Maybe I need to revisit the Angel and Buffy ones. In both cases I may be mixing up the last seasons as a whole with the finales. It's been so many years. For what it's worth, I was super into Angel for a spell there. I remember remarking that it may just be better than Buffy a handful of times.
Burn Notice was fun, got pretty dumb at the end, but it was a fun kind of "shut your brain off and enjoy some action" show. Jeffrey Donovan, Gabrielle Anwar, and Bruce Campbell made a pretty fun team to follow. Heroes season 1 is fantastic, but it went to shit pretty quickly after that. I definitely recommend the first season though.
The ending to Angel was FANTASTIC! It's too bad they didn't get greenlit for the one more season that Joss Wheadon was planning for.
Also, this data is missing the two biggest offenders for me. Battlestar Galactica and LOST. I can't rewatch those shows because of the endings.
I don't remember the mechanics of them much because it's been too many years, but I was looking over a list at ranker of the worst finales and was reminded of how bad the ends of Angel, Burn Notice, and if I remember correctly Buffy the Vampire Slayer were. Similarly, I don't really remember it aside from it being the end of the stupid carnival plot, but f'n Heroes man. Ugh.
I would definitely urge you to watch the finale of Angel again, I thought it was completely brilliant.
Dexter is my pick for worst. But honestly, after The Trinity Killer...no thanks. I barely stayed with it after that.
The darkest ending is Dinosaurs. I mean, it ends with the friggin dinosaur apocalypse!
And the strangest ending was this one. (I learned about it from a great podcast called TV Guidance Counselor) The show "I Married Dora" only lasted one season and when it was canceled, decided to end it like this https://youtu.be/VvVR99yafr8
Dexter was by far my worst for all the reasons mentioned. But top disappointing was definitely St Elsewhere and the (spoiler alert) snow globe. Seriously?
Dexter and Got are similar for me, because I was emotionally checked out late into it. Penny dreadful was more out of left field because I was really buying into it and didn't see it coming. Battlestar and lost didn't bother me because I have my own head canon for those.
Re: Penny Dreadful, we should remember that the show was cancelled all of a sudden by Showtime without the showrunner/creator having much say about it, so they kind of had to rush to tell the end. They didn't get a chance to finish telling the tale of Vanessa or the other characters that they really wanted to tell - in fact, Vanessa's storyline was still mid-arc when this all went down. While I'm not happy with how Vanessa ended, I did like how they wrapped up Rory Kinnear's humanized 'creature' character. All in all I think the blame for this finale's failures falls on Showtime and not on John Logan himself. I do think that he did the best he could with what he was dealt by the network in that moment.
@Michelle I read in multiple articles way back that it was always supposed to be just 3 seasons. Even John Logan said it.
And even if it was cancelled, to me that doesn't make anything better. Not just talking about PD here but any cancelled show that has a rushed ending. Like, imagine that Michelangelo was working on the Sistine Chapel for years and then the pope tells him "you gotta finish this in 3 months because I'm cutting the funding". That wouldn't take away from what a great artist he was, but nobody would call it a masterpiece. Early cancelling can make me understand, but won't make the show any better.
I think for shows I cared about it was HIMYM, Dexter and Sons of Anarchy. The Seinfeld finale wasn’t great but played its part and isn’t that bad after all.
Jon Snow and Dexter ended up with the same ending but that’s what Jon wanted so it wasn’t a bad ending.
HIMYM last season was a train wreck that could have been saved by a good finale but the way they did it was horrendous.
i think Dexter takes the cake because I will still argue that S4 is one of the best seasons of TV ever, it was all downhill from there but the finale almost nailed it but the final scene was just hot garbage.
Re: Penny Dreadful, we should remember that the show was cancelled all of a sudden by Showtime without the showrunner/creator having much say about it, so they kind of had to rush to tell the end. They didn't get a chance to finish telling the tale of Vanessa or the other characters that they really wanted to tell - in fact, Vanessa's storyline was still mid-arc when this all went down. While I'm not happy with how Vanessa ended, I did like how they wrapped up Rory Kinnear's humanized 'creature' character. All in all I think the blame for this finale's failures falls on Showtime and not on John Logan himself. I do think that he did the best he could with what he was dealt by the network in that moment.
