All shows must come to an end (unless it’s Two and a Half Men, that one will go on forever). But not all endings are created equal. Some are universally acclaimed (see Breaking Bad). Some are not.
Before the social media (aka in the ancient times), the best you could do was grumble to yourself and discuss it with your friends. Nowadays – we can grumble all we want quite publicly.
Lost
We’ll be upfront with you – we loved how Lost ended. So there, feel free to judge.
In the beginning we bothered. We studied graphs and charts. We looked at screenshots until we went cross eyed. Latin was translated, old books by Locke and Rousseau finally came in handy, and what the what with the foot? And then, just like that, we gave up. It was too much. So we let it go. Given we might haven’t had a clue what was going on at times, but it was much more relaxing that way.
And the end, with the dog and all, made us bawl. For us, it was all about the characters after all. And from that perspective, the end made sense. Even if you hated it, please don’t be these people. Lindelof’s poor head will implode.
Dexter
The last season of Dexter was all over the place. But we, perhaps foolishly, thought there were would be a pay off at the end. What we didn’t expect was Dexter the lumber jack. Yes, we do understand it is a sort of purgatory for Dexter, but still it’s the same guy who chopped people up on the regular.
For a series that was so bold, so gruesome, so different from anything that we have seen before, we sure as hell didn’t expect it would end with Dexter the lumber jack.
The Sopranos
We would love to debate what the Sopranos ending was all about, but to be frank with you, we don’t have a clue. Was Tony killed after leaving the restaurant (as one popular theory goes)? Were we supposed to ponder the meaning of life and the deeper existential issues (if so, we are afraid it went right over our heads)? Or was it just a crafty way to leave things open in case an opportunity for a feature movie presented itself? We will never know.
Battlestar Galactica
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5E3bDfjwW4
Remember how intense the first season of Battlestar Galatica was? It was SO good. It tackled so many topics – from theology and religion to terrorism, survival, politics, ecology, you name it. The ending on the other hand was all over the place. Some questions were answered. Others… were not. And people were left frustrated.
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA ends with “God Did It.” Looks like somebody skipped Writing 101, when you learn that a deus ex machina is a crappy way to end a story.
That’s a quote by George R. R. Martin. All we can say – really dude? Now you know how we felt through much of A Feast for Crows. Also, please hurry up, those books won’t write themselves. Ta!
Seinfeld
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_OS1q6f5Rc
76 million people watched the finale of Seinfeld. 76 MILLION! You would think that for a series that was so popular they would come up with a more interesting ending (Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer end up in prison for violating the Good Samaritan law). Then again a) it was a show about nothing, so the ending was suitable bizarre and b) at least Seinfeld had enough common sense to end on a high.
Sam says
secret life
dante faconeri says
Battlestar Galactica a great show?? Only a virgin loser would say that, Seinfeld was just stupid all the time i highly doubt they even had 76 people watch the show throughout the entire time it was on the air.
Kim says
You obviously never watched BSG.
It was much more than a Sci-Fi tale for geeks and nerds. Under the hood was a compelling, smart, interesting story that touched a myriad of subjects throughout its run. Society, politics, religion, family, etc., it was all expertly weaved in an interesting story and very well acted.
Sure it ran out of gas a few times, it might even have jumped the shark once or twice, but it always came back with a vengeance. Don
tarponlarry says
Only an idiot who never watched the show would take a “virgin loser” shot at Battlestar Galactica… the original was crap… but watch a show before you pop off… of course the same schmo took a lame nonsensical shot at Seinfeld… really how dumb are you… a season finale list only lists shows that people give a crap about… go back to watching Wipeout and Jackass so your IQ isn’t challenged.
mike dobey says
battlestar gallactica was a great show. it had a ending. they went to earth 70 thousand years ago and we are their decendants. . I didn’t buy the destroying of the fleet. but it was fiction and that’s that. I didn’t like the ending of lost. because everyone didn’t get the fact that they did not die In the plane accident. and that one character made a perfect afterlife for them long after they all died in various ways. well…. that is a bad ending in many ways isn’t it? because that’s something you really need to spell out to people.
Joey1013 says
BSG had great ending.
