TV Show Endings

[smurfy]

Topic was brought up in The Good Wife thread. I found the ending ok for the Good Wife.
What are the endings for TV show that have been great, so-so, bad?

Newhart - one of the best ever. LMAO and a good way to end a comedy.
Dallas - it should have ended with the penultimate episode. The last episode was a letdown - good idea, but the week before was better
Mad Men - I liked it and since it ended it has grown on me.
Lost - I loved the show, but after the ending, I was whatever, and have no desire to rewatch the show again.
The West Wing - was fitting, good.

 

[skatesindreams]

I dislike endings which betray the "reality"/premise set by the show.

 

[Jenny]

Deja vu - didn't we have a thread on this topic this some time ago? I searched but don't see it - maybe it was a discussion in another thread?

One I saw again in re-runs not long ago was Seinfeld. At the time, it was widely panned - but in retrospect, I think it was quite brilliantly perfect. I think if I watch Lost again, I might feel that way - expectations were sooo high and everyone had an opinion before it happened, so it was sure to be a letdown, but I imagine with some distance from it now, it would be viewed much more favourably.

Mad Men was perfect IMO.

I sometimes wish that when shows are cancelled, they'd allow the show runners/creators/writers to share where they had planned on going with it. Although sometimes it might be better not to know, given that they got their asses fired - our imagined endings might have been better

 

[Desperado]

I dislike endings which betray the "reality"/premise set by the show.

How I Met Your Mother perhaps?

There have been few series I've watched from beginning to end, either they go downhill and I stop watching or they get cancelled too early.

I really liked the series finale of Newhart (hilarious!) and Gilmore Girls but can't say I remember many series in between. Angel was just so dark, Buffy was OK, Battlestar Gallactica was bad, Chuck was fine but sad as it had gotten so much better at the end. That's all I can come up with...

 

[Garden Kitty]

I liked Everybody Loves Raymond. There were some big emotional scenes and the people had a chance to show how they really cared for one another, but the writers said they wanted to leave the series with the family continuing on as they had during the series.

 

[oleada]

I loved the Parks and Recreation finale. It felt so true to the show and gave such satisfying endings for everyone. I teared up several times, but in particular Jerry/Gary/Larry's death scene gave me so many sappy tears.

The How I Met Your Mother finale had me so angry that I couldn't watch it for ages, and it was one of my go-to background shows.

 

[KatieC]

I loved the ER ending. They brought back all my favourites from many years, even if they didn't all interact with one another. M*A*S*H was bittersweet.

 

[love skating]

Parenthood's ending last year was terrific. One of my all-time favorite endings. I liked Parks and Rec's too last year. Loved Friends. Just finished watching Breaking Bad series recently - fitting end. And MASH of course was great.

Lost was one that had me say "huh" at the end but upon further reflection I ended up loving it.

Most hated How I met Your Mother's finale... I was okay with it. I hated Seinfeld's finale.

Felicity had a strange finale. They had a nice fitting finale episode and then they were given like an extra couple weeks so they did this sorta alternate universe ending. Didn't like the extra couple weeks finale, did like what could've/should've been the finale episode.

Of course the saddest is when shows get canceled before they can have a fitting end, but then they don't have to live up to that pressure I guess of a great series finale.

 

[Spareoom]

I didn't mind how Lost ended so much. I felt like the show was kind of divided up into two stages, of sorts...the first one was when it was a "real" show with weird elements, and then the second stage was when it got crazier and weirder until the whole thing was a giant sci-fi. Which wasn't bad, and the ending certainly was in line with that. But I can understand that people who were more into the way the show was at the beginning, where it was more about characters and their motivations than it was about the sci-fi element (although that was always present). Having the show end on such a note had to be jarring for those who were still clinging that it was going to have a different tone that was more in line with how the show started. But yeah, the show changed a LOT so I felt like the ending was right in line with that.

ETA: Show endings I HATED...Merlin! Oh my gosh what a freakin' let down after four/five seasons of setup. So lame and I hated it and it has colored how I view the whole series now.

 

[emason]

For me the gold standard remains St. Elsewhere. I never saw it coming, and all these years later I still think it was brilliant. skatesindreams, however, would not approve.

 

[Allskate]

Of course the saddest is when shows get canceled before they can have a fitting end, but then they don't have to live up to that pressure I guess of a great series finale.

Yeah. ABC just announced today that Nashville has been cancelled. The finale is in less than two weeks, so I assume that they just filmed a season finale, not a series finale. But, I haven't liked what they've been doing with Maddie and Deacon anyway, so maybe it will have been merciful that they did not have an opportunity to have a season finale. It will be kind of weird, though, if they end with a cliffhanger. Do Deacon and Rayna split up? That would be kind of weird.

 

[skatesindreams]

skatesindreams, however, would not approve.

And I watched every episode.

 

[flyingsit]

Friday Night Lights had a really good ending.

 

[Artemis@BC]

For me the gold standard remains St. Elsewhere. I never saw it coming, and all these years later I still think it was brilliant. skatesindreams, however, would not approve.

I don't think that one would qualify as betraying the reality of the series. I saw it as metaphor. And yes, one of the best endings ever. Along with Newhart and Six Feet Under.

Others I liked a lot, some of which I mentioned in the Good Wife thread: M*A*S*H (of course), Cheers, and House. I'd forgotten about Parenthood, thanks for that reminder.West Wing was pretty good, even if the whole final season was lackluster. Ditto for Gilmore Girls.

I loved the ending of Star Trek Next Gen, hated the ending of Voyager at first but on repeat viewings decided I hated it somewhat less.

 

[gkelly]

I don't think that one would qualify as betraying the reality of the series. I saw it as metaphor. And yes, one of the best endings ever. Along with Newhart and Six Feet Under.

Yes, I was going to bring up Six Feet Under.

Others I liked a lot, some of which I mentioned in the Good Wife thread: M*A*S*H (of course), Cheers, and House. I'd forgotten about Parenthood,

I watched the first few seasons of House, and one season of Parenthood. Were the finales good enough that they'd be worth watching even without the intervening years?

 

[Peter_K]

Definitely agree with Six Feed Under and Newheart being at the top of the list.

For the bottom, I'd go with "Mad about You". I was left with the feeling that they were trying to rush it. Besides, sometimes, you don't really need to try to tie up the loose ends of the plot.

 

[Cachoo]

I think most have been mentioned: St. Elsewhere and Newhart...those gotcha endings are fun.

And I think of the shows that have done a great job of weaving all of the threads of the story together into a satisfying end: Breaking Bad and Parks & Rec were mentioned.

I wanted to mention two: The first is Justified. This was always a story about good guy Raylan and bad boy Boyd, old friends whose lives intersected all through the show. The ending was great and left room for more.

But my favorite had to be Battlestar Galactica. When the show began it was about humans fleeing from the evil Cyclons. But life is complicated in all it's forms and I thought the show could be as thought provoking as it was exciting. The finale was emotional and satisfying; it answered questions, provoked more thought and related to everyone on earth. You can't ask for much more than that.

 

[Artemis@BC]

I watched the first few seasons of House, and one season of Parenthood. Were the finales good enough that they'd be worth watching even without the intervening years?

Hmm. Parenthood I'd say you could watch just the last episode (though the last 2 or 3 together would probably be more satisfying).

The House ender was I think a 2-hour one, and it definitely stands alone. Though if you could also stand to watch another episode from earlier in the season, "The C Word," it would be a good context-setter for a lot of the personal stuff between House and Wilson.

 

[Desperado]

I know I watched it way back, but can someone remind me of St. Elsewhere's ending?

 

[PrincessLeppard]

Snow Globe.

 

[emason]

Tommy Westphall, autistic, and the son of a construction worker, not a doctor, is shown staring into a snow globe which contains a miniature of the hospital. The implication is that everything we have ever seen was not real, but springs from Tommy's autistic imagination.

 

[clairecloutier]

Prison Break-- Terrible ending. I hated that they killed off Michael.

Chuck-- Really disliked the ending because it was sad and also a real departure tonally from the show up to that point. The show had always been so fun; this just didn't feel like the right way to end it.

Seinfeld-- Somewhat weird, still not sure what I think.

The O.C.-- Really liked the ending. I've actually rewatched it. My favorite part? When they drive away from the neighborhood and Ryan sees Marissa's ghost.

