# Worst TV series ending? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 19, 2011, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435 "2011-05-19T12:56:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Clark\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c77e96/32.png) [@Clark\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clark_K)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/81 "2011-05-20T00:03:17Z")
Interesting how many of these “terrible” finales are actually quite good. “Battlestar Galactica”? Touching, unexpected, thought-provoking. Not perfect but strong. “Lost”? The _series_ frustrated me terribly, but I thought the final episode was enjoyable. “Sopranos”? Excellent. The mystery and significance of those final seconds linger like few other finales. For bad finales, it’s hard to top “Enterprise.” Nothing like focusing the final episode on characters from another show. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/82 "2011-05-20T00:03:57Z")
> [@Roadfood](#): > > I wish they had given Michael/Lex something to _DO_, have him be, ya know, an actual important part of the plot. Oh, wait, I forgot, there wasn’t really any plot to be a part of . . . My belief is that they simply didn’t have budget for much more than pushing Apocalypse away, so everything else had to be exposition and Clark, the most powerful man on the planet, being such an emo wuss (which he perfected over the past 10 seasons). ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/83 "2011-05-20T00:43:44Z")
> [@Dietrich\_K](#): > > No, no. This is a thread about the _worst_ series ending of all time, not the best. Then why do people keep mentioning Lost? OH YEAH I SAID IT ---
**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:** [May 20, 2011, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/84 "2011-05-20T01:18:27Z")
> [@Bytegeist](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > I think even 40 years later, “The Prisoner” is still a contender. Most LSD trips have more internal consistency and logic than that final episode. > > Legend has it that Patrick McGoohan was “forced” to leave Britain because the TV press kept hounding him over what the hell the finale was about. I’m sure that’s an exaggeration, but it’s amusing to imagine anyway. > > And it’s not just the finale. The last several episodes were just weird without being entertaining. I sympathize with McGoohan though, as he only ever intended to make 7 of them in the first place, instead of the 17 we ended up with. I’ve never understood this complaint. Consider what we what we simply and literally see in the final episode: > [@](#): > > 1. As in previous episodes, they try the “you’re free to go” ploy. > 2. As in a previous episode, they try the “ceremony =\> you’re in charge” ploy. > 3. As in a previous episode, they try the “you’re dazed; look at your lookalike” ploy. > > And that – in perfectly straightforward and utterly literal fashion – covers roughly the first 38-40 minutes of a 50-minute story. And then Six of course starts to slug it out with the guards, since that’s what he did at exactly this point in various of those previous episodes. > > Normally this is when Six – often in the control room – would then put up a decent fight and hold out for a good while before eventually getting overwhelmed. (No, really; that’s been the entirety of their plan in episode after episode after episode: try the aforementioned ploy, and then have your guards standing by to slug it out with him if he’s not broken.) Up until now, he’s lost the ensuing fistfight. Does he lose the fight this time? Well, consider too what happens in various other previous episodes: > > 1. A would-be breaker came to respect, and ultimately got won over by, him. > 2. There was another episode exactly like that. > 3. And there was another, likewise. > 4. Plus one more. > > Put those four aside for a second and consider the following episodes: > > 1. Six can get the win by recruiting a small number of allies. > 2. Another episode where Six reasons the exact same way. > 3. Another where he does the same and plans to play control-room saboteur. > 4. And another get-a-small-number-of-allies-and-play-control-room saboteur one. > 5. All topped off with yet another “plans to play control-room saboteur” one – notable for him talking at length about how the big tower is obviously a rocket which can of course be launched from said control room. > > If you combine those nine episodes in the most ploddingly straightforward way, you’d figure the last 10-12 minutes would center on the fact that people he’s won over can pitch in to help him in a fight, thus letting him play control-room saboteur for the win – and, unsurprisingly, that’s exactly what happens. > **[The Prisoner ('68) finale](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=565155)** > > With all the recent series finales, there’s been another round of mentions for how The Prisoner ended back when. I’ve never quite understood all the fuss; it strikes me as largely being the most straightforward way to wrap everything up. I mean,... ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/85 "2011-05-20T01:31:13Z")
