# TV shows that have satisfying final episodes, and shows that didn't. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 22, 2013, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-have-satisfying-final-episodes-and-shows-that-didnt/669440 "2013-09-22T13:06:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2013, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-have-satisfying-final-episodes-and-shows-that-didnt/669440/21 "2013-09-22T17:27:41Z")
Another huge vote for Six Feet Under - truly inspired finale that still give me chills when I think of it. The Shield also wrapped things up - I would say “nicely” but it wasn’t particularly “nice” - but it did do a good job of wrapping the show up. Mary Tyler Moore Show ended really well, as well as Newhart. Seinfeld had one of the worst series finales of all time - just stooopid and a huge letdown. However, The Soprano’s went out with a sour note that seemed lazy and uninspired for what had been, up to that series finale, a really well-written show. BTW, tonight is the series finale of Dexter - so even if you are not a huge fan, you might want to tune into Showtime tonight to see how it wraps up. ---
**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:** [September 22, 2013, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-have-satisfying-final-episodes-and-shows-that-didnt/669440/22 "2013-09-22T17:28:09Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > I liked the ending of Monk. Monk isn’t completely sane, or normal, he’s still obsessive, but he’s happy again. Good call. I think they handled the end of Monk perfectly. > [@silenus](#): > > _Buffy_ and _Angel_ both had satisfying endings. In fact both of _Buffy_’s endings were excellent. Although I thought they did a good job on Angel it suffered from the fact they did not know it would be the final episode until relatively late. The episodes leading up to it seemed forced and rushed. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2013, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-have-satisfying-final-episodes-and-shows-that-didnt/669440/23 "2013-09-22T17:40:28Z")
Unsatisfying: Star Trek: Enterprise. They basically turned it into a ST: TNG episode with Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis trying to look 15 years younger and killed off the most popular character, to boot. The series was off to a rocky start but started getting decent in its fourth season and the finale was a slap in the face to the fans. Scott Bakula was reportedly livid and even the rest of the cast thought it was crap. I’m not going to count series that were abruptly canceled at the end of a cliffhanger episode. That’s a different category. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2013, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-have-satisfying-final-episodes-and-shows-that-didnt/669440/24 "2013-09-22T17:41:44Z")
_Only Fools and Horses_ had a **great** final episode… then 5 years later a really rubbish one. ETA: **Blake’s 7** had one of the best final episodes. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2013, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-have-satisfying-final-episodes-and-shows-that-didnt/669440/25 "2013-09-22T18:07:09Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Unsatisfying: Star Trek: Enterprise. The show is actually better served by just omitting “These Are the Voyages,” and ending with the preceding “Terra Prime.” ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2013, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-have-satisfying-final-episodes-and-shows-that-didnt/669440/26 "2013-09-22T18:13:11Z")
> [@Mr\_Shine](#): > > _Only Fools and Horses_ had a **great** final episode… then 5 years later a really rubbish one. > > ETA: **Blake’s 7** had one of the best final episodes. Another British show, **One Foot in the Grave** had one of the best final episodes I’ve ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2013, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-have-satisfying-final-episodes-and-shows-that-didnt/669440/27 "2013-09-22T18:20:05Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > I liked the ending of Monk. Monk isn’t completely sane, or normal, he’s still obsessive, but he’s happy again. The _Monk_ finale was just on in reruns last night. I’d never seen it before, but I thought it was pretty good. I knew most of what would happen because some time back I’d read the Wikipedia article on the show, so I can’t say how surprising any of the revelations would have been had I seen it when it first aired. But even having been spoiled, I liked that, similar to the _Cheers_ finale already mentioned, they didn’t shut down the show – we see that Monk, assisted by Natalie, will continue his work as a detective. We also see that all the other major characters are at pretty good places in their lives, some continuing along as they have been and some moving on to bigger things. On the unsatisfying front, it’s been more than a decade and I’m still ticked about the _Xena_ finale. I’d been a big fan of the show in the early seasons but really disliked the direction they went in later seasons and mostly quit watching by mid season five. But I tuned back in for the finale, and…well, I’ll just quote a post I made a couple of months ago for another series finale thread (spoilers below): > [@TV series that ended oddly. Have you changed your mind about these final episodes over time?