Best and Worst TV finales

[J_Dee]

The ending of Picard Season Three is everything I wanted. It's perfect -- the showrunner, Terry Matalas, gave the fans everything we wanted and did it awesomely.

Some others that I watched when they aired that I think are great:

Star Trek: The Next Generation
Breaking Bad. Probably my second-favorite finale ever, after Picard Season Three. I need to watch Better Call Saul.
Cheers
Dinosaurs. What the hell.
Quantum Leap, even with the infamous typo.

I've seen Three's Company's last episodes, but I don't know if I watched them when they first aired. I think I did, but I was only seven years old so I can't remember. But I watched that show a lot when I was a kid.

I watched these shows after they first aired and I love all of their conclusions:

Ghost in the Shell: SAC and 2nd GIG
Fawlty Towers
Blackadder II, Blackadder the Third, Blackadder Goes Fourth
The Sopranos. RIP Tony, you scumbag.
Newhart
Six Feet Under
St. Elsewhere

Some that I watched when they aired that I think are mid:

Seinfeld. I watched the finale with a group of friends and we were all pretty unimpressed.
Ron Moore's Battlestar Galactica. For me, the show starts to tank after season two, and by end I thought it was a senseless mess. I believe the writers didn't have any real plan and they were making it up as they went.
The X-Files. It's one of my favorite shows ever (a lot of the standalone episodes are epic) but by the end I had no idea what was going on with the main plot.
The Office. That ending's a bit too over-the-top for me.

I watched Neon Genesis Evangelion's finale not long after it aired and it's freaking weird. I haven't seen an episode of Game of Thrones after...

Spoiler

...the episode where Arya whacks the Night King. That's where I quit, but I did watch the final fight between the Hound and the Mountain and I read what happens with everything else on Wikipedia.

Anyway -- what are your favorites and least favorites?

 

[the nail at the foul line]

Newhart is my best.

Seinfeld was the worst.

 

[Bill - Shy Cat]

I can’t imagine a better finale than Friends.

 

[UK82]

Mary Tyler Moore Show was great. MASH sucked.

 

[WildcatFan1982]

ALF

the feds finally caught up with that illegal alien at the end

 

[J_Dee]

Some Family Ties trivia:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083413/trivia/

The cast wanted to end the show with the entire Keaton family dying in a plane crash. They didn't want to do a reunion show in the future.

That would've been epic.

 

[Blue Bleeding Marine]

Best finale- Six Feet Under, easily IMO

 

[J_Dee]

Mary Tyler Moore Show was great. MASH sucked.

I don't think I've ever even seen a single episode of MASH (or Friends).

 

[UK82]

I don't think I've ever even seen a single episode of MASH (or Friends).

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My big sister was a huge fan but I lost interest after the 3rd season. Just wasn't that funny (to me). The movie is a classic.

 

[BC_Wader]

Best: Breaking Bad
Worst: Seinfeld. My favorite show ever and they decided to end it like that? Talk about out of touch with your audience.

 

[thabigbluenation]

The network was willing to give Seinfeld whatever he wanted to do a couple more seasons and he said no. That ending did bring back all your fav cameos and characters throughout the series.

The show was about nothing. How do you really end it?

Never watched Lost but wasn't it the one that ended with it being all a dream sequence?

That would have been great if Walking Dead did that with Rick in a finale. Having him actually wake up in that hospital after a coma and it was all a dream.

Of course that wouldn't allow for all the shitty spinoffs to keep milking it dry.

 

[BC_Wader]

The network was willing to give Seinfeld whatever he wanted to do a couple more seasons and he said no. That ending did bring back all your fav cameos and characters throughout the series.

The show was about nothing. How do you really end it?

Never watched Lost but wasn't it the one that ended with it being all a dream sequence?

That would have been great if Walking Dead did that with Rick in a finale. Having him actually wake up in that hospital after a coma and it was all a dream.

Of course that wouldn't allow for all the shitty spinoffs to keep milking it dry.

