Great and horrible tv series finales

[TexArcher 38076]

This is obviously a spinoff from a discussion in the GoT thread (but no spoilers here or you get a crown of molten gold dumped on your head).

I thought the finale of The Americans was fantastic.

The entire final season of House of Cards was hot garbage.

Go...

[Radical Larry 28664]

Veep finale was really good. 

[Jive Turkey 12648]

There’s Newhart and then everybody else is fighting for second place. 

[BigOrange1 6471]

the americans is the best that i've seen in the past 5-8 years.

[Bone3421 716]

How about the symmetry of the S.O.A finale....

G.O.T....you know or you will

[TexArcher 38076]

I also really liked the ending of Breaking Bad.  Not just the finale, but the last several episodes leading up to it.  That's one of a very few series that I thought was consistently excellent from start to finish.

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

Hard to beat Breaking Bad 

Dexter was the worst 

Sopranos gets a lot of hate because it’s ambiguous but whatever. 

[NorthLoop 14252]

Best

Breaking Bad

6 Feet Under

Wonder Years

 

 

Worst: 

Seinfeld

Lost

GoT

Dexter

Weeds 

Californication (pretty much any Showtime series)

 

Meh: 

Sopranos - after it came out, Chase said it was open to interpretation. Years later he goes "yeah Tony died"... fuck that. 

The Americans - was too rushed to me. Wish they would've had an epilogue or at least seen the show through to the end of the cold war. 

[RPM 26360]

27 minutes ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

Dexter was the worst 

Abso-lutely

I kinda hated the M*A*S*H finale, but by that time the show was so weak it was a mercy killing. 

Different genre, but Johnny Carson's final show set the bar. We laughed, we cried, he left with us wanting more. That's how it's done.

[Goo Punch 4275]

if parks and rec had ended the show after the season six finale (Unity Concert) it would have been nearly perfect. 

[speed817 19482]

Best...The Shield and Breaking Bad

Worst.....GoT, Seinfeld, Dexter, Lost, How I Met Your Mother

[South Austin 52629]

6 hours ago, NorthLoop said:

Best

Wonder Years

I loved Wonder Years, but stopped watching it after the first few seasons because it started getting old for me.  But I tuned into the last episode, and have to agree with this. It was and outstanding finale.

[Underdog 28785]

Newhart

MTM

Cheers

 

Disappointed with Seinfeld. 

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

7 hours ago, Jive Turkey said:

There’s Newhart and then everybody else is fighting for second place. 

And it's not even close. THE best end of series finale ever, now, the past or the future.

[phdhorn 6224]

Newhart
Wonder Years
MASH

Nothing else matters.

[Neonmoon 38130]

The entire season 5 of The Wire was pretty shitty. 

I always though the Sopranos was the worst. The open to interpretation thing is the dumbest fucking schtick ever. However, I forgot about Dexter. That might be hands down the worst. 

In fact, as most have mentioned. There are very few that end well. Breakind Bad is one of the few gems. 

[Aqua Buddha 14624]

Shield and Wonder Years should get a mention.  So should Six Feet Under.

[Bojack 2082]

I liked St. Elsewhere's ending.  

 

 

[South Austin 52629]

48 minutes ago, Underdog said:

Cheers

I don’t recall much about the Cheers finale other than I didn’t think bringing Diane back really worked and I felt overall meh. Maybe I need to watch it again.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13528]

8 hours ago, Jive Turkey said:

There’s Newhart and then everybody else is fighting for second place. 

Everyone loved Newhart for nostalgia sake but it basically said that the entire series was a dream.I suppose that works with a comedy but it definitely wouldn't fly with a drama.

[phdhorn 6224]

"It was all a dream" in drama?  (Well of course some people might now more consider this a comedy anyway):

 

[Doc Reeves 6434]

1 hour ago, speed817 said:

Best...The Shield and Breaking Bad

Worst.....GoT, Seinfeld, Dexter, Lost, How I Met Your Mother

+1 on How I met your mother.

 Really? The entire series was you telling your kids about all the people you and their step mom fucked? 

Will and Grace (90s)

Friends 

 

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

3 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Everyone loved Newhart for nostalgia sake but it basically said that the entire series was a dream.I suppose that works with a comedy but it definitely wouldn't fly with a drama.

