Some long-running shows don’t get a finale…until we find out what happened to them on other TV shows. Weird? Confusing? Totally.

My Name is Earl

My Name is Earl ran on NBC from 2005 to 2009, but viewers never found out whether or not Earl completed his long list of good deeds he felt he needed to do to restore “good karma” with the universe. Creator Greg Garcia went on to make Raising Hope for Fox. On the second episode of that series in 2010, there’s a background shot of a TV news show, announcing that a local man had completed a list of good deeds in order to set his life straight.

Dharma & Greg

When Two and a Half Men star Charlie Sheen had a public meltdown in 2011, which included criticizing his show, his costars, and creator Chuck Lorre, he left the show, and his character, Charlie Harper was killed off. The other characters try to sell his house, and among the buyers are Dharma and Greg, the title characters from Lorre’s 1997–2002 sitcom. Jenna Elfman and Thomas Gibson reprise their roles as the mismatched married couple. They opt not to buy the house, and an overworked Greg hints that he wants to either divorce his wife or die (making a “shoot me” gesture at his own head).

The George Lopez Show

The George Lopez Show aired for five years on ABC, from 2002 to 2007. It was abruptly cancelled, which didn’t allow for a wrap-up episode. Lopez went on to host a TBS talk show called Lopez Tonight, where he staged a cast reunion in 2010 to give the show a “proper” finale. Well, he might have been kidding. The sitcom wraps up by revealing that it was all just a dream, albeit in the mind of Doug Heffernan, Kevin James’ character from another sitcom that ended in 2007, The King of Queens. Heffernan is portrayed by…George Lopez.