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-that-ended-oddly-have-you-changed-your-mind-about-these-final-episodes-over-time/663430/37): > > The _Xena_ finale was so bad that the brutal death of the heroine wasn’t even the worst part. I’d say the worst part was that it seemed like a totally unrelated film script had been slightly revised to include Xena and Gabrielle. The plot, setting, supporting characters, rules for the way the supernatural operated, etc., had virtually nothing to do with anything that had happened previously on the show. Had this been a midseason episode (that didn’t end in Xena’s permanent death) that would have been okay, although even then it would have seemed like a retread of season three two-parter _The Debt_ with added ghosts. > > As things were, the finale struck me as being created by people who didn’t care about the show or the fans, and as a nasty little bonus decided the throw in a “moral” that ran counter to the basic premise of the show. Instead of continuing to try to redeem herself through good deeds, Xena finally had to die for her sins…even though the specific incident in question was something from her past that had never been previously mentioned and that turned out to have been largely accidental. In retrospect I wonder if someone high up was deliberately trying to kill the franchise. Xena had recovered from death and near death multiple times before, but in the finale went out of its way to make it clear that she was really and truly dead this time and darn well going to stay that way. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2013, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-have-satisfying-final-episodes-and-shows-that-didnt/669440/28 "2013-09-22T18:49:45Z")
Even though it wasn’t intended as such, I thought the final episode of _Men of a Certain Age_ was good. It was canceled after the episode aired. Joe (Ray Romano) won the qualifying round for the pro-am golf tournament and strengthened his relationship with his son. He also seemed to be getting a handle on his gambling addiction. Terry (Scott Bakula) found a new passion for directing and seemed to have found a steady girlfriend. And Owen (Andre Braugher) was given a free hand in running the car dealership by his father and was making plans to expand. All the characters seemed to be in a happy place in their lives and seemed satisfied in the way their lives were going. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2013, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-have-satisfying-final-episodes-and-shows-that-didnt/669440/29 "2013-09-22T19:43:57Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > The _Monk_ finale was just on in reruns last night. I’d never seen it before, but I thought it was pretty good. I knew most of what would happen because some time back I’d read the Wikipedia article on the show, so I can’t say how surprising any of the revelations would have been had I seen it when it first aired. But even having been spoiled, I liked that, similar to the _Cheers_ finale already mentioned, they didn’t shut down the show – we see that Monk, assisted by Natalie, will continue his work as a detective. I just wanted to add that someone who hadn’t seen the finale wanted to know how the series ended, so I started telling him. _“You know those wipes his long-suffering assistant is always handing him? Well, before he can solve the latest murder, the killer starts putting a weak poison ON THOSE WIPES! So the worse he feels, the more he tries to get clean, the faster he’s KILLING HIMSELF!”_ His reply: _“Natalie murdered someone, and decided to kill Monk by poisoning the wipes?”_ ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2013, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-have-satisfying-final-episodes-and-shows-that-didnt/669440/30 "2013-09-22T20:44:53Z")
I liked the end of Who’s the Boss. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2013, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-have-satisfying-final-episodes-and-shows-that-didnt/669440/31 "2013-09-22T21:44:20Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > _Buffy_ and _Angel_ both had satisfying endings. In fact both of _Buffy_’s endings were excellent. I was going to say, “You mean all three,” but they didn’t really intend to end it with Season 5, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2013, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-have-satisfying-final-episodes-and-shows-that-didnt/669440/32 "2013-09-22T21:51:48Z")
**Blackadder Goes Forth** , in the “good” category, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2013, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-have-satisfying-final-episodes-and-shows-that-didnt/669440/33 "2013-09-22T22:06:05Z")
Had they ended **Magnum PI** when they thought they were going to, the final episode would’ve been excellent. Unfortunately they added another season and ended that one horrendously. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2013, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-have-satisfying-final-episodes-and-shows-that-didnt/669440/34 "2013-09-22T23:50:33Z")
