Tangent thread. For me, it was Man in the High Castle. Did such a great job building up the story, right until the last scene.
How I felt:
How I felt:
TV Series - Worst Finales (Contains Spoilers)
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Last: 4 yr ago by TexAggie5432
Dexter
Everything else is excellent in comparison
Everything else is excellent in comparison
take it to the sopranos thread.
Dexter is by far the worst. I didn't watch HIMYM, The Sopranos didn't bother me and I liked Lost, which gets a lot of hate. Battlestar Galactica was pretty bad. It's probably #2 behind Dexter.
HIMYM - so terrible
On paper the Seinfeld finale seemed brilliant and the perfect way to end it but I definitely do not like it
Ftr i did not have an issue with sopranos ending either
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Game of Thrones.
ALF
That's why I watch the alternate one!Silver Arrows said:
HIMYM - so terrible
I would have to say GoT is the one i have seen that was so freaking bad. Seinfeld wasn't good, but I didn't feel like it completely invalidated the time investment I made to watch the show.
Soprano's was pretty damned bad. Didn't ruin the entire series like GoT, but was a lazy finish. David Chase blaming viewers makes it even more easy to hate.
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Lost. That was a lazy, out of money, out of time finish. They didn't explain diddly squat. Still pissed about it.
So how would you have ended it? I agree the ending was a bit odd. I think I would have stuck a fork in freedom and had those Nazi bombers complete their mission, and John Smith set for life as fuhrer.BenTheGoodAg said:
Tangent thread. For me, it was Man in the High Castle. Did such a great job building up the story, right until the last scene.
How I felt:
Full House.
Michelle falls off her horse, gets a traumatic brain injury, she has no idea who she is or who her family is, but the doctors let her go home a few hours after arriving at the hospital (maybe run some more tests first!?). I mean, she could've died.
Then the family sits around just telling stories in one of those typical 90s sitcom flashback episodes that they do every season when they run out of new plot lines.
At the very end, she's like "OK I'm all better", then they hug. Series over.
Then the ***** doesn't even show up for the reboot.
Michelle falls off her horse, gets a traumatic brain injury, she has no idea who she is or who her family is, but the doctors let her go home a few hours after arriving at the hospital (maybe run some more tests first!?). I mean, she could've died.
Then the family sits around just telling stories in one of those typical 90s sitcom flashback episodes that they do every season when they run out of new plot lines.
At the very end, she's like "OK I'm all better", then they hug. Series over.
Then the ***** doesn't even show up for the reboot.
aTmAg said:
Soprano's was pretty damned bad. Didn't ruin the entire series like GoT, but was a lazy finish. David Chase blaming viewers makes it even more easy to hate.
Weird.
you could call it a lot of things - but lazy???
it was so well set up and detailed with so much symbolism and references to earlier stuff in the show. Nearly every element of the entire restaurant scene and every person in it had some symbolic meaning.
Even the manner in which it was presented (the blackout) although it was shocking at the time perfectly reflected the premise of the entire show. It was the Tony Soprano show really and from his perspective thats how it ended. And his perspective was well defined in that scene with repeated use of bell rings, Tony looks up, we see his perspective view - dark.
It wasn't lazy at all but it might be too nuanced especially (I believe) for casual viewers who only came in for the end or stretch run and had little context.
It is one of my favorite endings.
The lazy part is the David Chase's "It's for people to decide for themselves." explanation. If he came out and said, "yeah Tony got shot and didn't see it coming." THEN I would have respect for the ending. Because of his "explanation", I'm convinced that he didn't know how he wanted to end it, filled it full of symbolism (which is easy as hell to do), made it go black, and tried to sell if off as "genius".
There is a reason that no other show since has ended that way while plenty have had endings that are considered vastly superior.
(IB not everything is wrapped in a bow for you.... yada yada)
There is a reason that no other show since has ended that way while plenty have had endings that are considered vastly superior.
(IB not everything is wrapped in a bow for you.... yada yada)
GOT - wrapping up the story in the last few seasons changed it from the best show I've seen (rewatching once a year almost) to never wanting to see any of it again.
Seinfield was 'meh' - but they always took chances compared to other shows, so I'll give it to them.
