8 TV Shows That You Need to Watch Until the End

By Nadia Chaudhury | Lists | July 29, 2014 |

By Nadia Chaudhury | Lists | July 29, 2014 |

Everyone talks about wonderful opening credits — the breathtaking landscapes of the dreary deserts on The Bridge, or the faces of female inmates and that awesome Regina Spektor song (hey, I’m a fan) on Orange is the New Black, or even the awful ones, like the painted flyaway victims on The Leftovers. But what about those shows with brilliant closing credits? There’s Game of Thrones and Mad Men’s closing songs that comment on the episode (or the former’s lack of song after the Red Wedding), or Six Feet Under’s fade to black. Here are some more TV shows with inventive closing credits that make you want to watch until the very end.

The animated sequences and songs on Bob’s Burgers
The basic closing credits from Bob’s Burgers consists of Bob, Tina, and Louise cooking at a sketched-out grill, Linda coming up to the take-out window, and a waltzing Gene, decked out in his burger suit. More often than not, though, each episode adds a little twist to this scene, like when Linda breaks out with her Thanksgiving turkey song or the 8-bit sequence, or completely disregards it, like Louise getting down with Boo Boo, the boy band member of her dreams, or Gene’s snakes songs with reptile close-ups.

One more scene during credits on Party Down
After going through the usual episode credits, Party Down added one more scene in the middle of the closing credits, a small moment that’s usually important and always funny. God, I miss this show.

Characters’ alter egos on Daria
As the credits rolled on, the television show had fun dreaming up fun weird alter egos for the Daria gang, including Daria as Cinderella, Quinn as an old lady, Trent as Daria, and many many more.

The fake “on the next…” previews of Arrested Development
We all make fun of the ridiculous not-giving-anything-away previews of Mad Men, but remember when Ron Howard told us tales to expect from the Bluth gang that never aired?

Secret backward messages on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Played over the brief title card for Rob McElhenney, Charlie Day, and Glen Howerton’s production company RCH are what sounds like garbled noises, but are actually backward messages from the trio that change season to season, including “clown baby, brown clown clown baby, brown clown.”

Parting words from kids on Raising Hope
Kids say the darndest things over the title card at the end of Raising Hope episodes, like one in which a daughter wishes her mom a happy Mother’s Day.

The closing stand-up bits from Seinfeld & Louie
Funny guys Louis C.K. and Jerry Seinfeld tended to end episodes with standup bits stemming from the show.

End gags from various network sitcoms of the 2000s-on, including The Office, 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, Community, New Girl, Mindy Project
And then, as an added bonus, these sitcoms and many others tack on just a final funny bit for viewers. And sometimes they use this for an even more pointed satire, like the final network episode of Community with the fake promos for horrible NBC summer shows that actually sound like they could exist.

Nadia Chaudhury always waits for the end of credits.