I watched the first four episodes of "Girls" on HBO. It could be the greatest show of all time if and ONLY if all four main characters are horribly murdered in the last episode. That would be the best series finale ever. Also No KOTH?

Breaking Bad. It hasn't aired yet, but I'm confident it will crush pretty much all of these.

Game of Thrones Series Finale:
The godsdamned comet smashes into Westeros, and everyone dies.

/you heard it here first
//and #1 was the right #1.

The Shield finale was great. You really did get the feeling that being buried in paperwork was a fate worse than prison for Vic.

Sybarite: The finale of Seinfeld was mostly a lame clip show. Larry David could have done something groundbreaking, but opted instead for a boring and unfunny retrospective. The only two series that have ever had a good clip show are South Park and Community.

Moonlighting had a good clip show.

Seinfeld's finale was one of the worst episodes of the series. It was just boring. If I wanted to see those characters, I'd just go watch the episodes they were in.

no quantum leap?

#15 Seinfeld.

Alright, listen. I love Seinfeld. Love it.

The series finale was absolute garbage.

fawlty: thornhill: Seinfeld: The finale was designed to be a pie in the face for all of the people who watched the show but couldn't figure out that as much as we love the characters, they're all self-absorbed shallow New Yorkers. For those of us who did get it, Larry David has provided us years of comedy laughing at the people who thought the show should have ended with sentimental happy stuff like Elaine and Jerry getting married.

The problem with the ending was they had all those folks sit on the stand and tell their stories. We know their stories so it wasn't funny just to hear them tell it. It would have been funnier just to parade them, have them enter to courtroom and have Jerry say, "Soup Nazi!" "Virgin!" "Pool Guy!" "Mulva!" Just some phrase that he has in his head to identify these people that passed through his life. Just quick hit after quick hit. Which would make the same "he's shallow" point because he would never use the folks' names, just some descriptor because he doesn't even bother to learn or remember their names.

They were on trial, that's why there was a lengthy courtroom act to the show (that's the joke). The point was to contextualization incidents people found funny.

Remove Seinfeld and Lost, and it's a decent list.

MorganFreeman: Breaking Bad. It hasn't aired yet, but I'm confident it will crush pretty much all of these.

But not the Newhart one. Unless Walter wakes up in bed with Lois.

/hope they'll do something like that for a gag reel...

Invisible Pedestrian: MorganFreeman: Breaking Bad. It hasn't aired yet, but I'm confident it will crush pretty much all of these.

But not the Newhart one. Unless Walter wakes up in bed with Lois.

/hope they'll do something like that for a gag reel...

That would be awesome.

Out of all of them (at least the one's I've seen), Sopranos was the one that was the most disappointing at the time.

I just remember thinking my cable box went out or something like that and cursing a blue streak.

Looking back several years later, I can step away from my initial disappointment and see the brilliance in it for what it was.

Battlestar Galactica and its bullshiat copout ending? You have to be farking kidding me.

I stopped reading the list at that one. The single worst series ending I can think of. So bad, I can't even stomach re-watching the series again. Now that I know that they're going to eventually completely shiat on anything interesting that they do the whole series is spoiled for me.

And the final five Cyclons were such bullshiat. They should have just been random shmoes that nobody would have seen coming, but instead they had some kind of lame fan-service circle jerk. Fark that show.

List fails without the original series "scrubs" ending

Mugato: Glad 24 and Star trek were there.

Seinfeld? Really?

The Seinfeld finally actually turned me off the show.

I think you can argue about whether certain finales were good or sucked, but if you think the Lost finale was anything but the cheesiest piece of crap ever to air, you are incorrect. It only gets worse in my mind as time goes on.

DeaH: Mugato: Glad 24 and Star trek were there.

Seinfeld? Really?

The Seinfeld finally actually turned me off the show.

So you ended up missing... nothing.

Seems appropriate somehow.

Mugato: Peter von Nostrand: As a fan of Lost and Seinfeld, I'll readily admit the finales farking sucked. They just weren't done well

The problem being that Lost sort of depended on its finale. It was one huge cock tease that promised a resolution that never really panned out. I can watch any episode of Seinfeld and still find it funny. But if they ever syndicate Lost, I'd be like, "this went nowhere, what's the point?". That can't be good for DVD sales.

yes. exactly. I have no compunction to rewatch any of it just for that reason. Now I hated the Sopranos ending, but I could see myself rewatching the whole series.

tboucher: list sucks without Babylon 5's Sleeping in Light.

If Tor.com's blog was making this list, yeah, maybe. EW? I'd be surprised if anyone on their staff (with the possible exception of Ken Tucker) even knew what B5 was.

Eureka, Big bang theory, and 2 and one half men are on my list.

Agreed that M*A*S*H's ending should be higher up the list. But Newhart as #1 is absolutely correct. That still remains the best ending to a show ever. It was hilarious, unexpected and supremely enjoyable.

Smelly McUgly: thornhill:

Seinfeld: The finale was designed to be a pie in the face for all of the people who watched the show but couldn't figure out that as much as we love the characters, they're all self-absorbed shallow New Yorkers. For those of us who did get it, Larry David has provided us years of comedy laughing at the people who thought the show should have ended with sentimental happy stuff like Elaine and Jerry getting married.


It's not an either/or. The idiots who thought the show should have ended with Elaine and Jerry getting married only showed up in like season five after the show had become a hit. However, the "let's judge these characters" thing was just so heavy-handed and shiatty. In real life, people like these never get judged or change. They go on blissfully through life being hung up on their first-world problems. They'd just show up at the diner and keep being inane until they were old. Thus why the Seinfeld reunion arc from Curb Your Enthusiasm feels like the REAL ending to that show.

