# The Poochie Award for worst slapped on series finale goes to **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 15, 2026, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-poochie-award-for-worst-slapped-on-series-finale-goes-to/1033866 "2026-10-15T21:13:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-poochie-award-for-worst-slapped-on-series-finale-goes-to/1033866/1 "2026-10-15T21:13:05Z")
In honor of the dearly departed Simpsons character, I give the Poochie Award for worst slapped on series finale to…_Castle._ Spoilers Ahead I can’t really think of any show that comes close. I had forgotten about the ending. I happened to have caught it playing on one of the cable channels that regularly shows it. Truly awful. Let me give an overview of the ending. This was season 8. The show had gotten more ridiculous as time went on and the character Richard Castle became more cartoon-like. I think it was still doing ok in the ratings and they were hoping to come back for season 9. The problem was the two leads were no getting along and Stana Katic had no signed on for another season. I think they were hoping she came back but had a plan for if she didn’t. During the episode the big bad was revealed and vanquished. As everyone relaxed the secondary bad guy shows up and shoots Castle and Beckett. The episode was supposed to end on a big cliffhanger with both of them possibly dead. With Katic not coming back they were prepared to move forward with her character dying as the basis of the next season. But what really happened is they got word the show was cancelled. The episode goes from the two main characters seemingly dead and bloody on the floor to suddenly switching to a title card stating “Seven Years Later.” Castle and Beckett are smiling and happy surrounded by children for a minute and then bam, it’s over. Episode over, season over, series over. Jarring and stupid. Are there other examples that are worse? I would disqualify _The Sopranos._ it was certainly sudden. Maybe you hate it. But it wasn’t slapped on at the last minute. It was thought out and planned. I would also disqualify something like _Angel._ It ended before they wanted it to but they were able to bring it to a close over the course of a few episodes. I did find the seen from _Castle_ if you want to check it out for yourself. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/c_XEPKll9wI/maxresdefault.jpg "Castle 8x22 Ending / End Scene Castle & Beckett Kids Caskett Happy Ending Series Finale “Crossfire”") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_XEPKll9wI) ---
**Author:** ![Nicest\_of\_the\_Damned](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8baadc/32.png) [@Nicest\_of\_the\_Damned](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nicest_of_the_Damned)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-poochie-award-for-worst-slapped-on-series-finale-goes-to/1033866/2 "2026-10-15T21:24:59Z")
Not a series finale but a character finale (in the spirit of Poochie). Spoilers for The Expanse ahead… I only recently got around to finishing it and I knew that one of the actors had been fired for inappropriate behavior but…what an anticlimactic exit for Alex. Did they just take some previous footage and do some movie magic to keep him still while everything in the background went on or did he actually have to “act” the scene out? Disappointing because the whole group had great chemistry and the show really lost something with his departure. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-poochie-award-for-worst-slapped-on-series-finale-goes-to/1033866/3 "2026-10-15T21:31:25Z")
“Game of Thrones” I think looms large for this. I’d also add “How I Met Your Mother.” ETA: “Seinfeld” ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-poochie-award-for-worst-slapped-on-series-finale-goes-to/1033866/4 "2026-10-15T21:58:21Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > I’d also add “How I Met Your Mother.” The ending of HIMYM was terrible, but it was the exact _opposite_ of “slapped on” - the finale was planned from the very conception of the series, and the creators insisted on sticking with it, despite the fact that the series had lasted twice as long as they had planned and the characters and their relationships had evolved to a point where the planned ending made no sense. Everyone watching the show could see the ending coming and nobody wanted it to happen. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-poochie-award-for-worst-slapped-on-series-finale-goes-to/1033866/5 "2026-10-15T22:13:36Z")
How about the series finale of _Seinfeld_ literally just being a clip show? ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-poochie-award-for-worst-slapped-on-series-finale-goes-to/1033866/6 "2026-10-15T22:46:34Z")
