I distinctly remember an episode of Gunsmoke (with Matt & Chester) from the 50s (b/w) that had the marshal and his sidekick out on the trail of a bad guy for several days on the plains of Kansas. They lost the trail and were running out of food and water. Matt admitted to Chester that we can't catch them all, "Let's go back to Dodge." There was no resolution, no arrest, only failure. That was the only show that I can remember where nothing was resolved. It was tremendous and I've never seen it again in reruns.
Apparently , there is a hidden history of television out there alive in the memories of many-—thinking back, compared to the techno-sheen, big budget desperation of most TV product these days, most television back then 40 years plus ago, was at the very least, a more relaxed affair.
I haven’t been much of a TV watcher for many years, but there was one episode of one show, I won’t ever forget, the underrated Dharma and Greg. Dharma happened to see a small storefront for rent, cheap, near the train station in the downtown area......she just up and rented it, with great enthusiasm. She had no idea what it was going to be, but she set up some tables and chairs, brought in some newspapers, and bit by bit, people started coming in and CREATING a viable social space for themselves. Absolutely the best thing I’d seen for years. Doesn’t sound like much, but it still came across as the most intellectually engaging thing ever dared on a network sitcom, as far as I know. And helped on tremendously by the also very underrated comic brio of the beautiful Jenna Elfman/