel's stable. In the reader mail section it's explained lack of buyers killed the book and Kirkman repeatedly jokes "Well if you buy 10,000 of this issue we can keep going."
  • Issue #10 of the Marvel run of Mighty Mouse (which was derived from the Bakshi animated series) had the hero aware of the final issue as he confronts a foe he first feels he cannot defeat but soon reaches an epiphany:
    Mighty Mouse: I've starred in ten gosh-darned good issues and nothing can change that!
  • In Cartoon Network Block Party, the cover of issue #59 has everyone from CN who has appeared in the comic appear on a stage to take their last bows.
  • The very last issue of X-Statix, Guy Smith is increasingly gripped with a sense that the team's final mission is going to be a very final mission. Sure enough, the whole team is killed off.
  • The last issue of The Intimates features Punch talking about how much he hates when companies just suddenly cut off a comic book series without providing a resolution, which is precisely what happened to Intimates.
  • Issue #17 of the first Quantum and Woody series ends with Woody picking up a telephone, then informing Quantum (and the reader) that the book has been cancelled. The trope was reversed when the title was un-cancelled a year later with a second phone call.
  • Archie's Mega Man last issue was #55 before "going into hiatus" and ended with Dr. Light receiving a shock from the Time Skimmer. He sees visions of everything that will happen to Mega Man from adaptations of the 4th game onward, Mega Man X, Zero, ZX, and Legends before eventually being brought out of it, ensured that Mega Man, no matter what generation, will keep fighting the good fight. The issue ended with a full page Short Circuit comic (usually reserved for silly quick gags) which had Mega Man, his friends and villains singing "We'll Meet Again", even including other incarnations such as Bad Box Art Mega Man and Roll from in Street Fighter x Tekken, the 90's Mega Man cartoon, European covers of Mega Men, and even his version from Captain N. Closing out with thanks to the viewers for reading, a gag about Mega Man Legends 2's infamous Cliffhanger ending, and the classic death explosion. Due to the shuttering of Archie Comics' Archie Action line, the series ended there.
  • The Unbelievable Gwenpool has this as its final story arc, when in Issue #23, Gwen realizes she can only see two more issues on the horizon through her medium awareness ability. The last issue has her using her powers to phase in and out of the timeline to experience later plot points that the creators had hoped to tackle if the series continued. An older version of Gwen also explains to her that her life will still continue by way of people continuing to find and read these stories in the future, people creating fanworks due to their love of the character, and ultimately one of those fans potentially getting into a position to bring her back for more adventures.
    • This is the foundation of the plot for Gwenpool Strikes Back; since Marvel editorial is thinking about removing the character from the record permanently, she's been given a five issue miniseries to prove that she still has worth. Over the course of the comic, she becomes more and more maniac as she attempts to find ways to justify her use in future stories. Thanks to Kamala inadvertently retconning Gwen's backstory in the final issue so that she's now considered a mutant in-universe, she succeeds, and the miniseries ends on a heartfelt Thanking the Viewer speech.
  • The 44th and final issue of the Comic-Book Adaptation of The Ren & Stimpy Show had the story's last page end with "Goodbye, kids! It's been fun!"
  • The 16th issue of The All-New Batman: The Brave and The Bold, the second comic book tie-in of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, ends with Bat-Mite despondent from hearing that the comic is cancelled. Batman cheers him up by pointing out that he can always re-read Batman's adventures as long as he has his old comics.
  • The Hasbro Comic Universe had several titles end in ways that implied self-awareness of the continuity running its course.
    • The last issue of Transformers vs. Visionaries has Cindarr inform an imprisoned Merklynn that the Darkling Lords are working on a plan to free him. Merklynn replies that they shouldn't bother, as he's foreseen the future (i.e., the coming of Unicron) and doesn't believe there is much time left to do anything worthwhile.
    • The Transformers: Requiem of the Wreckers ends with Springer leaving a recorded message to all surviving Wreckers informing them that they must let go of the past and work towards a brighter future.
    • The final issue of Transformers: Lost Light plays around with this with the end of the adventure paralleling the end of the series, with the titular ship being taken apart to serve future generations of Transformers (aka the next comic book continuity). This is especially evident when the crew clones themselves and the ship to enter a brand new universe/comic continuity and comment that it is too early to tell what it will be like. Writer James Roberts even initially intended for the last page to have "The End" scrawled over with "Over to You", as a way of acknowledging that he wouldn't write any further adventures and that a new writer would likely take over in the event that any aspect of the series would be revisited later.
    • Optimus Prime ends with what appears to be Optimus Prime narrating his life, from his creation to his funeral, and how he had to make the ultimate sacrifice to save future generations. The ending reveals this to only be Arcee telling his tale to some human, Elonian and Cybertronian youths.
    • The Transformers: Unicron:
      • Some issues of the miniseries feature a back-up story dedicated to this continuity's takes on G.I. Joe, M.A.S.K. and Micronauts where the heroes address how far they've gone and are content with what their adventures have given them. The Micronauts backup also has Oziron Rael address the uncertainty on whether the Micronauts will survive long enough to confront Baron Karza and end his reign of Microspace if the conflict in the outer universe with Unicron has any effect on Microspace.
      • The ending narration of the final issue has Pyra Magna note that Optimus Prime's sacrifice to end the threat of Unicron brought with him the end of the Cybertronian civil war and that it's now up to the survivors to work together and rebuild society on Earth now that they've managed to overcome the threat posed by Unicron.
  • G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (Marvel):
    • The 28th and final issue of the G.I. Joe: Special Missions spinoff ends with Duke telling the reader that they've had a good run and that they must read the main G.I. Joe comic if they still want more adventures.
    • The story of the 155th issue of the main series revolves heavily around it being the last issue, with G.I. Joe being ordered to disband and Snake Eyes reflecting on the hardships he and his comrades endured before deciding that he doesn't regret joining the good fight at all. The cover also depicts Duke and Stalker doing a flag-folding ceremony, a ritual commonly done to mourn fallen soldiers and is therefore allegorical to the "death" of the comic series, which would later be homaged by Optimus Prime and Bumblebee doing so on the cover to the final issue of IDW Publishing's Transformers vs. G.I. Joe maxiseries.
  • The short-lived comic book adaptation of Visionaries ended at its sixth issue with a story arc of the Spectral Knights and Darkling Lords retrieving jewels of the four elements of nature for Merklynn only halfway finished, the last page solemnly stating that there will never be a proper conclusion because of the comic's cancellation.
  • At the last page of the final issue of the shortlived Archie Comics series in the 90's called Jughead's Diner, the characters received a letter from the company that the series is cancelled.
  • The fourth issue of Diablo House has its Surfer Dude Horror Host Riley inform the reader that this is the end and that they may have gone too far with the last story.
  • James Robinson's run on Justice League of America ended this way. The League talks about adventures they apparently had (clearly Robinson just touching on his axed plans) and they lament that nobody will remember their Justice League. The characters even talk like they will never see each other again, because the series was cancelled in the lead-up to The New 52, which was initially very nebulous on what characters and stories existed or had happened, with only Dick Grayson confirmed to be existing out of the cast.
  • Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason's Superman (Rebirth) was unceremoniously cut short once Brian Michael Bendis left Marvel for DC, and specifically requested the Man of Steel as his first project. Tomasi and Gleason's final issue saw the Kents "selling their house" to some new person, who Lois sees as impeding on their home. The family laments that this came out of nowhere, and they quickly say goodbye to their neighbours before moving back to Metropolis — the status quo of Bendis' then-upcoming run. Lois pettily steals the mailbox from their farm as a souvenir, so the Kents have a reminder of their time on the farm. It is very blatant, and it makes clear that Tomasi and Gleason were not happy about being booted from the title with so little notice.
  • The 29th issue of DC Super Friends had a question mark at "The End" to leave the door open for further stories, but had some clear indications that there weren't going to be any more issues.
    • Hawkman makes a background cameo where he grouses about never appearing in any of the prior issues.
    • In the area containing the issue's secret coded message, Wonder Woman tells the reader "May Hera guide you until we meet again".
    • The coded message itself when deciphered reads "Thanks for reading...and being a Super Friend!" Every previous coded message described what was in store for the next issue.
    • The very final page depicts a drawing of the comic's production staff accompanied by a banner that reads "Have a Great Con & Farewell from the Super Friends Team".
  • The last two issues of the Bravest Warriors comic book tie-in by Boom Studios acknowledged that the comic was coming to an end, with the 35th issue having the description of what is in store for next issue consist of Catbug saying "The end is nigh" and the 36th issue having that section of the comic depict a group shot of the Bravest Warriors accompanied by a message thanking the reader for reading the comic.
  • Naturally used in Sturmtruppen, alongside some Self-Deprecation on Bonvi's part.
    Private A: "Dont' worry, I have ze feeling zat our troubles vill soon be over."
    Private B: "Are we winning ze war?"
    Private A: "Nein, ze author of zis damn stripes is running out of ideas."
  • Several iterations of Doom Patrol ended in ways that acknowledged it was the comic's final issue.
    • The original 1960s run by Arnold Drake concluded at issue 121 by killing the team off (three more issues were published several years later, but they were reprints of older stories), the cover having the title read "Is This the Beginning of the End of the Doom Patrol"?
    • The 22nd issue of John Arcudi's run has the cover's title read "Exit the Doom Patrol" and has Robotman remark "I was right. We are doomed", completing the Book Ends of the series' first and last issues' covers depicting the rest of the team reflected in Robotman's head.
    • The 18th issue of John Byrne's run had the title on the cover read "The End of the Doom Patrol".
    • The 22nd issue of Keith Giffen's run has the battle end prematurely when Ambush Bug whispers to Mr. Somebody in Veronica Cale's body that the comic is being cancelled to make room for Flashpoint (DC Comics) tie-ins.
  • The last two issues of J.M. DeMatteis's run on The Spectre had a lot of emphasis on how people fear things coming to an end and how one thing ending can instead be seen as another thing beginning depending on perspective.
  • The 60th issue of Batman: Gotham Adventures had its cover include a caption announcing that the series was going out with a bang.
  • Kobalt: The cover to the 16th issue had writing addressing that Kobalt's career would end in the issue.
  • The 12th issue of Larfleeze was titled "The Last Larf" and had some jabs at the expense of co-writers Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis as well as artist Scott Kollins, stating that DC was finally able to get rid of them after finding a big enough broom and stating that the assistant editor Joey Cavalieri is "breathing a sigh of relief". For extra irreverence towards addressing the series has ended, the final page jokes about a potential spinoff focusing on Larfleeze's reluctant butler Pulsar Stargrave by having the word "never" imposed over the word "soon" in "On sale soon" and ends with "Th-th-th-th-that's all Folks!"
  • Grant Morrison's run on Animal Man ended with Buddy Baker interacting with Morrison's Author Avatar. Their conversation includes Morrison addressing that their run on the series has reached its conclusion and that the writer to contribute to the series afterwards will likely handle the series under a completely different direction as well as disregard what Morrison had established at the first opportunity.
  • New Gods: Jack Kirby's run on Mister Miracle ended at its eighteenth issue with the section of the final page that would usually describe what would happen in the next issue plainly stating that the comic had ended and that there weren't going to be any further issues. The comic would be renewed for seven more issues three years later, but would no longer have any involvement from Kirby, instead being written and illustrated respectively by Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers for issues 19-22 and by Steve Gerber and Michael Golden for the remaining three issues (and ironically ended abruptly with no indication that the 25th issue would be the last one, as the last page of issue 25 promised a 26th issue that never saw print).