**Morbo** -I didn’t watch, but the intended finale was on the other day. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2013, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-have-satisfying-final-episodes-and-shows-that-didnt/669440/35 "2013-09-22T23:57:52Z")
> [@MyFootsZZZ](#): > > **Roseanne** ’s ending was just weird. A case of a star/showrunner with an out-of-control ego and nobody with the power to tell her “No”. The entire final season, save maybe the first couple of episodes and the one where the baby was born, was a waste. DEADWOOD deserved a much better finale than it got. ---
**Author:** ![Recusant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@Recusant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Recusant)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-have-satisfying-final-episodes-and-shows-that-didnt/669440/36 "2013-09-23T00:01:05Z")
Another vote for Babylon 5- the whole series was supposed to be a contained story; JMS (the show’s creator, and writer of more than 100 of 110 episodes) boasted that after the last episode, your only question would be “Now what?”. It didn’t quite work out that way (for reasons too numerous to list here), but I still rank it as one of the better finales I’ve seen. ---
**Author:** ![expectopatronum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/expectopatronum/32/173_2.png) [@expectopatronum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/expectopatronum)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-have-satisfying-final-episodes-and-shows-that-didnt/669440/37 "2013-09-23T00:27:58Z")
roseanne’s series finale was pretty satisfying for me. some stuff didn’t work, but overall i really liked it. quoting myself from another thread: > [@expectopatronum](#): > > people like to bash the series finale of Roseanne, but i kinda liked it. i didn’t keep up with the show when it first aired, so i’ve only seen the finale in reruns over the past few years. i thought it was a kind of clever way to explain away the horrible final season, and i like that it means in the “real” roseanneiverse, dan never cheated (which i never saw happening to begin with). jackie being a lesbian made a lot of sense, dan dying is sad but realistic, the fact that they never really won the lottery and that was a fantasy she concocted after losing her husband is brutally realistic. > > my biggest complaint would be i do not at all buy the business about the “real” pairings being darlene/mark and david/becky, plus that brings up a lot of questions about the baby darlene birthed- so i guess it’s mark’s kid, not david’s? yeah, that revelation didn’t work for me at all. overall, though, i think it’s good. the last 5 minutes or so is pretty emotional, that shot of dan at the table which pans back to show his empty chair always makes me cry, as i also do when she walks out of the basement to reveal the house as it was pre lottery, no fancy furniture or french doors or anything else- a realistic and somewhat depressing end for a realistic and somewhat depressing series. i’d like to hear more about what **Sampiro** mentioned, though. i love hearing the behind the scenes stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-have-satisfying-final-episodes-and-shows-that-didnt/669440/38 "2013-09-23T00:49:28Z")
The final episode of Twin Peaks was definitely something. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-have-satisfying-final-episodes-and-shows-that-didnt/669440/39 "2013-09-23T01:14:09Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > Seinfeld had one of the worst series finales of all time - just stooopid and a huge letdown. However, The Soprano’s went out with a sour note that seemed lazy and uninspired for what had been, up to that series finale, a really well-written show. Lots of interesting answers, but this one was interesting because I agree with one and disagree with the other. Seinfeld’s was terrible; I thought the Sopranos finale was superb. BSG and LOST had bad endings, but had been on a long downhill slide. What might be a more fruitful question: what shows have defied expectations? That is, they emerged with strong, redemptive finales after seeming to have jumped the shark; or failed to stick the landing after a great final season? I agree with the ST Enterprise nomination in the latter category; I’m drawing a blank in trying to come up with examples of the former (I should try The Office though to see; I think often after I leave a show I don’t ever see the finale). ---
**Author:** ![Orr\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ee59a6/32.png) [@Orr\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orr_G)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-have-satisfying-final-episodes-and-shows-that-didnt/669440/40 "2013-09-23T01:19:53Z")
> [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](#): > > Life on Mars (only seen UK version) ended well Yeah, that was good. I saw both the UK and US versions, and I rather preferred the US version (although I suspect that may not be the norm for fans of the UK version). The US version put an interesting twist on it that I really liked. There’s a sequel of some kind for the UK version that isn’t available on Netflix yet. I may revise my opinion once I get to see that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-have-satisfying-final-episodes-and-shows-that-didnt/669440.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-have-satisfying-final-episodes-and-shows-that-didnt/669440.md?page=3)