TV Shows that Ended Well (A thinly-veiled Chuck post-mortem)

[Sixcess]

The Prisoner.

Nothing is explained and everything is explained. It couldn't have ended any other way.

 

[AudienceOfOne1]

I was happy with the ending to Chuck, after an exceptional first 2 seasons and rather lack luster 3rd and 4th season, I felt it had run its course. The last season helped to give it a comfortable end although the shit with Sarah at the end was a little wtf.

 

[DustyDrB]

[ Battlestar Galactica.

Even the producers of BSG admitted they slapped together the ending with no thought. The entire last season was a mess because the two producers weren't talking and were separately producing episodes. They didn't even write the last episode until part way through filming the last season.

That's one of the best examples of a failed final episode that destroyed the series.

The final episode wasn't particularly strong, but it and the lead-up to it worked well enough for me to close things out. I was sort of reaching to name shows that I thought ended well. I admit this one probably doesn't belong.

 

[Thyunda]

The British series of Life On Mars ended incredibly well. David Bowie has never sounded so...awesome.

I hated the ending for Life on Mars. I just felt cheated, like nothing was explained.

I know that it was meant to end a bit ambiguously, but I hate that in shows.

Ashes to Ashes, the spin-off, explains it a little better, so I've been told. I've yet to see that though.

 

[him over there]

Home Movies, there was a small audio mess up with the ending but a fan fixed it and you can see it in its intended glory.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Sticking to the better series I've watched (avoiding spoilers):

[HEADING=3]THE GOOD[/HEADING]

THE WIRE: 5th season was a dropoff after the amazing 4th season, and I'm glad the show ended when it did, but you can't say there wasn't closure for all the major character arcs, plot lines, and themes.

SIX FEET UNDER: Almost a comical amount of closure. Also, if you've suffered loss, or are just a sensitive person, the last 10 minutes of the final episode are impossibly wrenching.

THE OFFICE (UK): Surprisingly sweet and sentimental ending to arguably the best comedy television series of all time.

EXTRAS: Nothing special to say, but a solid ending.

THE SOPRANOS: People can moan and whine all they like, I thought it was excellent.


[HEADING=3]THE BAD[/HEADING]

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: It got lost in all the shark jumping the show was doing in its latter seasons, but the finale was appalling. Shlocky, meandering, pointless. Almost ruins the show, really.

DEADWOOD: It just...ends. It was clear the show wasn't close to being finished. Firefly fans complain, but y'all got Serenity. Deadwood just falls off a cliff.

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: Whedon did what he could with the final episode, but the damage had been done. The 6th and 7th seasons are disasters, and most of the 7th is borderline unwatchable.

THE SIMPSONS: END IT ALREADY KILL IT PUT IT OUT OF ITS MISERY FOR GODS SAKE

 

[yndsu]

-snip-

Chuck.....sob.... I've only watched the finale two-hour special 10 times.... or more.

The ending was so good, yet left me so.... empty.

Sob.

Chuck, why you have to mistreat me so?

I have been re-watching the whole series with the exception of season 5. Just cant bring myself to watch cause the ending, be it as good as it is, is still an ending for a great show that i love.

And yeah, the ending left me empty as well.
I need some Chuck movie or another season or w/e to fill that void.

 

[yndsu]

Damn, sorry for the double-post.

 

[putowtin]

Star Trek: The Next Generation had a great send-off with its final episode. It was a heartfelt ending to one of the best sci-fi shows in television history.

A fantastic scene, and a great ending. Although it poses one question, if everyone is playing poker, who's running the ship?

the red shirts that normally get killed!


Faulty Towers

always intended to be twelve episodes, twelve brilliant, never to be beaten episodes.

 

[Jadak]

Battlestar Galactica.

Wait, what?

Along with someone else who mentioned Lost a few posts up, those are two of the worst ended shows ever. Both disregarded pretty much every interesting aspect of the show leading up to their conclusions and either disregarding it entirely, or provided a cop out answer that carried no weight, citing religious nonsense in place of answers.

 

[pffh]

Blackadder, espically blackadder goes forth,
"Good luck everyone"

Ah yes Blackadder truly had the best ending ever. It was sad and funny at the same time, it really was perfect.

 

[Mike Richards]

Despite the legendary hate it's achieved I thought the ending to Battlestar was fantastic. For being unplanned it was surprisingly effective at wrapping up all of the remaining plots in a sensible, satisfying way. The mysticism became the best part of the series once it was allowed to come into its own in season 3, and the finale didn't wimp out on it.

Same thing with Lost, since the series was never about answers. It was about people, and that's what they focused on. If they had explained anymore it would have just felt cheap.

 

[Woodsey]

Lost had a fantastic ending.

Chuck's was very good as well; I was surprised, actually, that they were so ballsy with it. Talk about bittersweet.

And it doesn't strictly count, but the end of Michael Scott's era in The Office was brilliant.

Same thing with Lost, since the series was never about answers. It was about people, and that's what they focused on. If they had explained anymore it would have just felt cheap.

I think people forget just how much they did actually explain anyway.

 

[Dr Pussymagnet]

I still can't get over how good the series finale for Scrubs was.

