# Tell us about the TV series finales that most annoyed you, and how you'd want them fixed. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 15, 2013, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-tv-series-finales-that-most-annoyed-you-and-how-youd-want-them-fixed/653050 "2013-03-15T22:06:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-tv-series-finales-that-most-annoyed-you-and-how-youd-want-them-fixed/653050/41 "2013-03-17T05:55:42Z")
I found the final episode of _West Wing_ to be intensely meh, but then, the show had been in a 3-year slide up to that point, having lost its comedic edge. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-tv-series-finales-that-most-annoyed-you-and-how-youd-want-them-fixed/653050/42 "2013-03-17T14:47:27Z")
Battlestar Galactica. Well, it wouldn’t be the finale, but pretty much from near end of Season 3, wiping out Season 4 completely. The five aren’t the five. Starbuck is at least one of them (some others could be, less important who). The reality is that the seven don’t know who the five are (and there certainly wouldn’t only be _one_ of each of them, duh). The background is the split, the five and the seven had a civil war over killing or helping the humans many years before, and the five won. The consequences were that the five wiped the details of the seven from their minds and sent them off. Since then, the five, who are pro human have been shadowing and leading the humans on their way to earth, having failed to prevent the sevens attack. Its complicated too by the fact that when some seven cylons die away from the sevens ships, they reincarnate in the fives ships, leaving cyclons to convert and imprison (and some escape). Each of the five are revealed at different stages, the first being the thousands of Starbucks who are revealed. The humans don’t get who all the five are and they certainly aren’t like the likes of Tigh (who’s plot hole is massive, so Adama has known him for years and yet he’d never aged, because he was a cylon?). Some of the five switch sides, and a civil war ensues within the Cylons. Humans do make it to earth, but the war rages on. The five eventually win, by suicide missions, destroying all cylons. The people make earth, they celebrate their cylon allies. Except at the end, it reveals, that their are 13 cylons. Another ship is watching over the humans. Its not revealed whether they like them or not. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-tv-series-finales-that-most-annoyed-you-and-how-youd-want-them-fixed/653050/43 "2013-03-17T14:54:04Z")
Lost Apart from marching out the writers to apologise and be shot, there’s only real way to have a decent finale to Lost. Finish it at end of Season 3. Oh yes, and cut middle of Season 2. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-tv-series-finales-that-most-annoyed-you-and-how-youd-want-them-fixed/653050/44 "2013-03-17T15:35:30Z")
> [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > As far as Farscape goes, I think the last 5 minutes of the finale was written by the winner of the “What’s the most asshole thing we can end this show on?” contest. Pretty much. Striking the sets immediately thereafter was a pretty big FUCK YOU to the fans. Although I do consider the followup movie to be a pretty good apology. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-tv-series-finales-that-most-annoyed-you-and-how-youd-want-them-fixed/653050/45 "2013-03-17T15:41:40Z")
> [@Pushkin](#): > > I always stand to be corrected, but I thought he never went home because he didn’t want to stop helping people, as per advice from the bartender. > > On the subject of Star Trek, I never did like the end of the Original Series, Turnabout Intruder. Something along the lines of All Good Things, bit of discovery, bit of sideways thinking would have been nice. I suppose the film The Undiscovered Country counts as an end to the series in a way, so there’s that in compensation. I wouldn’t count Turnabout Intruder, or the last episode of most series from the fifties, sixties, & seventies. In that era, deliberate series finales were the exception, not the rule–particularly for short-running series. Real!Trek only lasted three years, after all. The Undiscovered Country is the real Shatner/Nimoy! Trek finale. ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-tv-series-finales-that-most-annoyed-you-and-how-youd-want-them-fixed/653050/46 "2013-03-17T16:34:08Z")
My immediate reaction was confusion because of the fade to static ending. At first, I thought something happened to my set or sabotage somewhere along the line, due to the expected huge audience. Had they simply rolled the credits, at least I would have realized that was the ending, instead of being completely taken out of that extremely tense buildup. ---
