The most lovable teenager loser duo in the history of television ended their MTV run much as they began it – sitting on the couch, giggling away at anything remotely suggestive. Through years of misadventures and bad music videos, they remained resolutely secure in their adolescent fantasies, and unlearned – preferring to repeat their mistakes rather than amend them. Beavis and Butthead were created by MTV’s Mike Judge for the MTV generation, the modern teenager, a creature of plugged-in pure id. For five years Beavis and Butthead served that role masterfully.

On this day, November 28, in 1997, MTV broadcast the final episode of Beavis and Butthead, marking the end of an era for its characters and the legions of teenagers who grew (in some view, unfortunately so) on them.

The biggest audience for Beavis and Butthead turned out to be educated 20-somethings, but its biggest and most vocal detractors turned out to be parents. A mother of two in Chicago blamed a house fire lit by her 5 year-old on an episode of the show, which sparked enough outrage to warrant Congressional hearings. MTV moved the show back an hour, to 11:30 at night, and pulled four episodes. But executives maintained the audience for Beavis and Butthead were not intended for anyone under 12.