    Comic Strips 
  • The last month or so of Bloom County was replete with this trope, as the characters are "fired" by Donald Trump (whose brain was implanted into Bill The Cat), and try to find jobs in other comic strips: Steve Dallas turns up as one of Cathy's dates, Oliver integrates The Family Circus, Milo appears in The Far Side, et cetera. At one point, Opus even laments that "comic strips aren't supposed to end!", and in the penultimate strip, summarily boots Ronald Ann through the doorway to Outland (yes, Berke Breathed's Sunday-only successor strip, mentioned by name), reasoning that "she was dawdling, and Beetle Bailey is taking over this space Monday."
    • When its sequel comic, Opus, was coming to a close, the characters discussed the Tethercat Principle, and we saw Opus going through the process of trying to find the one spot he wished to be for the remainder of eternity. He ended up picking Goodnight Moon.
  • The last arc in FoxTrot before it switched to being a Sundays-only strip saw Roger and Andy discuss a cartoonist who's planning on switching to Sunday-only strips and what he might do afterwards. It ends with Andy shooting down the idea that he'd break the fourth wall to thank everyone that supported him.
  • The final daily strips of U.S. Acres had some hidden messages about the end of the strip, such as Lanolin wearing a sign on her body that says "The End is Near".
    Sheldon: Orson, did you ever wonder if our days are numbered?
    Orson: Not only numbered, but signed and dated, Sheldon.
    Sheldon: No! Seriously!
    Orson: Seriously, I live each moment as if it were my last panel. And after that, there's always animation!
    Sheldon: SERIOUSLY!
    • In the final daily strip (although there were still four more Sunday strips afterwards, due to those being produced on a separate schedule) Orson reading a newspaper and trying to find himself in there. When Orson finds out he isn't in there, he disappears.
    • Finally, there was the Looney Tunes-style Porky Pig gag at the end of the very last comic.
  • The last story arc of the strip Cleats had one character believe that if he stopped playing hackeysack with his soccer ball, the world would end. several "signs of the apocalypse" were shown, including an obese character becoming fit overnight. It was decided that "there's only one way to find out", upon which the character was jostled to make him drop the ball. And thus, the strip ended.
  • William Overgard's Rudy had a mystical character who'd show up at the end of the year to give predictions for the coming year. Except in 1985, when he arrived several weeks early. When Rudy asked why he didn't wait until New Year's Eve, the guy says "You won't be here."note 

    Fan Works 
  • The My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fanfic Nothing Lasts Forever takes the fan interpretation that Pinkie Pie has Medium Awareness and demonstrates it in a heartbreaking manner by having her in tears while her friends remain oblivious and happy in a hypothetical final episode of the show.note 
  • The Calvinverse:
    • In the epilogue of the final Calvin & Hobbes: The Series episode, the heroes ponder over their adventures and remark on how it feels like an era has ended, tying into the end of the series.
    • In the epilogue of the rewritten version of Retro Chill, Socrates creates one last vlog for his viewers and thanks them for all the support they've given him and his friends, tying into how Retro Chill is the Grand Finale of the rewritten Calvinverse. The other characters also discuss their various past adventures.
  • The plot of Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series at one point starts to involve the threat of somehow being "cancelled" by in-universe characters. It even changes its name to Cancelled Series.
  • Ouran: The Vaguely Abridged Series has a three-part series finale in which Haruhi and the hosts eagerly await the ending of the show, and even try to stop it from getting renewed.
  • Ultra Fast Pony: In "The Pet Games", when the flamingo gets disqualified from a talent competition for using Disney footage in his performance, the color commentators note that this copyright violation might get Ultra Fast Pony taken off the internet.
  • Pony Pals: Dirk Strider Edition, being what it is, has the end of the book as a plot point. The Pony Pals set out to write a new one, and Dirk has his own plans for it but is conflicted over whether to let the characters choose the ending or just write it himself. He also argues with Jeanne Betancourt over what to do with the in-universe copy, but she warns him they're running out of pages and he should decide soon. Dirk ultimately ends up leaving it in the girls' hands, who spend the last few pages deciding which path the end should take.

