Recently I've been watching TV (American) more than in the past decade and I've noticed a disturbing trend. The endings of shows, especially documentaries but also including dramatic fiction, seem really flat. There's no build to a climax, no swelling of music, no exiting preparation, no closure, just the credits rolling when you least expect them. Is it just me or have the new crop of writers & directors lost their sense of how to signal an ending ? Or is it some faddish new style like the quirky Nike commercials ??

And, if this is a hot new trend, will it affect the other arts as certain "new waves" have done in the past ? Specifically music. Which leads me to think about how songs are ended.

In a general sense, other than just stopping, how do you structure the end of your songs & tunes - repeat the tag line, put on a "shave & a haircut, six-bits" on instrumentals, or some other dramatic closure technique. Any thoughts 'Catters ?