That was the point of the finale -- using fiction to put people on trial for being jerks.

Wow, some really bad picks.

STTNG: They total fubared this ending. The whole premise was that the Enterprise "created" the event that was causing the time issues (I forget what they called it in-show). The "event" was going backwards in time from that point. And yet when the Enterprise goes to investigate that spot, it's not there. That's impossible based on the way they defined it - an event travelling backwards in time. And then, to make matters worse, they go back and the event is there after it's been created So we have something that travels backwards through time that isn't there when they go to see it at point X - 1, is created at point X, and then is visible at point X + 1. That completely messes up the basic premise they are using to construct the dramatic tension of the show.

Seinfeld: Yes, we get it, they were selfish, self-absorbed people. But it's still an idiotic premise - they watched a crime, recorded it, and had evidence they could give the police to help catch the criminal. The expectation they should go put themselves in harms way to try and stop the crime is ludicrous, making the entire rest of the show pointless.

BSG: Well, it's all been said before. Angel Starbuck. "Humans" in history. Sufficient population to sustain a colony. Inability to interbreed with local inhabitants. Pointless sermonizing. Just a really, really bad ending to what started off as a really good show.

Plus, yes, it need Babylon 5 (although I'm sure that wasn't mainstream enough to make the list).

/And this concludes my nerd rage for the day. Carry on.

thornhill: fawlty: thornhill: Seinfeld: The finale was designed to be a pie in the face for all of the people who watched the show but couldn't figure out that as much as we love the characters, they're all self-absorbed shallow New Yorkers. For those of us who did get it, Larry David has provided us years of comedy laughing at the people who thought the show should have ended with sentimental happy stuff like Elaine and Jerry getting married.

The problem with the ending was they had all those folks sit on the stand and tell their stories. We know their stories so it wasn't funny just to hear them tell it. It would have been funnier just to parade them, have them enter to courtroom and have Jerry say, "Soup Nazi!" "Virgin!" "Pool Guy!" "Mulva!" Just some phrase that he has in his head to identify these people that passed through his life. Just quick hit after quick hit. Which would make the same "he's shallow" point because he would never use the folks' names, just some descriptor because he doesn't even bother to learn or remember their names.

They were on trial, that's why there was a lengthy courtroom act to the show (that's the joke). The point was to contextualization incidents people found funny.

Or, as I like to call it, throwing anvils at the audience. Look, I have no tolerance for anyone who wanted Jerry and Elaine to end up together (frankly, I had no idea that such people existed before this thread), but that ending was an act of contempt to those of us that watched the show from the beginning. Frankly, I would have been happier with Kramer dead, George in jail, Elaine old and alone with her cats, and Jerry rich as Croesus from making fun of his closest friends. Sure, it's in the nose, but a heck of a lot more subtle than trying and jailing them.

Seriously, that ending still pisses me off.

Eirik: DeaH: Mugato: Glad 24 and Star trek were there.

Seinfeld? Really?

The Seinfeld finally actually turned me off the show.

So you ended up missing... nothing.

Seems appropriate somehow.

Nothing would have been so much better.

MorganFreeman: Invisible Pedestrian: MorganFreeman: Breaking Bad. It hasn't aired yet, but I'm confident it will crush pretty much all of these.

But not the Newhart one. Unless Walter wakes up in bed with Lois.

/hope they'll do something like that for a gag reel...

That would be awesome.

Walt was shot by Jessie in the pilot and has been dying the whole time.

mongbiohazard: Battlestar Galactica and its bullshiat copout ending? You have to be farking kidding me.

I stopped reading the list at that one. The single worst series ending I can think of. So bad, I can't even stomach re-watching the series again. Now that I know that they're going to eventually completely shiat on anything interesting that they do the whole series is spoiled for me.

And the final five Cyclons were such bullshiat. They should have just been random shmoes that nobody would have seen coming, but instead they had some kind of lame fan-service circle jerk. Fark that show.

I thought that ending was almost right, but it went a couple steps too far. They made a couple mis-steps that ruined it. The whole Starbuck thing was a problem. She should either have never come back (or never been killed) or having come back should have turned out to be a Cylon or something. Making her mystical ruined it a bit.

I actually didn't have a problem with them settling a primitive Earth and starting over from scratch. That not only seemed right on some level, but completely made some kind of BSG: 2010 impossible.

KellyX: Shield - The ending was good, but holy shiat, you felt so bad for Vic... that was his version of hell.

Yeah, but the way he got up from the desk, grabbed his gun and strutted out of the office with his head held high showed that he was beaten, not broken. That's part of what made me love that finale.

Kanemano: MorganFreeman: Invisible Pedestrian: MorganFreeman: Breaking Bad. It hasn't aired yet, but I'm confident it will crush pretty much all of these.

But not the Newhart one. Unless Walter wakes up in bed with Lois.

/hope they'll do something like that for a gag reel...

That would be awesome.

Walt was shot by Jessie in the pilot and has been dying the whole time.

Been done.
Ending of the movie Jacob's Ladder.

tboucher: list sucks without Babylon 5's Sleeping in Light.

That would be my favorite, yes. Particularly the tearful goodbye scene with Sheridan and Delenn.

Not a lot on the list here that I did watch, save for M*A*S*H, of course. And Star Trek:TNG, but I thought it was all too typical of the show: by the end of the episode, everything that had happened, no longer had happened.