2. M*A*S*H* (1983)

​After 11 highly rated seasons and 255 episodes, this Korean War dramatic comedy about a mobile army medical unit starring Alan Alda said goodbye with a two-and-a-half hour TV movie that aired on Feb. 28, 1983 — and was watched by 106 million people (it’s still the highest-rated series finale ever). Fittingly, by the show’s wrap, the war had come to an end and the beloved members of the 4077th exchanged farewells, set to finally go back to their lives in the States. The best — and biggest lump-in-the-throat moment — is saved for the end, however, when Alda’s surgeon Hawkeye Pierce is flying off in a chopper and sees from the air a message from his best friend, Mike Farrell’s B.J. Hunnicutt: the word “goodbye,” spelled out in stones on the ground. At that moment, 106 million people simultaneously reached for the Kleenex.​

Watch it again: M*A*S*H*, on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Hulu, YouTube​