# 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:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-poochie-award-for-worst-slapped-on-series-finale-goes-to/1033866/41 "2026-10-16T16:21:30Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Barney and Robin divorce shortly (a few months I think) after being married. Even worse, in the series it’s the very next episode. And this is after the entire season takes place on the weekend of their wedding. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-poochie-award-for-worst-slapped-on-series-finale-goes-to/1033866/42 "2026-10-16T16:25:21Z")
“Dr. Sam Becket never returned home.” And yes, they did misspell his last name. ---
**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, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-poochie-award-for-worst-slapped-on-series-finale-goes-to/1033866/43 "2026-10-16T16:28:48Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > Maybe they handled it well, but to me it sounds like they threw all that character growth away. They gave a little growth back to Barney by giving him a child from one of his bangety-bang pickups. He instantly becomes devoted to her and eventually is seen telling off a couple of young women at the bar to clean up their acts. HIMYM should be taught to all writers of serial fiction as an example of what happens when you write what’s supposed to be a minor character so well that your audience falls in love with them, ruining your carefully plotted story arc. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-poochie-award-for-worst-slapped-on-series-finale-goes-to/1033866/44 "2026-10-16T16:33:24Z")
> [@sciurophobic](#): > > “Dr. Sam Becket never returned home.” I hear he is waiting for this Godot bloke. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-poochie-award-for-worst-slapped-on-series-finale-goes-to/1033866/45 "2026-10-16T16:48:04Z")
> [@sciurophobic](#): > > Even worse, in the series it’s the very next episode. And this is after the entire season takes place on the weekend of their wedding. Yikes, yeah, that’s pretty bad. I stopped watching part way through the season with the wedding - I think I knew from various hints that by the end of the season he’d meet the mom who is the cello player in the band? - but I got busy with life and ended up dropping the show. Now I’m kinda glad I did! > [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > They gave a little growth back to Barney by giving him a child from one of his bangety-bang pickups. He instantly becomes devoted to her and eventually is seen telling off a couple of young women at the bar to clean up their acts. Better than nothing I guess! ---
**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, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-poochie-award-for-worst-slapped-on-series-finale-goes-to/1033866/46 "2026-10-16T17:44:15Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > I guess if they knew that this is how they wanted to end, they shouldn’t have drifted so far away from a plotline where that ending would have made sense. Like, if you know that you eventually need Robin available for Ted, maybe _don’t_ make Barney’s entire arc over the series culminate with him realizing he wants to be with Robin when you _know_ you’re going to have to throw all that away? Good point/ ---
**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 16, 2026, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-poochie-award-for-worst-slapped-on-series-finale-goes-to/1033866/47 "2026-10-16T18:20:25Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > It also makes me feel pretty bad for Ted… IIRC he’s pretty miserable throughout the series, He’s miserable throughout the series because he’s based his overall happiness on whether or not he meets the perfect woman. Which does not exist. This is a kind of objectification of women. It seems sweet at first but when you see it season after season you realize it’s not sweet at all, it’s objectifying. No woman will ever reach Ted’s impossible standard. There are men like this in real life and in real life, this leads to misogyny. He didn’t need to find the love of his life, he needed therapy. And hey, maybe he got some after his wife died, because he finally hooked up with a real person instead of his fantasy girlfriend. The problem, though, is Robyn was supposed to end up with Barney. When you start writing a story you might think you know where it’s going, but the creative process is a free spirit and it’s going to lead you places you didn’t expect. The writers for some reason just couldn’t let go of their original vision and recognize and honor the beautiful thing that was happening with Barney and Robyn. Instead they killed the best thing about the show. ---
**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 16, 2026, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-poochie-award-for-worst-slapped-on-series-finale-goes-to/1033866/48 "2026-10-16T18:31:20Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > I stopped watching part way through the season with the wedding - I think I knew from various hints that by the end of the season he’d meet the mom who is the cello player in the band? You’re way off. You couldn’t be more wrong. She played bass. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-poochie-award-for-worst-slapped-on-series-finale-goes-to/1033866/49 "2026-10-16T18:37:22Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > He’s miserable throughout the series because he’s based his overall happiness on whether or not he meets the perfect woman. Which does not exist. This is a kind of objectification of women. It seems sweet at first but when you see it season after season you realize it’s not sweet at all, it’s objectifying. No woman will ever reach Ted’s impossible standard. There are men like this in real life and in real life, this leads to misogyny. For sure, that’s part of why I got bored with Ted and the show eventually - he’s too much of a sad sack. But the writers did that to him, which is why it feels like they hate him. > [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > When you start writing a story you might think you know where it’s going, but the creative process is a free spirit and it’s going to lead you places you didn’t expect. The writers for some reason just couldn’t let go of their original vision and recognize and honor the beautiful thing that was happening with Barney and Robyn. Instead they killed the best thing about the show. Maybe they just didn’t want to waste the footage they had of the kids that they prerecorded in Season 1. But they probably should have just given up on it. > [@Loach](#): > > She played bass. Oversized string instruments are all the same! ---
**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, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-poochie-award-for-worst-slapped-on-series-finale-goes-to/1033866/50 "2026-10-16T18:48:55Z")
They also made the mistake of casting Christine Milioti as the Mother. If they had cast a less-talented and likable actress we might have accepted her death, instead of being driven to a blind rage. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-poochie-award-for-worst-slapped-on-series-finale-goes-to/1033866/51 "2026-10-16T18:51:16Z")
It’s not the worst (I liked it) and it is well made, not slapped together, but the finale of Roseanne revealing the entire series (pre reboot) was actually the novel she wrote inspired by her “real” family was definitely out of left field. ---
**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, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-poochie-award-for-worst-slapped-on-series-finale-goes-to/1033866/52 "2026-10-16T20:20:48Z")
ISTM long running shows like that have a cuple of risk factors. Yes, the story starts out with some arc outline they’re trying to generally hew to as they feel their way forward from one ep to the next. But they’re writing by committee and personal dynamics get in there. As do personnel politics, turnover, and all the rest. The public gets a vote too. The writers & showrunners are paying some attention to the social media buzz, fanwank sites, etc., and if subplot X is pissing people off, it gets soft pedaled until it can be disappeared while other subplots that are getting unexpected buzz are emphasized. Even if the Grand Series Plan didn’t expect that. Over time, this natural unplanned evolution can swamp some or a lot of the original evolution laid out in the Grand Series Plan. Then it comes time to wrap up the series and there’s a battle between the folks who originally sold the show who’re wedded to the GSP ending, versus the current writers who are stuck with whereever the series has gotten to halfway through the last season. So a committee gets together, meetings are held, and a compromise comes out. Not a lot of artistry in a committee. Even worse if there are contractual or legal issues, like the old footage of the then-young kids needs to be aired or else the studio owes the kids $X they’d rather not pay. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-poochie-award-for-worst-slapped-on-series-finale-goes-to/1033866/53 "2026-10-16T21:09:05Z")
But I still remember it to this day…almost 40 years later? So I think it was actually pretty great. Only the dad is leaving and the family is saying goodbye at the airport. It’s supposed to be a long business trip–maybe even open-ended. There’s a tearful goodbye at the gate. He disappears down the jetway. There’s some lines from Dora and the kids…and the dad comes back on. Dora: Was the flight canceled? Dad: No. We were! Thanks for watching everybody! Camera pulls back showing the studio.And the cast waving goodby to the audience. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-poochie-award-for-worst-slapped-on-series-finale-goes-to/1033866.md?page=2)