My parents had no way of knowing, but two of our “family” TV watches ended a week apart in 1993, and it apparently rocked my world. Somehow, I had made it almost 9 years through my life without realizing things ends. This is probably because I had (the 80s version of) unlimited access to the shows I cared about when I was little. Transformers, Thundercats, and He-Man always seemed to be on when I wanted to watch them, so it never felt like shows went away.

But on to 1993. What were the shows? The Wonder Years and Quantum Leap. The other night we turned on YT TV and found Quantum Leap. Sam walks into a bar and starts talking to Bruce McGill. I was overcome by a sad nostalgic memory as I exclaimed: “This is the finale. … How do I know that?” It’s unlikely I’ve seen that episode more than twice, but the final card on screen that told us Sam never returned home is burned into my brain. This threw me for a loop as a kid because there were no more answers, and I had never encountered a story like that.

Apparently only a week later in 1993, the Wonder Years ended and tipped the world on its axis for me again. I can see the rain and a tender moment between Kevin and Winnie clearly, only to have the rug pulled out from under me when the final voiceover described him meeting her at the airport with his wife and kid.

As a kid, it seemed like “what’s the point in this story if they didn’t end up together?” As an adult, I see the point in the telling regardless. It spoke to a time I didn’t live in, and was a reminder of how childhood drifts away. Similarly, Quantum Leap did a better job of teaching me about sacrifice than many a Sunday school lesson. I knew Sam, and Al seemed like he was doing fine all those years later, so why did Sam get himself stuck in the past for Al, anyway? I didn’t quite understand all the possible dimensions of love then. It’s amusing to think that a network history anthology show with some sci-fi set dressing taught me that.

The most compelling finale I ever watched was also the first episode of that show I had ever seen, but I should save that story for another time.