    Films - Animation 

    Films - Live-Action 

    Literature 
  • In one of Mo Willems' Elephant & Piggie books, We Are in a Book!, the main characters realize they're in a book. Piggie flips ahead to see how many pages are left, and Gerald freaks out when he sees how few there are. Subverted in that the book is not the end of the series.
  • Similar to the above example, in the Sesame Street books The Monster at the End of This Book and Another Monster at the End of This Book, Grover becomes more and more panicked as he realizes that it's getting close to the end of the book and we're about to see the monster. (In the first book, he's the monster at the end. In the second, it's Elmo.)
  • Are You Scared, Darth Vader? is a Star Wars picture book. The book is about a group of kids trying to scare Darth Vader with various monsters like a wolfman and stuff like a Bedsheet Ghost, only for him to state repeatedly that he is not scared, that nothing can scare him. Even after they take off the costumes and reveal themselves to be nothing but a bunch of kids, who proceed to raucously play with him, and mess with his lighstaber, he is still not scared, only "most displeased." The kids leave in a huff, but the narrator reveals that there's still one kid left, the reader, who's about to close the book, trapping him inside it. This, Darth Vader does not want to allow, admitting that he is indeed scared and even offering the reader that We Can Rule Together. His pleas do not work and the book is closed.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Arrested Development:
    • In the episode "S.O.B.s", several characters make veiled references to the impending cancellation of their show and the behind-the-scenes negotiations about moving to a different network. At one point, the narrator, Ron Howard, says "please tell your friends about this show," in an effort to increase the fanbase to save it.
    • The Season 3 finale (which was treated as the series finale for some time) ends with Howard saying "It was Arrested Development." It also managed to introduce the possibility of the story being continued in a movie in-universe, without breaking the Fourth Wall. It ended up retroactively subverted after the series was Un-Cancelled five years later.
  • The final episode of Bizaardvark is called "The End of the Beginning". Also, the company the main characters produced videos for has been sold.
  • Boston Legal was absolutely relentless about this, it being how it is..
  • In the last episode of British children's drama Byker Grove, the entire youth club is made aware of the fact that they are all fictional characters, that their entire world is fictional, and that the almighty scriptwriters have decided to end their show. But the scriptwriters give them a parting gift...a stack of magic script paper; anything they write on the paper will happen in front of them. The idea is that they can write their own happy endings before the show is finished for good. They do...until two of the younger children write in a ton of dynamite and try to blow the youth club up.... (end credits)
  • In the last episode of the first season of The Neighbors many Leaning on the Fourth Wall moments happen, the most obvious being Alien Larry Bird begging his father to let his group stay on Earth for "another season" — before quickly changing this to "I mean, another year".
  • The show I Married Dora was about a man and his maid who have a Citizenship Marriage. In the last scene of the last episode, he is about to leave on a two-year job assignment overseas when...
    Peter: It's been cancelled.
    Dora: The flight?
    Peter: No, our series.
  • B R Chopra’s Mahabharata starts to hint about the Pandavas’ ultimate victory right at Episode #88 when Dushasan suffers a Cool And Unusual Death. Duryodhan breaks down crying, Ashwathama suggests suing for peace and Karna seems resigned to his own death. Duryodhan breaks down once more two episodes later and Gandhari curses Krishna’s dynasty for her own family’s destruction. The next episode ends with Krishna suggesting that the Pandavas spend the night in their vanquished enemies’ tent, people start referring to Draupadi as the “empress of Hastinapur” and the penultimate episode is all about how Dhritharashtra copes with defeat and prepares to receive the victorious Pandavas.
  • In the last episode of Moonlighting, the plot is interrupted by news that the series has been cancelled. Suddenly the characters have to deal with their reality falling apart, as sets are being dismantled all around them.
    • Mr. Mcgullicuddy dies because he had spoken his last line.
    • Dave and Maddie rush off to find a preacher in the hope that by getting married they can save the series (and their lives).
    • A popular supporting character, Agnes, chews out the leads for their off-set drama derailing the series and asserts that if there is a god in heaven she and her love interest will get a spin off (they didn't).
    • The closing screens note that the Anselmo Case, which kept being brought up as a Running Gag and which the cast were presumably investigating before they got distracted by the fact their show was ending, has never been solved.
  • The last episode of Becker has a brief mention of a patient named Nielsen (after the company that provides TV ratings) and how the numbers of his chart seem fine to him.
    • Also the last episode was titled "DNR" meaning Do Not Resuscitate. A medical term for patients who do not want to be revived if they are dying.
  • The short-lived Stephen Bochco musical procedural Cop Rock did this in the final scene.
  • Stargate SG-1
    • The show called out the then-Sci-Fi Channel in the Season 10 episode "Family Ties" through the use of this trope. Note the careful word choice.
      Carter: The truth is, the Stargate program just doesn't get the support it used to from the people in charge.
      Jacek: Why not?
      Dr. Lee: Eureka! One down, twelve to go.
      Jacek: That's too bad, because after all your Stargate program has accomplished for this network of planets, I would think that the decision-makers would show it the respect it deserves.
    • That episode has an even more blatant example in the very first line:
    Mitchell: They cancelled it? Really? I didn't even know the new season had started.
    • Each season from 6 to 9 were expected to be the last of the show, so there was always a great deal of End-of-Series Awareness and plenty of time to plan epic season finales, but they were always renewed at the last second. Interestingly, the show was picked up for an 11th season comparatively early initially...but that didn't pan out, sadly. As such, the actual series finale is the first season finale since season six that couldn't have made a perfect Grand Finale. It was a Locked in a Room character study, fun but total Filler as far as moving the plot along goes. Of course, we got two Wrap It Up movies, the first ending the last two seasons' storyline and the second bringing SG1 to the epic conclusion it deserved.
  • The swan song of Star Trek: The Next Generation hints at this by having Q tell Picard that "All good things must come to an end."
    • He also announces at one point that "it's time to end your trek across the stars."
  • The last episode of St. Elsewhere had a fat lady sing in the last hospital scene. Then after the infamous All Just a Dream ending, the MTM kitten flat-lined.
  • On the season three episode of Cougar Town, "It'll All Work Out", Jules decides to celebrate Thanksgiving early because she is afraid that they won't all be together in the fall. They also mention how they missed Thanksgiving last fall (with Laurie adding that she missed Halloween and Christmas as well), a reference to the fact that season 3 was set back to mid-season.
  • This was the whole driving force behind the Red Dwarf special "Back to Earth", in which the characters discover they are the stars of a popular TV series... which is about to end. Of course, the special's ratings were good enough to revive the series.
  • The penultimate episode of Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger runs on this trope, as the characters have become aware that they are in a television show that is about to be cut short, so they try all kinds of methods to prolong their series (e.g. introducing long-term plotlines, refusing to fight the Final Boss, etc.) while the producers rewrite the show around them to cram in as many Ending Tropes as humanly possible.
  • The Electric Company (1971) ended the last episode of its original run with the cast bidding farewell to the viewers in song.
    We're glad you came to call
    We really had a ball
    The show is done, we hate to run
    We're sorry, but that's all.
  • British Satellite Broadcasting's music channel The Power Station ultimately did not survive the merger into Sky Television. One of its final programs demonstrated end of channel awareness: the final episode of Jonathan Coleman's Swing Shift concluded with Coleman addressing the network's shutdown and thanking viewers, leading into a "tribute" set to "Theme from New York, New York".
  • 30 Rock always joked about the likelihood that it would be cancelled, and it did it more and more as the show reached its (preplanned) final episodes.
  • The Grand Finale of Liv and Maddie is called "End-A-Rooney" (it's the end of the show). Also, that episode reveals the Confession Cams were actually a Show Within a Show, Bits and Pieces, relating to what the show was originally about; the last confessional has Joey picketing he won't be talking to the cameras anymore. Its final Vanity Plate also reads "Thank you for watching."
  • In one of the last episodes of Monster Garage, Jesse repairs some damage to the project car and says to the mechanics working on it "Need a body specialist? I'll be out of a job in three weeks."
  • Brazilian sitcom Toma Lá Dá Cá had such a moment with insane Postmodernism. A riot on the condominium was threatening the main characters' lives. The solution was giving a notebook for the character played by the show's co-creator\writer, so he could give them a better ending. So a spaceship boarded by a character previously Put on a Bus appears and takes everyone away from the angry mob.
  • Every series of Mrs. Brown's Boys - inevitably, as it has No Fourth Wall.
  • The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson increasingly pointed out that they were approaching their series finale (complete with a "Just a few more weeks of this crap~!" jingle). The finale featured a viewer e-mail from someone who had apparently only started watching Ferguson that week.
    Geoff Peterson: You're watching the very last Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson; now Grandma can finally get some sleep!
  • The James Corden version of The Late Late Show acknowledged its end by making one more attempt at its recurring "Celebrity Noses" sketch — an audience game that always goes wrong somehow — only to learn that the segment (whose contents had never been truly explained) had been stolen by The Talk and conducted successfully.
  • Game Shows in general, although this practice isn't near as common as it was prior to about the mid-1990s.
    • The last syndicated Card Sharks in 1987 has consistent use of "last show of the season", although host Bill Rafferty slips while explaining the Money Cards to the final champ and says "series". Later, while said champ places the four Jokers, Bill can be heard saying "Which one?", evidently referring to being told which card is the CAR one; as it was the leftmost card the player had marked with a Joker, Rafferty opted to start from the right and go in descending order.
    • A variation occurred during the last episode of Ray Combs' tenure as the host of New Family Feud in 1994 — when the second contestant got zero points altogether during Fast Money, a (very justifiably) bitter Combs decided to use the moment to mark his exit from the program:
    Ray: You know, I've been doing this show for six years and this could be the first time that I had a person who actually got no points and... I think it's a damn fine way to go out. Thought I was a loser 'til you walked up here, you made me feel like a man.
    • "If you would like to be a contestant on Hit Man... forget it!"
    • While Press Your Luck doesn't appear to have had a direct mention of its demise, several comments by host Peter Tomarken during 1986 indicate they knew (or at least strongly suspected) their days were numbered.
    • Sale of the Century: By January 1989, the staff clearly realized the series was on its last legs; after one contestant plug that month, host Jim Perry told the audience to "call quick!" When the final week rolled around, the studio's prize areas (for both Instant Bargains and what was then the Big Money Winner's Game) clearly were disassembled, as though the producers were beginning to take things apart. Perry dropped hints throughout the week that the show's last episode was airing that Friday (March 24), and several Instant Bargains that week reflected that theme. On the next-to-last episode, a special Garage Sale Instant Bargain was held with more than $8,000 in previously unwon merchandise up for offer (the contestant bought it); and on the finale, after the contestant played the Instant Cash game but failed to find the correct box containing $1,000 ... Perry simply commented that the cash would forever be unclaimed.
