What is the worst ever finale for a TV series?

Others have mentioned the ones I would list.

I really liked Lost, but the ending was a disappointment. Not sure how I would have ended it, but not that way.

Sopranos: also weak although the alternatives do not seem a lot better. 1) They all die in a mob shoot out? 2) They all go to prison? 3) They roll on others and are in Witness Protection? 4) They go straight?

Seinfeld: I liked the aspect of all the people coming together to show what jerks they were and even liked the joke about the shirt button at the end, but them sitting in jail seemed weak. The show was never going to have a "very special episode" or a show with "meaning". Still might be the best comedy series ever on TV. (If you like comics or just like Seinfeld, check out Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee at Crackle.com)

Breaking Bad: thought the ending was great. Walt, despite his long walk on the darkside, frees Jesse and makes sure his son is set up for life. Jr will take care of mom and babysister. So in the end, all he wanted to do was to take care of his family after his death and he succeeded.

How I Met Your Mother: well we all know how it ends! The getting there this season has been way too drawn out. The slap episode this week was the worst episode in the series (and episodes have been up and down throughout the series).

While I did not watch much of the series, the ending to St Elsewhere was also pretty bad. The whole thing was something in the brain of an autistic kid?

I saw her duck. wrote:

The Sopranos finale wasn't one. They just gave up on coming up with a good idea and went home.

Wow you are completely off. I'd suggest reading some critical analysis about the last season (6A and 6B) and then rewatching it. They didn't just give up. They put together the most comprehensive last season anyone has ever seen, and nobody will ever come close to what they did. If you don't have time to read about the entire last season, just read analysis about the last episode. It's pretty obvious what happened and why the screen cut to black.

I guess no-one here watched Battlestar Galactica then.

Lost and Breaking Bad were both decent I thought.

Starbuck wrote:

I guess no-one here watched Battlestar Galactica then.

Lost and Breaking Bad were both decent I thought.

Try slogging through Andromeda. First 2 seasons had lots of potential...

TimRuns wrote:

Yeah Lost was very disappointing. I wouldn't say Breaking Bad - I think that was well done and concluded nicely. The Sopranos upset me a little.

I didn't watch lost after the first season but my vote goes for the terrible ending of the Sopranos.

Anyone remember St Elsewhere? Hospital show where the last episode tells you that the series, which ran a number of years, never occurred but was created in the mind of an autistic kid.

That was the worst.

Anyone who doesn't like the end to The Sopranos should read this:

http://masterofsopranos.wordpress.com/the-sopranos-definitive-explanation-of-the-end/

It's long and you might not have the endurance to read it all in one shot, but well worth it. You will gain appreciation for the show and its last season. The last season was the most perfect season in TV history. People think David Chase and his team gave up or got lazy or something--completely wrong. Think about it, The Sopranos was an immensely popular show. David Chase was given free reign to end the series as he saw fit, and he made sure every aspect of the final season was perfect, right up to the cut to black, which was also perfect (and absolutely necessary from a logical perspective, to avoid the leak about Tony's death).

In comparison, I actually think the finale to The Wire was disappointing. It was not meant to be only five seasons. David Simon wanted a 6th season which would have focused on the growing Latino influence in Baltimore, but the show didn't have the ratings to carry on. The final season was the series' weakest and the ending left a lot to be desired.

The end to Dexter, like its final 4 seasons, was disappointing. If you've never watched Dexter, do yourself a favor and cut your viewing experience at the end of season 4.

Starbuck wrote:

I guess no-one here watched Battlestar Galactica then.

Lost and Breaking Bad were both decent I thought.

The season finale for BSG definitely was the low point of the show.

One show that prob won't get mentioned much is Gossip Girl. I thought the finale was pretty good, but the last 2 seasons were bad leading up to it.

Edward Teach wrote:

Starbuck wrote:

I guess no-one here watched Battlestar Galactica then.

Lost and Breaking Bad were both decent I thought.

The season finale for BSG definitely was the low point of the show.

One show that prob won't get mentioned much is Gossip Girl. I thought the finale was pretty good, but the last 2 seasons were bad leading up to it.

Gossip Girl? Turn in your man card--if you ever had one.

Seinfeld was pretty good, the only reason it is ranked so badly is because so many people were still watching it in the final years. (And yes I watched original airs of Seinfeld even though I am only 24 now.) The FRIENDS finale was way worse for example, but who cared by then?

Flagpole wrote:

With Seinfeld though, I was expecting much more and was really disappointed, so for me that's the worst one.

I do agree, that fact that Seinfeld was a high quality show created higher expectancies which made the last episode so disappointing.

There was a little tip off that it would be bad. They often had a flat last of the season episodes...summer of George....the death of George's Susan.

Entourage. Vinny Chase getting married!? And to a not-so-hot writer that he barely knew. And Eric reuniting with Sloan, his soon-to-be baby mama. And all that other "nice and neat" ending crap.

mr. rager wrote:

Entourage. Vinny Chase getting married!? And to a not-so-hot writer that he barely knew. And Eric reuniting with Sloan, his soon-to-be baby mama. And all that other "nice and neat" ending crap.

Yeah, the Entourage finale was lazy. Lost was worse, though. Fvck, it was bad.

I actually like the Battlestar Galactica final episode. Though when the first arrived at old earth before going down to see it devistated by nuclear holocaust would have been a great place to stop. Then a few bonus episodes a few months later.

I'm with the camp that the Soprano's episode was great.

I agree Sinfield was the best show with the worst ending.

Some don't like the way Cheers ended. But I thought is was up there with the greats. "Sorry, we're closed."

Seinfeld was bad. Really bad.

Entourage doesn't count. The last 40 episodes sucked.i

Darien1 wrote:

Lost/breaking bad

/thread.

Although I will admit the last episode wasn't bad, the final season was terrible.

Totally agree. The final season of Breaking Bad was embarrassing. It was out of character with its previous seasons, all kinds of jaw dropping stupidity.

The X-Files. I was obsessed with that show, so I had some high standards. It went downhill after David Duchovny left. He came back for the finale, but I honestly don't remember much about that episode other than the alien baby that was an anticlimactic resolution for years of sexual tension between Mulder and Scully. Don't even get me started on the second X-Files movie with Amanda Peet.

This goes back a ways. The finale of Twin Peaks was really bad. Remember, basically the whole point of Twin Peaks was as a build up to a climactic finale. The series as a whole really was good, if not great. In that context, the finale was shockingly lame. It was certainly worst than Seinfeld.

Ambiguity Stinks wrote:

My vote goes to "Lost" - Too many loose ends and unanswered questions. And considering how bad the last two seasons were, I proved myself even more a fool by sticking it out to the end.

Close second would be "Seinfeld" - Loved the show for years, but the finale was utterly humorless.

Roseanne. It was all just a dream* and oh btw Dan's dead.