When it aired I thought Seinfeld’s finale kind of sucked, but it was actually quite good upon reflection. It brought back a familiar storyline (the series Jerry), had George and Jerry apparently headed for success - but their typical spiteful and mean-spirited behavior throws a wrench in the works. I thought they were a little too mean to the fat guy - it wasn’t their typical behavior to just mock people. They’d just take advantage of a situation. Bringing Jackie Chiles back was brilliant - funny and underutilized supporting character - and the final scene with them all in the jail and Jerry referencing the sweater that George was wearing was a nod to a scene in the first episode. And even if you hated the finale, there is a mock finale that is the centerpiece of the last series (to date) of _Curb Your Enthusiasm_. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/86 "2011-05-20T01:32:21Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > I’ve never seen a single second of _Lost_. > > Now I’m contemplating getting the DVD set just so I can see how bad the ending is. > > What, was there like a German Scheisse Video style 10-way or something? How bad could it have been? It’s not exactly that the actual last episode was epically bad, although it was pretty bad. It’s that the whole series was bad, but people kept a small hope they’d somehow pull off something in the end to make it not terrible, and they didn’t. The whole show revolves around mystery upon mystery, creating these entities and people and situation that you want to know more about, and the creators had told everyone that it would all come together and make sense one day, they knew what they were doing. They knew 2 or 3 seasons out how long the show would last, so they had ample time to come up with a satisfying conclusion. People couldn’t realistically expect the answer to every little detail - the show was so dense with questions - but they at least expected the big ones to be answered. So the show is winding down, there are a few episodes left - and nothing major is really getting resolved. I mean - stuff is happening, but not in a way that meaningfully resolves any of the mystery. So the only hope left is.. alright… 3 episodes left… they’ll really start resolving stuff now. Okay… 2 episodes left… I’m not sure how they can really come up with an ending in the next 3 hours of tv, but they’ve had 3 years to build toward an ending, and they promised they knew what they were doing, so… oh, shit… just one episode left… it’s going to have be crazy filled with detail to even half-ass try to resolve the series and… wait…uh… wtf was that? Well, ok, I wasted my wednesdays for quite a while. So it’s not that the episode itself was epically terrible, but that the whole expectation of having some sort of meaning and resolution to the end of the show kept getting pushed back and finally rested on the final episode. It wasn’t until the final episode that we knew for sure that we’d been conned (ironically, since about 700 people had been conned during the run of the show - maybe they were mocking us) and we’d wasted our time hoping that the show was anything other than their attempts to string us along with random bullshit and false hope of resolution. So that resentment isn’t directed at the final episode necesarily - it’s more that it was the last chance to not screw the viewers, and they didn’t even try. I do not recommend going back and watching the show due to curiosity about that. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/87 "2011-05-20T01:35:58Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > Let me refresh your memory. Yes, we just had to have one last “dramatic” reunion between Ross and Rachel. Holy crap did I come to hate them (as a couple; the individual characters were still ok). Then the whole Monica and Chandler’s twins thing. The whole episode was devoid of humor. I know the idea was to wrap everyone’s lives up in happy little packages but I didn’t watch the damn show for nine (or whatever) years for some maudlin, predicatable pap. You’d think someone could have at least come up with a funny one liner from Chandler. Aw man are you serious? I thought the last episode was one of the funniest in the entire run of the series. I was constantly laughing…and hard. I’m going to agree with _Sports Night_ only because they fell victim to the “didn’t know they were getting cancelled” when the episode aired. I also don’t like it because of how the story lines ended. Again, not their fault but I really wanted to see some things happen differently. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/88 "2011-05-20T01:36:09Z")
This reminds me of why I’ve never sat down and watched all of the original _The Prisoner_. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/89 "2011-05-20T02:26:38Z")
Ron Moore and company wrote themselves into a corner and let God bail them out. Giving away their nuclear reactors for stone knives and bear skins was idiotic. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/90 "2011-05-20T02:33:13Z")