Lost-- I was okay with it. Sounds weird I know, but there was a sense of peace knowing that everyone was dead and there would be no more drama!! I liked that Kate (her soul?) was with Jack in the end, I always wanted them together.

Battlestar Galactica-- I still have so many questions, forever to be unanswered. But there was a peacefulness to knowing the journey was finally over. And I loved the concept of Hera being mitochondrial Eve.

Parenthood-- Great.

Mad Men-- I mostly loved it. Don's final phone conversations with Betty and Peggy were incredible. Especially the one with Peggy.

Downton Abbey-- Pretty good. I liked how Edith's storyline ended. I liked that she and Mary reached a rapprochement of sorts. I liked that Thomas became butler. Tom's storyline kind of petered out, though. And I didn't fully buy Mary with Henry.

Gilmore Girls-- Okay, but I wanted a happier ending with Luke/Lorelai. Otherwise, it was good.

The Killing-- I really liked it. I've rewatched the final scenes several times. I was quite surprised by the ending, but I liked it.

American Dreams-- The show didn't get a real ending. I was intrigued, though, by the last season finale. Wish it had gotten another season.

Friday Night Lights-- Pretty outstanding, EXCEPT for them suddenly throwing Tyra and Riggins together as soul mates. That didn't work for me at all.

Everwood-- All I really remember is the Ferris wheel. I'm not sure what happened in that last season, the show seemed to lose its charm and get too serious or something.

 

[Spun Silver]

The ending of Morse was overwhelming. Very stark and sudden (to me at least -- I was watching it on Netflix years after the actual ending so I missed any talk about it at the time it was made). My heart was still shaken several days after watching it.

 

[skateboy]

I was a big fan of Ugly Betty and liked the way everything wrapped up for the series finale.

 

[Wyliefan]

The House ender was I think a 2-hour one, and it definitely stands alone. Though if you could also stand to watch another episode from earlier in the season, "The C Word," it would be a good context-setter for a lot of the personal stuff between House and Wilson.

I had quit watching "House" for a while, but I came back for the finale. It was worth seeing. Definitely a tearjerker.

 

[danceronice]

The ending of Morse was overwhelming. Very stark and sudden (to me at least -- I was watching it on Netflix years after the actual ending so I missed any talk about it at the time it was made). My heart was still shaken several days after watching it.

Inspector Morse? Stark, but it was true to the books, so readers knew it was coming. Very well done, though.

Best Ending: It's not 'mainstream' and it was a while ago, but "Babylon 5." They had the advantage they thought they were going to be cancelled the season before, so since Straczynski had outlined the entire show, they filmed the finale with all the main cast available. Then they got un-cancelled but lost some cast in the process, but had the finale already done. And it was pretty much a perfect wrap-up. It's an odd case, though, where the show was planned from the beginning for a set number of seasons and the majority of the episodes were written by one person, with only a few deviations from the plan along the way. But it was a great ending.

Worst: The X-Files. Both times.

 

[Foolhardy Ham Lint]

I sometimes wish that when shows are cancelled, they'd allow the show runners/creators/writers to share where they had planned on going with it. Although sometimes it might be better not to know, given that they got their asses fired - our imagined endings might have been better

The highly underrated series, My So - Called Life, did just that with the DVD. The show's writer, Winnie Holzman, was interviewed, and asked how she had planned to continue the show in Season 2. It was quite fascinating to hear what she had in store for each of the main characters.

 

[Artemis@BC]

^ And in this interview too.

 

[skatefan]

The ending of Morse was overwhelming. Very stark and sudden (to me at least -- I was watching it on Netflix years after the actual ending so I missed any talk about it at the time it was made). My heart was still shaken several days after watching it.

Have you watched the series charting Morse's early years - Endeavour? I think it's really very good, don't want to spoil anyone so I'll just say that the first episode made me in fact I gasped aloud and much to my embarrassment.

Satisfying end - Aussie soap Sons & Daughters
Frustrating end - the Ascension mini series
Upsetting end - M*A*S*H

 

[MacMadame]

I will never forgive CBS for canceling Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior in the middle of the season after a cliffhanger!

Also upset with canceling Nowhere Man after an amazing season 1 finale that had me excited about season 2.