@Michelle I read in multiple articles way back that it was always supposed to be just 3 seasons. Even John Logan said it.
And even if it was cancelled, to me that doesn't make anything better. Not just talking about PD here but any cancelled show that has a rushed ending. Like, imagine that Michelangelo was working on the Sistine Chapel for years and then the pope tells him "you gotta finish this in 3 months because I'm cutting the funding". That wouldn't take away from what a great artist he was, but nobody would call it a masterpiece. Early cancelling can make me understand, but won't make the show any better.
While I do agree with you to an extent regarding a show being cancelled should still have some semblance of a decent ending, I feel like Firefly (the show) is excluded from that same set of standards. They got the short end of the stick from the very get go.
I don't remember the mechanics of them much because it's been too many years, but I was looking over a list at ranker of the worst finales and was reminded of how bad the ends of Angel, Burn Notice, and if I remember correctly Buffy the Vampire Slayer were. Similarly, I don't really remember it aside from it being the end of the stupid carnival plot, but f'n Heroes man. Ugh.
I would definitely urge you to watch the finale of Angel again, I thought it was completely brilliant.
I've flirted with the idea of going back for another run at Angel. Maybe I'll be returning to eat some crow after refreshing my memory. One thing that I will say is that I remember really not liking the Kartheiser plot. but I also remember really being touched by the Cordelia reunification (that was in the finale, right? she's not listed on IMDB for that episode). Yeah, I'm reading the episode description and it doesn't sound familiar at all. Maybe I have it wrong. It's been roughly 10 years and we plowed through the series pretty fast given the volume of episodes.
I don't remember the mechanics of them much because it's been too many years, but I was looking over a list at ranker of the worst finales and was reminded of how bad the ends of Angel, Burn Notice, and if I remember correctly Buffy the Vampire Slayer were. Similarly, I don't really remember it aside from it being the end of the stupid carnival plot, but f'n Heroes man. Ugh.
I would definitely urge you to watch the finale of Angel again, I thought it was completely brilliant.
I've flirted with the idea of going back for another run at Angel. Maybe I'll be returning to eat some crow after refreshing my memory. One thing that I will say is that I remember really not liking the Kartheiser plot. but I also remember really being touched by the Cordelia reunification (that was in the finale, right? she's not listed on IMDB for that episode). Yeah, I'm reading the episode description and it doesn't sound familiar at all. Maybe I have it wrong. It's been roughly 10 years and we plowed through the series pretty fast given the volume of episodes.
I remember thinking to myself that last season of Angel--wow this is about as good as I can ever expect a mainstream network TV show to ever be in terms of writing and intensity. Definitely worth a rewatch!
Agree with basically everyone else here. Dexter far and away the worst. HIMYM was also pretty bad, for the same reasons why people don't like the GOT ending. They basically walk back a lot of the character development they did in the last few seasons of the show to get to the ending they always had in mind (and had shot during the first season, I believe).
Also want to mention that Scrubs is on this list because they brought the show back for no apparent reason for a 9th season after already doing a proper finale episode in season 8. I really count that last season as a spinoff of the main show because the majority of the characters from the first 8 seasons are gone. If you stop watching at the end of season 8, the finale is perfect!
I'm surprised that The Soppranos isn't on the list. I loved it, but SO many people hated the ending.
Sopranos is the BEST ending!
I loved it, but I still know so many people who absolutely hate it. It was my ex's father's favourite show of all time and he went nuts about how badly it ended! He won't even talk about the show any more!
I wondered about how people feel about The Sopranos ending these days. I feel like it's the type of ending that infuriates at the time but then over time, people become more accepting of it overall.
I wondered about how people feel about The Sopranos ending these days. I feel like it's the type of ending that infuriates at the time but then over time, people become more accepting of it overall.
It definitely is. I've hardly heard anything negative about it in years. It also felt at the time a lot of people had attitude of "isn't Tony cool he's such a gangster" and that ending is going to be really disappointing you think about the show like that. The further removed we are and the more people think about what the show was and what it was trying to do the more accepting people are of something a little more abstract than Tony pulling a shotgun out from under the table or whatever people wanted to see back then.
