# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/101 "2011-05-20T13:11:49Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > 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 Why did you ignore The Other Waldo Pepper’s post, which did have a plausible explanation? ---
**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, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/102 "2011-05-20T13:14:29Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > 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 It’s called “Writing one’s self into a corner.” See BSG. As an aside, in _Enterprise_, he acted as though he had jumped into a Starship Captain and didn’t know what to do. 🙂 ---
**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, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/103 "2011-05-20T13:26:58Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > Why did you ignore The Other Waldo Pepper’s post, which did have a plausible explanation? Because I didn’t notice the post. But to answer it, since you feel I must… What you’re saying is that at the opening of the final episode they should have retconned every episode from the first on? Really, then you’re making a time loop/paradox. If you check out the “Worst movie endings thread” you’ll see people calling “12 Monkeys” a terrible ending because it’s a boring predictable time loop. “Let’s see. I am going to skip saving MLK from an assassination and instead save a random housewife in 1971 who was killed by her abusive husband. And after that I’m going to program in a couple hundred other fairly minor events that involved bad things to random nobodies. Sure, I could help with some big things, but, eh.” -Joe ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/104 "2011-05-20T13:28:43Z")
I didn’t say it was _good_. Just plausible. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/105 "2011-05-20T13:41:40Z")
Oooh, Alias was another one that completely shifted gears the last season and pissed everything down the toilet. Between Alias and Lost, I will never again trust JJ Abrams to be able to deliver a satisfying ending. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/106 "2011-05-20T14:16:11Z")
Sopranos. Let’s put on a mediocre ending and the humanoids will think we are brilliant. Star Trek TNG. What was it again? Haven’t seen it since it aired and don’t care to. “Las Vegas” was disappointing because there were a lot of loose threads left. Before “MASH” a lot of shows didn’t have “big Endings”. There were exceptions like “The Fugitive” and “Mary Tyler Moore” but many just faded away. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/107 "2011-05-20T14:24:06Z")
> [@](#): > > As an aside, in Enterprise, he acted as though he had jumped into a Starship Captain and didn’t know what to do. Pepper Mill was _SOOOO_ disappointed that, when the transporter finally worked in the first episode and beamed Scott Bakula on board, that he didn’t say “Oh, boy!” ---
**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, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/108 "2011-05-20T14:31:27Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > Star Trek TNG. What was it again? Haven’t seen it since it aired and don’t care to. _All Good Things._ Not bad, given how much of TNG consisted of, “Of my goodness, we musn’t _hurt_ anyone!” 🙂 ---
**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, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/109 "2011-05-20T15:09:20Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > _All Good Things._ Not bad, given how much of TNG consisted of, “Of my goodness, we musn’t _hurt_ anyone!” 🙂 Didn’t it basically show that the Enterprise was responsible for the creation of life on Earth somehow? -Joe ---
**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, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/110 "2011-05-20T15:14:45Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > Didn’t it basically show that the Enterprise was responsible for the creation of life on Earth somehow? > > -Joe They prevented the evolution of some blue green algae goop that was the basis for life on Earth. Q ridiculed Jean-Luc through time and space until he prevented the prevention. 🙂 ---
**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, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/111 "2011-05-20T15:17:33Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > They prevented the evolution of some blue green algae goop that was the basis for life on Earth. Q ridiculed Jean-Luc through time and space until he prevented the prevention. > 🙂 So, apart from one double-negative I was completely correct? -Joe ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/112 "2011-05-20T15:18:14Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > Didn’t it basically show that the Enterprise was responsible for the creation of life on Earth somehow? > > -Joe IIRC it showed that the Enterprise unknowingly caused an anomaly that would have prevented the creation of life on Earth. However, it turned out that the anomaly was a kind of puzzle created by Q to “test” humanity, humanity being represented by Picard and his crew. ---
**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, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/113 "2011-05-20T15:28:00Z")
I actually thought the TNG series finale was quite a bit better than the first TNG movie, _Star Trek: Generations_, which killed Kirk and destroyed the _Enterprise_-D. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/114 "2011-05-20T15:55:53Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > 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? I listened to Baltar and now my pee-pee burns. ---
**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, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/115 "2011-05-20T15:58:29Z")
The Enterprise (being tricked by Q) created some sort of reverse-time anomoly that got bigger as you went back in time. As it stood, it would’ve prevented the beginning of life on Earth. So they had to solve the puzzle and eliminate the anomoly so life wasn’t prevented from starting. So the Enterprise wasn’t responsible for creating life on Earth, but rather, they had to restore the original timeline before they fucked it up in a way that would’ve prevented life from forming on Earth. That sounds silly, I barely remember the details. It was mostly Q fucking with them, as always. ---
**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, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/116 "2011-05-20T16:48:58Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > That sounds silly, I barely remember the details. It was mostly Q fucking with them, as always. I recall that three Enterprises from three time periods caused the problem, and Q goaded Picard into being able to prevent it. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/117 "2011-05-20T17:04:27Z")
_All Good Things…_ was redeemed by Riker blasting through the Klingons from below in the only recorded instance of a TNG officer thinking 3 dimensionally. ---
**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, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/118 "2011-05-20T17:06:44Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > _All Good Things…_ was redeemed by Riker blasting through the Klingons from below in the only recorded instance of a TNG officer thinking 3 dimensionally. That’s like saying a particular episode of “Lost” was redeemed because it was the one time Kate didn’t get held hostage to force the rest of the crew to put their guns down…! -Joe ---
**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, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/119 "2011-05-20T17:08:56Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > _All Good Things…_ was redeemed by Riker blasting through the Klingons from below in the only recorded instance of a TNG officer thinking 3 dimensionally. That was pretty cool, _Enterprise_ passing through Klingon debris. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![sohvan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sohvan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sohvan)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435/120 "2011-05-20T17:27:51Z")
I agree with BSG and Lost, but more than those it’s the non-endings of a dozen cancelled shows with potential that bother me. It annoys me when an interesting series ends on a season finale cliffhanger, and you know you’re never going to see what happens next. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-series-ending/582435.md?page=7)