Seinfield was 'meh' - but they always took chances compared to other shows, so I'll give it to them.
aTmAg said:
The lazy part is the David Chase's "It's for people to decide for themselves." explanation. If he came out and said, "yeah Tony got shot and didn't see it coming." THEN I would have respect for the ending. Because of his "explanation", I'm convinced that he didn't know how he wanted to end it, filled it full of symbolism (which is easy as hell to do), made it go black, and tried to sell if off as "genius".
There is a reason that no other show since has ended that way while plenty have had endings that are considered vastly superior.
(IB not everything is wrapped in a bow for you.... yada yada)
I don't think that's true at all. I think his statement early on about deciding for yourself was misinterpreted anyway. He meant figure it out yourself and was a maybe a bit frustrated that people did not - which I blame on casual viewers.
He has since talked about the ending in more detail - even referring to it as "the death scene" (see links) so I think it was very intentionally what it was. And he talks still about knowing what it would be 2 years out and that he had changed it from a hit on the way to see Johnny Sack which would have been too obvious.
If anything I think it was a little bit of arrogance all these years that he put so much into that ending that it was frustrating if people did not get it. You cannot watch that thing multiple times and come away with any other conclusion (if you know the series well). I got it right away but I understand some did not. As one of the few series I watch again and again - it is ALL there as Chase said as well. Set up especially throughout that last season. And it has even more impact on rewatches which is what makes a great ending. It does not deter from the series at all.
https://screenrant.com/sopranos-ending-david-chase-original-plan-changed-why/
https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2020/06/11/sopranos-creator-talks-controversial-final-scene-did-tony-die/5347511002/
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My personal opinion on some things mentioned above:
I watched both HIMYM and Dexter, and to me it is not even close.....HIMYM's series finale was WAYYYY worse than that of Dexter's. Dexters definitely was not good, but How I Met Your Mother was so terrible and it was so obvious that the creators/writers did NOT have an ending in mind all along like they claimed (or they did, and they saw viewers figured it out and changed it so that it didn't come off predicable). It was about as catastrophic as a finale could be.
Could the Sopranos have been better? Yes, for sure. But I personally didn't find it awful and I thought the last few episodes of the series should be taken as a whole and they were overall pretty good.
GoT: Bad, but not still not as bad as HIMYM
Seinfeld; Not good, that's for sure. But again, not as bad as HIMYM.
All that said, as terrible as the HIMYM finale was and its so so so bad (if I haven't made that clear) the absolute worst finale is.....
Dallas: Oh my, this was terrible. AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL. It still gives me nightmares how this once great show was just torn down at the end and JR Ewing's legacy was left in ruins after this shi*show.
I watched both HIMYM and Dexter, and to me it is not even close.....HIMYM's series finale was WAYYYY worse than that of Dexter's. Dexters definitely was not good, but How I Met Your Mother was so terrible and it was so obvious that the creators/writers did NOT have an ending in mind all along like they claimed (or they did, and they saw viewers figured it out and changed it so that it didn't come off predicable). It was about as catastrophic as a finale could be.
Could the Sopranos have been better? Yes, for sure. But I personally didn't find it awful and I thought the last few episodes of the series should be taken as a whole and they were overall pretty good.
GoT: Bad, but not still not as bad as HIMYM
Seinfeld; Not good, that's for sure. But again, not as bad as HIMYM.
All that said, as terrible as the HIMYM finale was and its so so so bad (if I haven't made that clear) the absolute worst finale is.....
Dallas: Oh my, this was terrible. AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL. It still gives me nightmares how this once great show was just torn down at the end and JR Ewing's legacy was left in ruins after this shi*show.
GoT's was just a wet fart of an ending. The real controversy was in the penultimate episode, but the finale had Jon stabbing Dany in the most predicable way and then "who has a better story than Bran?", the same character who wasn't even in season 5 because his story was so bad.
If I remember right, he later clarified what he meant by "death scene" and retracted it. He also said at some point (I'm not sure if it was prior or after the "death scene" statement):Zombie Jon Snow said:aTmAg said:
The lazy part is the David Chase's "It's for people to decide for themselves." explanation. If he came out and said, "yeah Tony got shot and didn't see it coming." THEN I would have respect for the ending. Because of his "explanation", I'm convinced that he didn't know how he wanted to end it, filled it full of symbolism (which is easy as hell to do), made it go black, and tried to sell if off as "genius".