Dexter had terrible ending. Lets get things straight, he killed bad people for most part and never tried on purpose kill innocents. He deserved to be with the woman he loved with his kid. Not cool that he lefted her with his kid to raise without him. She could have handle him and made him straight, she did stop him from killing after all. I don’t understand people wanting him to die or go to jail. If he kill innocents I bet some psychos would ask for happy ending for him I guess?
Wes says
One day I’ll be surprised when I look at a worst list and actually see the worst.
As usual, this just what someone could remember in their tiny little mind.
There are far worse show endings, movie endings, book endings.
These just happened to be the ones this writer could wrap his mind around.
B says
What about Veronica Mars? The finale sucked so bad the fans actually paid for the movie to be made (yay nevertheless)
Alex4759 says
“Most Disappointing” not “Worst”. No duh, there were worse endings–to shows the writer and many other people didn’t care about.
Feedback says
Dexter and Lost are by far two of the most disappointing TV finales. Dexter alone makes one of those “Worst of all time” lists. Even very crappy CW shows have had better finales.
Desperate Housewives, House and Burn Notice’s recent finales were much more disappointing than “Seinfeld” or “Sopranos” though.
mimiboot says
Dexter’s finale was so f-ed up. Deb dies and Dexter gets to live??? Wouldn’t it have been more appropriate to kill the main character, rather than his long-suffering, but loving sister? Captain obvious says: writers were leaving it open for some kind of production in the future.
Thanks for ruining an entire series with one episode (I could forgive the so-so SEASONS because they gave us one with John Lithgow – the best of all…more good seasons than bad and the good seasons made up for the lackluster ones, but this was the worst possible way to end Dexter. I, personally, have no respect for how they ended it. Dexter writers – you suck!
tromboner says
Battlestar Galactica was ended horribly. They walked off to die at the end. People who fought that hard to get to Earth would not have done that. Suicide is not an ending. I bought every season, except the last. There is no way that I want that one and wish that I hadn’t bought the others. It ruined the whole thing.
BRIAN says
LOVED LOVED LOVED the ending of Lost. Best show ever.
Moe Heat says
Monk had the worst ending in tv history yet no one is talking about it…So disappointing, made me want to forget I ever liked the show.
Michael says
Showtime would not allow the shows runners/writers to kill Dexter. I believe they were planning too and it was taken off the table pretty quickily.
lisag says
add “In Plain Sight” to the list. what was a great show had the most rushed final season and finale episodes…extremely disappointing. you want to see an AWESOME show finale? watch “Flashpoint”…they really did a great job and the show went out with a bang.
Gomez Addams says
While the ending of Dexter was very disappointing but it made sense if you understood who Dexter was. He was terrified because everyone he loved had died including his father, wife, and Deb. For that reason, he wouldn’t let himself be with Hannah.
hotchick45 says
i totally agree..Dexter ending suck big time! now i don’t even feel like purchasing the DVD set of the entire seasons, well maybe i will purchase them all but definitely not the last season! Writers, what were you thinking?? You disappointed alot of Michael Hall fans!
Denine says
HBO’s Sixth Feet Under had the best ending ever…Hands down!!
Rob says
“…we sure as hell didn
Mike says
BSG ending was EXCELLENT, if you paid any attention to the complete final season. Most people , including George RR Martin, judged and commented without apparently putting the pieces together of the final season.
(Starbuck knowing the EyeofJupiter and the Final Five Song…. Visa vie her dead father, the 13th cylon who was killed when she was young)
George RR Martin will do ANYTHING to keep peoples focus off of his deflating greatness.
kelly says
He isn’t saying the bsg was bad just the over used cliche of an ending, an sienfeld, even though I wasnt a fan the ending was bad
kelly says
I can’t talk about dexters finale without entering a Deb-like swearing fit, it was that bad
kelly says
I was expecting the runaway thing, and its not seen as a tv cliche, but dexter was written more like a series of movies and for movies something similar to the lumberjack thing happens every year.
kelly says
Couldn’t agree more, and I hated that Deb died, she deserves to be happy after the veal she dealt with.
kelly says
Veal is meant to be crap, sorry bout that
Joojoo says
Starbucks father was not the 13th Cylon. There was no 13th. Of course, that would have made sense, but religion is nonsensical, so I suppose the “god did it” angle is apt.