Sure it would, other than leaving everyone potentially hanging about what happened to all the characters. The concept was brilliance. Of course it helped that he'd had the earlier series with Susan Pleshette.

The night it aired I think you could hear a collective laugh across a TV land.  There was no supposing it worked, It played hilariously.  

[Nice Guy Eddie 13528]

6 minutes ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

Sure it would, other than leaving everyone potentially hanging about what happened to all the characters. The concept was brilliance. Of course it helped that he'd had the earlier series with Susan Pleshette.

The night it aired I think you could hear a collective laugh across a TV land.  There was no supposing it worked, It played hilariously.  

It helped that he had a previous series with Susanne Pleshette?  that was the entire gag. If he had woken up next to another actress we had never seen before, it would have been confusing.

[Red Five 40898]

Star Trek TNG was really good.

[Bateshorn 9942]

The Seinfeld finale has grown on me over the years, but it was a let down at the time.

The final episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart felt really good. 

[LonghornJudas 1102]

Person of Interest finale was pretty damn good.

[d2o 1602]

Haven't seen anyone mention it.   I thought Fringe was great from start to finish but the final season/finale were very well done.

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

10 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

It helped that he had a previous series with Susanne Pleshette?  that was the entire gag. If he had woken up next to another actress we had never seen before, it would have been confusing.

So I'm guessing you never saw the original Bob Newhart series ?  If so then you don't get it. She was his wife in the previous series. that was the gag.it was hilarious .

[UTGrad98 2282]

17 minutes ago, Bateshorn said:

The Seinfeld finale has grown on me over the years, but it was a let down at the time.

The final episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart felt really good. 

I was thinking about posting this. At the time Seinfeld was a let down based on the high expectations I had. But thinking back on it over the years the premise of the final episode  is actually really funny. Not sure what else they could do . It was a show about nothing. 

[JimmyHoffa 1188]

I thought ER was really good. 

Big Bang was good (yeah, yeah, I know)

 

Dexter edges GOT for the worst that I can remember. 

[Nice Guy Eddie 13528]

39 minutes ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

So I'm guessing you never saw the original Bob Newhart series ?  If so then you don't get it. She was his wife in the previous series. that was the gag.it was hilarious .

Do you have trouble reading?  That’s what I said 

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

9 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Do you have trouble reading?  That’s what I said 

You phrased your post in the form of a question as if asking about Susan Pleshette. Do you even punctuation mark brah ?

[atomheartbevo 89827]

Star Trek Enterprise was utter shit.  

Game of Thrones - I missed last season and most of this season, so I don’t get how it ended with Tyrion and Dany ending up together and the last shot has their son staring into a snow globe of the winter walker dudes. 

[hookem48 4703]

43 minutes ago, UTGrad98 said:

I was thinking about posting this. At the time Seinfeld was a let down based on the high expectations I had. But thinking back on it over the years the premise of the final episode  is actually really funny. Not sure what else they could do . It was a show about nothing. 

I thought the courtroom scenes were funny as hell bringing back all the characters to testify but the sitting in the jail cell scene was extremely meh. 

[South Austin 52629]

Throwing out one that hasn't been mentioned -- I recall really liking the series finale of Family Ties.  I think the show had been petering out, but the last episode was great, and Meredith Baxter Birney and Michael J. Fox had really good chemistry as a mother and oldest child having difficulty saying good bye as Alex was headed to New York.  And I think Michael J. Fox as Alex P. Keaton was one of the best sitcom characters of the 1980s.

[SwanderedTalent 5761]

Justified did a good job of epiloguing things without feeling rushed. The final scene with Raylan and Boyd is remarkable.

 A second vote for Johnny Carson's final show. I wasn't quite 18 when that happened, so it felt like a big deal. I remember where I watched it and with whom.

[seven 1368]

6 feet under is probably the best

Leftovers is close

 

Dexter is easily the worst. 

Edited May 20, 2019 by seven

[TrashMaster G 17627]

1 hour ago, Red Five said:

Star Trek TNG was really good.

Came here to mention that.

The West Wing was good as well.  Not exciting, but wrapped up nicely.

Also like Friday Night Lights.

[WBT 20672]

Of recent dramas, I agree with others that Justified, The Americans, and Breaking Bad were all really good.

I liked the Seinfeld finale when it aired and don't get all the hate it got at the time.

Edited May 20, 2019 by WBT

[Johnny Sack 8397]

10 hours ago, TexArcher said:

I also really liked the ending of Breaking Bad.  Not just the finale, but the last several episodes leading up to it.  That's one of a very few series that I thought was consistently excellent from start to finish. 

The last scene of Breaking Bad was basically the last scene from Cheers.  Sam and Walter both alone with their one true love.

Great endings.

[Doc Reeves 6434]

40 minutes ago, seven said:

6 feet under is probably the best

Leftovers is close

 

Dexter is easily the worst. 

I really dug Leftovers as a series, but I couldn’t get over how Nora goes to upside down world, make that scientist to go thru the monumental effort of building an entirely new machine, come back then not tell anyone? And when you do it’s intertwined with coffee and an ex, not the press? Plus, I’m assuming that all the Departed chose to stay in upside down Earth? No one except Nora wanted to come back and be reunited with their loat loved ones? Cuz, oh shit, Nora didn’t even do that! After spending billlions of glass beads (or whatever else they uses as money) and undoubtedly countless sexual favors to get “home” what does she do? Hide out in the Australian wilderness.  Sir, I call bullshit.

[seven 1368]

2 minutes ago, Doc Reeves said:

I really dug Leftovers as a series, but I couldn’t get over how Nora goes to upside down world, make that scientist to go thru the monumental effort of building an entirely new machine, come back then not tell anyone? And when you do it’s intertwined with coffee and an ex, not the press? Plus, I’m assuming that all the Departed chose to stay in upside down Earth? No one except Nora wanted to come back and be reunited with their loat loved ones? Cuz, oh shit, Nora didn’t even do that! After spending billlions of glass beads (or whatever else they uses as money) and undoubtedly countless sexual favors to get “home” what does she do? Hide out in the Australian wilderness.  Sir, I call bullshit.

I don't believe any of that actually happened, Kevin just accepted her for who she is by "believing" her. 

[Red Five 40898]

It’s been awhile but I remember thinking Nora was lying.

[Doc Reeves 6434]

2 minutes ago, Red Five said:

It’s been awhile but I remember thinking Nora was lying.

Exactly 

[BrickHorn 18290]

Lost was by far the worst final ever I’ve ever seen.  Utter garbage. 

Sopranos ending was perfect.  It’s not fucking ambiguous.  At all.  

[Rougarou 594]

As someone who will never watch Dexter, I keep hearing Dexter was horrible. Will someone give us who will never care to watch 1 minute of the show the Derka-esque recap of why everyone hates that ending?

[Doc Reeves 6434]

6 minutes ago, seven said:

I don't believe any of that actually happened, Kevin just accepted her for who she is by "believing" her. 

Add some lite beer and passive aggression and that’s also the story of my parents marriage. 

 

Leftovers Silver lining: Thanks to fetuses disappearing during ultrasounds, science now has a clear understanding of when life begins 

[hayden_horn 11365]

8 minutes ago, Rougarou said:

As someone who will never watch Dexter, I keep hearing Dexter was horrible. Will someone give us who will never care to watch 1 minute of the show the Derka-esque recap of why everyone hates that ending?

basically, what happens is we spend 8 years watching this character, who is clearly flawed, but kind of fundamentally good, and in the finale he basically goes against every bit of personal code that they've written for the guy, he leaves everything to go off to die, then somehow doesn't die and goes off to the northwest to become a fucking lumberjack. it's fucking terrible, and no one should ever watch the last season of that show, which had once been great. seasons 1-5 were actually pretty fantastic television.

Edited May 20, 2019 by hayden_horn

[Doc Reeves 6434]

2 minutes ago, Rougarou said:

As someone who will never watch Dexter, I keep hearing Dexter was horrible. Will someone give us who will never care to watch 1 minute of the show the Derka-esque recap of why everyone hates that ending?

 

Might need to revisit it but the points I remember not liking were that Deb dies off screen and that he leaves his child to be raised by a blond chick he was banging (who also happens to be a psychopathic serial killer) in Argentina while he runs off to go be a lumberjack and sulk about what a bitch life is.