Enterprise! The finale was a holodeck simulation of the Enterprise crew (Archer-era) intended to edify Riker in the middle of the TNG episode “The Pegasus.” My confession - the ending to HIMYM was sad, but it fit the story. The series was a victim of its own success - they introduced a new character in the last season, and instead of her being seen as an intruder to the established relationships between the other characters, she was delightful - so her fate was sad. On any other series, introducing her would have failed, and her fate wouldn’t have provoked such a reaction ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-poochie-award-for-worst-slapped-on-series-finale-goes-to/1033866/7 "2026-10-15T23:14:51Z")
> [@Nicest\_of\_the\_Damned](#): > > Disappointing because the whole group had great chemistry and the show really lost something with his departure. I am a major fan of the Expanse series (book and TV show) but let’s talk about that final season and the random-ass shit that showed up there. There was some kids in a rainforest or something? Was anything supposed to happen with that? Currently in the middle of the book series so maybe it was an allusion to later in the series? But it made no fucking sense on TV. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-poochie-award-for-worst-slapped-on-series-finale-goes-to/1033866/8 "2026-10-15T23:15:31Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > My confession - the ending to HIMYM was sad, but it fit the story. Did it? It’s right in the title. We spent eight or nine seasons waiting to meet her, then meet her for a few episodes and then she is killed off and Ted ends up with Robyn? (probably) 200+ episodes and this is all resolved in maybe a half-dozen? Phooey. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-poochie-award-for-worst-slapped-on-series-finale-goes-to/1033866/9 "2026-10-15T23:20:14Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > 200+ episodes and this is all resolved in maybe a half-dozen? Phooey. I for one had no idea how it was going to end, but I remember being more than happy for the series to end. So much changed culturally between the time it started and the time it ended, you realized over the course of the show that all these people were actually pretty shitty. Either that or their characters got progressively more shitty - but Barney showed personal growth, at least. With Ted one of the final scenes displays what a stand-up fucking guy he is for refusing to have sex with a very drunk woman. Here’s your gold star, Teddy. Now GTFO. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-poochie-award-for-worst-slapped-on-series-finale-goes-to/1033866/10 "2026-10-16T00:48:34Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > and TV show) but let’s talk about that final season and the random-ass shit that showed up there. There was some kids in a rainforest or something? Was anything supposed to happen with that? > > Currently in the middle of the book series so maybe it was an allusion to later in the series? But it made no fucking sense on TV. I think the kids come from the _Strange Dogs_ short story in the _Memory’s Legion_ collection. My recommendation is to read the stories in _Memory’s Legion_ where they fit in between the main series books. You can always go back and read any of the short stories you’ve already passed. I don’t remember if there are spoilers if you read ahead. The kids do link up to things that happen in the books that come after the end of the TV series. For my contribution to this thread I’ll stick with sci-fi and mention _Babylon 5_. The series finale was filmed as part of season 4, because they didn’t think it would be renewed, but then it was renewed for a 5th season, so they edited some things, put together a different episode to end season 4, and ran the re-edited finale at the end of season 5. However season 5 had new characters and old ones missing, and then it all ends with the missing characters coming back “20 years later”. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-poochie-award-for-worst-slapped-on-series-finale-goes-to/1033866/11 "2026-10-16T01:09:08Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > Currently in the middle of the book series so maybe it was an allusion to later in the series? As mentioned, the characters are introduced in the novella _Strange Dogs_. And, just keep reading. If you are in the middle of the book series, you still have no idea about the late books. They aren’t more of the same. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-poochie-award-for-worst-slapped-on-series-finale-goes-to/1033866/12 "2026-10-16T01:27:51Z")
