Televison finales you loved or hated

J

Jnta

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 12, 2009
Messages
393
Reaction score
8,128
Picking up on some posts made regarding the Two And A Half Men Finale, are there finales to shows that still either warm your heart or make you angry at the network, writers and producers for the way that they ended? I know that there are some that to this day will rant over disappointment in the Seinfeld an Mash finales.

My most recent disappointment was with the Drop Dead Diva finale, where they ended up changing an actor for the final episode. Jane/Deb finally ends up with true love Grayson, but in the form of a totally different actor. Very disappointing after cheering for that couple for five years.
 
Loved the Mary Tyler Moore finale', absolutely HATED M*A*S*H* one. Cheers was ....well, it was o.k. I guess. Sometimes it is really hard to end a show that has been on several years, so the writers don't write a special one......just a regular episode. Thought the LOST one was terrible.

While I watched both How I Met Your Mother and Two & Half Men, I stopped watching both maybe at the beginning of their last year, so no idea how they ended, though some reviews expressed disappointment. I did like how Friends ended, though.
 
Absolutely loved the Friends finale. To this day if I see it on tv, I have to watch it and the last 10 minutes always gets me. I'm crying like a baby. I still want a reunion movie though.

Sex and the City was good too but it would have been great had Carrie and Big married then instead of in the movie.

Little House On The Prairie was awful but I know it was Michael Landon's retaliation to the network for canceling the show.

Dallas TNT don't start me. Dallas CBS the show had run its course by then but it was a fitting cliffhanger I think.

I did not like the Cheers or Seinfeld finales at all.
 
P.S. I read long ago, that Michael Landon blew up the town of Walnut Grove.....because all these buildings and sets had to be removed from the Simi Valley ranch where the filming was done.This was according to his lease agreement.
 
Scrubs was awful. They had a decent finale, a bit up in the air but easy enough to picture the happy ending for J.D. and Eliot....then they had to drag the show back to a different network and only the partial cast and change up the setting to a med school type thing. It was just and example of prolonging a show longer than needed.
 
I hated, HATED, the How I Met Your Mother finale. They spent the whole season on Barney and Robin's wedding, then they were divorced in 10 minutes in the finale. I also refuse to acknowledge the last five minutes of the finale of the Wonder Years, in which they reveal that Kevin's dad died like a year later, and Kevin and Winnie didn't end up together.

I thought the Breaking Bad finale was perfect in just about every way, and appreciated that it went out while it was still awesome. I was one of the few, apparently, who thought the True Blood finale was decent, although the season leading up to it mostly sucked (pun intended). I thought it made sense who Sookie ended up with. I also liked the end of Chuck; I appreciated the shoutouts to the beginning of the series and liked the open ending.
 
Oh, I loved Scrubs. I loved the show E.R. (probably because of John Stamos being in it. I have had a crush on that man since I was 8 years old hahahahaha)

The only show I can say "I've seen every episode" is Parenthood. Parenthood was perfect. Every show made me laugh, brought me to tears, and made me anxious to watch the next show. And the finale was perfect (other than the fact that it was a finale. I was so heartbroken that my favorite show ended.) Gosh. that finale was so good. Once again, they made me laugh, and boy did they make me cry. but, they ended it in such a perfect way, I can't even be mad. BRAVO creators of Parenthood!!!!!!! ahhhh GREAT SHOW!

I have never seen Breaking Bad, but I hear it's fantastic. It's on my "to do" list. I have also never seen Orange is the New Black. But I hear it's also fantastic. AND the girl that played the voice of Patty Mayonaise (90's cartoon "Doug") is in it. DEFINITELY on my "to do" list because if only because of her. LOL.

I liked How I Met Your Mother. I did not watch all of the episodes. I did watch the finale-- HATED IT.

Another show I enjoy.... Psych. however, I rarely know what's going on. I'm addicted to the puzzle. In every episode, there is a hidden pineapple. I find myself searching the episode for the pineapple and not paying attention to what's going on. haha. One episode, it was a painting they stood in front of that was a pineapple, another it was a girl's earrings.... another it was the bed posts or something like that---- every single episode has a hidden pineapple. so fun to look for it. haha.
 
One episode, they found a jewelry box (it was a clue for their mystery they were trying to solve)>..and when they opened it, there was a picture of a pineapple! lol...that episode, when we saw it- both my husband and I jumped up and said "OOHHHHHH!" hahaha- it really is fun trying to find it. I do admit, sometimes it's hard and I find myself rewinding the DVR and watching again just for the stinkin' pineapple. ahhhh good times!

I found a website dedicated to finding the pineapple and has almost every episode listed with the location of where the pineapple is in that episode... so cool!

http://psychusa.wikia.com/wiki/Pineapple
 
I loved the ending of Breaking Bad, and ER. Parenthood recently ended, and that was a beautiful episode (sad too, in a way). Private Practice had a good ending too.

The ultimate ending that people have debated for years? No, not Lost........ St. Elsewhere. When I saw that (and I was only 16 when that aired) it just about blew me away. Let's say it was my introduction to the philosophical potential of the way the universe works.
 
I hated the finale of Breaking Bad...only because I was sad that it ended at all, and there was never proof that Walter was dead. I am still waiting for more.
 
Just Samantha - I can't believe I forgot about Newhart! That was another one that was fantastic... And I think if someone pulled a St. Elsewhere on their finale nowadays, they could do it, if they did it just right. But I think that would mean years of planning.
 
I heard complaints but I LOVED the Charmed finale.

MASH was ok but I think it would have been cool to see them returning home. For example BJ meeting Peg and Erin at the airport, Col. Potter and Mrs. Potter sitting on the porch. Hawkeye with his dad or patients in Crabapple Cove, all that in a montage at the end. LOL Margaret running into Frank Burns. :rotfl:

Quick PS: I thought it was dumb the way they changed Hawkeye's family. Season 1 he has a father, living mother and a sister, then boom just his dad, his is mother dead and he is an only child :eek:.
 
Loved How I Met Your Mother's finalé, it tied everything together nicely in a good narrative structure. (But we literally watched the entire series leading up to the last season in 6 months, so our vantage point was different.) I'd been saying through the whole thing he'd end up with Robin, the mom's dead, etc. It was really hard not to "skip ahead" sometimes too. I will admit though that I can understand why some viewers are jarred, it's hard to remember that 22 of the last 24 episodes cover 3 days. (Almost like it takes place in Salem, LOL.) If I'd run the show, I'd have tied up the wedding in the first few episodes and then showed a year or two at a time for the final dozen episodes (failing a season 10 to do just that).

Loved the ending to The Golden Girls and only in the last few years have been able to watch it without crying. Empty Nest also had a good finalé. Married...with Children did not get a proper finalé after 11 years, what an insult from the FOX network. The Cheers ending bugged me, because as I mentioned in the previous thread, nothing changed to upend the premise, we just don't get to see the bar anymore. :angry:

I think Parenthood's finalé was really, really great. I'm glad they ended the show on a positive note, in my opinion they kind of wandered there a bit in Season 4/5. Having it be the "last" season gave them some clarity. Another show that had a terrific final year and STELLAR final episode was Monk.

Never saw Lost, but heard it stinked. :)

Really loved the finalé to Night Court and hated the finalé for NewsRadio because it was a half-nalé and then got cancelled. About to watch one of my favourite finalés of all-time, Mama's Family. I think the original Dallas had a terrible ending, mainly because it was a "half" cliffhanger then they didn't get picked up for another season. (Ditto Dynasty and The Colbys.) Just Shoot Me! ended well after a terrible final year and a half. Dead Zone had a good finalé, tied everything up, but left it open a crack just in case they got renewed (which they didn't).

In the middle, there's the Frasier finalé. I don't love it, but I also don't hate it. My favourite final moment of television probably ever was the last minute of Star Trek Voyager as the ship approaches Earth. (Still get chills.) Even though it was a wee bit predictable.

And then there's Soap. Even though it ends on a cliffhanger, it's still one of my favourite cliffhangers of all time. It's one of those episodes that I get tingles thinking about watching it. Really spectacularly written.
 
Wow Jason, I swear I was thinking of Soap today! I remember Billy Crystal's character was named Jody. (I was thinking of a friend's boy child named Jody and then it went there...lol)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top