Photo: Presley Ann/FilmMagic

We’re arriving at the end of an era, as CBS’s extremely successful and much beloved sitcom The Big Bang Theory will air its series finale next week. The series has enjoyed an impressive 12-year run on the network, making it the longest-running sitcom in television history. It’s a given that tears will be shed, souvenirs will be collected, and emotional social-media posts will abound. But even before the final episode has aired, star Johnny Galecki shared with fans the real, true way this and all sitcoms end: with the breakdown of the set. Galecki posted an Instagram video of the place where fans have watched their favorite characters do, well, everything for over a decade, being slowly dismantled, as the Beatles’ song “Help” echoed, nay, played hauntingly in the background. The only thing that would’ve made it more poetic is if the song had been Madonna’s “This Used to Be My Playground”.