Pre-Fugitive series finales?

The Fugitive's legendary final episode in 1967, in which Dr. Richard Kimble captures The One-Armed Man, was one of the most watched TV programs in history. It inspired later series to do the same: The infamously shocking Nichols, The Odd Couple, Mary Tyler Moore, and Bob Newhart all had concluding "closure" episodes.

Interestingly this type of finale, at least up to The Odd Couple, was generally opposed by networks and production companies., partly due to the idea that a "closed" show would be unappealing in reruns. As both The Fugitive and MTMS were disappointing in syndication (though The Odd Couple was actually a bigger hit than it had been on ABC), this idea was not firmly disproved until MASH was a bonanza in reruns even after its hugely popular finale.

Today of course it's hard to find a long-running series that does not have a finale (Yes, the ending of Newhart was great. But that's not what this thread is about). However before The Fugitive it was fairly rare.

But it wasn't unknown.

Wikipedia on the short-lived 1966 spy drama The Man Who Never Was:

In the final episode, "I Take This Woman", which aired on January 4, 1967, Murphy is tired of his masquerade, defeats enemy spies and retires from the spy game. He proposes marriage to Eva, who accepts, bringing the series to the end. It was unusual for a series to have a concluding episode at the time.​

Curiously, the very popular Dick Van Dyke Show had something of a finale, in which Rob's book about working on The Alan Brady Show is bought for the movies, and the Petrie family are clearly entering a new chapter in their lives. However they don't move, nor does Rob, IIRC, leave his job. Perhaps this lack of major change is the reason the DVDS finale is seldom mentioned in this type of discussion.

Were there any even earlier examples?

Note: The sometimes-listed sitcom Hank (1965) doesn't really qualify. The show concerned a go-getter who works various odd jobs and attends college classes even though he is not a registered student. So we regularly see the registrar/authority figure farcically chasing him around campus but never catching up with him. This premise didn't get ratings, so in the last episode Hank confesses to the ruse -- but his initiative and faith in higher education are applauded, and he is given a full scholarship. In the last shot we see Hank's teenage sister say admiringly, "There goes my brother -- the registered student". So we have closure.

Except not exactly. The producers of Hank later admitted that the final episode can be interpreted as closure, but in fact was intentionally left open for a hoped-for continuation of the series, in which Hank is a typical student and the show is a conventional college sitcom.

And The Andy Griffith Show doesn't qualify either. Andy and Helen got married/moved away on Mayberry RFD, not on TAGS. Besides, it came after the finale of The Fugitive.

 

Does the Leave It to Beaver finale count?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Scrapbook

 

I personally wouldn't count it. IIRC Gomer Pyle also ended with a "cheater" episode of old clips, as Sgt Carter and Duke argue Rashomon-like over Gomer's various antics.

Another I wouldn't count is Perry Mason. It's a special episode, as Erle Stanley Gardner himself appears as a judge, but it doesn't really finalize anything. I think the last shot is the gang in Perry's office going over a new case.

 

Invasion
The Outlaws
Nowhere Man
Resurrection

needed to end properly...they did not!