Top 10 Worst TV Series Finales

How I Met Your Mother

How I Met Your Mother is an American sitcom that originally aired on CBS from September 19, 2005, to March 31, 2014. The series follows Ted Mosby as he recounts to his children the events leading up to how he met their mother. The show is set in Manhattan and features an ensemble cast including Josh... read more

I have changed my mind several times about this finale, but now I have a very clear opinion. All the events that happen make sense and give meaning to the series' title. In the episode "Vesuvius," where Tracy's imminent death is hinted, she tells Ted that he should not be stuck in the past and in his stories. In this perspective, Ted's stories (that is, the series itself) are a way to remember and to pay a last homage to his dead wife before moving on. Paradoxically, the fact that The Mother dies gives even more sense to the show's title.
Getting Ted and Robin back together might feel like a joke at first, but after all, they were THE couple throughout the whole series. She was the first girl Ted fell for, and though they officially dated for just one season, his feelings for her were a major focus until the end, even and especially in the last season. Ted struggled to get the locket, flashbacks showed Ted wanted Robin but he was "fooled" by Barney, they had a conversation on the beach, and Robin had doubts minutes before getting married to Barney. Looking back at their entire story arc, the ending was not only not shocking, it was the most obvious.
Barney's ending is also very good because he gets something that truly changes him. The only way that he could really change and become a better person was to become a father. He thought he needed Robin to be happy, but he actually needed Ellie. The scene where he sees his newborn daughter is more moving than any scene with him and Robin.
You may now think that I like the finale a lot and that I think it is unfairly rated. Well, actually I don't. There are some problems that can't be overlooked. I like the events that happen in "Last Forever," but I definitely don't like how they have been narrated. Narration problems affect the whole last season.... read more

Game of Thrones

Game of Thrones is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. The show is based on George R. R. Martin's book series A Song of Ice and Fire. The first book in the series is titled A Game of Thrones.

There has never been such a quality drop-off from early-series to late-series in a show, ever. Until Game of Thrones. This is almost certainly the worst series finale ever. Game of Thrones started out in the conversation for the best TV dramas of all time and was a breakthrough for the fantasy genre. Early on, it was a worthy adaptation of one of the most impressive book series ever printed.
It went from top quality to trash tier. That's why this is so significant, the gap. And it happened all because the showrunners opted in their best interest to wrap it up real quick and move on to another project while they were still "hot commodities." Ironically, what they saw as "in their best interest" backfired, and now their reputation is ruined forever. They'll always be seen as the guys who killed the anointed flagship of fantasy.
They're going to keep making money, though, because writers seem to fail upward if they have name recognition. Just look at their new "coworker" Rian Johnson.

Dexter

Dexter is an American crime drama television series that aired from 2006 to 2013. It is based on the novel "Darkly Dreaming Dexter" by Jeff Lindsay and follows Dexter Morgan, a forensic blood spatter analyst who is also a serial killer.... read more

Season 8 was so dumb, and it turned Dexter into kind of a wimp. He falls in love with some chick and decides to fly to Argentina with her. Then Deb dies in a stupid way, and it ends with Dexter driving his boat into a hurricane, tricking us into thinking he's dead before, surprise! Even though his boat was destroyed in the hurricane, he survived and fled to work with some logging company somewhere north. The reason Dexter drove into the hurricane in the first place was because "he wanted to protect Hannah and Harry from himself." They took everything I loved about Dexter and flipped it on its head. So dumb.

With a simple change to the existing finale, they could have really made it better. All they needed to do was have him give a little grin into the camera in that final scene, then pan over to the AC unit or something like that.

LOST

Lost is an American television drama series that originally aired on the American Broadcasting Company from September 22, 2004, to May 23, 2010, over six seasons, comprising a total of 121 episodes. Created by J.J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof, and Jeffrey Lieber, the series follows the survivors of a commercial... read more

I'm still angry. Yes, the characters got resolutions, but the show was also about the island itself, and we never got enough of an explanation about that.

Trippy as hell! Everyone was dead except Hurley, who became "Keeper of the Island," and a couple of others. It was their "afterlife" experience? What?

Two and a Half Men

Two and a Half Men is an American television sitcom that began broadcasting on CBS on September 22, 2003, and ended on February 19, 2015, after twelve seasons.