    • In the final scene of the last episode of the original run of The Crystal Maze, after handing out the commemorative crystals to the players, then host Ed Tudor Pole remarks that this was the very last episode. And it was, until the revival in 2016 and 2017.
    "Well, sadly, that's the very last show in the series. I don't know when I'm going to see you again, but hopefully soon."note 
    • The final episode of NBC's short-runner 50 Grand Slam let all of the day's contestants keep their winnings, regardless of whether they won their match. At the end of the show, host Tom Kennedy wished viewers a happy 1977, and invited viewers to tune in next Monday for Name That Tune (which Kennedy would be hosting as its replacement).
  • Roundhouse's final episode starts as a simple Graduate from the Story plot, but then proceeds to utterly tear itself apart as Ivan finds out that the show has been cancelled and tries to save it. It ends on a somewhat melancholy note as Ivan gives a speech about how the cast has become like a family and everyone else sings a song about how everything must eventually come to an end.
  • The last episode of each series of Monty Python's Flying Circus ended with a joke about it being the end of the series or getting cancelled.
  • The A-Team did this with its final two episodes "The Grey Team" and "Without Reservations"note . "Howling Mad" Murdock is seen wearing a shirt that reads "Almost Fini" in "Without Reservations" ("Fini" being French for "End") and a shirt reading "Fini" in "The Grey Team". In addition, the very end of "The Grey Team" has the A-Team wonder what will be in store for them after all their adventures are over.
  • The first of the final four episodes of Henry Danger is subtly titled, "The Beginning of the End".
  • On the Grand Finale of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Herc's nephew Evander finds a dead bird and doesn't understand why it won't wake up. Zeus tells him that all things have beginnings, so it's only fair that they have endings, too. Evander asks if things could just start over again—reflecting how that's what happened when the show went into reruns. Also, during a fight, Hercules quips that he's done "after this one" (though in the last scene he decides against officially retiring because he's yet to find a place he'd actually want to stop his travels at).
    • "Hercules, Tramps & Thieves" actually features a sly one. It seems like just a typical adventure with Autolycus, but in the last scene, Hercules leaves a crowded bar of partying people (played by various production personnel), looks at them a bit sadly, and leaves. Due to production scheduling, this was the last episode to be filmed and that was the final scene Kevin Sorbo shot. In effect, it's basically him taking one last look at the cast and crew before departing for other projects.
  • The final episode of Madan Senki Ryukendo starts with a clip show of the main cast set to a somber piano version of the theme song. Also, the main cast is hesitant to end the series by sacrificing its Empathic Weapons to seal the Power Spot that caused everything.
  • In the final episode of Chou Sei Shin Gransazer:
    Mika: Our final battle, right?
    Tenma: Yeah.
  • Many Super Sentai and Kamen Rider series have a character announce that this is the final battle as the show moves into its endgame (not always the last episode; it's whenever the gang is charging toward the final Big Bad as he is ready to throw the switch on his final plan.) Interestingly, we get a twist on it in Uchu Sentai Kyuranger. With three or so episodes to go, they think they're about to take out Don Armage once and for all (while Don Armage is planning to take out the universe once and for all, and has already activated the means by which he intends to do it.) We get the usual this-will-be-our-final-battle quote, only for things to go sideways and the heroes are much worse off by the end of the episode than they were at the beginning. The heroes then vow to keep fighting for as long as it takes.
  • During the final episodes of The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, Conan, as a series of final jabs at NBC over how it had been handling his show, held a series of sketches that showcased (supposedly) extremely expensive scenarios that NBC had to pay for. Such as, for instance, a Bugatti Veyron with mouse ears with the master recording of The Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" playing in the background ($1.5 million!), Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird in a mink Snuggie watching "restricted" Super Bowl footage ($4.8 million!), and having a fossil of a "rare ground sloth" from the Smithsonian spray beluga caviar at a original Picasso painting ($65 million!). They were all fake though (either being donated, look-a-likes, or from a defunct football league that tried to compete with the NFL), except for the Rolling Stones music however.
  • Miami Vice: During Crockett and Tubbs' final goodbye at the end of "Freefall," Crockett says, "Well, we had one hell of a run, didn't we, partner?" referring to both their careers and the show.
  • The final episode of the Strangers with Candy ends with the school board deciding to tear down Flatpoint High School and replace it with a strip mall, a meta joke on the new series that Comedy Central was replacing the show with. In the end, the characters decide to violently destroy the high school and become drifters.
  • While not an episode, the 2019 song "Het allerlaatste liedje" (The very last song) created to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the Studio100 series Samson En Gert served as a farewell song from Gert instead of an episode. The title characters are heard singing about their 30th anniversary and the last song performed by Gert before leaving the series. A month later, Gert was replaced with Marie (Marie is also Gert's daughter in real life) as Samson's companion. As a result, the series was retitled Samson & Marie.
  • In the last of The Olden Days Gag Dub sketches, the characters learn that the series has been axed. At first, one of them is glad because maybe they can do something in colour next, but then he learns that in future they'll be expected to provide their own voices. Using the original actor's voice, he replies, "Oh no! The man's mad!" then switches back to the dub for, "That'll never work!" Incidentally, the series the sketches were based on, Rush (1974), did get a second season, in colour, though with few returning cast-members and a completely different setting, and it was not adapted in the second series of The Late Show (1992). Ironically, the Rush scene above appears to be from the first episode, due to featuring Decoy Protagonist Richard Lucas.
  • The final story arc in the last season of Sports Night is dedicated to the Show Within a Show (that, coincidentally, has the same name as the series) facing imminent cancellation. It also serves as a Take That!, as a new character introduced in the final episodes expresses bewilderment that a network couldn't make money off Sports Night.
  • Galavant: "We'll probably have to go and find work/On some cheap-ass cable network/But!/The door is not quite shut!"
  • Seinfeld goes out in style with the ongoing plotline of George and Jerry's Show Within a Show pilot nearly getting resolved with a season pickup and the gang deciding to have a "last hurrah" before the two move to Los Angeles, followed by a Continuity Cavalcade of characters from prior episodes appearing as character witnesses at a trial after the four leads get arrested, and finally the gang getting stripped of their Plot Armor and being tossed in the slammer for a year as a consequence of being antisocial jerks. Newman gets a memorable speech in which he predicts to Jerry that "an evil wind will blow through your little playworld," but perhaps Kramer is the one with the keenest awareness that this isn't a normal episode:
    Kramer: Yeah, there's something in the air today. You feel it? There's something in the air.
  • The final episode of Howdy Doody ended with Clarabell revealing to the others that he can actually talk, and using the last opportunity he has to prove it to say "Goodbye, kids", followed by a celeste version of "Auld Lang Syne" quietly playing over the end credits. Word of God states members of the show's technical crew were fighting back tears at that highly emotional moment.
  • CSI: NY: The powers that be were unsure of renewal at the end of each of the last three seasons so they either dropped hints of the characters' futures, lampshaded the possible end, wrapped up loose ends while leaving things open enough to come back to, or some combination thereof.
    • Season 7's final episode is entitled "Exit Strategy."
      • Mac hints to Jo that he might retire. Danny takes and passes the Sergeant's exam in hopes of running the Lab someday. Adam is being his usual goofy self. Sheldon leaves for a date.
      • During the final autopsy, Sid says, "Time of death, between 7 and 10 p.m. Friday night." Those four hours were the airtimes of the show across four North American times zones that season.
      • For the first and only time in the series, Mac turns off *all* the lamps in his office before leaving. The show ends with him standing on the sidewalk looking to his left at the camera before turning to his right and walking away from it, and thus the audience. The song playing over this scene is "Holding On and Letting Go" which speaks of "one door swinging open, one door swinging closed."
    • Season 8's final episode is entitled "Near Death."
      • After being shot In the Back, Mac has Adventures in Comaland where he journeys through a limbo that looks like the crime lab where he meets and has wrap-up conversations with his co-workers and his dead wife, who tells him It Is Not Your Time.
      • After going thru 6 months of recovery, Mac returns to work in the final scene via Feet-First Introduction, which is how he was originally shown in the Backdoor Pilot on CSI: Miami. The song playing says "I've come back before, I'll come back for more. Maybe this time I can stay." (Renewal was announced four days after this one aired.)
    • Season 9: The *final* final episode is ironically entitled "Today Is Life," but is taken from the words of the last Victim of the Week, an innocent man in the wrong place at the wrong time.
      • The audience is reminded that Danny and Lindsay are expecting again; Sid has been diagnosed with a terminal illness; and Don, Sheldon and Adam have all found love again.
      • Mac, who began the series as a widower, gives a heartfelt voice-over monologue which quotes the victim and wraps up his feelings about his team and life in general, then proposes to Christine, who happily accepts.
  • Mimpi Metropolitan: When Bambang starts arguing with Alexi and Juna again during Bambang's farewell, Mami Bibir tells them to stop since it is the last episode.
  • One recurring sketch on the Canadian sketch series The Red Green Show is a parody of the game show Password, in which Red, leader of Possum Lodge, tries to get a lodge member to say a random word to win a prize. The very last episode of the show has lodge member Dalton Humphrey trying to say "Finale". Acting as host, another lodge member, Mike Hamar, becomes quite sad as he announces the word, as though aware that this is the very last time he or anyone else will ever get to host this segment. During the game itself, Red tries but fails in typical formula to get Dalton to say the word until the last moment when he has a stroke of brilliance:
    Red: Okay, Dalton, when people see this is the last episode of the show, what will they say?
    Dalton: "Oh, finally!"
    (Red rings a bell on the table, ending the game)
  • That '70s Show: The series finale takes place on December 31, 1979, so there's awareness about both the end of the decade that the series is set in and the end of the series itself, such as a montage of all the times that Red threatened to put his foot or feet up other people's asses.
  • The final episode of Last Man Standing had some thieves steal Mike's vintage F-100 truck, and got confirmation the parts were looted at a chop shop. This gave the cast complicated emotions, as everyone had different levels of connection to that truck or at the least loved Mike who loved that truck. So Mike has a wake of sorts where everyone got a chance to say goodbye and get their feelings out of seeing something like this gone. To lay out the analogy, Mike had the truck before the first season while the show had a one-year Time Skip between seasons six and seven (due to being Uncanceled) then a three-year Time Skip between seasons eight and nine (to move past the COVID pandemic), but described Mike as having the truck for only nine years despite the fact it should be closer to fourteen. But nine years matches the number of seasons the show had.
  • The last episode of Der Tatortreiniger, called 'Einunddreißig' (Thirty-One) has Schotty running around a large, increasingly bizarre office building, trying to find the crime scene he's supposed to clean up. He starts running into characters from previous episodes, including those who have no business being there, who nudge him towards realizing that the victim this time is actually Schotty himself. Panicked, he tries to escape and ends up in a long elevator ride, sad and frustrated that this can't be the end. His lines reflect what the audience is likely feeling at that point.