As I said before about the end of BSG; They’re wandering in pre-historic Africa at the end of the show. Some of them scattered and lagging behind. Where are the Lions and Hyenas taking down the isolated Humans, sending the rest running screaming in terror? How about the poisonous snakes as these Humans just kinda wander around? That ain’t no nature park they’re blindly strolling across, it’s untamed PRE-HUMAN wilderness full of nasty things that want to eat them. Good Luck With That. ---
**Author:** ![Feyrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/fbc32d/32.png) [@Feyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feyrat)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/91 "2011-05-20T02:51:42Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > It’s not exactly that the actual last episode was epically bad, although it was pretty bad. It’s that the whole series was bad, but people kept a small hope they’d somehow pull off something in the end to make it not terrible, and they didn’t. Looking back, that’s exactly how I feel about Harry Potter… hmmm. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/92 "2011-05-20T03:16:37Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > it’s untamed PRE-HUMAN wilderness full of nasty things that want to eat them. > > Good Luck With That. Well, there were those austorpethecenes, however you spell it, that Baltar says they could “breed with”. I mean, who would trust Baltar on _anything,_ let alone who or what you could have sex with? ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/93 "2011-05-20T04:51:50Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > To clarify for the one person who hasn’t seen it, I don’t think they actually brought out any clips, they just brought in some old characters to talk about how horrible everyone was. Whoops. I think it was the episode prior that was the clip show (and one of ten million shows to use that “Good Riddance/Time of Your Life” song that year). Which goes to show how forgettable the finale was. ---
**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:** [May 20, 2011, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/94 "2011-05-20T10:43:09Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Save yourself! It’s too late for the rest of us. Luckily, the fans decided the finale [wasn’t good enough](http://vv8.jetc.org/main.html). That’s two more seasons to make everything work. > [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Wasn’t it implicit that God, ultimately, was behind Sam’s leaps? That he had been chosen as God’s agent? It was pretty clear to me in the death row episode that he believed that to be the case. Yes, and that’s precisely the problem. The show was scifi, not fantasy. Executive meddling changed the ending from what the creators wanted, and it sucked. There seems to be a theme of bringing in God or the supernatural to end scifi shows. It’s a _deus ex machina_ ending, and people don’t like those. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/95 "2011-05-20T11:43:01Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > It’s a _deus ex machina_ ending, and people don’t like those. Damn straight. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/96 "2011-05-20T12:37:16Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > It’s a _deus ex machina_ ending, and people don’t like those. Absent a divine explanation, what then would be the reason that Sam always ended up somewhere that needed his help? -Joe ---
**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:** [May 20, 2011, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/97 "2011-05-20T12:44:14Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > Absent a divine explanation, what then would be the reason that Sam always ended up somewhere that needed his help? Final episode, he travels back in time to the day he first stepped into the machine and vanished; he swiftly programs in the dates and times where he was needed – possibly as a clip-show, possibly with a montage – and then steps back to watch young Sam set off on the journey old Sam just finished. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/98 "2011-05-20T12:44:42Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > Absent a divine explanation, what then would be the reason that Sam always ended up somewhere that needed his help? > > -Joe Bad writing? An urge to please advertisers? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/99 "2011-05-20T12:52:13Z")
Nobody mentioned _MASH_? A huge build up, and then pfffft. The series went on about one season too long. The POV episode, the episode with the timer - end the series with that level of quality, and it could have been among the best TV ever. Instead, it was just using up characters and recycling the lame hijinks from the first couple of seasons. We expected more than meh. But that’s what we got. Meh. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/100 "2011-05-20T13:05:51Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Bad writing? An urge to please advertisers? So you’ve got no possible explanation. Good to know. Looks like the writers went with the only thing that would have worked after the show being on multiple seasons. Good pick, writers. -Joe [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435.md?page=6)