 

[Dejawesp]

The shield had a fantastic end.

 

[El Pwnz]

Eh, I'm really divided on how I feel about the ending to Chuck. On one hand, it was very sentimental, nostalgic, and did a good job of wrapping things up, albeit in a bittersweet way.

But on the other hand, it was disappointing to not see the team at it's best right before the end. What happened to Sarah ended up ruining all the chemistry that we had come to expect. There was no clever plan to deal with the bad guy, like there was with Shaw or Volkoff. The Jeffster song was amazing, but it wasn't set to anything particularly special. Season 2 had the gunfight at the wedding, and season 3 had the fight in the Buy More. The whole confrontation with the big bad, the final villain of the series, was lacking. Seeing Chuck's Mom again was great, but then she doesn't do anything.

Still, I'm glad the show got to end on it's own terms, and it had a fantastic run.

 

[WaysideMaze]

The British series of Life On Mars ended incredibly well. David Bowie has never sounded so...awesome.

I hated the ending for Life on Mars. I just felt cheated, like nothing was explained.

I know that it was meant to end a bit ambiguously, but I hate that in shows.

Ashes to Ashes, the spin-off, explains it a little better, so I've been told. I've yet to see that though.

I had to stop watching Ashes to Ashes after 2 or 3 episodes because the female lead was just so awful it ruined it for me. The rest of the cast was as solid as ever but they really could have done with someone other than her.

[HEADING=3]THE BAD[/HEADING]
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: Whedon did what he could with the final episode, but the damage had been done. The 6th and 7th seasons are disasters, and most of the 7th is borderline unwatchable.

I'd throw season 5 in with that.

Spoiler

A whole season of "WAAAHHH JOYS DEAD!!!"

It should have ended after season 4

 

[Kapol]

Scrubs ended very well. It was both emotional and funny, but my favourite is Monk. It's the only TV show that has ever made me cry and I can promise you all that I was crying through most of the final episode. It's one of those endings where you really feel that something happened and that things are looking good for the future. Scrubs did this too (I count season 9 as a spin-off since the setting is different and almost all characters are gone), but it didn't have the same emotional weight of a series like Monk which has always been a bit sad.

I agree both were really good endings. I also don't really count season 9 as 'season 9' but more as a new series. Honestly, I prefered Scrubs ending personally. It just seemed... right. Like J.D. was finally getting himself together and showing maturity, and by doing so was leaving the place that was like a home to him. And that scene at the end with so many of the characters he'd met was easily one of my top 5 for the series (Hooch IS crazy). And then the way he turned around and saw himself alone just sent it over the top for me, but in a good way. Almost as though it had not only been a way to show his experiences at Sacred Heart, but also to show as he was leaving that through his maturity, he was kind of leaving his fantasies behind too.

Mind you, Monk was much more of an emotional ending. There was some humor, but for the most part it was there to show that Monk's journey was over. And it fit really well for the series too. But if Scrubs had tried something like that, I think it would have seemed out of place and not really true to the series.

 

[Yopaz]

Scrubs ended very well. It was both emotional and funny, but my favourite is Monk. It's the only TV show that has ever made me cry and I can promise you all that I was crying through most of the final episode. It's one of those endings where you really feel that something happened and that things are looking good for the future. Scrubs did this too (I count season 9 as a spin-off since the setting is different and almost all characters are gone), but it didn't have the same emotional weight of a series like Monk which has always been a bit sad.

I agree both were really good endings. I also don't really count season 9 as 'season 9' but more as a new series. Honestly, I prefered Scrubs ending personally. It just seemed... right. Like J.D. was finally getting himself together and showing maturity, and by doing so was leaving the place that was like a home to him. And that scene at the end with so many of the characters he'd met was easily one of my top 5 for the series (Hooch IS crazy). And then the way he turned around and saw himself alone just sent it over the top for me, but in a good way. Almost as though it had not only been a way to show his experiences at Sacred Heart, but also to show as he was leaving that through his maturity, he was kind of leaving his fantasies behind too.

Mind you, Monk was much more of an emotional ending. There was some humor, but for the most part it was there to show that Monk's journey was over. And it fit really well for the series too. But if Scrubs had tried something like that, I think it would have seemed out of place and not really true to the series.

I've never really thought about how Scrubs ended with that kind of complexity, but you're right. It really was a huge milestone in J.D.'s life and him looking into what the future might give was a great touch. When I picked Monk as my favourite I chose that because it spiked more emotion, but then again Monk always was more serious with touches of humour. One of the reasons I love the ending of Monk is probably that both Monk and Randy get to be happy. Randy is one of my favourite characters from a TV show because he's funny, but most importantly because he's always struck by bad luck, but never lets that get him down.

Both these endings are great and picking one over the other is a hard choice. If I could forget I ever watched any of these series just so I could get to watch them all over again I would do it in a heartbeat.

 

[Seventh Actuality]

What, page two and no Daria? That's the only show I can think of with the distinction of ending well twice...the last regular episode was an understated and emotional wrap-up of the themes and the main character's development, then they went and did a TV movie that served as more of a grand finale for tying up loose ends. And it, also, was awesome.