The Big Goodbye

Why four of TV's brightest shows are ending their long runs

While the networks are busy plotting their schedules for next season - which old shows to bring back, which new ones to launch - these four series will be shutting down for good at the end of this season. Here's your insider's look at at what to expect when the curtain comes down in May.

MELROSE PLACE
Jane bought Michael's beach house. Amanda and Kyle are building a new place. Lexi purchased the apartment complex out from under Amanda. Sounds like the end of MELROSE PLACE to us.
     Actually. the end of MP almost came last year, but FOX decided to give the ailing show one last chance. New executive producers were called upon to inject fresh life into stories, original cast member Josie Bissett (Jane) came back and Heather Locklear (Amanda) became a producer. While the ratings rose a bit, the series failed to return to its glory days.
     So, in late January, FOX announced that it would be pulling MP's plug after seven years. Why did the decision come so early in the year? Executive producer Aaron Spelling wanted to give his cast time to audition for new series. Jamie Luner (Lexi), for one, already has a deal to do a series for the WB.
     Now the countdown is on to the series finale. "The ending is a shocker," promises executive producer Charles Pratt Jr., who hints that MP will go out in a blaze of glory. "We're going to kill off a couple of characters, and surprise the audience in other ways, too. It will have the razzmatazz that the show used to have."
     Look for a satisfactory conclusion to some of the series' biggest storylines, including a fitting end for Michael Mancini. "We're going to relate several of the characters to their real lives - I'm not going to say who - so insiders who follow the show will get a kick out of that," says Pratt.
     Spelling said in a statement, "MELROSE PLACE is one of my all-time favorite shows, and I will miss it and everyone involved very much."
     So will we. We can only hope that one day, there will be MP reunion movies!

Mad About You
It's the seven-season itch MAD ABOUT YOU's Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt, who have decided to bring their on-screen marriage to an end.
     The stars expressed their interest in bringing the show to a close last year, but with SEINFELD shutting down, NBC laid out a reported $44 million to keep MAD for at least one more season. Perhaps the show should have gone out while it was on top: Opposite HOME IMPROVEMENT, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER and the suddenly hot JAG, MAD's viewers declined by more than half from its peak 1995-95 season.
     MAD's move to Monday's in December came too late to revive interest in the series - especially for Hunt and Reiser, who both have promising careers ahead of them and jointly opted not to continue the comedy.
     With NBC hyping the "countdown" to the final episode of MAD this May, the show is sadly limping to the finish line.

The Nanny
It took five seasons for Fran Fine to get Maxwell Shefield to the altar. Now, after six seasons, the newlyweds are looking for a little privacy. THE NANNY's executive producer and star Fran Drescher is closing down her Queens-bred comedy, she says, so "we can go out while we're on top."
     "Top," apparently, is a matter of interpretation, as THE NANNY recently ranked number 70 out of 138 programs. The sitcom high point actually came at the close of the 1996 season, when it reached 17th place.
     Last year, when Drescher feared that CBS was going to pull the plug on her series, she planned the Fran/Maxwell wedding as a potential fitting farewell. With the series finale coming in May, the birth of Fran's baby will most likely wrap things up once and for all. But we're sure to hear that laugh again!