What year did the series finale of " Friends " take place ?
The Sopranos finale caused millions of viewers to temporarily believe they had lost cable service due to an abrupt blackout finale ; the final scene left open the fate of Tony Soprano ( series creator David Chase had wanted the cut to black to last for several minutes and take the place of post-show credits , so that the first thing the audience would see was an HBO notice , but the network refused this and there was a very short jump from the final shot to the credits ) .