I think Castle does win, but I would submit Magnum PI (OG). In the end of season 7, Magnum gets shot, saves his wife and daughter from the afterlife, and then…walks off into infinity. It was quite the shocking ending, especially as (somehow) I had no early indication that this was the last season. And I read TV Guide like some people read their bibles. But that wasn’t the Poochie finale. Him dying heroically was actually a good series ender. The Poochie ending would be season 8, which was made because THEY wanted another season. So Mags comes back from the dead and has a whole season of weird episodes where the show runners try their best to convince us Higgins is 1) an incompetent blowhard and 2) also Robin Masters. In the end. Rick is all set to marry the bimbo prostitute from season 6 (or…_did he?_) and Magnum goes back into the Navy (do they let you do that? With a promotion, too?) ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-poochie-award-for-worst-slapped-on-series-finale-goes-to/1033866/13 "2026-10-16T01:32:48Z")
Oh yeah, the ending of I Married Dora was pretty much “WTF was that?” Where the cast is all set to go on a trip, and then they look at the camera and say “we’ve been cancelled!” ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-poochie-award-for-worst-slapped-on-series-finale-goes-to/1033866/14 "2026-10-16T01:49:04Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > the ending of I Married Dora was pretty much “WTF was that?” I agree that it was slapped on, but I thought it was a brilliant way to end a series. As for _How I Met Your Mother_, if they had just ended the series after season 8, with the final scene being the reveal of the Mother, everything they had plotted from the beginning would have worked perfectly - except for Ted returning to Robin, and they could have just thrown that footage out. Successful sitcoms have a history of being kept on the air too long. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-poochie-award-for-worst-slapped-on-series-finale-goes-to/1033866/15 "2026-10-16T02:03:27Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > How about the series finale of _Seinfeld_ literally just being a clip show? Yeah, but the first half hour was pretty decent. The trial section was stupid and very much a clip show. I expected better from that team. I think the only show I was more disappointed in with their final episode(s) would be _Lost_. Nothing more than insulting New Age dreck. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-poochie-award-for-worst-slapped-on-series-finale-goes-to/1033866/16 "2026-10-16T03:16:24Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > I’d also add “How I Met Your Mother.” That was horrible. Yeah, I loved NPH (Harris), and “suit up”, but the show went on too long and the ending was stupid. > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > In the end of season 7, Magnum gets shot, saves his wife and daughter from the afterlife, and then…walks off into infinity. I What? He does find his daughter, but IIRC not his wife and no afterlife. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-poochie-award-for-worst-slapped-on-series-finale-goes-to/1033866/17 "2026-10-16T04:41:36Z")
I predict when the time comes, _South Park_ will take this award. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-poochie-award-for-worst-slapped-on-series-finale-goes-to/1033866/18 "2026-10-16T04:53:03Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > The show had gotten more ridiculous as time went on and the character Richard Castle became more cartoon-like. I think it was still doing ok in the ratings and they were hoping to come back for season 9. The problem was the two leads were no getting along and Stana Katic had no signed on for another season. I had loved _Castle_, but I agree, it had gone downhill. Not only were Fillion and Katic not getting along (AIUI, they never had strong chemistry together, but by the final season, it had gotten to the point where the two of them rarely appeared in scenes together. The other factor was that the show’s creator/showrunner, Andrew Marlowe, had left after season 7, and I felt that it lost its original feel. And, yeah, that ending scene felt tacked-on. > [@Andy\_L](#): > > Enterprise! The finale was a holodeck simulation of the Enterprise crew (Archer-era) intended to edify Riker in the middle of the TNG episode “The Pegasus.” This is my other nominee for the thread. Not only did the finale spend _far_ too much time on Riker and the framing story (at the expense of giving the show’s cast a proper finale), but they killed off Trip for no good reason. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-poochie-award-for-worst-slapped-on-series-finale-goes-to/1033866/19 "2026-10-16T09:54:03Z")
_Supernatural_. They wrapped up the story perfectly, and then said “what the hell” and slapped on another 10 seasons. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-poochie-award-for-worst-slapped-on-series-finale-goes-to/1033866/20 "2026-10-16T10:17:24Z")
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