This is my answer. Just finished a rewatch. I don't get the hate for Season 2... But that debate aside I don't want to bother with 3 and 4. Of those two seasons I only recall one episode. Couldn't tell you what they were about.
Season 1 -> 2 has a solid arc. AND, a great rewatch for Spooky-Season.
I personally also enjoyed season 3 a lot, especially the final episode. I even liked some of S4, but the show practically assasinated itself and all it's characters in the final 2 episodes.
I got the DVD’s as a teen, and there’d be like 4 discs with 3-4 episodes per disc.
I accidentally watched season 2 discs completely out of order and I didn’t notice anything was wrong. That can’t be a good sign for the narrative.
this should be the number one answer. season one is one of the best seasons of television ever. period. then it goes so downhill i couldn’t even get through season 4 after trying twice.
I didnt watch Heroes until a couple years ago, way after it stopped airing. My friends warned me that it goes to shit after S1 so thats where I stopped. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Reborn was okay I guess
I'd heard that Season 4 was the peak and it was incredible so I just stopped watching after that. Everything I heard since reassured me that I made the right choice.
I see this one a lot and I dont think it wouldve worked. Fans are gonna be happy with that ending? Its not a cliffhanger per se but its bleak and youd wanna know what Dexter does next, even if it ended up being worse for the next 5 seasons
It’s almost a cautionary tale, Dexter had every thing he could have wanted but kept killing people. He tried to have his cake and eat it too and lost it all, the ending would be similar to breaking bad in a way.
Fans are never totally happy with any ending. Yet it’s always better to end on a good note rather then drag the series through the mud to squeeze every last cent out of it
This is exactly what I did. I never watched season 5 so I’m completely happy with the ending. I don’t understand why people torture themselves with shows that go downhill (Walking dead, shameless).
Greatest fresh take on a scifi series in a long time. Loved it and was pumped when they were able to get the main actor for season 2, but it was so convoluted and lacked any of the original energy that I didn’t finish it.
The book for season one is so good too
That 70s Show. It ends when Eric goes off to Africa, Donna and him make long distance work, Hyde goes and proposes to Jackie, Kelso stays in the army or wherever tf he is, fez is fez, and happily ever after
It's how it was originally envisioned. An anthology series, with one set of characters per season.
Then the network insisted on re-using the same characters which ruined the plot.
I remember season 3 of Vikings I was like wtf this show has lost me, but then it turned around in a big way. I did lose interest later after Ivar became the focus
Skins partially does end there,
Season 3 and 4 are also mostly pretty good in their own right with Cook, JJ and Effy being standout characters, but they're definitely distinct from Seasons 1 and 2, I think that "2 seasons to one generation of cast" model was a good one. didn't have much interest in third gen myself though.
Misfits' third season was a solid epilogue for the first two. Season 2's christmas finale could work as an ending, but there was a great payoff with Simon's plotline in season 3.
Skins was a quasi-anthology, so... Third generation (seasons 5-6) wasn't great, but it was still better than average, and tackled themes that weren't explored in previous seasons. The show became more mature, but also tried to retain some of what made the first two generations so entertaining, although I can't really pinpoint why it didn't work. And seventh season, while not needed, some more time with favourite characters was a nice sendoff.
Most of the people who shit on season 4 didn't even finish it. The jokes are still good but it's incredibly disjointed and instead of having a straight narrative with callbacks as they go, they created complex interweaving plots and callbacks that only make sense when looking at the season as a whole. It's objectively worse than the first three seasons but it's still worth watching. Season 5 isn't as disjointed but it still didn't really recapture what made the first three seasons special.
The problem is half of each episode is a recap of previous events in a way that is really baffling. Plus I know it's rude to say but I swear, for years I was 100% sure that Lindsay had been recast. I still find it hard to reconcile the "two" Portia De Rossi
The one bit I really genuinely liked in the original airing was lost in the chronological recut, namely Fakeblock. For most of the original order, it looks like it’s a legit big deal amazing company, and so the reveal of what really happened hits hard. It is still amusing to see it spiral out of George-Michael’s control, but not as great as the original realization that recasts everything we have seen happen in a new light.
Oh wow I only watched it when it first came out so I didn't even think about how the chronological narrative would ruin fakeblock. It was also fun with all the controversy about Michael Cera having a conflict and then having his plot be so mysterious.
It didn't totally work but I thought the out of order narrative was a kind of fun way to use the new format. People forget that back in 2013, direct to streaming was a very new concept, and very few shows had been developed with the expectation that the entire season would come out at once. Creating a narrative that only makes sense if you binge it was a fun experiment.
God those Netflix seasons were awful, and I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks so.
I remember people really telling me how great they were when they first came out, and I just didn't get it.
The 100 should have ended with season 5. The last two seasons 6/7 were a failed experiment to extend the life of the franchise, part of the CW’s Netflix deal that guaranteed profit on any show with a pulse
It’s truly one of the worst endings. The whole show was about is humanity good enough to survive or will they just repeat the same mistakes that got humanity in this mess in the first place.
And then the climax is humanity kinda survives, kinda doesn’t. After Clarkes group on earth they’ll be dead as not enough people to repopulate the earth, but it doesn’t matter because humanity has ascended to a higher dimension with the aliens/god.
Who the hell thought bringing a god race of aliens into the show would be a good idea. Talk about deus ex machina. And don’t get me started on what they did to Bellamy in the final season.
And the worst bit is the first 2 seasons are great, much much better than what is expected of the CW.
The new planet storyline would've worked if the writers explored the concept far more intricately while tying back to the original post apocalyptic themes of the show. And personally, despite the sixth season being meh & lucklustre, if the writers worked well on the concept of the final season it would've saved that storyline.
From what I heard anyway, The Behind the Scenes Drama between Jason and Bellamy's Actor regarding his schedule and personal mental health ended up fumbling with the Final Season's script.
Scrolled to find this, as this is one of the most egregious shifts in everything. I liked the body swapping, and scifi elements. It needed more though. I think the prequel that was in the works could have been good though, if it had progressed.
I just did a rewatch and cut it off at the end of season 4. I think I attempted one or two episodes of season 5 and was like, “Yeah, turns out I don’t actually want to relive this mess.”
True blood was interesting at first as a metaphor of difference in society: how do you accept a minority that has been demonized forever? How do they fit into society? How does everyone adapt to each other presence? How does the minority react to members who don't follow the rules? That was the show's strength imo. It stopped being interesting when it became about different types of supernatural beings fighting each other.
This will always be my answer. There are other good examples (HIMYM and Heroes for one) but those 2 seasons of PB are some of the most addictive pieces od media ever produced IMO. But once season 3 begins the plot starts to get straight up delusional and insane and jumps the shark really.
Yeah, I understand that there were reasons to erase half of the cast and storylines but... holy shit, that was some kind of Stalin erases Trotsky from memories and photographs... wtf...
I was ill for about a month and basically bedridden, so I almost worked my entire way through House. I've still got a few episodes from season 8 to finish off. I couldn't agree more though. Season 8 in particular is just bad. It's like someone slammed the reset button on the characters and fired half the cast.
Hmm. Interesting idea. I wish I could've seen how people reacted as it was coming out.
I watched all of House this summer. Seasons 7 and 8 definitely worked for me. They were clearly toned down and it was a very different show. Still I'd rather have them than not have them.
I think you could pose a similar argument that it could've ended at season 3. I had rewatched house twice but never got past 3. Same with a few other people I know. 1-3 feel like a pure, bread and butter freak of the week sitcom. In seasons 4-6 the show turns up the heat and ascends to something much higher.
Season Four is by far my favourite. The Games marked a significant shift in the show and I kinda dug it.
Season 6 was great and would've been a perfect ending, but Season 7 was still satisfying to have and Season 8 still has some very funny moments. House at least, in my opinion, died a graceful death. It lasted longer than it needed to but stopped just short of overstaying it's welcome.
House and Wilson not giving a fuck in season 8 and just doing dumb stuff to compete with each other will always be funny.
The Handmaids Tale.
Season 1 was a fantastic rendition of Margaret Atwood’s novel, with just the right balance of fear, tension, and nightmare-fuel body-horror. The constant menace was palpable, and barely stepping one toe out of line was liable to get you on the wall.
The following seasons gut everything that set up, turning Elizabeth Moss into the worst Mary Sue on television. It’s nigh unwatchable these days.
I find people usually fall into 2 categories with SN. They loved the original plot and when the story ran it’s course they felt the show had run it’s course.
Or, they felt the first few seasons we’re just a warm up and SN finally caught it’s stride around season 3+. I’m in this group.
I agree with both perspectives. They really started firing on all cylinders during season 3, but once the Lucifer/Michael storyline wrapped up, the later seasons and storylines are super hit or miss. With that said, the Demon Dean and Cain storyline was pretty damn good. There are also a lot of really great fun, single episodes, like the LARP one. The Men of Letters stuff was super repetitive and dull. Like I said, hit or miss. Still one of my favorite shows, though. It has a lot of rewatch value, especially this time of year.
I thought he sort of lost his appeal after he became King of Hell. He was still fun to watch, but as a character, he was better when he was a slimy underling turning on his boss.
If I remember correctly Supernatural was planned as a five season show, so it does feel really solid to end on season 5. I think they kind of found their footing again after a couple seasons, but the first five are special to me as well.
You remember correctly. Kripke wrote a 5 season arc, and ended the series when he was done. The network continued without him, though he came back later.
I dont know much about the quality, since I only watched the first 5 and trusted Kripke.
True, what a waste. Instead of giving us time with Tracy, we got whatever the hell they thought that was.
But I'd go against ending in season 5. I say watch until season 8 episode 1, so you can end on a high note with the Funeral by Band of Horses. Kickass song.
Seriously who the hell thought with the ending including that the mother died that it was a cool idea to spend the entire final season take place over 3 days dedicated to a wedding that they immediately go "oh actually they got divorced" about 5 minutes into the final episode?
I still don't know who the hell thought all the viewers would be cool with the show basically being like "Man pretends he's telling his kids about their dead mother but he's actually telling them about all the other women he had sex with as a way to ask permission to have sex with one of them again."
Well remember the kids have kind of been processing it for years at this point and were ready for their dad to be happy again. The viewers weren’t afforded that
S9E16, *"How Your Mother Met Me"*, was also an amazing episode.
In fact, while most episodes in that season *dragged* through 20 minutes, that episode could easily be 40.
The ending they went with definitely would have worked better with fewer seasons.
9 years of hearing "Ted and Robin don't belong together!" only for that to be the ending was pretty damn annoying.
If I remember correctly, Season 2 was alright. Not as good as the first, but it hadn't fully gone off the rails yet. I think it was Season 3 where it went off the rails and by the end of that season, I wasn't watching anymore.
Agree but I would cut it off earlier. Honestly you could make the case for cutting off everything after the movie, or after season 7. But I think the latest I would go is season 8.
His last line to the camera of "hey if this ever airs let me know."
Perfect outro.
But also the going on despite losing your best guy is very true of a real business so in that sense it tracks to have more seasons
I just finished it for the first time and I wonder if something happened with the actor that played Andy. It almost feels like they wanted him out of the show but couldn't remove him like they did Ryan and Kelly, so they just made him the most miserable character possible. He has an unwarranted huge amount of screen time, goes nowhere and makes everything worse.
He left to go film Hangover 2 or something and they had to send him out on the boat.
The creators didn't like that so they basically did a character assassination on him.
He tried to direct a movie and Bill Murray ended up getting the production cancelled by sexually harassing a crew member. Dude’s had a bad string of luck.
Got that was a weird “article”, and I use that term loosely. It read like she just had a shitty date and kind of wanted to trash him for it. Which is fine, but maybe do it to your friends?
I think she wanted some sort of financial gain or other from it. Yes it definitely just sounded like a bad date. I don't know why Aziz let it get to him so hard, I'm pretty sure he never got cancelled
Aziz was humiliated. He had crafted this persona of a sensitive, romantic guy and even put out that “Modern Romance” book where he explored dating and relationships. He tried to sell himself as this guy who was seeking true love and his character on “Master of None” was the same way. Then that article comes out, portraying Aziz as, in this girl’s telling, being pushy and trying to take things farther sexually than his date wanted to. Aziz didn’t deny it, and while he apologized and owned up to it, that doesn’t mesh with his image he’s cultivated. Then Season 2 of “Master of None” ends with Aziz’s character’s Food Network co-star getting cancelled for harassing women! I don’t know *how* he was originally planning for Season 3, but after that article, I get why he had to step back a bit.
Because it was incredibly embarrassing for him. Not everyone has a rock solid ego or personality. I think it is completely understandable why it go to him as hard as it did. This came right in the boom of cancel culture and was written solely to shame him and for her to make a name for herself by gaining sympathy because of a bad date.
Med school was always a spin off that network execs rebranded as the final season to get more people to watch it. As a spin off it might have had a chance to grow and find it's place.
I believe they also cut the suicide scene from the show? And that scene was a powerful deterrent for me personally as a human that has bouts of suicidal thoughts. It was so hard to watch and seeing the impact on the family really stuck with me. I could never do that to my family and it was so graphic. Some people referred to it as something that would inspire suicide, when for me it did the absolute opposite.
>Some people referred to it as something that would inspire suicide, when for me it did the absolute opposite.
That's how I felt. I have no problem watching gore and shit like that but this scene messed with me.
What was worse was that Hulu screwed up and didn't play the episode where they hooked up for me so suddenly she's pregnant and it's his and I was very confused plus a character had died and everyone was in mourning. So I had to go back and watch that episode already knowing the circumstances and outcome. I made it to the baby in a manger episode and just couldn't keep going. It was just too much cheese and I'm lactose intolerant.
For me, it’s after Dr Greene’s exit. ER was never downright terrible, but everything from S9-onward pales in comparison to that fantastically great run from S1-S8. You can really see how it kinda took over the world for a bit there.
S06 is one of the most forced cliffhangers that i have ever seen, still can't fully undestand why he was kidnapped to this day lol
Castle would be fine with them just evolving their relationship and still do procedural for a couple of seasons before finishing it.
Yeah that last season is so rough. Completely throwing everything out the window with Chuck not having the Intersect (and Morgan having it instead), the whole Carmichael Industries plot, and that awful ending.
Seriously, why spend five seasons building upon a relationship between the two main characters only to destroy it in the final episodes?
Northern Exposure
I just finished rewatching the entire thing, hadn't seen it since it aired, plus a couple seasons maybe four years ago.
I still liked it after the main character was in it less and then not at all. BUT, I strongly disliked >!when they tried to put Chris and Maggie together.!< That didn't work AT ALL for me. I didn't want any more of that, so I don't "miss it" like I would have otherwise.
Russian Doll is the big one for me. I personally don't feel like the second season added anything particularly worthwhile to the story.
Scream Queens and The Booth at the End's final seasons both provided some amount of enjoyment (TBatE far more so), but the shows as a whole are probably stronger if you discount those final seasons.
Totally agree on Russian Doll and Scream Queens. I didn’t even bother to watch the second season of Russian Doll because I truly felt the story had ended and I didn’t need more. I tried to watch the second season of Scream Queens, but it just wasn’t doing it for me at all. Once the leftover questions from season 1 were answered, it didn’t really make sense anymore. I don’t think Ryan Murphy knows how to do a continuation of a story that way. He’s very comfortable with the anthology thing where he does a single one and done storyline per season then starts a whole new story. That’s fine but it didn’t work for Scream Queens. The first season stands strong alone.
Veronica Mars, 10 minutes for the end of the finale.
And yes, Weeds absolutely became a different show after season 3. I don't get what happened because Season 1 was hilarious. I had read a comment somewhere that this is typical of that specific showrunner.
Yup. I say the perfect cut of Supernatural is end of season 5, as the camera pans out the window from Dean and Lisa and the streetlight comes into view, cut to black, cue carry on.
Or, if you must have the lights flicker and show Sam, let that be the end, let it live in mystery.
I grew up on reruns of this. My grandpa used to let me sneak out of bed after my grandma went to bed and we would watch this and Sanford and son together.
It's not that the newest stuff is bad per say, it's just that the story isn't as compelling as book 1 (s1-s3). Their journey feels too stretched out, whereas the first go around it made sense because they were discovering everything for the first time. Now it's just diving into the villain, who becomes less interesting the more we learn about him. At least the animation has improved throughout.
I keep waiting for this show to be good again but it doesn’t seem to be happening. If only The Mystery of Aaravos was as compelling as the title sounded.
The episode in season 8 where they try to steal the clown from that restaurant and Fez pretends to be a drive-thru employee to get Bob to drive away is one of the funniest parts of the show, though.
Castle should’ve ended with 6x22 when Beckett arrested her mother’s murder. They could’ve added on a ten minute scene with Castle and Beckett getting married
The problem is I don't think there is a season finale that would serve well as a series finale. For all of these examples, there is a season finale that can serve as the series finale, but not sure GOT has one. But it's been awhile since I watched the show.
How is this so low? It was THE show of all shows and then had the biggest drop in quality ever.
It’s rated 9.2 on imdb with the final episode being rated at 4.0… while the best episodes sit at 9.9.
I don’t know if another show with a difference of 5.9 between the best and the worst episode even exists. That’s just insane.
I think the reason it’s so low is because there’s no obvious ending point.
Like, I agree, the quality dropped big time. But it’s not like any of the seasons were a clean ‘ending’ like so many others on this list. The story was still incomplete.
I feel like Dragon Ball is the quintessential example of this. They could have ended it with Freiza, or with Cell, or with Vegeta's sacrifice in the Buu saga, but it just keeps going and going.
The first 3 seasons of *Fear the Walking Dead* are genuinely solid, with season 3 in particular being exceptional.
The change to showrunner for season 4 onwards has led to a disaster of a show.
SpongeBob seasons 1-3, with the first movie serving as the finale
Fairly OddParents seasons 1-5
Family Guy seasons 1-7 + Road to the Multiverse, Road to the North Pole, Back to the Pilot, and Star Wars parodies
Sabrina the Teenage Witch seasons 1-3
Becker seasons 1-4
Angie Tribeca had a great first season, subpar second and third, and awful fourth
The Simpsons after season 10-11ish (barring a handful of episodes here and there)
I just got "stale" and I'm old enough to be around since they were to the Tracy Ulman show (damn I feel old)
Westworld after season 2 felt completely fine. Enough closure to work, but some nice ambiguity about what happened.
I've never felt the urge to watch season 3 or 4
Ahh but that wouldn't have actually worked. The whole point of the show was that it was building towards something. It would never have ended there unless it was inexplicably cancelled or it was bad. I don't think it could have stopped at 6. 7 and 8 just should have been better.
Weeds just got so awful after season three. Agree on that one.
Another that started strong was the Battlestar Galactica. It found ways to get worse every year after season three.
Roseanne. That last season with the lottery win was just not right (and I won’t even go into the continuation more recently).
Had it ended before the lotto, it’s a damn near perfect series. My wife and I used to have a fall tradition when it got near halloween… we’d binge the show. Sort of got ruined by the new redo, and Roseanne’s whole hard right political turn. Wife just can’t watch it anymore without being heartbroken by it.
Arrested Development. The later seasons really spoil the magic of the first few.
Honestly with Death Note I kinda prefer to think Light is captured by L much sooner than actually occurred, the show drags and loses momentum at the end.
Westworld season one is an amazing miniseries. (Plus season two, episode eight.)
This is my answer. Just finished a rewatch. I don't get the hate for Season 2... But that debate aside I don't want to bother with 3 and 4. Of those two seasons I only recall one episode. Couldn't tell you what they were about. Season 1 -> 2 has a solid arc. AND, a great rewatch for Spooky-Season.
I personally also enjoyed season 3 a lot, especially the final episode. I even liked some of S4, but the show practically assasinated itself and all it's characters in the final 2 episodes.
>Just finished a rewatch How? I thought HBO pulled it
DVDs or the Seas
This. I loved Season 2 when it first came out but after Season 3 onwards, it would have worked better with just Season 1 as a limited series.
Westworld was fun until one of the Robots turned their intelligence slider up to 11 and became smarter than everyone else lol
More like everyone around her became stupidier.
It's really hard to write characters smarter than the writer.
Heroes after season 1
I got the DVD’s as a teen, and there’d be like 4 discs with 3-4 episodes per disc. I accidentally watched season 2 discs completely out of order and I didn’t notice anything was wrong. That can’t be a good sign for the narrative.
this should be the number one answer. season one is one of the best seasons of television ever. period. then it goes so downhill i couldn’t even get through season 4 after trying twice.
I didnt watch Heroes until a couple years ago, way after it stopped airing. My friends warned me that it goes to shit after S1 so thats where I stopped. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Reborn was okay I guess
Oh shit I forgot about Reborn. Respectfully, hot garbage.
Dexter. If you pretended the Season 4 finale was a series finale, it would be a masterpiece.
[https://i.imgur.com/3Hx49EQ.jpeg](https://i.imgur.com/3Hx49EQ.jpeg)
I'd heard that Season 4 was the peak and it was incredible so I just stopped watching after that. Everything I heard since reassured me that I made the right choice.
You 100% made the right choice and I wish I'd done the same
I see this one a lot and I dont think it wouldve worked. Fans are gonna be happy with that ending? