Ashley Posted May 18, 2019 Posted May 18, 2019 Some show is finishing soon. Can't remember the name, seems to have a few fans... Anyway, as people seem to have already decided it's not going to be good it got me thinking about TV finales and just wondering which ones you think worked well and which didn't? It's not an easy thing to wrap up a multi-year thing, particularly the more serialised ones. Please, even for old shows use spoiler tags if you're going to go into detail. I'll start off with some commonly criticised ones. Reveal hidden contents and then how she died. I kind of admire them for sticking with the original idea they had, but I'm sure they also didn't expect the show to go on for 9 years. All the back and forth with Ted and Robin seemed to finally be over (complete with awful CGI balloon effect) and then...it wasn't. If it was season 4/5 it would have been fine, but it felt like such a backslide. Plus they managed the impossible. They spent 8 seasons saying how amazing and wonderful the mother was. It should not have been possible to live up to that and yet she was great. Cristin Milioti was great in that role and to just kill her off because that's what you decided to do a decade earlier was a misstep. Although at least they included her in the last season, rather than the original plan which I believe was for her to come in at the very end. Reveal hidden contents Hi ho, hi ho. It's off to become a lumberjack I go. What the hell? And a recent one I think ended well: Reveal hidden contents Elements of it were predictable, but they stayed true to the evolution of Rebecca's character by not pairing her up with someone just for a 'happy ending'. Plus there were reflective looks back (the 11 o'clock number being the most obvious) without being too naval gazing.
Happenstance Posted May 18, 2019 Posted May 18, 2019 One of my favourites which I don’t think I appreciated at the time: Reveal hidden contents Just the fact that they don’t win and kill the big bad, the fight continues as it will always have to. 1
Glen-i Posted May 18, 2019 Posted May 18, 2019 (edited) Well, you beat me to How I Met Your Mother. But now that I think about it, I haven't really witnessed many TV shows ending, (Well, with an actual ending, seen plenty of cartoons that abruptly got cancelled) When it got revived on Dave, Red Dwarf bought up a particular question. Reveal hidden contents Seriously, which Rimmer is the one that we see in the latest episodes? Is it the one from Series 1-7 that became Ace Rimmer, or is it the one is series 8 that was hinted to have died at the end of the series. Mind you, they purposely tease about this and it is funny. Two times, the Red Dwarf crew have started talking about how they survived that series finale, only to be interrupted before the important information comes out. Edited May 18, 2019 by Glen-i
Nicktendo Posted May 18, 2019 Posted May 18, 2019 I don’t know about anyone else but, personally, I really like the endings to Mad Men and Breaking Bad. Dexter was trash after season 4 but for some reason I watched it all the way to the end... Red Dwarf is a tough one. I liked the ending to season 6 and felt they could have ended it there. Season 7 and 8 were generally bad, but I liked the ending to 8 too. The first special was awful and I’ve only seen season 10 (which also wasn’t great, bar lemons) so can’t comment on them. Ending a show is not easy it seems. Usually I feel dissatisfied (Buffy’s ending, for example, wasn’t great for such an incredible show, felt underwhelming and the awful CGI didn’t help). I’ve never seen The Sopranos but everyone and their mother knows the ending. Maybe that’s the way to do it...
Hero-of-Time Posted May 18, 2019 Posted May 18, 2019 I loved the endings to both Smallville and Star Trek: Voyager. Reveal hidden contents Spending 10 years with Clark and then finally getting to see him unleash his powers, fly, wear the suit (no matter how brief) and have the Superman music kick in was something very special. Reveal hidden contents This done what every good TV series ending should do and give people the closure they wanted. After years of being stranded in a different quadrant fans finally got to see the crew get home. Add to the fact we got a battle with the Borg and this made for a fantastic finale. One ending that I absolutely hate, despite loving the show, is Angel. Reveal hidden contents You had all of this build up but you had absolutely no closure as to what happened. Did they win? Who else died? It just felt like they either didn't have the budget to create the set piece they wanted ( they mention a dragon but we didn't get to see it ) or they just didn't know how to end the thing. Either way I felt ripped off and I wasn't buying to comics just so I could find out what happened. Its such a shame they couldn't use Buffy after the network split. To this day I think she and the other slayers could have played a significant role in the Angel finale and made it much better.
BowserBasher Posted May 18, 2019 Posted May 18, 2019 Seen Angel mentioned a few times but want to say Buffy the Vampire Slayer for me had one of the best endings. Wrapped up but left that little openness of all the potential Slayers coming into their power. Also so one that is always praised, Futurama. All the endings, lol. But especially the final final ending. Just perfect.
Dog-amoto Posted May 18, 2019 Posted May 18, 2019 (edited) Reveal hidden contents Edited May 18, 2019 by Dog-amoto 1
bob Posted May 18, 2019 Posted May 18, 2019 This thread is a real minefield using Tapatalk when none of the spoiler tags work, and none of the TV show names appear.
killthenet Posted May 18, 2019 Posted May 18, 2019 Don't worry, nobody has posted any Big Bang Theory spoilers. You're safe for the time being. 1
Dog-amoto Posted May 18, 2019 Posted May 18, 2019 One of the best endings of all time had to be The Wire. Series 5 wasn’t the best mainly due to the “serial killer” story, but the way it didn’t even try to wrap everything up, the whole point to it all was that there was no point at all. Life just went on, cycles repeated with different characters and the whole futility of everything was much more impactful than the shows who kill off half the cast in the finale (as Game of Thrones probably will) Other great endings were Justified, The Americans and Rectify, all proving that you can end a drama successfully without having to rely on a shocking death or two.
