The Darkest Series Finales Of Kids TV Shows

The World of David the Gnome, a gentle show about magical creatures and forest animals, served as the foundation of Nick Jr., Nickelodeon's block of toddler and preschooler-oriented programming. This richly animated series, based on the classic Dutch children's book The Secret of Gnomes by Will Huygen and Rien Poortvilet, followed around tiny, impressively bearded David (warmly voiced in the English-language version by Happy Days dad Tom Bosley) and his gnome family and friends as he went about his quiet gnome life, hanging out in trees and caves, avoiding trolls, and getting from one place to another via his animal pal, Swift the Fox. 

The World of David the Gnome went heavy on the gnome mythology, never more so than in the show's final episode. According to gnome lore, gnomes live to the age of 400 — exactly — and for the run of the show, David and his wife, Lisa, were right around 399. And so, on the series finale, death came for David, Lisa, and another 400-pushing gnome named Casper. Or, rather, they came for death. They did what 400-years-old gnomes do, and ritualistically accepted their fate, walking to the aptly-named Mountains of Beyond. Swift the Fox accompanies them and serves as a sad, sad, surrogate for the audience of three-year-olds watching at home as beloved David, Lisa (and Casper) transform into trees.