TWD was one of the best shows ever until they decided to off Rick and that was the end of that for me. Rick WAS the show.

 

[GeraldV]

The Shield had an amazing finale. Parks and Rec’s two parter was really good. The Americans had an insanely great finale.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer had a decent finale.

Dexter’s finale was laughingly bad, although just about everything after the 4th season was terrible. Seinfeld’s finale was awful.

 

[thabigbluenation]

I'm torn on how SoA ended. I really liked the 1st 3 seasons then it gradually got to be a bit much.

 

[GeraldV]

Oh, I though Bojack Horseman’s finale was superb as well.

 

[TucsonCat]

Best - 30 Rock. Parks and Rec
Worst - Game of Thrones
Seinfeld gets too much hate. It was ok.

 

[tommyg4uk]

Six Feet Under
The Sopranos
Veep
Mad Men
Succession

All great.

Game of Thrones
Lost
The Wire (Still GOAT imo)
Arrested Development
The Office

All subpar.

 

[wildcatwelder]

Newhart is my best.

Seinfeld was the worst.

End of thread.....

 

[christophero]

Some Family Ties trivia:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083413/trivia/



That would've been epic.

As long as Skippy and Nick survived
Best ending was Newhart

 

[TexasTimCat]

Currently doing a complete rewatch of MASH, one of the best shows ever.

The finale is still one of the most watched episodes of all time, somewhere in the neighborhood of 100M people watched it live.

The last episode had most all of the elements that made the show great.

Newhart has already been mentioned.

 

[J_Dee]

Best - 30 Rock. Parks and Rec
Worst - Game of Thrones
Seinfeld gets too much hate. It was ok.

I can't believe I forgot 30 Rock and Parks and Rec. I love those shows and I agree, they both have great endings.

 

[WildcatFan1982]

Curb had a pretty good finale IMO

 

[Creed Bratton]

That would have been great if Walking Dead did that with Rick in a finale. Having him actually wake up in that hospital after a coma and it was all a dream.

I have said the same thing. 😂

 

[Ron Mehico]

The finale is still one of the most watched episodes of all time, somewhere in the neighborhood of 100M people watched it live.

Never seen MASH and not saying it wasn’t a great show but I always hear this stat but when you only had 3 or 4 channels to choose from you can get that number. It’s impossible now with all the options.

 

[sg24]

I'm torn on how SoA ended. I really liked the 1st 3 seasons then it gradually got to be a bit much.

I thought the ending was right, but the show changed after they killed off Opie. How it even got to that point was strange imo. But I agree it got to be too much.

Not sure if many come close to the Breaking Bad ending.

 

[shockdaddy19]

Breaking Bad's ending was ridiculously good. And while it was criticized by some, I loved The Sopranos ending. But the last few episodes of that show, when it was an all out war, were good.

Taking it way back, I loved the ending of The Wonder Years. But that show provides a lot of sentimental value, and it's one of my favorites ever.

 

[J_Dee]

I think The Soprano's ending is fantastic. And just as a reminder for naysayers --

Spoiler

Tony dies.

The Hollywood Reporter: ‘Sopranos’ Creator David Chase Finally Reveals What Happened to Tony (Exclusive)

[The audience] wanted to know that Tony was killed. They wanted to see him go face-down in linguini, you know? And I just thought, “God, you watched this guy for seven years and I know he’s a criminal. But don’t tell me you don’t love him in some way, don’t tell me you’re not on his side in some way. And now you want to see him killed? You want justice done? You’re a criminal after watching this shit for seven years.” That bothered me, yeah.

I didn't empathize with Tony in the slightest. He was a monster and I wanted him (and the rest of his crew) dead. Same with Walter White. What do y'all think? Did you empathize with either?

I've only ever watched one episode of The Walking Dead (it's not my thing), with an insanely annoying girl who kept saying "OOOOH, THIS IS SO SCARY!" over and over and over at everything, among doing other irritating things. That was the last time she was invited over.