Sujit says
exactly right
Canadian Hobo says
Virgin loser? Wow you really are a douche.
Trevor says
Yeah! Totally! And only neckbeard idiots like dumb movies like “Schindlers’ List” and “2001: A Space Odyssey” too! Those virgin losers can suck it!
*high five*
*ass pat*
Wes says
See below the answers from a number of people who have rather short attention spans, not all of you, some might have actually gottent the point.
When a person sights only recent history and only what they can recall with their tiny little short attention span minds, they will invariably miss the point of what they claim to be espousing.
matt says
BSG (and I assume you mean the scifi one, not the 1979 episodes)
it had a great start and yes it did stall (but remember, there was a writers strike because they wanted a portion of the DVD sales)
tv show writers are no more entitled to dvd sales than a comic book artist is entitled to movie tickets!!
Rich says
How about the totally screwed ending of Saving Grace? Really, blow up the maincharacter? Sheesh….
try harder says
Rob is just the kind of moron Dexter always cathered to. F**k you and f**k that piece of s**t called Dexter. Worst show ever.
Daan says
The ending of Dexter was disappointing in my opinion, because it was so pussy-like. Why did Dexter have to suffer at the end? The edge of the show has always been that the viewer sympathizes with a serial killer.
If I was the story writer, I would leave the audience to feel incredibly uncomfortable with themselves and let Dexter the Serial Killer/Superhero to have the life he wanted: in Argentina, with his beautiful wife and son. Maybe even have some more children with Hannah. He killed hundreds of people, he got away with it, and then some… and you loved him for it. Try to deal with that!
TVViewerInTN says
Sopranos was a GOOD ending; yes, Tony and his family were killed. Excellent series.
Dexter had an AWFUL ending.
Seinfeld was just DULLLL; he’s NOT funny. I never made it through one episode.
Breaking Bad was the best series finale I’ve ever seen.
Arthur Mitchell says
I honestly believe Showtime made Dexter stay alive and start a new life for them to be able to make a spinoff 10 or so years down the line with Harrison as the killer and Dexter comes back to teach him the code.
Arthur Mitchell says
I believe Showtime made Dexter stay alive and start a new life for them to be able to make a spinoff 10 or so years down the line with Harrison as the killer and Dexter comes back to teach him the code.
jenna says
i can almost name you 76 people i personally know who tuned in every week to watch Seinfeld. always high in the ratings, it was a great show!
Mark Stevenson says
lol! Clueless wonder alert!
Murphy says
I thought BSG ended as well as could be expected, but there were a lot of loose ends. I mean if the Cylon blood helped Laura before, why not try it again? The Cylon’s had all sorts of medical skills so that didn’t make sense. I understand the ‘dying leader’ prophecy but good writing could always get around that. One of the WORST endings to any series was ST: Voyager. “Endgame” was awful. First we have a Chakotay/Seven relationship that literally came from nowhere, almost incestuous. Chakotay loves Janeway but dates her surrogate daughter? Big let down for all the fans. Gunsmoke: terrible wrap up. I understand they didn’t know about the cancellation but hey Miss Kitty waited for 20 years; she should have gotten something out of it.
Murphy says
Starbuck’s father was the model that the ‘evil’ cylon destroyed because he was artist and loving; Daniel was Starbuck’s father. I didn’t like the medical loose ends: why didn’t they use Cylon medical technology to save Laura. The miserable isolation of most of the main characters was heartbreaking. The Chief goes off along. Adama is left to live his years alone and grieving and Roslin dies. Oh, and Apollo is left without Dee or Starbuck. The two WORST possible characters, well, at least, Baltar, ends up being an ANGEL? Ending was at best so-so.
Murphy says
agree about Deb totally.
Alissa says
Why is Weeds not on this list?! If it ended with the 2nd to last episode, I would have been ok but the series finale was a major disappointment.
salientfilm says
DEADWOOD. the ending lived up to the title
Tella C says
Oh, Lord, thank you for saying that….it was the worst thing I’ve ever seen. Wasn’t even in keeping with the rest of the show, tone or otherwise.
