Your favorite show ending is already rough, but it actually can get rougher.
Unlike shows like Breaking Bad or Mad Men , some series finales stumble over the finale hurdle — and some plow straight into it entirely.
This article right here is going to examine the worst of the worst. Beware of spoilers.
“Dexter”
One of the shows often cited as having an absolutely horrible finale is Dexter , the show that followed the personal life of a serial killer.
The finale, which saw Dexter throw his dead sister’s body into the ocean before ditching his young son to become a lumberjack, was a critical miss.
Even the show’s star, Michael C. Hall, reportedly hated it.
“Lost”
Fans were left disappointed when Lost chose to deal with the stories of its characters over the mysteries they wanted solved.
Many mistakenly believed that the characters they loved were dead the entire time — however, as Jack’s father explained, the alternate reality we saw in season 6 was actually a limbo they created to wait for each other in.
Yeah, I actually liked LOST ‘s finale. Sue me, y’all.
“Seinfeld”
One of the most critically acclaimed comedies of all time had one downer of a finale.
The former enemies of the gang’s all came together to testify against Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer in a court of law.
The show ended with the four in jail.
All because they filmed an overweight man getting carjacked. The finale was so weird that Jerry Seinfeld himself regrets it.
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“Battlestar Galactica”
Sure, important mythology was hand-waved away, and we’ll never if Starbuck really was an angel.
But a time jump 150,000 years into the future, where we got a montage of dancing robots and a smug Six and Gaius waxing poetic about the cyclical nature of humanity?
Frak that.
(Still, you should definitely watch Battlestar Galactica. It’s really good.)
“Sons of Anarchy”
The show that became so much more than the story about a biker gang ended on a sour note.
The heavy-handed Jesus metaphors seemed too much for critics, and viewers had already lost all of their favorite characters by the time the series concluded.
“True Blood”
How would you expect a violent, sexually explicit vampire show to end?
Many didn’t think it would be blandly, but that’s what True Blood served up. Jessica and Hoyt got married, Bill had Sookie murder him so she could be free to live her own life, and then the whole thing flashed forward to a happy Thanksgiving at Sookie’s house.
“Star Trek: Enterprise”
Hey, how would you feel if your favorite show’s series finale was just a VR recreation played out by another character in your show’s franchise?
That’s exactly how Star Trek: Enterprise ended.
The Next Generation ‘s Riker and Troi returned to play out the events of their predecessors on a holodeck, where viewers watched their favorite characters either die or go their own ways.
Yikes!
“How I Met Your Mother”
Of all the endings I thought How I Met Your Mother would have, the one where the mother dies was not on my list.
(Also, Barney and Robin should have stayed together. Thanks.)
The ending of HIMYM was so hated that the show’s producers cut together an alternate ending for the show…but by then, it was already too late.
“Roseanne”
The original ending of Roseanne left a lot to be desired.
After watching the Conners finally find happiness after winning the lottery, the show revealed that everything good that happened to them in the season was actually the fictional writing of a grief-striken Roseanne.
See, the heart attack that miraculously didn’t kill Dan in the previous season actually did, and Roseanne decided to write a book where that didn’t happen to ease her pain.
“Gossip Girl”
Who is the one true Gossip Girl?
Fans had theories. They debated. They argued. But in the end, Gossip Girl really was…Dan?
Yup.
Despite it making little to no sense, Dan was the one keeping track of his friends the entire time. Even Penn Badgley, who played Dan, didn’t understand how that one worked.
“Game of Thrones”
It is quite possible that Game of Thrones may go down with one of the worst series finales of all time.
From an uneven final season to a completely nonsensical last episode, viewers around the world hated the end of one of the most talked about shows of all time.
As of writing, Game of Thrones ‘ final episode has a 49% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
“Merlin”
The retelling of the legend of Merlin, Arthur, Guinevere, and the Knights of the Round Table was campy fun — until it wasn’t.
The series ended with Arthur and Merlin sharing a heart-to-heart while Arthur slowly died after being stabbed. Which would have been a fine emotional resolution! Except…
The last five minutes showed Merlin emerging into our modern world, waiting for Arthur to rise like a prophecy said he would.
“Star Trek: Voyager”
Voyager’s finale was riddled with missed character moments, ham-fisted relationship choices (Seven and Chakotay might be the worst pairing on the whole show), and shoddy time travel logic.
The worst part, however, was that a show dedicated to calling the Voyager crew a “family” ended its seven-year run with its Captain alone, with no one beside her to celebrate their return home.
Captain Janeway, you deserved better.
“The X-Files”
The revival of the iconic 90’s show was more miss than hit, but the season 11 finale served up nothing but ridiculousness.
After years of searching for their son, Mulder and Scully discovered that Scully had been impregnated without her consent by their enemy, and that “their” son wasn’t Mulder’s at all. Also, that son super blew up.
Don’t worry, though — Scully revealed to Mulder that she was pregnant with his child again. Yes, really.
“The Sopranos”
I still don’t know if the series finale of The Sopranos was good or bad, but I do know that it was incredibly polarizing.
The show’s fade to black smack-dab in the middle of a scene angered many, and created a huge amount of memes.
Like it or not, though, it’s still in the pop culture lexicon for a reason: it sure was memorable.
“Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life”
This one is a bit controversial since some people do actually like the ending. Rory’s story went full circle, in that she ends the story in the same place her mother started her own.
But seriously, she and Jess should have ended up together.
“That ’70s Show”
Sure, we were happy that Eric came back, but we didn’t even get to see him for long!
Plus, Hyde and Jackie should have ended up together.
“Scrubs”
The show was actually really strong while it was running, and it stands as a classic fan favorite.
However, by the time Scrubs: Med School came around, unappealing storylines came with it.
“Heroes”
Yeah, this show could have been something amazing, but the writers just ended up dropping the ball as the seasons went on.
A for Effort? Not even, because the series was actually canceled.
“Weeds”
What started out as an inspiring story about a mother who had to sell drugs to make ends meet, turned into something really distasteful.
She ended up becoming a horrible mother by the end of the series, which defeated the whole purpose of the show.
“The Vampire Diaries”
This was probably one of the greatest disappointments on the CW.
The hit show ended with Stefan dying, Damon and Elena becoming human, and Caroline having Alaric’s children. It was awful in every sense of the word.
“The O.C”
Unfortunately for this show, when Marissa died, so did the rest of the episodes that followed.
Marissa brought most of the drama, and once she was gone, the storylines failed to capture viewers. The series ended on a low point, but at least everyone got a happy ending.
“The Office”
While the show, as a whole, remains an all-time favorite, the last couple of episodes are not anything to boast about.
Jim and Pam only really resolve their issues in the final moments, and Andy becomes truly too arrogant to stand.