 

[PhDcat2018]

Best cheers

Worst Lost **** off the dream thing

 

[TexasTimCat]

Never seen MASH and not saying it wasn’t a great show but I always hear this stat but when you only had 3 or 4 channels to choose from you can get that number. It’s impossible now with all the options.

It was 1983, we even had cable in louisvile 😀

 

[Ron Mehico]

It was 1983, we even had cable in louisvile 😀

Just doing a quick google search 11% of the US population had cable tv in 1984 😀

 

[Bill Cosby]

I think The Soprano's ending is fantastic. And just as a reminder for naysayers --

Spoiler

Tony dies.

The Hollywood Reporter: ‘Sopranos’ Creator David Chase Finally Reveals What Happened to Tony (Exclusive)

I didn't empathize with Tony in the slightest. He was a monster and I wanted him (and the rest of his crew) dead. Same with Walter White. What do y'all think? Did you empathize with either?

I've only ever watched one episode of The Walking Dead (it's not my thing), with an insanely annoying girl who kept saying "OOOOH, THIS IS SO SCARY!" over and over and over at everything, among doing other irritating things. That was the last time she was invited over.

Everyone could empathize with Walter White. Then there came a point they couldn’t. Almost like something changed. A story about him Breaking Bad.

 

[J_Dee]

Just doing a quick google search 11% of the US population had cable tv in 1984 😀

My family lived in south central Kentucky and we got cable around the summer or fall of '83, when I was about six, after my dad and some other locals harassed and harassed petitioned the local cable company to extend it out to our area (that saga's one of my earliest memories). I remember watching Star Wars on HBO in '83, as well as a lot of other HBO shows and movies (Fraggle Rock, Not Necessarily the News, BrainGames, and a ton of stuff that I was way, way too young to watch), and Pinwheel and You Can't Do That On Television on Nickelodeon a lot.

Then there came a point they couldn’t. Almost like something changed. A story about him Breaking Bad.

For me that's when Walt starts cooking and distributing meth and then horrifically murders two guys and dissolves their bodies in acid, all while coolly lying to his family about it all like it's nothing. The first three episodes.

 

[thabigbluenation]

When Walt let Jessie's girlfriend choke on her own puke so she would die because he needed Jessie. That's when he turned for me. Greatest show of all time imo.

 

[BC_Wader]

It was 1983, we even had cable in louisvile 😀

Those early Storer cable boxes were big and black and had the dial on it. Then they went to the slide box but everyone was rigging it to get channels they didn't have. I put the butterknife in it to watch the Playboy channel on my black and white in my room. I had the volume up one night fidgeting with the knife to get the channel. Finally it comes on and first thing that came through was "ELECTRIC BLUE". Then Dad hollers from his bed, "Boy! You better get that butterknife out of there!". Yeah, he was probably doing the same thing 🤣

 

[WildcatFan1982]

For me that's when Walt starts cooking and distributing meth and then horrifically murders two guys and dissolves their bodies in acid, all while coolly lying to his family about it all like it's nothing. The first three episodes.

Michael Scarn strangled the best amateur speed skater in the country and he was the good guy. He apologized to the guy while he was doing it just like Walt!

 

[FirewithFire]

I'm torn on how SoA ended. I really liked the 1st 3 seasons then it gradually got to be a bit much.

That's classic Kurt Sutter. The guy is his own worst enemy. After they kicked him off of Mayans the show got a bit better. I liked the ending of that one.

Many good choices here. Cheers, BB, and Friends are good. I watched a show back in the the 90s called Wings. I liked the way they ended it.

 

[thabigbluenation]

Wings wad sneaky good.

Never could get into mayans Mc. Just was not nearly as good.

As for SoA I feel like once taylor sheridan and his writers left it dropped off. Casting was really good for the most part. Just got too violent and unrealistic. But I've watched the series several times. So I still like it.

GoT went from my favorite seriers to worst ending of all time. First 6 seasons were fantastic. GR wouldn't get off his ass and write. D@D were in over their head after the material ran out. Crunched like 4 seasons worth of possible storyline into 2 shortened seasons cause they were done with show. It deserved better.