    Puppet Shows 
  • The Gene Kelly episode of The Muppet Show, although broadcast as the first episode of Season 5, was the last episode ever to be filmed. The main backstage plot has Beauregard convinced (thanks to some dodgy fortune-telling) that the end of the world is nigh, and trying to warn the others. Meanwhile, the "Pigs in Space" crew approach the end of the universe.
  • The final episode of Bear in the Big Blue House, "This Is Your Life, Bear", has the entire cast going on vacation to Sequoia City. At the hotel at Sequoia City, Bear tucks all the kids in and decides to head out to the balcony to see if Luna arrives, which she does. Bear and Luna talk about how Bear has got the vacation, and sing the goodbye song one last time. Afterward, Bear compliments the viewers that he's one of the nicest parts of their life and tells them to see him back at the Big Blue House and the episode ends.
  • In the last episode of Dinosaurs, the world is starting to enter an Ice Age thanks to WESAYSO and Earl severely messing up the climate. A news broadcast reports on the impending apocalypse at the end, concluding with Howard Handupme wearily addressing the in- and out-of-universe viewers with "Goodnight...Goodbye."

    Radio 

    Tabletop Games 
  • The last book of the 3.5 edition of Dungeons & Dragons, Elder Evils, featured a score of Eldritch Abominations so powerful, their mere presence is enough to radically alter whole worlds. Word of God is that they were created to give players the option to clear their old campaign worlds in time for 4th edition.
  • The entirety of Old World of Darkness was building up to several different types of Armageddon. The last books released for the original runs, known as "the Time of Fire", were each of these ends coming to pass, with the last book (titled Time of Fire) wrapping up the lines that didn't get their own books, and the closing fiction being the end of the world.

    Theatre 
  • The final performance in some runs of Avenue Q incorporate this into the last song, "For Now," by singing "This show is only for now!" It’s unclear if this was sung during the final performance the original show had in its 15 year run on the off-Broadway circuit.

    Video Games 
  • No More Heroes has two gags at the end of the first game that joke about how it probably won't get a sequel. Including one crack about how the sequel could turn into No More Heroes Forever and be delayed forever and another where a character flat out says "Too bad there will never be a sequel!" All of it was averted, mind you, since it was able to get a sequel, and two more in the long run.
  • In Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, it is CONSTANTLY joked that the game will sell terribly, the fans will hate it for being vehicle-based instead of the traditional platformer they were promised 8 years ago, and that there will never be another Banjo-Kazooie game. Sadly, it seems like they were right, as there hasn't been a Banjo-Kazooie game since. That said, at the end of the game, L.O.G promised that the next game (if there is one) would be a traditional platformer if Nuts & Bolts is poorly received. He was right... sort of.
  • Merrill of Dragon Age II appears to have this; the Cloud Cuckoolander she is, she asks Aveline if she thinks "we'll win in the end," because "it feels like something is ending." She also asks Varric, The Narrator of the story, how it will end, only for him to gently rebuff her in-story because he really doesn't know (at that point).
  • Mass Effect 3 has this in the Citadel DLC, the final piece of Commander Shepard's story.
    Joker: It's been a good ride. Can't wait to see what you'll have us do next.
    Shepard: ... The best.
  • The 2009 installment of Punch-Out!! being the end of the line is made explicit in the hidden "Mac's Last Stand" mode. After its completion, Career Mode is locked permanently, emphasizing that Little Mac has retired.note 
  • Batman: Arkham Series:
    • Batman: Arkham City has an Easter Egg set to react to the date of Rocksteady's founding (December 13, 2004), wherein Calendar Man will tell Batman "The end of days is coming," foreshadowing the Grand Finale Batman: Arkham Knight.
    • In Arkham Knight, one snippet of mook chatter has one thug boast about how they've survived Arkham Asylum, and Arkham City, and is ready for whatever is next. However, another thug states he has a feeling that this is the end, but notes that it was still a fun ride.
  • Tomodachi Life’s player character is well aware when you delete your save file. He (or she) will break the fourth wall and ask you multiple times for confirmation. If you say yes all times, the player character will shrink (as if running backwards in slow motion) and say “Bye-bye,” and when the character disappears (or some time after that, if your save is big) he (again, or she) will say “We may be deleted, but we still have nice memories!”
  • Disgaea games are notable for having hilariously inaccurate previews for the next chapter. But once the preview for the final chapter comes around, they are spot on to signify how serious things are for the finale of the game.
    • In Disgaea 6 Chapter 8, Piyori comes back to the TV World only to find out "the powers that be" are going to cancel her show because she failed to live up to being a good role model. She narrowly averts cancellation thanks to Misedor buying another movie deal for the show and gets a second chance at redemption and boost the show's ratings higher than ever before.
  • In Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Bernadetta, if spoken to at the Monastery in the month leading up to the two-part Final Battle of the Crimson Flower route, expresses alarm at how "Everyone's acting like this is leading up to the final chapter in a book or something!"

