Series Finales (Post NO SPOLIERS for Finales of shows less than 3 years old)

[Brue]

With tonight's finale of GOT in the news, I was thinking about how big series' finales are received.

Expectation grow so high with the most popular shows. Fans have ideas about how characters and storylines should be sent off and remembered.

What are some of your favorite and some of the most disappointing?

The ones I really want to address are the ones that had teh last regular season episode as a finale - not a made for TV (or big screen) movie released after the series ended (but feel free to include them if you wish)

My most recent one was I watched was Gotham (though the show certainly wasn't one of these popular shows) - the ending was good.

The Office - I loved the show. I loved the Finale.

Breaking Bad - I loved teh first couple seasons. I don't remember how many seasons there were. After the Airplane crash I couldn't stomach it anymore. I skipped it until the end. I watched sa recap of the season then the finale. I liked the finale. It is what I had hoped would happen before it jumped the shark.

Dexter - I left feeling Meh

I didn't watch Lost - and after I heard about the ending, I was sooooo happy to have passed on watching this. That ending was insulting.

Scrubs - I loved the show! the "Finale" that ended teh original cast was OK. When it returned with a mostly new cast it was unwatchable.

Smallville. I had already lost some interest in the show. The finale didn't do anything to make me say WOW! but it also wasn't bad.

Seinfeld - the finale was odd. Not awesome by any means, but fitting for the show.

Friends - nope

I loved the finale for Quantum Leap - one of my favorite shows and they managed to nail it.

Magnum - bit the premature and final finale were disappointing.

I loved MASH and it is the first time I remember a Finale even being part of a show. There were others before it, but I know this one was a cultural event. It was a fitting end.

All in the Family -I didn't see the series in order and didn't see the finale until well after the fact. It was great, but because of my age and the order it wasn't any more impactful to me than the mid series episode of Good Times where we learned that (Spoiler Alert) James senior died.



A show I watched the first half of the first season - but couldn't get through : How I met your mother. I liked the characters and was interested in the strories, but for whatever reason - I just couldn't stay with it. - I could look the ending up, but I have held out hope of finishing. - If you share the ending, I can be done with it. Or if you think it is worth watching through - hype it without spoiling it.

[Mego Newbie14]

MASH had a great ending. For me it’s the standard bearer for series finales.
Cheers was good and it made sense on Sam’s true love was.
Smallville was a letdown.
Psych was good but I kinda expected a little more but I’m glad their still doing the TV movies.
Boy Meets World is one of my favorite shows and was real happy with their finale.
Loved Scrubs and season 8 final was the real finale and it was near perfect. I view the whole season 9 fiasco as them doing a spinoff, Scrubs:The College Years, so it doesn’t count.
Burn Notice last season was real hit and miss but the ending really made up for a lot.

And Brue, don’t waste any time going back for How I Met Your Mother. The ending was horrible. I have yet to meet anyone who liked that show have anything good to say about that ending. I work 2nd shift and I don’t remember how but I got the night off of the finale so I could watch it. Should have gone to work and asked to work a double. It ruined the entire series for me.

[Brue]

...
Psych was good but I kinda expected a little more but I’m glad their still doing the TV movies.
...

Oh yeah - I LOVED the series, but I agree with you on the end.

And Brue, don’t waste any time going back for How I Met Your Mother. The ending was horrible. I have yet to meet anyone who liked that show have anything good to say about that ending. I work 2nd shift and I don’t remember how but I got the night off of the finale so I could watch it. Should have gone to work and asked to work a double. It ruined the entire series for me.

Thanks

[thunderbolt]

The Galactica reboot comes to mind as ok for me. It wrapped up all the plots and the overall storyline pretty well. I really can't think of any others that were good outside of what has been mentioned. Really until MASH did it series finales weren't hyped so much like they are now. I do wonder how the Walking Dead will end. Maybe they run of people to eat or they pull the Wizard of Oz ending with Rick in the hospital.

[thunderbolt]

Oh, forgot Newhart, that was one of the better ones, Breaking Bad did an alternate ending spoofing it.

[Hedji]

Six Feet Under was perhaps the best I’ve ever seen.

I remember hitting rewind immediately to watch the final montage again.

[RonnyG]

I really can't think of any others that were good outside of what has been mentioned. Really until MASH did it series finales weren't hyped so much like they are now. I do wonder how the

I agree! MASH kind of set the bar for series finales. There was The Fugitive in the sixties with the capture of the one-armed man, but prior to MASH, most series didn't have big finales until the 1980s. I think originally the producers just wanted to make it past the 100 episodes mark so they could sell the show in syndication and run the episodes over and over again in a cycle without any conclusion.

I did like the final episode on GOOD TIMES. I can't recall the exact circumstances, but the ending revealed that the Evans family was finally moving out of the ghetto! I think Keith was recruited by some football team, or something like that, and J.J. got a good paying job.
I also liked the final episode of Prisoner: Cell Block H (the Australian soap opera) where the evil prison warden called, "The Freak," was caught stealing a large sum of money, and was sentenced to the very same prison where she had worked.

[sprytel]

TNG's finale, "All Good Things", is great. Loved how it provided that continuity from the first episode to the last, and all the cool timey-wimey stuff that really fit with a moment for looking back and saying goodbye.

On the sitcom side, I thought Parks & Recs nailed their finale.

[Mikey]

Deep Space 9 finale should have been a theatrical release --- was better than any crap Next Gen put on the big screen

[Hector]

I’m not going to list really old show.

The following are shows that I religiously watched. Will post show and one word to describe the series finale...

Breaking Bad...great
Big Bang Theory...good
The Sopranos...disappointing
Gotham...okay
Deadwood...bad (but so grateful the movie is coming to wrap things up)
Six Feet Under...good
Dexter...okay
X-Files...bad (didn’t like the comeback series either)
Sarah Connor Chronicles...bad

Game of Thrones...to-be-determined

[Hector]

Deep Space 9 finale should have been a theatrical release --- was better than any crap Next Gen put on the big screen

First Contact was really good...

[Brue]

Oh, forgot Newhart, that was one of the better ones,

Yes!

Breaking Bad did an alternate ending spoofing it.

and Yes!

[Brue]

I’m not going to list really old show.

X-Files...bad (didn’t like the comeback series either)

yep. I loved the show, but...

[Brue]

Deep Space 9 finale should have been a theatrical release --- was better than any crap Next Gen put on the big screen

I was never a big fan of DS9. I watched sporadically. I guess I have seen half to 2/3 of it. I don't remember the finale. I'll have to check it out.

(but I highly doubt it is better than Generations.)

[Brue]

TNG's finale, "All Good Things", is great. Loved how it provided that continuity from the first episode to the last, and all the cool timey-wimey stuff that really fit with a moment for looking back and saying goodbye.

On the sitcom side, I thought Parks & Recs nailed their finale.

I agree with all of that.