@Travis. Yeah, Season 4 of Angel was pretty rough. There's a lot of good stuff in Season 5 though. Cordelia comes back in You're Welcome (Season 5, Episode 12) for one episode. Smile Time, A Hole in The World, and the finale Not Fade Away are other stand out episodes.
Dexter and not too far behind, True Blood, are my most hated finales. I wasn’t surprised because they had both been pretty bad for a long time, but the finales were a whole new low. I think I did get some good unintentional laughs out of both at least.
@Michelle I read in multiple articles way back that it was always supposed to be just 3 seasons. Even John Logan said it.
And even if it was cancelled, to me that doesn't make anything better. Not just talking about PD here but any cancelled show that has a rushed ending. Like, imagine that Michelangelo was working on the Sistine Chapel for years and then the pope tells him "you gotta finish this in 3 months because I'm cutting the funding". That wouldn't take away from what a great artist he was, but nobody would call it a masterpiece. Early cancelling can make me understand, but won't make the show any better.
That's interesting. I hadn't seen any articles before (although admittedly I didn't go looking for them either), but I remember at the time, everyone was upset because the word was everywhere that Showtime had abruptly pulled the plug. Thanks for enlightening me. Only now I'm upset at John Logan, lol.
EDIT: I'm watching the finale again now and even though this is considered 'one of the worst', I think that's only based on the abrupt ending of the series. The acting, like it was throughout the entire run, is completely on point and so commendable, but especially in this last ep. This Dorian/Lily scene where she leaves him is just *sigh*. Reeve Carney is a hugely underestimated talent.
House of cards, just wow. What a piece of shit. Game of thrones wasn’t even close to the worst finale I’ve seen, I loved how it ended. I felt like I understood lost so that’s not there for me either. I was fine with the himym finale, I could sort of sense it in a way. Never seen dexter.
@Michelle I think people just assumed, because that's usually how cancellations happen. But if they cancelled it because of poor ratings, I don't think Showtime would have gone for City of Angels (especially with the same title and showrunner.)
And yes, some characters were wrapped up really nicely. But they were also setting up for Jekyll/Hyde, the mummy, etc. that filled me with anticipation. I don't know why they would do that if they knew it wasn't going to happen. They could have spent that time more meaningfully for other characters. Also towards the end there was an episode without Vanessa in it at all that I really disliked, and made me realize that without her the show can't carry itself. Which is really a shame given that there were so many other great characters.
I’m not sure those that weren’t in on Dexter understand how terrible the ending was. It not only went against everything the character was and had built over so many seasons. It would be like the Daenerys S8 turn with less foreshadowing and then she becomes a lumberjack.
With HIMYM I think it was the treatment and dismissal of the mother in about 4 seconds that irks most people but the final season was utterly shit. The actual physical ending of the series wasn’t bad (ie how the characters ended up) it was the lead up that ruins the show for so many. We had it on the tv as we fell asleep for many years but always went back to the start when it got to the last season.
@Michelle I think people just assumed, because that's usually how cancellations happen. But if they cancelled it because of poor ratings, I don't think Showtime would have gone for City of Angels (especially with the same title and showrunner.)
And yes, some characters were wrapped up really nicely. But they were also setting up for Jekyll/Hyde, the mummy, etc. that filled me with anticipation. I don't know why they would do that if they knew it wasn't going to happen. They could have spent that time more meaningfully for other characters. Also towards the end there was an episode without Vanessa in it at all that I really disliked, and made me realize that without her the show can't carry itself. Which is really a shame given that there were so many other great characters.
Yeah. I remain skeptical. The Jekyll/Hyde example is clearly the most obvious part. It's a slow burn show that would have it perfectly fitting to have just Dr. Jekyll in the season he's introduced and then bring in Mr. Hyde in the following season. But to never show off Mr. Hyde at all? That's very uncharacteristic with this very deliberate show. The wild west plot also ended abruptly, the tease for the mummy as mentioned, the possibility that he new girl was a time traveler, and the hints of the body/soul of the devil and dracula reuniting into an ultimate series big bad just make it too many things cut short.
Whatever the creator says I take with a grain of salt. It could simply be to help save Showtime's face, and in cooperating from spreading bad press, they were more agreeable to give him another show to try out.