    Visual Novels 
  • Whereas the normal ending of Doki Doki Literature Club! comes a little abruptly due to a final twist in in-story events, the special happier ending lacks those events but happens at the same point anyway — with Sayori, now in a new role as Fourth-Wall Observer, just stating that the game is ending.

    Web Animation 

    Webcomics 
  • The final Dragon magazine strips of The Order of the Stick involve the characters being told about the history of the magazine and its impending cancellation by metaphor, and then flying off into the sunset.
  • The characters in 1/0 know exactly when their comic is going to end, and it causes plenty of angst among the characters.
  • Some characters in Concession are aware of the impending end of the comic.
  • Brawl in the Family's 580th comic, appropriately titled "World Eight-Four", where the Kirby characters announce the comic's end, with Kirby reacting as pictured. And then the grand finale, "Meet Me At Final Destination", in which the characters learn their worlds are changing because Master Hand is tired and wishes to pass on the torch to someone else so all the characters' adventures can continue in some form.
  • When Hsu and Chan learn that their series on 1up.Com is cancelled they abruptly end the story arc set in Japan with Shigeru Miyamoto to discover that they were actually robots built to host this series for the real Tanaka Bros. They then spend the remaining strips goofing off and taking advantage of this fact.
  • The final thirteen strips of the Bravoman web comic have a countdown to the "Death of Bravoman". In the penultimate strip, Bravoman notes he’s defeated Zulu and isn’t dead or in any life threatening situation, and asks why the countdown is still there. He receives a letter, and in the final strip, it’s revealed the countdown wasn’t for him dying — it was for the death of the webcomic. The letter, written by the staff, informs him, the rest of the characters, and the readers that the comic is over.
  • The last page of Omoriboy shows Omori upset that he locked himself out of his laptop, going hand in hand with the comic's presentation as his personal blog. Fittingly, while the posts are still visible on Omocat's blog, Omori's own is just as locked as his laptop.

    Web Original 
  • In NFL Quarterbacks On Facebook, Drew Brees points this out, to the shock of Colin Kaepernick:
    Drew Brees: Fine. Go ahead. Get all these “[Cutler's] Mom jokes” out of your system. Might as well, since it’s our last convo and all.
    Colin Kaepernick: Yeah, use them up, since this is our last… WAIT, IT’S OUR WHAT?!?!
    Drew Brees: Our last convo. What, did you think this was going to go on forever and ever. It’s not the Cleveland Browns Super Bowl drought, you know.

