Most Unsatisfying Series Finales
POSTED BY: queenofthenorth
UPDATED: Tuesday, December 6, 2005 20:05
VIEWED: 10866
PAGE 3 of 4
Seinfeld
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Quote:
Originally posted by Gruul:
Seinfeld
YES!! I'm not alone!
Man, I hated that so much too. All of my friends thought I was crazy, but I just found it out of style and tedious to watch. Sure it was great to get all of those actors back for the finale, but who wouldn't go back? It was Seinfeld, it was a huge show, just because these characters came back again wasn't really all that special to me.
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ARE ALL OF YOU FORGETTING QUANTUM LEAP.
THAT SHOW COULDNT HAVE ENDED WORSE.
Murphy: It must have taken a dozen slaves a dozen days to get you into that getup. 'Course your daddy tells me it takes the space of a schoolboy's wink to get you out of it again.
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Quantum Leap's ending wasn't what it should have been; they left it open for a spinoff that never occurred. The problem is they had to retool that episode in a big hurry when they found out they weren't getting renewed; it was supposed to be a cliffhanger. Most series don't even get the chance to fix something like that.
I'd have to say Farscape had a truly horrendous series finale, if only because they got yanked unexpectedly. Nothing worse than a series finale that says "To be continued..." That is just wrong.
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Yeah, Farscape had a rough time. That ending hurt. And the Miniseries to end it was so packed full of stuff it was hard to follow. 3 hours of endless action is a little overwhelming. Don't get me wrong, I'm SO glad we got it, closure is a wonderful thing, but it would have been so nice to see all that spread out in another season instead of stuffed into one long episode.
TNG's last episode never impressed me. Time shifting is all well and good, but really, the show wasn't great because of it's bizarre sci-fi ideas. I grew up with TNG and I just wish the ending had been more satisfying. Never could watch Enterprise, I tried and tried, but it was just Quantum Leap in a space ship. It never felt like Star Trek.
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Let's not be excludin' people, that'd be rude.
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I'm assuming that we're talking about shows that actually HAD a finale? Right? Rather than just those that were unceremoniously cut?
First, I know folks use "MASH" as the gold standard and I don't disagree. It allows us to say farewell to each of the characters we've come to care about, which, to my mind, is what a good series finale does. Although "Cheers" didn't do it as well, "Cheers" did the same thing. Ditto, to my mind, "BtVS" (each character had their moment in the sun, inasmuch as could be done in one hour).
At the other end of the spectrum, we have "Seinfeld," which, to me, rates as one of the worse, most unsatisfying finales of all times. Sure, we got to see a lot of old bit players, but didn't get to say goodbye to the main characters. Worse yet, the plot they chose to go out with was so ludicrously contrived that it annoys me just to think about it. A show about "nothing" ended with an episode very much about "something", and that something was idiotic. A travesty!
By the way, I think that the endings of "Space: Above and Beyond" and "Angel" (both mentioned previously) were great. I was never the biggest "AtS" fan, but the finale captured what the show was all about, and also gave us a moment with each of the heroes. The finale was about what the series was all about: we fight the good fight, even though it's endless and we will, inevitably, be scarred by it.
"Here's how it might've been..."
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Oh, wait, almost forgot: "Enterprise." Horrible. Painful. Although each of the characters does get a "moment", the vehicle these chose for that showcase was a slap in the face to the show's cast and fans. Simply terrible.
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I wasn't terribly fond of the last episode of "Dead Like Me".
I mean it was a great episode in itself, but not satisfactory as a finale of a series...
Angel had the same effect... great episode, poor finale.
I really wish the finale of Buffy had been season 5... that would have made an amazing finale to a series.
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Being from the "Go, Angel's finale!" camp, I'm curious why the people who didn't like it didn't like it. I'll admit that the story is somewhat rushed, but what are the other gripes?
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Quote:
Ditto, to my mind, "BtVS" (each character had their moment in the sun, inasmuch as could be done in one hour).
I was surprised that the BtVS finale was only one hour. It would have been nice to have a more natural, unhurried flow to the storyline. I thought Giles' accidentally stumbling over the "glottal stop" symbol on the Scythe was possibly the longest stretch of the whole series. And why couldn't they have unleashed the power of the Scythe BEFORE they opened the gates o' Hell. I'm just saying...
I think the problem with the Seinfeld finale was the return of Larry David. Yes, he did write some of the best episodes, but as I recall, he had not been with the show for quite a while. I just think he was out of sync with the humor. Imagine jumping in cold on a production like that and producing the finale. Difficult at best.
"Why're you arguin' what's already been decided?"
Mal to Jayne, "Jaynestown"
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