I think it must be quite a challenge to tie up loose ends and write a satifying ending to a long running series solely because it hardly ever happens. The final shows for Seinfeld, Roseanne, Lost, Sopranos all disappointed their fans. 24 was Ok...are there any others?
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1216253/
The series finale to Golden Girls was definitely one of my favorites! I have probably seen it 50 times, and it always makes me cry :). I also liked the finales to Friends, Buffy, M.A.S.H, Newhart, Mary Tyler Moore, Knots Landing, David the Gnome (a little gem on Nickelodeon :), Wonder Years (very sad!), Seinfeld (it actually seemed fitting for the characters), and Medium (even though it breaks my heart).
The finale to Roseanne was depressing but more realistic than the final season (which was horrible). The Angel finale left me disappointed, as well as the ending to X-Files. I also loved the show Missing (on Lifetime), but the show was canceled after one season. The final episode of the season was so sad, especially since it was not meant to be the final episode! I vaguely remember the ending to Dawson's Creek with Jen dying I think....but I was just so tired of all the whining on that show that I was glad it was over! I don't remember the finales to Everybody Loves Raymond or Frasier....
I get sad thinking about the day when they end Grey's Anatomy, I am sure Shonda Rhimes will tear our hearts out at the end of the show (if last season's finale was any indication!).
-Lost (which is weird because after the second season I barely even liked the show even though I kept watching)
-Medium (Depressed the hell out of me)
-Buffy the Vampire Slayer
-Roseanne (Also depressing)
-The Golden Girls
-Firefly/Serenity
Unfortunately, that's all I can think about as far as television show finales. When it comes to wrapping series up, I think anime does it the best.
Dinosaurs was a nice pick
shareI don't follow that many TV shows....
But Buffy has to be one of the best ending. (Spoiler) Throughout the series, Buffy has wondered about her fate and how she had to relinquish so many of her dreams and aspirations. In the end, she was finally free to do whatever she wants.
Otherwise, shows like
Murphy Brown
and
McGyver had okay endings. In case of McGyver, they invented this backstory of his out of nowhere to give a good conclusion.
Wonderfalls was good, but I think most of the fans wanted more episodes!
Arrested Development's ending was pretty bad cuz it was rushed. But for a canceled show, it wasn't that bad.
Pushing Daisies was abysmal. The last three episodes of the show was really, really, bad.
That being said, Medium has to be the worst series finale by far.
I never saw the Ghost Whisperer finale because i stopped watching the show when the husband died, his spirit inhabited the body of another person played by another actor, then all of a sudden the original actor is playing him again. I stuck with it during the time the ghost had no memory of either life, but when it saves Melinda and the spirit remembers who he is, then that was it for me. And the kid was way too creepy.
I loved that show for the first two seasons (was it 2?) when she had her friend Andrea working with her. It was so sad when she died. Never cared for Delia. They had no chemistry as friends. And then didn't Ned age like 6 years from one season to the next.
I could believe in ghosts and mediums enough to enjoy the show, but they lost me with the dead/not-really-dead husband and rapidly aging boy.
January -- The ground is full of slush and sleet and I can barely feel my feet.
Medium, as sad as it was, was still an amazing finale. Also loved
The Golden Girls
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Buffy
Newhart
Mary Tyler Moore
Third Watch
Can't think of any others right now, but those rank up there as the best finales in my book.
The attempt to force human beings to despise themselves --is what I call hell. - Andre Malraux
The last 5 minutes of Mystery Science Theater were as perfect as can be.
Unfortunately, I put the Medium finale in the "fail" category. Allison, Joe, and especially the fans, didn't deserve that.
[deleted]
Third Watch had a truly fantastic ending. They ended it very nicely and left no loose ends. They tied up all of the story lines, but in a very tasteful and simple way. One of the all-time best series on American television, period.
shareInteresting you mention Third Watch because it's one of those shows that had a last minute cancellation and the writers were able to shift gears and put together a great finale. I would imagine it's much easier when they know its the last season as it was with Cheers and Seinfeld and a few others. What must be impossibly difficult is ending a long running soap opera, which is what recently happened with As the World Turns and Guiding Light...they were on 40-60 yrs! I admire Ricky Gervais' Extras since he never intended it to be more than 2 or 3 seasons and had a vision from the beginning for where/how he wanted it to end and it was awwwwesome:)
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1216253/
Third Watch had a truly fantastic ending. They ended it very nicely and left no loose ends. They tied up all of the story lines, but in a very tasteful and simple way. One of the all-time best series on American television, period.
Two things about the otherwise wonderful ending of Third Watch bothered me:
1. They should have shown Cruz getting a full honor burial. She deserved that.
2. Doc forgot his own wife's name? He said "Linda" instead of "Debra" when he was talking to Carlos.
Other than that, very well done ending.
Wow, I never even noticed that. Must have been some hell of strong meds Doc was on...
shareA good finale doesn't have to tie up all loose ends, but it does have to move the characters to a different point where they could no longer have the adventures we were used to seeing them have. A finale should place the characters in a situation where if another season were to be written it would have to be radically different from what we have had in the past. I also think a good finale should draw on the main theme of a show and tie into old episodes.
Great finales:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Perfect. It concluded a major concept of the show (the Hellmouth) and made a dramatic shift in that all the potential vampire slayers in the world have been activated. It also destroyed the characters' homes. Going back to norm for those characters would be impossible.
Charmed - It's been a while since I saw this, but their finale was excellent and their other finale (the season finale they thought was going to be a series finale) was great too.
Star Trek: TNG - Even though this wasn't really a finale since a movie series was in the works and there's no dramatic change at the end, it still worked because it drew so much from the show's rich history.
Good finales:
I also liked the finales of Star Trek DS9, Star Trek VOY (even though Janeway really violated a lot of her moral beliefs), a bunch of sitcoms that I have forgotten, and Angel's could have been good if it wasn't a cliffhanger.
In a way I thought the Seinfeld finale was good because it did what I thought a good finale should do. Unfortunately it didn't do it very well.
As for Bloatsanne, I was hoping that loudmouth hog would bloat up and explode but that wasn't what happened. All I remember from that was the twist at the end which did nothing but explain why that entire season sucked so much.
I think Medium's finale fits in with what I expect a finale to be, but I really just didn't like the idea of Joe having to die.
====
Mixing Hollywood idiocy with politics is an Obamanation.
six feet under. best ending to the best series. no contest.
shareNip/Tuck - thumbs up. Storylines wrapped up nicely and a relatively positive, hopeful ending to a dark, dark show.
shareI'm a sucker for sappy endings so I really loved the Life Unexpected finale! And Charmed, Six Feet Under, Buffy and Third Watch. I think most finales disappoint their fans- it's got to be hard to end something that may have lasted for years within a single episode
http://www.fanfiction.net/~tutorwife93