    Western Animation 
  • The Couch Gag for the final episode of Aaahh!!! Real Monsters has the Gromble saying "Losers, it's all over!"
  • The Grand Finale of Adventure Time, "Come Along With Me", features a song called "Time Adventure", with the lyrics addressing how nothing lasts forever and that all we can do is cherish the good times while they last.
    It seems unforgiving when a good thing ends
    But you and I will always be back then
  • After every episode of The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius ended, one of the main production companies, DNA Productions, would have a short bumper where a three-eyed genetically altered chimpanzee named Paul would pop up and wave to the audience, saying, "Hi, I'm Paul!". Once "Lady Sings the News", the last episode of series, went to credits and the DNA Productions bumper came on, Paul the chimp does not show up. Expecting him to appear, someone calls out, "Paul?". This and The Big Damn Kiss between Jimmy and Cindy made it clear that the series was over. The post-credits gag was also a Lampshade Hanging of the fact that the DNA Productions company itself had just been dissolved after the box office failure of The Ant Bully, and Paul was now out of a job. Although it was a commonly used closing logo (Nicknamed "Coffee Break Paul"), its use here was fitting.
  • The final episode of The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police ended on a flashback clip show parody (all of which was original content) while the titular duo commented how extremely unlikely it would be for their show to get renewed for a second season.
  • In The Amazing World of Gumball episode "The Vegging", the word puzzle on Win or Don't Win clearly has the answer "The show ends after season", referencing the (not then quite confirmed) intention for the sixth season to be the last.
  • This was the premise for the final episode of The Angry Beavers, at least until some higher-up at Nickelodeon saw that it broke the network's continuity rules of the time (which forbade any series from having any final resolution) and refused to air it. That's just one version of the story, of course—executive producer Mary Harrington says she thought it was brilliant but refused to air it because the main characters Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence, which might upset the kids. It turned out to be an April Fool's joke at the end, but Nick still decided to cancel the show anyway.
  • The final episode of Animaniacs (2020) has this twice: firstly in “The Stickening”, after Dot decides to go on a teacup ride with a giant lollipop stuck to her head (It Makes Sense in Context), she ends up getting not only the entire cast, but the entire universe stuck to the lollipop and creates a black hole, sucking everything and everyone into it - with Dot ending it on an Iris Out and lampshading that they're "going out with a bang". The second instance is the very last segment, which has the Warners aware that the show has been Screwed by the Network only to then be abruptly Killed Off for Real by a giant meteor.
  • Parodied in the 100th episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Frylock starts obsessing about the number 100, and Shake realizes it is the 100th episode, time to cash in for syndication cash. However, the network heads inform him that since the show is only 11 minutes long, they really only have only 50 half hours. Returning home, he finds a giant creature in the shape of the number 100 destroying the Aqua Teen set, demanding "Give me the episodes!" Suddenly, the gang are transformed into a parody of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! called Aqua Unit Patrol Squad 1. From that point on, the show would adopt a new name every season (although the series premise remained the same).
    • The actual final episode begins with Master Shake watching the previous episode which was billed as the series finale and commenting that's not how the series will end. This episode then ends with Shake, Meatwad, Frylock, and Carl watching this episode's ending and being rather underwhelmed.
  • Done In-Universe in the Arthur episode "The Last Of Mary Moo Cow" where Mary Moo Cow and her friends sing about how it's the show's last episode (even though in real life it's highly unlikely for a kids' show like that to announce it's the end of their show, most of the time it would just end on a random episode as to not alienate the young audience watching and keep airing repeats as to not lose viewers)
  • The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes begins its final episode with Iron Man telling Captain America that he has started wondering how the Avengers will go down in history after he's gone.
    Captain America: This is only the second time I've heard you use the word, "history."
    Iron Man: That's because I've never been able to imagine a world without me in it... until recently.
    • By the time the episode ends, the Avengers save the world from getting destroyed by Galactus, and the civilians' cheers (preceding a fade to the show's title) reassure Cap and Tony that history will remember them as legends.
      Captain America: You wanted to know how history will remember the Avengers, Iron Man? Well, here's your answer.
  • Batman: The Brave and the Bold had an interesting spin on this with "Mitefall", where Bat-Mite is tired of the show and desires a Darker and Edgier Batman series, and thus tries to get the show cancelled by making it jump the shark. Meanwhile, Ambush Bug tries to stop him by alerting Batman of both of his existence as a fictional character and of Bat-Mite's plot. Ultimately, Bat-Mite ends up succeeding in cancelling the series, replacing it with a more serious CGI cartoon, only for Ambush Bug to pop in and remind him that he's also a fictional character and that cancelling the show has erased his own existence, as a more serious Batman show has no room for Fourth Wall Observers like them. The episode ends with all the characters that have appeared over the cartoon's run, now aware that this is the final episode of a television show, having a farewell party in the Bat-Cave.
  • The final episode of Bojack Horseman was titled "Nice While It Lasted".
  • In The Boondocks, Granddad mentions that his life is getting too stressful, and that he might not have a lot of episodes (a descriptor for heart attacks, as well) left. This is particularly sad, considering Granddad's voice actor John Witherspoon passed away just after the ultimately cancelled reboot was announced from this exact cause.
  • Taken to its logical extreme with The Brak Show. Prior to its airing, there was no indication whatsoever that "Cardburkey" was going to be the final episode, or even that the show was ending at all, until Brak delivers the episode's final line "I wish we weren't penguins and our show wasn't cancelled." Cut to black, then a Cartoon Network logo with a deflated snippet of the theme song. That's it. As this was aired during a New Year's Eve Marathon at the time, bumpers had various Adult Swim characters watching the TV with Brak's Dad lampshading how sudden the cancellation was.
  • Upon finding out The Buzz on Maggie was cancelled, the animators had Maggie wave goodbye to the audience at the end of the final episode.
  • Two of the music video segments in the final season of ChalkZone gave implications that they did everything they thought they could do throughout the series, "Time To Go Home" and "Let's Go Wandering". The former had Rudy Tabootie, Snap, and Penny Sanchez sing to a forlorn audience about how funtime's over and it's time to leave. The latter not only had people crying and bidding farewell to the ChalkZone gang, but if one looks closely, recurring villain Skrawl was among the people tearfully waving goodbye.
  • Chowder exhibited this for a significant number of its last episodes due to the creator's suspicion that only being renewed for a nine episode third season was a sign of impending cancellation, which it was. And then he dedicated the Grand Finale specifically to pointing out the main character had to grow up.
  • The last episode of Disney's Doug had the titular character bidding his journal farewell as he prepared for a new chapter in his life, most likely resulting in a new journal. Due to him narrating the episodes to the audience, this is also seen as him bidding farewell to them.
  • The Drawn Together episode "The Musical Elimination Special, Part II: The Musical Elimination" contained references to the show's cancellation. A magazine the Jew Producer reads has the headline, "Popular Comedy Central toon cancelled", two "fun facts" refer to the episode as if it was the last, and the episode ends with the cast entering the unemployment office with their belongings.
    Toot: Hey, assholes! Thanks for watching!
  • Ed, Edd n Eddy:
    • Ed, Edd n Eddy's Big Picture Show has Edd (Double D) stating it took it only took "130 episodes, 4 specials, and a movie" for the Eds to finally get their respect from the Cul-De-Sac kids.
      Jonny: What? There's no time left? It's the end of the movie? What movie?
    • And before that, the final episode proper ("A Fistful of Ed") ended with Eddy sharing some hot dogs with Ed and Edd after saving them from the Kanker Sisters and angrily asking if everyone was happy already.note 
  • In Family Guy's first episode back from cancellation, a scene is shown of Peter informing the family too soon that they were cancelled. Lois asks if there's anything that can be done, to which Peter says only if every show that was aired in the meantime gets cancelled, which they were.
    • One of the pre-cancellation episodes has a blink-and-you'll-miss-it gag: a TV Guide cover with Luke Perry on the cover also has the note "If you're reading this, we haven't been cancelled yet."
  • In the last episode of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends when Bloo finds out Mac is moving, he tries to convince him to stay by listing things they can do, all of which were the plots of previous episodes. When Mac tells him they've done all those things already, Bloo says that if they've done everything, the only thing left is to jump the shark. The episode also ends with the opening sequence being drawn in reverse, almost as if both the house & the whole show have erased themselves from existence.
  • The theme tune of Freakazoid! mentions this in its final verse, the page quote. This proved prophetic, and the final episode of the second season ended with a musical curtain call to the tune of "We'll Meet Again", sung by virtually every character that appeared in the show. The final episode’s sole Credits Gag is "Freakazoid Has Left The Building".
  • Futurama:
    • The final Couch Gag during its initial run on Fox read "See you on some other network."
    • In one episode of the original final season, Bender refers to Star Trek: The Original Series as "another classic science-fiction series cancelled before its time."
    • The show also gives us a rare post-cancellation example. When it was revived on Comedy Central, the first episode opened with the Professor explaining that Planet Express had been shut down 2 years ago by the brainless drones at the Box delivery network, but that their spaceship was now back "on the air".
    • The opening text at the beginning of the finale to the Comedy Central run says "AVENGE US".
  • Garfield and Friends:
    • An episode, "The Discount of Monte Cristo", predicted the reason the show ended. The episode is all about Aloysius cutting the show's budget. In the episode, Orson hated Aloysius ruining the story by firing people who made the show in order to keep the show's budget low. The reason for Garfield and Friends' cancellation is that CBS wanted budget cuts for the show, and the show's creators refused to let the show suffer the budget cuts.
    • Also in the episode "A Tall Tale" the network executives want Nermal to take over as star for an episode. Garfield refuses to have him on his show and says (So what if they don't like it. What can they do to me?) and an announcer then threatens to replace Garfield and Friends with a show about snails and that the former will never be seen again.
    • Garfield's final post-theme quote is "After seven seasons, we've pretty much said everything you can say in this spot."
  • The final episode of Gravity Falls has the series' Big Bad, Bill Cipher, perform the song "We'll Meet Again".
    • "Dipper and Mabel vs. the Future", the penultimate episode before the three-part finale, has the fact that summer is ending emphasized. Her friends Candy and Grenda, won't be able to attend her birthday party as they're leaving town for one last hurrah before school starts again, Wendy is registering for high school courses and Mabel basically having a breakdown at the thought of becoming a teenager after experiencing all of this, not helped when she overhears Dipper considering staying with Ford to become his apprentice.
    • The ending credits for the final episode also feature two final cryptograms: One simply reading GOODBYE GRAVITY FALLS and the last being a short poem:
      FADED PICTURES BLEACHED BY SUN,
      THE TALE'S TOLD, THE SUMMER'S DONE
      IN MEMORIES THE PINES STILL PLAY
      ON A SUNNY SUMMER'S DAY
  • The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy has two of these moments in the final, sixth season.
    • In "Everything Breaks", Lord Pain tells Billy that it's about time he visited, to which Billy replied "I'll say. The show's almost over!"
    • In the "Wrath of the Spider Queen" special, Billy brings Grim to school, to which Ms. Butterbean tells him "The Grim Reaper was pretty cool the first five or six times you brought it to class, but the magic's sorta worn off."