The show was well received due to the comedic onscreen chemistry between Charlie Sheen and Jon Cryer... read more

Dinosaurs

How the heck is a finale where every character dies due to wax fruit only at #16?

How is this not in the top ten? It's a finale where everyone dies on a kids' show.

Seinfeld

Four single friends, comic Jerry Seinfeld, bungling George Costanza, frustrated working gal Elaine Benes, and eccentric neighbor Cosmo Kramer, deal with the absurdities of everyday life in New York City.

Seinfeld is a sitcom that originally aired on NBC from 1989 to 1998. It is often regarded... read more

This was so stupid of an ending for a great show! This episode made the characters look like bad people. What the heck?

House of Cards

House of Cards is an American political drama streaming television series created by Beau Willimon. It is an adaptation of the BBC miniseries of the same name and is based on the novel by Michael Dobbs. The series premiered on Netflix on February 1, 2013, and ran for six seasons.

ALF

ALF is an American science fiction sitcom that aired on NBC from September 22, 1986, to March 24, 1990. The series follows a friendly extraterrestrial named Gordon Shumway, nicknamed ALF, which stands for Alien Life Form, who crash-lands in the garage of the Tanner family. It was the first television... read more

It led to a little-seen TV movie that eventually wrapped things up, but this one still stands out like a sore thumb. Great show otherwise.

Killing Eve

?

Sex Education

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She-Hulk: Attorney at Law

Battlestar Galactica

Battlestar Galactica is an American science fiction media franchise created by Glen A. Larson. The franchise began with a television series that aired in 1978 and gained a strong cult following. It expanded to include a short-lived sequel series, novelizations, original novels, comic books, a board game... read more

Quantum Leap

Secret Invasion

Futurama

Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show follows Philip J. Fry, a pizza delivery boy who's cryogenically frozen and wakes up 1,000 years in the future. It blends satire, science fiction, and social commentary.

#1 rule of finales: make it so it tells the viewers, "This is the final episode. There cannot be any more episodes." Think of How I Met Your Mother, where the story ends, or iCarly, where Carly moves away. Futurama was headed towards something like this, but the time button made it so none of the events in the finale ever happened. The episode really should have ended in a way that didn't allow it to squeeze anywhere into the Futurama timeline.
Besides that, the episode itself was good on its own, but it was not very "series finale"-ish. It had plenty of nostalgia, and the time button concept was awesome. Even if the episode didn't end like it did, a good series finale would wrap up more than two characters. It's nice that Fry and Leela married, but we all saw it coming. They could have and should have wrapped up the story for Farnsworth, Bender, Amy, Hermes, and Zoidberg.
What a wasted opportunity. (P.S. Maybe this one time, they could have used the full theme?)

Teen Titans

Teen Titans is an American animated television series created by Glen Murakami and based on the DC Comics superhero team of the same name. It originally aired on Cartoon Network from 2003 to 2006, with its first two seasons also airing on Kids' WB. The series follows a team of young superheroes as they... read more

Actually, this is the finale episode, but the real ending is the movie that was made in 2006.

Pretty Little Liars

Pretty Little Liars is an American teen drama, mystery, and thriller television series developed by I. Marlene King. It is loosely based on the novel series of the same name written by Sara Shepard. The show premiered on ABC Family, now Freeform, on June 8, 2010, and ran for seven seasons until June... read more

Not only do I think the show just made things up as they went along without an end goal in sight, but they tasked the worst actress on the show with doing an accent she was comically unable to convincingly do.

3rd Rock From The Sun

This one was pretty dumb. I mean, I was hoping to see what the family looked like when they were aliens, but no!

Friends

I loved this show, but it ended with a feeling of "We've been best friends for 10 years, but now we are moving 15 miles away, so toodle-oo!"

Girls

St. Elsewhere

Alias

Alias is an American action television series created by J. J. Abrams that aired on ABC for five seasons, from September 30, 2001, to May 22, 2006. The series stars Jennifer Garner as Sydney Bristow, a CIA agent working undercover as an operative for SD-6, a covert criminal organization. The show blends... read more

Big Love

Scandal

Muppets Tonight

MAS*H

MASH is an American television series that debuted in 1972 and is based on the 1968 novel by Richard Hooker. Set during the Korean War, it centers on the staff of a mobile army surgical hospital and blends comedy with drama. The show received critical acclaim, and its 1983 finale became one of the most-watched... read more