EEVILMURRAY Posted May 18, 2019 Posted May 18, 2019 On 5/18/2019 at 2:38 PM, killthenet said: Don't worry, nobody has posted any Big Bang Theory spoilers. You're safe for the time being. Expand Because nothing has actually happened yet. Two episodes to go and it still seems like business as usual.
Cube Posted May 19, 2019 Posted May 19, 2019 Star Trek had a mixture Reveal hidden contents Was just a normal episode, one attempting to be feminist but ended to portraying women in a bad light instead. Reveal hidden contents A really good episode, delving into the past, present and possible future of the show. I'm also sure it served as some inspiration for a recent film. Reveal hidden contents A good ending to both the war and the odd stuff happening with the prophets. Reveal hidden contents Absolutely horrendous. Among the worst episodes of Star Trek. They decide to abandon their principals and cheat, and there's absolutely no resolution for the characters, they just get there and show over. Reveal hidden contents Terra Prime was a great ending of the show, good character development due to the cloned baby and ends with a great unifying speech from Archer. One that deserves a mention Reveal hidden contents An amazing ending. An epic battle, lots of resolutions, character development, astounding missing and we get plenty of time after the climax as well. 1
markderoos Posted May 19, 2019 Posted May 19, 2019 The Walking Dead Reveal hidden contents Because PLEASE LET IT END ALREADY 1 1
Ashley Posted May 19, 2019 Author Posted May 19, 2019 On 5/18/2019 at 4:00 PM, EEVILMURRAY said: Because nothing has actually happened yet. Two episodes to go and it still seems like business as usual. Expand The finale aired in America a few days ago.
EEVILMURRAY Posted May 19, 2019 Posted May 19, 2019 On 5/19/2019 at 5:23 PM, Ashley said: The finale aired in America a few days ago. Expand But still, there's been no build up, like in Friend's where they were looking at houses n' stuff foreshadowing the leaving.
Ashley Posted May 19, 2019 Author Posted May 19, 2019 Oh sorry by "nothing has actually happened" I thought you meant "the finale has not aired".
Jonnas Posted May 20, 2019 Posted May 20, 2019 Funny how a thread like this managed to go through so many posts without someone mentioning Lost I guess that ending wasn't that controversial, compared to the series itself. It was far easier to accept than some of the bullshit in Season 3, anyway. HIMYM was a disappointing case, yeah. I agree with most of the things people here have said. Dexter still wins in the "worst ending to anything ever", though. It wasn't just the final episode, that final season was a gigantic turd that managed to find new ways to fuck up with every episode. In that sense, the finale fit with the season it was in.
markderoos Posted May 21, 2019 Posted May 21, 2019 I quite liked the ending to both Lost and The Leftovers. Heroes endings were both bad, especially the original series ending.
drahkon Posted May 21, 2019 Posted May 21, 2019 Loved the ending to House. It wasn't an incredible ending to a series but it was fitting and delivered very well. 2
Ashley Posted May 21, 2019 Author Posted May 21, 2019 On 5/20/2019 at 7:25 PM, Jonnas said: Funny how a thread like this managed to go through so many posts without someone mentioning Lost I guess that ending wasn't that controversial, compared to the series itself. It was far easier to accept than some of the bullshit in Season 3, anyway. Expand I stopped after the first season so... (not because it was bad at that point, but it was when you'd have to wait for a box set to come out and I couldn't be bothered). One ending I did really enjoy that I thought about recently was Halt and Catch Fire. It really hit all the right notes and it even earned the somewhat cheesy song it ended on.
EEVILMURRAY Posted May 28, 2019 Posted May 28, 2019 On 5/19/2019 at 8:32 PM, Ashley said: Oh sorry by "nothing has actually happened" I thought you meant "the finale has not aired". Expand Now that it's happened: I think the finale though wasn't bad at all. They didn't go down a Fellowship sized going separate ways which was nice. Reveal hidden contents I was pretty invested in this season* until the final episode where they didn't want anyone to have a happy ending so they handed the reins to a Tarrantino wannabe who killed everyone, leaving only the women behind. *Although it couldn't match Woody/Matt
Goafer Posted May 28, 2019 Posted May 28, 2019 Oh ok, so no one has mentioned Blackadder Goes Forth, "Over the Top". Fine.
Glen-i Posted May 28, 2019 Posted May 28, 2019 (edited) On 5/28/2019 at 10:14 AM, Goafer said: Oh ok, so no one has mentioned Blackadder Goes Forth, "Over the Top". Fine. Expand Yeah, OK. That's a bit embarrassing for me. That's one of the most well-known and better executed ones. Edited May 28, 2019 by Glen-i
bob Posted May 28, 2019 Posted May 28, 2019 I can't believe that nobody has mentioned the Dallas, the show that ended in 1991.
Glen-i Posted May 28, 2019 Posted May 28, 2019 On 5/28/2019 at 12:25 PM, bob said: I can't believe that nobody has mentioned the Dallas, the show that ended in 1991. Expand Well, that's because I was 1 back when anyone cared.
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