Tella C says
Dexter’s ending was pretty terrible for such a consistently original show. The worst part about it was the latter half of the last season. It started off really well coming full circle with an incredibly casted Vogel. I thought that little dinner of psychopaths they had was priceless. Then, ALL of a sudden, Dexter turned from this one man crime solving (seriously, does Miami even need a police department on this show?) serial killer who has no real emotions towards the world besides for Deb …to this little Hannah Mcckay lapdog. Everything in the last few episodes was….”you should probably be Dexter in this episode and be awesome”….Dexter was like…”nooo, I love Hannah, I’m going to go color hearts in a notebook” –
Tella C says
Lost was just fine as far as its own last season goes. If you isolate it from the rest of the show and ignore how they made the captivating parts more about the island than the characters, the finale was absolutely phenomenal. It’s hard to make such a show that forces people to invest so much into it and then please everybody. It was THAT good (for the most part anyways) that no matter what they did, it really couldn’t have lived up to everybody’s expectations. I can watch that 2.5 hour finale a million times. I felt so bad for Damon Lindeloff after that backlash.
John says
Worst. List. Ever. Three of those five were good finales. I’ll give you Dexter and Seinfeld.
Mary says
Copper should be added to the list. The viewers were left wondering what happened. Great show, terrible ending.
Robert says
What you wrote about tv writers is terrible, Matt. On that DVD is that tv writers work, why shouldn’t they get paid for that. It’s like a musician only getting paid for live shows and not CDs. If they put work into any part of that DVD, they deserve royalties for that part of the DVD.
Charis says
Love this idea!
Peri says
I’m surprised no-one has mentioned the horrible, horrible finale to St. Elsewhere. The whole series was an autistic kid’s fantasy. Talk about a MAJOR disappointment!
yankeehater says
you moronic yank
you wouldn’t know quality if it but you on your fat ass
BobSF says
Cheap shot, as it did not have an ending, it was canceled point blank with no series ending scripted or shot. This show was insanely great, and slated for a 4-hour finale split into two. Never happened, and at the top of my Kickstarter-worthy resurrections list…
BobSF says
Ummm.. Hate to to break it to you TV, but Tony and his family went on, just without YOU watching. You, and the rest of us Viewers, were whacked, it was YOUR vision/hearing that cut out at the end there – not in any way Tony’s, as you were looking at Tony when your button was pushed. Not very nice taking out your loyal fans and audience, but Mr. Chase deserves a shi!tload of credit for thinking that one up.
Ramplug says
You surely see and love Glee. Seinfeld is one of the most intelligents sitcoms ever made, but it
robin says
What about Homeland…Because Brody was killed off I will not watch that show again…
Arcendus says
^
This is why the internet is a black hole.
J C F says
QUANTUM LEAP WAS THE MOST DISAPPOINTING ENDING EVER !! Sam for all the good deeds he did could never return home.
Fred says
I vote for Dexter as the worst finale ever.
It’s almost as if the producers were trying to piss off long-time viewers.
Jessie Roe says
While the original BSG was a bit campy (ok..OK! A L O T campy) but the remake was EPIC!!
The only thing that sucked was the last season-both parts- it just felt rushed, and it felt like the writers were getting ideas for shows from the fan based websites-like a regular cylon being a backup hybrid, or a planet full of dead cylons. Me and some friends wrote stories months before the final episodes in the last part of the final season that mirrored the scripts they came up with-like the earth they found was a radioactive wasteland, that was one of mine that I wrote for the new earth website after all the comment wars on scifi’s site JOIN THE FIGHT made everyone leave. :( )
Now I know it is possible that we just happened to come up with similar ideas in the world of BSG, that being said:Did they REALLY think flying all of the ships into the sun was smart? I guess they felt that they should really start over and be cave people.
jeff says
Virgin Loser? like Richard branson? what does this even mean? the original Battlestar Gallactica tv movie was great , especially considering the lack of expertise in shooting space films at the time. there are certainly a lot of child-like comments on here.
