To help mark the end of the 2011-2012 television season, Entertainment Weekly has published its list of the 20 Best TV Series Finales Ever. M*A*S*H ranks sixth on the list; here’s the five shows that were ranked higher:

• 6. M*A*S*H
• 5. Cheers
• 4. The Mary Tyler Moore Show
• 3. The Fugitive
• 2. St. Elsewhere
• 1. Hewhart

You can’t see the whole list anywhere because it is a slideshow, meaning you have to click through to see all twenty shows. As is often the case, a good number are from the 1990s/2000s. But not, surprisingly, in the Top Five.

Actor George Lindsey, best known for his portrayal of Goober Pyle on The Andy Griffith Show, passed away on Sunday (May 6th) at the age of 83. Lindsey guest-starred in Season Six’s “Temporary Duty” target=”_blank”>Temporary Duty” as Captain Roy Dupree, a doctor from the 8063rd MASH who participates in a temporary swap, much to the frustration of the 4077th, particularly Charles. Lindsey joined The Andy Griffith Show near the end of its fourth season (1963-1964) as the cousin of Gymer Pyle, played by Jim Nabors. Nabors left The Andy Griffith Show at the conclusion of that season to star in his own series Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.. When The Andy Griffith Show ended in 1968, it was replaced by a sequel series called Mayberry R.F.D., which ran from 1968 to 1971. Lindsey and much of the supporting cast of The Andy Griffith Show would continue on Mayberry R.F.D. (but not star Andy Griffith). From 1971 to 1992, Lindsey appeared on the syndicated variety series Hee Haw, again playing Goober.

George Lindsey in “Temporary Duty”

Obituaries can be found at The New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety.

The UK’s Radio Times website has a poll running asking visitors “What’s the best TV ending of all time?” (both season and series finales) and one of the 20 poll options is the series finale of M*A*S*H, “Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen” (originally broadcast February 28th, 1983). A direct link to the poll can be found here. Currently, M*A*S*H has 3% of the vote, which by my count has it tied for 7th. The current winner is the second season finale of the BBC’s Sherlock, with 41% of the vote.

Actor Warren Stevens, best known for his role in 1956′s Forbidden Planet, passed away Tuesday (March 27th) at the age of 92. Stevens played Colonel Chaffey in Season Four’s “The Gun,” the man whose missing gun nearly sent Radar to the stockade. He began his acting career in the late 1940s and worked continually for almost six decades (his last credited role at the Internet Movie Database is for a 2007 film called Carts). In addition to M*A*S*H, Stevens made guest appearances on dozens of shows, including The Twilight Zone, Hawaiian Eye, Star Trek, Bonanza, Ironside, Police Woman and ER. He co-starred in Tales of the 77th Bengal Lancers from 1956-1957; from 1969-1970 he provided the voice of unseen studio chief John Bracken on Bracken’s World (when the series returned for a second season, Stevens was replaced by Leslie Nielsen, his co-star from Forbidden Planet and also a M*A*S*H guest star).

Warren Stevens in “The Gun”

Obituaries can be found at CBS News and Variety (registration may be required).

(Thanks to Dan).

Scriptwriter Robert “Bob” Colleary, who spent two decades writing for Captain Kangaroo before transitioning to sitcom writing in the late 1970s, passed away on January 8th at the age of 82. Colleary wrote “Guerilla My Dreams” for the eighth season of M*A*S*H. It was one of his earliest sitcom credits. According to his obituary at Legacy.com, Colleary won an Emmy Award in 1980 for his work on Barney Miller and later served as an executive producer on Benson and It’s a Living. His Internet Movie Database entry has a number of credit under the name R.J. Colleary, including a 2011 episode of Life with Boys, a Canadian sitcom. Given that his obituary states he retired in 1989, it seems unlikely that most recent credit is accurate. Based on a quick Internet search, which led me to this interview with R.J. (Bob) Colleary — the son of the Robert “Bob” Colleary who wrote “Guerilla My Dreams” — I believe IMDb has mixed writing credits for father and son into one entry.

(Thanks to the Sitcoms Online Message Boards.)