**Author:** ![Sarabellum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarabellum/32/3492_2.png) [@Sarabellum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarabellum)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-tv-series-finales-that-most-annoyed-you-and-how-youd-want-them-fixed/653050/47 "2013-03-17T17:06:31Z")
**Gilmore Girls**. I didn’t like that Lorelei and Luke never officially got (back) together. Rory dumped Logan for - what reason did she give, again? She wanted to be a career girl? Logan never did anything EXCEPT help her career! ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-tv-series-finales-that-most-annoyed-you-and-how-youd-want-them-fixed/653050/48 "2013-03-17T17:27:47Z")
> [@Sarabellum1976](#): > > **Gilmore Girls**. I didn’t like that Lorelei and Luke never officially got (back) together. Rory dumped Logan for - what reason did she give, again? She wanted to be a career girl? Logan never did anything EXCEPT help her career! While I agree with you about Lorelai & Like needing a more definite resolution, I cna’t agree when it comes to Rory and Logan. It’s not so much that Logan _per se_ was bad for Rory as it was that she needed to grow up and find a way to identify as herself, not as an appendage to her boyfriend of the moment. That girl needed therapy. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-tv-series-finales-that-most-annoyed-you-and-how-youd-want-them-fixed/653050/49 "2013-03-17T17:30:36Z")
Roseanne. The last year was all fiction. Dan Died? No, no, no. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-tv-series-finales-that-most-annoyed-you-and-how-youd-want-them-fixed/653050/50 "2013-03-17T17:40:01Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > _Quantum Leap_. I did not watch this series for five years to learn that Sam never got to go home. +1 > [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > I don’t recall the last episode of _Happy Days_ but it should have ended with Chuck Cunningham laughing hysterically on the front lawn next to an empty gasoline can as his parents’ home goes up in flames. Or walking out of the bathroom apologizing for taking so long ---
**Author:** ![James\_Otto\_Sweet\_Heart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac8455/32.png) [@James\_Otto\_Sweet\_Heart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/James_Otto_Sweet_Heart)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-tv-series-finales-that-most-annoyed-you-and-how-youd-want-them-fixed/653050/51 "2013-03-17T17:52:20Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Roseanne. The last year was all fiction. Dan Died? > > No, no, no. I have never been a fan of that show, but to me that was an awful way to end one. God bless you always!!! Holly ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-tv-series-finales-that-most-annoyed-you-and-how-youd-want-them-fixed/653050/52 "2013-03-17T18:05:35Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Roseanne. The last year was all fiction. Dan Died? > > No, no, no. IIRC the WHOLE show was what Roseanne wished had happened. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-tv-series-finales-that-most-annoyed-you-and-how-youd-want-them-fixed/653050/53 "2013-03-17T18:10:34Z")
> [@deltasigma](#): > > Oh come on people. 7 responses and LOST isn’t in the list yet? WTF? > > Fortunately I only watched the show by the week for the last season, but I still wanted some goddamned answers and not that weak ass bullshit they were pedalling for the last episode either. Mother fuckers!!! :mad: :mad: :mad: THE WORST ENDING EVER! I think “St. Elsewhere” was even better than that! We get a golden jacuzzi with a plumbing problem to set it up, and (even though we were promised that they’re not dead) they’re dead! Dharma was a ruse? Daniel’s math means shit? It felt good to erase the entire series from my DVR. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-tv-series-finales-that-most-annoyed-you-and-how-youd-want-them-fixed/653050/54 "2013-03-17T18:47:57Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > _Newhart_ > > Because there will never be a more perfect finale. Ever. Which renders the rest of TV history always striving for…second-best. Concur. And kudos to Bob for having the clangers to pull it off. As for most disappointing, I’d pick Cheers. It just sort of… stopped mid-episode. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-tv-series-finales-that-most-annoyed-you-and-how-youd-want-them-fixed/653050/55 "2013-03-18T07:56:54Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > I would only alter that by having each of the four have different punishments. Kramer would get off scot-free because, having videotaped the crime, the police were able to identify and apprehend the carjacker. Elaine and Jerry would be found guilty but only have to do community service. George, being the butt-monkey of the group, would get hit the hardest and end up not only serving the full one year sentence but also bankrupt from legal expenses, jobless, and being disowned and disinherited by his parents. One more change. George gets a woman groupie who visits him in prison, who is utterly gorgeous, but he can’t have sex with her because he’s in prison. I’m trying to figure out a way that he can get his sentence doubled by trying to have sex with her – whatever the network TV version of sticking his dick through the bars would be. ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-tv-series-finales-that-most-annoyed-you-and-how-youd-want-them-fixed/653050/56 "2013-03-18T08:39:53Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > One more change. George gets a woman groupie who visits him in prison, who is utterly gorgeous, but he can’t have sex with her because he’s in prison. I’m trying to figure out a way that he can get his sentence doubled by trying to have sex with her – whatever the network TV version of sticking his dick through the bars would be. Fugitive sex! ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-tv-series-finales-that-most-annoyed-you-and-how-youd-want-them-fixed/653050/57 "2013-03-18T12:30:10Z")
Dallas- Bobby hears the shower going, goes into bathroom, peels back the curtain to find… JR and Pam. Brady Bunch- Brady home surrounded by crime scene tape, close with FBI wanted poster with photos of Alice and Sam the Butcher. Beverly Hillbillies- EPA fines Jed $80 million for oil spill that happened when he was shootin’ up some food, winds up a pauper back in the hills. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-tv-series-finales-that-most-annoyed-you-and-how-youd-want-them-fixed/653050/58 "2013-03-18T12:51:04Z")
Since we’re picking on Star Trek, I’m going to add _TNG_. “All Good Things” was an attempt to wrap up loose ends, give some hints as to where the characters would end up and link to the pilot episode to tie the whole thing together. Except that it was clumsily done, the time travel stuff wasn’t very consistent and the whole experience gets erased at the end anyway. Deeply unsatisfying. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-tv-series-finales-that-most-annoyed-you-and-how-youd-want-them-fixed/653050/59 "2013-03-18T12:55:43Z")
> [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > Almost anything else would have been better. This show has affected my viewing habits, and I won’t watch any other show that features a central mystery that can’t be solved by a statement like, “The butler did it.” At least, not before it’s done and on DVD. I put my faith in them that they would deliver the answers to the outlandish questions that they raised, that my time spent in suspending disbelief would have a payoff. It didn’t. I agree with this as well. The whole time I was watching Lost, I kept saying, jokingly at first and then less and less jokingly as we approached the end, “They better not pull an X-files on us.” But they did. So screw it, from now on for shows like this I’m waiting until the series is finished. IF lots of people seem reasonably happy with the payoff, then I’ll watch. But I’m not investing a lot of time and energy into a show that turns into a big pile of unexplainable crap again. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-tv-series-finales-that-most-annoyed-you-and-how-youd-want-them-fixed/653050/60 "2013-03-18T12:58:24Z")
The thing with Quantum Leap is not that Sam didn’t go home. That’s somewhat acceptable. What bothered me was the supernatural bend the whole finale took. He leaps into himself at the time he was born, so he’s older version of himself in some Diner. It’s weird. That beginning is really all I remember from the one time I watched that finale. Anyways, I would replace all shows that are not tragic that have a tragic ending. I hate that! It feels like I’ve been misled, pulled along just to be made less happy than when I started watching. Tragedies only work for me if I know ahead of time they are going to happen. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-tv-series-finales-that-most-annoyed-you-and-how-youd-want-them-fixed/653050.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-tv-series-finales-that-most-annoyed-you-and-how-youd-want-them-fixed/653050.md?page=4)