For as long as there have been television programs, there have been television endings. When a beloved show has a satisfying conclusion, like Breaking Bad, it cements the series as a true classic. A show that ends well, be it with laughter or tears, remains in the minds of fans forever, often becoming iconic moments of pop culture. But, as many creators know, a bad ending can also become iconic, just for all the wrong reasons.
While many contemporary fans of television immediately think of the abomination that was Game of Thrones' final season, there are countless examples of well-known television shows completely mishandling their conclusions. Even amongst these massive flops, a few exceptional failures stand out in particular.
10 Dexter's Ending Felt Like A Fever Dream
Before there was Game of Thrones, there was Dexter. The beloved crime drama originally ran from 2006 to 2013, and although the show may have included some slightly repetitive plot lines, nothing seemed out of the ordinary until the final episode.
Flash forward to the conclusion of Season 8, and in the span of a single episode, Deb (Dexter's sister) has been stripped of cognitive brain function due to a stroke, taken off life support, and dropped into the ocean like some two-bit serial killer by Dexter, who for some reason then decides to sail headfirst into a hurricane, never be seen again (until 2021's Dexter: New Blood). A fitting ending to a horrible episode.
9 Roseanne's Ending Made The Whole Final Season A Lie
While Roseanne wasn't the most trope-filled comedy show of all time, none of its fans would have batted an eye had the show ended with some cookie-cutter, feel-good conclusion. Instead, what viewers got was one of the worst finales in television sitcom history.
In the final episode of Season 9, Roseanne reveals that the entire season had taken place in a fictional story written by Roseanne Connor, inspired by her real life. Roseanne's husband, Dan, actually died from the heart attack that he was shown to have survived in the finale of Season 8, and this story was her way of coping with it. This ending might not have completely fallen into the "it was all a dream" trope, but somehow this felt even worse.
8 Will & Grace Disregarded Seasons Worth Of Connection
Will & Grace was a staple of television in the late '90s and early 2000s, and at the front and center of the series was the rock-solid friendship between the two titular leads of the show. So, when the series ended with the two characters going their separate ways, not talking for 20 years, and only rekindling their relationship because their children get married, fans were upset.
There may have been some real conversation to be had about the viability of Will and Grace's living situation, but for a show built around a healthy, non-romantic relationship between two genders, it felt cheap to simply insinuate that the process of life would inevitably pull them apart. Oh, and Beverly died by falling off a balcony.
7 How I Met Your Mother Sacrificed Multiple Character's Storylines For The Sake Of Ted And Robin
Few sitcoms have reached the level of success of How I Met Your Mother, and fewer still have included finales met with as much backlash. The main characters of Ted and Robin were originally intended to end up with one another - the finale of the series was filmed way back in season two - but after nine seasons of their on-again-off-again relationship, many fans thought the two had grown apart.
Ted and Robin eventually ended up together in a surprise twist that felt cheap to many. Ted was a widower and the mother of his children, Tracy, died from an unknown disease prior to telling his story to their children. Barney and Robin's marriage, which comprised almost the entire final season, was undone in the same episode, resulting in a jampacked mess of a final episode.
6 Two And A Half Men's Creator Let Personal Issues Affect The Show's Legacy
Two and a Half Men was never particularly groundbreaking in any specific fashion, but it was always a consistently performing sitcom with some solid leads. Unfortunately, a rift between former cast member, Charlie Sheen, and the show's creator, Chuck Lorre, resulted in a completely botched last episode.
Rather than provide any narrative conclusion for the show's current cast, Two and a Half men instead ended with a Charlie Sheen lookalike being smashed by a piano, only to then pan out and show Lorre in a director's chair as he quotes Sheen's catchphrase, "Winning!" before also being smashed by a piano. Based on the title card at the end of the credits, this scene was pretty personal.
5 Lost Got Too Convoluted For Its Own Good
Sometimes a series finale isn't received well due to the uneventfulness; however, Lost suffered from the exact opposite problem. The series progressively got more and more convoluted as the it continued, and by the end, most fans were left scratching their heads and wondering what they just watched.
There is something positive to be said for a dense narrative that legitimately requires one or two re-watches to properly appreciate, but when the consensus among fans is that the finale mandates five or more viewings properly understand, it's likely to the detriment of the show
4 Seinfeld's Finale Brought Morality To A Series That Never Had Any
Seinfeld defined a generation of television, yet that didn't prevent them from fielding one of the more offbeat finales in memory. Jerry, Elaine, George, and Kramer reached tens of millions of Americans at their peak, giving them a huge audience for their final episode in 1998: over 76 million viewers tuned in.
Even though the series had repeatedly emphasized how its main characters were far from model citizens, throwing them in jail at the conclusion of the series felt incredibly moralistic, alienating a significant amount of viewers that thought the episode was lacking in comedy.
3 Zoey 101's Controversial Ending Tainted An Underrated Series
With Jamie Lynn Spears as the lead of the series, Zoey 101 experienced significant success on the Nickelodeon network, eventually becoming the most expensive production for a Nickelodeon show.
Around the same time that the finale was being filmed, Spears announced her pregnancy, a declaration that was met with significant backlash from parents unsure of how to address the topic to their children. Unfortunately, the final episode, already filmed, didn't present any interesting developments, resulting in many viewers strictly associating the final season with the personal life of its main character.
2 The Sopranos' Final Scene Was Too Non-Commital For Such A Great Series
The Sopranos is one of the most highly regarded television shows of all time, and although this is completely deserved, it also contains what is arguably the most infamous episode of TV in history. After six seasons, the adventures of Tony Soprano were winding down as the ever-tightening net of crime he was surrounded by closed in; however, before audiences knew what happened, the screen cut to black and the credits rolled.
While an entire subculture has developed around determining what happened after the smash cut to black, an affirmative answer to this question wouldn't solve the issues with this ending. A series as critically acclaimed as The Sopranos is held to a high standard, so leaving the audience with an inconclusive, non-committal ending was always going to be received poorly.
1 True Blood's Finale Distanced Itself From What Made The Show Great
Nobody has ever claimed that True Blood is highbrow television, but this vampire series somehow still took a huge step back over the course of its final season. For a show that repeatedly distanced itself from normality, everything sure did end up bland in Bon Temps.
Bill gets killed in a gory explosion that looks straight out of a C-list horror film, everyone pairs up in boring couples that didn't seem true to character, and Sookie ends up with some random guy whose face is never even shown on screen. It seems like the directors decided that getting married and having children was the answer to life's (and vampirism's) problems. The fans thought otherwise.