There is a reason that no other show since has ended that way while plenty have had endings that are considered vastly superior.
(IB not everything is wrapped in a bow for you.... yada yada)
I don't think that's true at all. I think his statement early on about deciding for yourself was misinterpreted anyway. He meant figure it out yourself and was a maybe a bit frustrated that people did not - which I blame on casual viewers.
He has since talked about the ending in more detail - even referring to it as "the death scene" (see links) so I think it was very intentionally what it was. And he talks still about knowing what it would be 2 years out and that he had changed it from a hit on the way to see Johnny Sack which would have been too obvious.
If anything I think it was a little bit of arrogance all these years that he put so much into that ending that it was frustrating if people did not get it. You cannot watch that thing multiple times and come away with any other conclusion (if you know the series well). I got it right away but I understand some did not. As one of the few series I watch again and again - it is ALL there as Chase said as well. Set up especially throughout that last season. And it has even more impact on rewatches which is what makes a great ending. It does not deter from the series at all.
https://screenrant.com/sopranos-ending-david-chase-original-plan-changed-why/
https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2020/06/11/sopranos-creator-talks-controversial-final-scene-did-tony-die/5347511002/
This is the most pretentious BS thing I think he could possibly say.Quote:
Whether Tony Soprano is alive or dead is not the point. To continue to search for this answer is fruitless. The final scene of The Sopranos raises a spiritual question that has no right or wrong answer.
I like most of what Chase does, but his ending was bad, especially in the moment, and his comments since haven't helped. If he wanted Tony dead he could easily have had the guy walk in, shoot him in the head, then go to black. No one thinks that is bad. Instead, he does leave it open.
When the #1 reaction to a scene is "did our cable just go out?" it's not good.
When the #1 reaction to a scene is "did our cable just go out?" it's not good.
This.Head Ninja In Charge said:
Game of Thrones.
After the creators ran out of source material, the show took a turn for the worse. I honestly don't blame them as much as I blame GRRM. They did a great job when the books were available, but once they were gone and left to their own devices the show suffered. The man has occupied himself with so many other things that it either impacted his ability to finish the books, or he was already lost, and has just been treading water since then. For example he had a significant role in upcoming video game Elden Ring, so he was building their world rather than finish up what everyone else wants him to finish. Even if he finishes the next book, which I doubt, the only way that the final book is released is if he has been writing them concurrently.
The final episode I hate, but of the final season's 6 episodes there are 2 I absolutely love.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
The Long Night
That being said, I can't bring myself to rewatch the series because the way the show ended just put me off of the entire show. I loved that show, but they really messed it up royally.
ORAggieFan said:
I like most of what Chase does, but his ending was bad, especially in the moment, and his comments since haven't helped. If he wanted Tony dead he could easily have had the guy walk in, shoot him in the head, then go to black. No one thinks that is bad. Instead, he does leave it open.
When the #1 reaction to a scene is "did our cable just go out?" it's not good.
I'd much rather have ambiguous open to interpretation (and something casual fans don't get) ending than something that ruins what I watched for years - HIMYM, GOT and LOST all dropped the ball such that I won't watch them again (maybe GOT S1-6 in time). I've already rewatched Sopranos 4 times and it gets better with age (the entire series and even the finale). On rewatch the entire last S7p2 is like a long slow gut punch.
Soprano's is more watchable because it was a better show, independent of the ending.Zombie Jon Snow said:ORAggieFan said:
I like most of what Chase does, but his ending was bad, especially in the moment, and his comments since haven't helped. If he wanted Tony dead he could easily have had the guy walk in, shoot him in the head, then go to black. No one thinks that is bad. Instead, he does leave it open.
When the #1 reaction to a scene is "did our cable just go out?" it's not good.
I'd much rather have ambiguous open to interpretation (and something casual fans don't get) ending than something that ruins what I watched for years - HIMYM, GOT and LOST all dropped the ball such that I won't watch them again (maybe GOT S1-6 in time). I've already rewatched Sopranos 4 times and it gets better with age (the entire series and even the finale). On rewatch the entire last S7p2 is like a long slow gut punch.
Battlestar Galatica was another one with a horrible ending to me. But it had been going downhill the moment Saul was one of the final 5.