As for Dexter, I had forgotten about that. It was the first show that I loved that I stopped watching before the end. I stopped after the prior's season finale. I got burned already with LOST and Battlestar that I couldn't get myself to continue on with Dexter. It sounds like I made the right choice.
Orphan Black was pretty bad. The whole massive complex conspiracy plot just kind of sunk under its own weight in the last season, then at the end they killed like three people and everything was cool. Oh except there are like 300 more clones, HUH?
I just followed Orphan Black for the ride and didn't expect it to make any sense.
I have to put Battlestar Galactica and Lost up at the top, though, as has been mentioned. I have a feeling Thrones is going to be up there, too, as the more I think about the finale the worse it seems, even from an "enjoy and don't think" point of view.
I'm surprised nobody's mentioned True Blood, but that was a long, long decline.
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Also, this data is missing the two biggest offenders for me. Battlestar Galactica and LOST. I can't rewatch those shows because of the endings.
The darkest ending is Dinosaurs. I mean, it ends with the friggin dinosaur apocalypse!
And the strangest ending was this one. (I learned about it from a great podcast called TV Guidance Counselor) The show "I Married Dora" only lasted one season and when it was canceled, decided to end it like this https://youtu.be/VvVR99yafr8
I think it's aged well though - with a lot of people rewatching for the 20th anniversary there seemed to be a lot of positive sentiment about it.
Penny dreadful was more out of left field because I was really buying into it and didn't see it coming. Battlestar and lost didn't bother me because I have my own head canon for those.
Jon Snow and Dexter ended up with the same ending but that’s what Jon wanted so it wasn’t a bad ending.
HIMYM last season was a train wreck that could have been saved by a good finale but the way they did it was horrendous.
i think Dexter takes the cake because I will still argue that S4 is one of the best seasons of TV ever, it was all downhill from there but the finale almost nailed it but the final scene was just hot garbage.
Yeah, they tried to give Dexter both an Arya sailing adventure and a Jon Snow lumberjack ending. :-)
Angel Starbuck, Lee and his dad just deciding to scuttle everyone's tech, the ending with Baltar and Six. I absolutely hated it.
Also want to mention that Scrubs is on this list because they brought the show back for no apparent reason for a 9th season after already doing a proper finale episode in season 8. I really count that last season as a spinoff of the main show because the majority of the characters from the first 8 seasons are gone. If you stop watching at the end of season 8, the finale is perfect!
It definitely is. I've hardly heard anything negative about it in years. It also felt at the time a lot of people had attitude of "isn't Tony cool he's such a gangster" and that ending is going to be really disappointing you think about the show like that. The further removed we are and the more people think about what the show was and what it was trying to do the more accepting people are of something a little more abstract than Tony pulling a shotgun out from under the table or whatever people wanted to see back then.
EDIT: I'm watching the finale again now and even though this is considered 'one of the worst', I think that's only based on the abrupt ending of the series. The acting, like it was throughout the entire run, is completely on point and so commendable, but especially in this last ep. This Dorian/Lily scene where she leaves him is just *sigh*. Reeve Carney is a hugely underestimated talent.
With HIMYM I think it was the treatment and dismissal of the mother in about 4 seconds that irks most people but the final season was utterly shit. The actual physical ending of the series wasn’t bad (ie how the characters ended up) it was the lead up that ruins the show for so many. We had it on the tv as we fell asleep for many years but always went back to the start when it got to the last season.
Whatever the creator says I take with a grain of salt. It could simply be to help save Showtime's face, and in cooperating from spreading bad press, they were more agreeable to give him another show to try out.
As for Dexter, I had forgotten about that. It was the first show that I loved that I stopped watching before the end. I stopped after the prior's season finale. I got burned already with LOST and Battlestar that I couldn't get myself to continue on with Dexter. It sounds like I made the right choice.
I have to put Battlestar Galactica and Lost up at the top, though, as has been mentioned. I have a feeling Thrones is going to be up there, too, as the more I think about the finale the worse it seems, even from an "enjoy and don't think" point of view.
I'm surprised nobody's mentioned True Blood, but that was a long, long decline.