Barbara says
The only one of the shows I watched was Battlestar Gallactica, and I totally agree. I LOVED that show, total addict/fan. The ending not only left so many unanswered questions, it was so out of character from the rest of the show, and just empty. The show in general had so many layers, and was so gritty, and this was just fantasy, and not even good fantasy at that. Argh! That last one left me with a bad feeling about the whole show! Sigh.
thanks for the post!
~inspired girl, aka barbara
http://www.inspiredgirl.me
bonnie says
The L word was a disappointment.
nick c says
I hate to go too far back but the last episode of MASH was the all time clunker. 2 and a half hours of yuck. Had its moments but for the most part it just got too dramatic and too self righteous, the episode and the series overall.
ClownNoHead says
BSG would have wrapped up neatly if the series had been allowed to finish in it’s full run. Great show. Great cast. Great everything, except the dumb fuck network that cut it early giving 1 season to wrap up smart and complex plot. Seriously. Crap lingers for years on tv and things worth watching get axed.
Jodi says
I’m sorry, but Lost ending sucked the worst in history. I watched that show religiously, poured over every fine detail of each episode, went through the ARG stuff online, visited the websites, put puzzles together that promised clues, listened to podcasts that promised clues and in the end, they were all dead and just waiting for everyone to join them before they moved on. Ridiculous! Why was Claire still pregnant? How did Mike and Walt get off the island in a boat but everyone else had to come by submarine? And the list of things that do not add up goes on and on…
Lacee says
So glad someone agrees on the ending of DEXTER. Geez, I was pissed for the longest. Who does that to a fan? SERIOUSLY?? They could have at least made another season or movie or something to sum it up! I know Showtime was messing things up but ugh. Super disappointed.
LaVan says
The lying game is
Charliebrown says
Dexter didn’t end up a lumberjack – he ended up being a timber truck driver. A subtle difference I know but drivers don’t cut down trees. Machines load the trucks and drivers make sure their load is secure and off they go. Having mentioned that totally irrelevant point I was thinking for a while that maybe Dex could do a Jack Bauer – Jack took off a few times and came back. Then again it could never work without Deb whose death was the single most horrific part of the ending. I think I understand why Dexter took her body but all in all it was a really messy and disappointing ending – one of the worst ever.
pooter says
Why have a headline that say:
`The 5 Most Disappointing Series Finales in TV History` and then go on to say that Lost`s finale was great and made sense and anybody who did not like is an idiot? If you thought the finale was ok-then it should not have been included.
I thought the Lost ending was the worst I have ever seen. They included characters that most people have forgotten about and it was a smug, cowardly, self congratulating parade. At least with the Sopranos, people can imagine their own endings.
Odin316 says
Dexter was one of the best shows ever on T.V. the ending was a huge disappointment. It would have taken a big ending though to end that show to fans satisfaction. Dexter will have to return he is just in a limbo until he gets cranked up again!
Kristen says
I was always a die hard Dexter fan, even got my mom and brother involved in watching it. However, I didn’t get to watch the last season because we were building and moving into our new home. I was going to buy the DVD set when it came out, but heard nothing but terrible things about the ending. Someone even went as far as to tell me, that if I did watch the final season, skip the last episode and leave the finale to my imagination. And with the comments I’ve read on here, I can’t believe how the show ended. It sounds really terrible!
Jay says
I agree with Dexter, that was the most melancholy series finale, i can only hope they will continue it later. So many unanswered questions for such a long series.
Dave says
The ending to Lost (As well as the whole show) is IMO the greatest ending to a TV series I have ever seen(Yes I’ve seen Breaking Bad, The Wire, The Shield, OZ etc). Virtually everything was addressed (Just not in a spoon-fed way) and the emotional character resolution was breathtakingly beautiful.
Dexter’s finale (In fact the whole final season….or 3) was awful.
BSG, was in the beginning a good show, that started to fall apart by the end of season 2 and by the finale it had lost most of its charm, by the time the finale came around there was a plethora of gaping plot-holes that were never addressed.
The Sopranos was ok, But the show overall was overrated.
So Very Disappointed says
How I Met Your Mother.