10 Most Bizarre TV Series Finales In History
9. The Little House on the Prairie Blows Up
The Little House on the Prairie was a wholesome, all-American family series about the country's frontier spirit in the face of adversity. The official website talks of the themes of optimism, love, and joy. All of which is at odds with the series' final, feature-length TV movie entitled The Last Farewell.
This finale finds the residents of the tight-knit community of Walnut Grove faced with the grinding gears of progress. Progress takes the form of a ruthless land grabber who claims the town is owned by his boss, a rich railroad tycoon. In protest against this, the townsfolk decide to blow up their own homes with dynamite, leaving the rich tycoon with nothing but dirt. After the destruction, the frontier folk simply move on to the next town, to start all over again.
The story goes that the dynamite plot was purely a practical decision on the part of the writer and the producer. As part of the agreement producer Kent McCray had in renting the land on which the set was built, he had to leave the place as he had found it. The quickest way to do this, he and writer Michael Landon decided, was to just blow up the whole town!