  • In Histeria!, the end of the final episode "Big Fat Baby Theater" has the entire cast and crew singing "Auld Lang Syne" (along with pictures of everyone who worked on the show) as a way of saying goodbye to the viewers, since the show got royally Screwed by the Network and a proper goodbye episode was never made.
  • Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.: The final episode opens with A-Bomb discovering no one is watching the show and declaring it cancelled. Tragically, the final shot of the series is the viewcount ballooning into the tens of thousands, unnoticed by the characters, who are content to do good without needing an audience.
  • Jem did this in the final episode "A Father Should Be...". The final shot of the episode was Jem waving to the audience, and the final song ever played in the series was titled "This Is Farewell". It is a Leaning on the Fourth Wall example. "This is Farewell" is written in-series about Ba Nee leaving with her father, however it is clearly the characters saying farewell to the audience. All the bands come together to say goodbye and they say it to the "camera".
  • The (aired) final episode of KaBlam!, "Just Chillin'!" has a scene in the beginning with Henry and June discussing that the show is coming close to cancellation. (Also note that this show was one of Nick's best examples of being Screwed by the Network.)
  • The first series finale of Kim Possible (before it was Un-Canceled) had Drakken after he was defeated and being thrown into a paddy wagon stating "This can't be over!" only for Ron to close the door on him and answer "Deal with it, Dude. It's over."
  • King of the Hill:
    • In the final episode, when Bobby expresses an honest interest in a manly hobby, Hank says, "I've been waiting thirteen years to hear you say that." 13 is both Bobby's age and the number of seasons the show ran.
    • Also from the finale: as the episode draws to a close, Hank and Bobby are grilling steaks. Bobby looks at the final steak left to be cooked and says meaningfully "Well, dad, I guess this is the last one."
    • The finale aired as the second half of a two-parter with the penultimate episode, which began with the foursome in the alley realizing, "Oh no, we're out of projects!"
  • Mighty Magiswords: The final episode pretty much lampshades this to heck and back what with the Warriors' friends suddenly losing interest in the adventuring life and the siblings trying to find someone who they can still work with. Ultimately, they accept the nature of things and head back home as the sun sets.
    Prohyas: Aww gee whiz, is that a sunset?
    Vambre:I am afraid so dear brother.
    Prohyas: Welp, we had a good run.
  • The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show holds a tribute to History's Lasts (to compliment the first episode's tribute to History's Firsts) and closes on a large guest musical number that the entire cast joins in on. And while everyone stresses it's just the last episode of the season, no one seems to be able to say "of the season" in a way that sounds confident that there will be any more seasons.
  • Muppet Babies (2018): The series' final episode, "The Muppet Babies Show" takes place on the babies' last day at Miss Nanny's house before summer vacation begins, and the babies plan a special finale show for everyone in the style of The Muppet Show. Kermit also worries that when the finale show ends and summer vacation begins, he won't get to see his friends anymore or do the fun things he used to do with them, so he tries to prolong the finale. Minor characters from previous episodes make cameo appearances, and clips from previous episodes are shown in the closing song. The episode ends with Kermit saying "See you later, friends, and thanks for all the laughs!" to the viewers.
  • My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic':
    • In "Uprooted", an episode from the last season, we get this line from Yak character Yona, which seems rather relevant:
      Yona: Yaks know things not forever. That's why smash and rebuild.
    • In season 8, Starlight and Trixie make an offhand mention to the show's run in "Road to Friendship".
      Trixie: For untold seasons yet to come, our friendship will be here!
      Starlight Glimmer: For nine, at least.
  • The main premise of the final episode of OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes, titled "Thank You For Watching the Show", is that K.O. believes his life is changing too quickly for him to keep up. He eventually accepts that nothing can stay the same forever and that he should remember the good times he's experienced rather than lament what he's missed. K.O.'s experience in-universe is him growing up, but it also works as an allegory for the audience having to accept that the series is over (after a startlingly fast-paced final season).
    Dendy: Don't cry because it's over, smile because... it's over! We fought 'till the end. You are all my best friends.
  • Downplayed in The Owl House. There's no actual fourth wall breaking, but the final lines of the series are Luz commenting how "they're" almost gone (referring to the Collector leaving after the Fantastic Fireworks display they put on for her birthday party) and leading the entire cast in saying goodbye. It's deliberately framed in a way that she could just as easily be talking about the audience leaving once the show is over.
  • The final episode of PB&J Otter features a song called “Nothing Lasts Forever”, and the episode ends with a Dark Reprise of the show's theme song. Additionally, when the Noodle Dance is proposed, Peanut states that "For the last time, I'll noodle, but no way am I dancing."
  • The last episode of Phineas and Ferb is entitled "Last Day of Summer", and the final song of that episode, "Curtain Call/Time Spent Together", is four minutes of referencing past episodes (including events that are a dream, forgotten or in the future, the fourth wall is pretty much gone) and Thanking the Viewer, ending with Phineas waving goodbye to the viewers before closing the backyard door.
  • The very last scene in the Direct to Video Recess Grand Finale, Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade is T.J. waving goodbye to the audience, a reference to the end of the theme song (which could've been interpreted as T.J. waving hello to the audience ready for their next adventure).
  • Regular Show's final few episodes of the series have the characters preparing for a battle that could potentially destroy or reset the universe as it has countless times before.
    • "Operation Hear No Evil" had a sly one with Mordecai and Rigby getting hooked on a TV Show called Lazer Hunters which Muscle Man tells them has ran for eight seasons and has its final episode airing in a week. Regular Show itself ran for eight seasons, with its own finale airing three months after this episode.
    • The episode "Meet the Seer" has the characters going to Planet Nielsennote  to meet the titular seer, a being who watches the events that occur in all universes, and who refers to the adventures of the Park Crew as if they were episodes in a television series. In fact, her room is filled with television screens playing various episodes of the show, the intro sting included, and she spends the remainder of the episode mentioning the show's tropes, its changing quality over the years, audience reception to some storylines like Mordecai's romance troubles, and how all shows must eventually end (even noting that their "universe" has lasted longer than most).
    • The episode "Cheer Up, Pops" has the characters record their memories on a Blu-Ray Box Set that contains the show's eight seasons and two bonus discs, for people to watch in the next universe in the event that they fail.
    • The third and final part of the Grand Finale, "A Regular Epic Final Battle", is entitled "The Power": the exact same name as the show's first episode. As reality collapses, the characters find themselves flying through the title card, becoming post-it note drawings and storyboard sketches, and even falling into one of the creator's student films (which was the first appearance of some of the characters). After a Time Skip ending, Pops remarks "Jolly good show" as a VHS tape of the series finishes playing.
  • At the very end of the last episode of Right Now Kapow, after it was announced the series was cancelled after just one season:
    Ice Cream: Aaand we're cancelled.
  • Robot Chicken plays with this. The characters always imply at the end of each season that the series is cancelled, while each season premiere begins with the show being "renewed".
  • Rocky and Bullwinkle definitely became aware that their series was in danger, though possibly not when it was actually cancelled.
    Rocky: Bullwinkle, I'm worried.
    Bullwinkle: Ratings down in the show again?
    Rocky: No.
    Bullwinkle: That's odd.
    Rocky: I'm worried because there have already been two attempts on your life.
    Bullwinkle: Oh, don't worry. We will be renewed.
    Rocky: I'm not talking about The Bullwinkle Show.
    Bullwinkle: You had better; we could use the publicity.
  • In one episode of The Simpsons, the entire family gets counselling, and is no longer prone to wacky misadventures... Lisa says, "Could this be the end of our series?" When the family gives her odd looks for this statement, she tacks on "...of events?"
  • Spider-Man: The Animated Series ended with a two-part episode called "Spider Wars", the second part of which had the subtitle "Farewell, Spider-Man", as if acknowledging that it was the very final episode of the series.
  • The final episode of The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries is filled with this. The episode's premise is that Sylvester dreams that he finally eats Tweety Bird, resulting in the show being cancelled when Tweety's replacement proves unpopular and there are several remarks people make about the show having had its day in the sun. The episode's title was even "This is the End".
  • The T.U.F.F. Puppy episode "T.U.F.F. Break Up" (which was the last episode in production order in spite of being the first episode of the third and final season to air) has shades of this, as the plot involves underfunding forcing T.U.F.F. to disband and Kitty at one point makes a remark on how they've had their run.
  • The third and last season of Turbo F.A.S.T. has Turbo deliver a witty line that makes everyone laugh for once, and deciding to bow out on a high note.
  • Although unintentional, The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat had two examples of this trope.
    • The episode "Comicalamities" has Felix trying to get his Limited Edition Felix the Cat comic from a shadowy figure who wants to sell it to a small country for money. After Felix gets the comic back, it turns into a worthless pile of dust, then Rocko exclaims "And to think that you're older then that comic is" and Felix, in shock of this fact, turns into dust himself.
    • In the episode "Dueling Whiskers", Felix gets a clone from the clone fairy, then the clone ties up Felix in duct tape and proceeds to wreak havoc on the city and ruin Felix's reputation. Afterward, the Tooth Fairy, who turns out to be a police officer, arrests the clone and the Clone Fairy but leaves Felix wrapped in duct tape screaming for someone to help him. Despite this being symbolic of the characters' state of the show's behind the scenes issues and what would happen to him later, this leaves the show off on a somewhat dark note.
  • The final Uncle Grandpa episode (in production order), “Exquisite Grandpa” ends with Uncle Grandpa and the gang literally making themselves into a sandwich, only for a giant boy to start eating the sandwich while the characters scream in horror as their fates are sealed. Considering that the final new episode to air was an Origins Episode showing how the characters meet, this means that the series ends on a bleak note where The Hero Dies. Doubles as Torch the Franchise and Run.
  • Wabbit: A Looney Tunes Production ends the final episode of its third season, considered its final season, with a book closing with both the original title which is crossed off and the new title "New Looney Tunes" on its cover, along with "That's all, folks".
  • Wacky Races (2017) loved making jokes about this during its second season and unfinished third season.
    • This happens at the end of the first season finale 40 Yard Dash, where havoc finally breaks loose after a simple attempt to finally have an actual race backfired horribly.
    • Various episodes in season 2 acknowledge the show's decrease in attention and popularity. The episode Wacky Races: The Movie takes place immediately after the show was cancelled in-universe.
    • The unfinished episode "Wacky Con" ends with Brick having left the show to work on a crowd-funded sequel to Cosmic Quest 2000. Penelope states that she’s grateful they still have their show, but Dastardly questions the notion.
    • In "Unlicensed to Drive", one of the buildings destroyed by the racers is an animation studio. A voice from inside asks “aren’t you cancelled?” before it’s destroyed.
  • In "Sticky Picnic", the season 2 finale of Wallykazam, before Bobgoblin plays a drum solo, he says to Wally, "Wally Trollman, you're going to miss Bobgoblin".
  • The season 2 finale of Wander over Yonder is subtly titled, "The End of the Galaxy".

 
Feedback

Video Example(s):

Top

The Gourd

The post-credits scene for Ed, Edd n Eddy's Big Picture Show features Jonny 2x4 plotting revenge on the Eds under his new persona of the Gourd, only to be told by Plank that the movie's already over and there's no time for him to actually get his revenge.

How well does it match the trope?

5 (12 votes)

Example of:

Main / InterruptedByTheEnd

Media sources:

Report