Saying Goodbye: The 5 Worst Television Series Finales

We have all had a favorite TV show that we loved and watched faithfully week in and week out, even going so far as to re-arranging our schedules so not to miss it. (Yes I know, PVR’s allow us to record it, but some people just can’t wait that long) So imagine your show is coming to an end, which is sad enough for the faithful viewer, and then the series finale leaves you screaming in frustration.

This happens a lot, and in fact some of the most highly rated and/or regarded series have left fans and critics alike scratching their heads in disbelief, not really understanding what they just saw. So without further ado, let’s tackle some of the biggest offenders.

After nine seasons of self centered hilarity from Jerry, Elaine, Kramer and Geroge, 76 million people tuned in to see how it was all going to end. Never mind that it was a top rated show, but people were very curious on how the writers would choose to say goodbye to four loved but essentially awful people. What the viewer got was the ultimate in cop outs, a reunion with appearances by all the noteworthy guests over the past nine seasons combined with a sloppy combo of clips from episodes that they were in.

For a show that broke a lot of rules and left us both howling with laughter and shaking our heads in disbelief, the series finale was a complete bust. Maybe the creators and cast were all in on a joke we weren’t privy to but regardless, it was a sad way for the show to go out.

Many viewers, including myself, sat dumbfounded staring at the television at it cut to black. Fists shaking in the air followed by many colorful curse words soon followed, first directed at the respective cable company and then at the show runners when the truth finally dawned on us all.

As the credits rolled, the universal confusion began to sink in. What just happened? In fact, it is something many people still talk about to this day, and that in itself may be the best explanation. The Sopranos was such a well acted and superbly written show that any ending would have ultimately been a disappointment. Tony Soprano was such a self centered and erratic individual, the ending could have gone many different ways.

That being said, the decision to leave his fate, and that of his family, left to the viewers imagination was bizarre and strange to say the least.

Maybe because Lost was possibly the most discussed and debated show in the last…well, for a long time, it deserved to have such a controversial ending. I mean, people would get into shoving matches over the meaning of certain things that happened in ONE episode (I can verify this) so the finale should really be no different in the controversy department.

However, no matter how bizarre and all over the place the series was, the finale was pretty craptacular. So many paths were taken and so many backgrounds crossing paths over the years and this was the best they could come up with? In the writer’s defense, I’m wondering if somewhere along the line they realized that they weren’t going to get cancelled and they actually had to find a way to explain the crazy town they had created on the island. (Sort of painted themselves in a corner, so to speak)

Still, the finale wasn’t so much hard to understand as it left the viewer feeling cheated. Too many years of black smoke and polar bears really deserved something better.

Trouble had already found this once edgy and engaging show when season nine went ahead without David Duchovny (Fox Mulder). By the time the finale had rolled around, most people were ready for the X-Files to go away. However, I don’t think they were prepared for how bad the ending would really be.

Duchovny returned for the finale, and was joined by ghosts of his past (an excuse for characters to make an appearance) and while it rang hollow as an episode, it did remind viewers how good this show once was. Unfortunately, that only served to highlight all the bad things in the finale. Creator Chris Carter seemed to have no idea what to do with certain story arcs he created, like Mulder and Scully’s baby, and how to properly handle Duchovny’s absence in season nine. Maybe the series should have ended a few seasons earlier. But I digress…

Essentially, Carter took the easy way out and turned the finale into a who’s who of past guests, coming by for one last moment in the sun. With a storyline that was all over the place, this was just the icing on cake that had the distinctive odor of something well past its date of satisfying visual consumption.

Blowback from this series finale is still being felt as fans use outlets like social media to express their outrage at the way the show ended. The show itself had begun to drag the last few seasons so fans around the world were hoping for a real blowout of an ending. Instead, they essentially got two. One that should have been and one that we are now forever stuck with.

You know there is a problem when the star of the show comes out and publicly trashes the finale, telling the legion of fans in essence where to pinpoint their outrage. Of course by this time, he was also involved in the producing stage so maybe he does indeed need to share in the blame.

It was almost as if the creators tacked on the last five minutes in a panic, or perhaps there is some misguided thought process going on to bring Dexter back in some capacity. Either way, it was a very cheap and awful way to end what was, for about six seasons anyways, a very good series.