My favorite thing about art is having to be told exactly what to think and feel.aTmAg said:
The lazy part is the David Chase's "It's for people to decide for themselves." explanation. If he came out and said, "yeah Tony got shot and didn't see it coming." THEN I would have respect for the ending. Because of his "explanation", I'm convinced that he didn't know how he wanted to end it, filled it full of symbolism (which is easy as hell to do), made it go black, and tried to sell if off as "genius".
The passion on these endings seems to focus on two kinds of people: those that want closure and those that are indifferent to closure.
I was fine with The Sopranos ending.
I would have probably felt better about Man In High Castle ending if John had turned to good because he flirted with it so much over the seasons, but ultimately he didn't. I was ok with it because he paid for his evil.
I thought Seinfeld's sucked mostly because it wasn't clever or funny like everything else after S1.
Haven't seen the other shows mentioned.
I was fine with The Sopranos ending.
I would have probably felt better about Man In High Castle ending if John had turned to good because he flirted with it so much over the seasons, but ultimately he didn't. I was ok with it because he paid for his evil.
I thought Seinfeld's sucked mostly because it wasn't clever or funny like everything else after S1.
Haven't seen the other shows mentioned.
I also had no issue with BSG ending or at least none of these endings got my ire up.
I thought bsg ended really well. I disliked the entire final season of lost.
The final season wasn't good, but i actually liked the finale.Fat Bib Fortuna said:
I disliked the entire final season of lost.
Game of Thrones. They blew it.
I agree that I'd prefer a ambiguous ending to a crappy ending. That is why Sopranos ending is better than GoT by a long shot. But Sopranos pales in comparison to a show like Breaking Bad, which proved that they thought the whole thing out. Imagine if GRRM has simply declared "I'm leaving the end of GoT up to the reader. Whether or not Cersei or Daenerys wins is not important. It's a spiritual journey. If you want it wrapped up in a bow, then you are an unsophisticated reader who wants everything spoon fed to you." Readers would be PISSED, and rightly so.Zombie Jon Snow said:ORAggieFan said:
I like most of what Chase does, but his ending was bad, especially in the moment, and his comments since haven't helped. If he wanted Tony dead he could easily have had the guy walk in, shoot him in the head, then go to black. No one thinks that is bad. Instead, he does leave it open.
When the #1 reaction to a scene is "did our cable just go out?" it's not good.
I'd much rather have ambiguous open to interpretation (and something casual fans don't get) ending than something that ruins what I watched for years - HIMYM, GOT and LOST all dropped the ball such that I won't watch them again (maybe GOT S1-6 in time). I've already rewatched Sopranos 4 times and it gets better with age (the entire series and even the finale). On rewatch the entire last S7p2 is like a long slow gut punch.
And for the record, I've only watched Sopranos once because of the ending, but I'm open to watching it again. I have vowed to never waste my time on GoT again. I have watched the Wire 4 times, The Americans twice, and Breaking bad at least 5 or so.
You apparently think that Sopranos ending actually makes you think. There is nothing deep there at all. It was just lazy.boy09 said:My favorite thing about art is having to be told exactly what to think and feel.aTmAg said:
The lazy part is the David Chase's "It's for people to decide for themselves." explanation. If he came out and said, "yeah Tony got shot and didn't see it coming." THEN I would have respect for the ending. Because of his "explanation", I'm convinced that he didn't know how he wanted to end it, filled it full of symbolism (which is easy as hell to do), made it go black, and tried to sell if off as "genius".
ORAggieFan said:Soprano's is more watchable because it was a better show, independent of the ending.Zombie Jon Snow said:ORAggieFan said:
I like most of what Chase does, but his ending was bad, especially in the moment, and his comments since haven't helped. If he wanted Tony dead he could easily have had the guy walk in, shoot him in the head, then go to black. No one thinks that is bad. Instead, he does leave it open.
When the #1 reaction to a scene is "did our cable just go out?" it's not good.
I'd much rather have ambiguous open to interpretation (and something casual fans don't get) ending than something that ruins what I watched for years - HIMYM, GOT and LOST all dropped the ball such that I won't watch them again (maybe GOT S1-6 in time). I've already rewatched Sopranos 4 times and it gets better with age (the entire series and even the finale). On rewatch the entire last S7p2 is like a long slow gut punch.
But I don't dread the ending. In fact I love the ending. I loved the other shows but the ending ruined it.
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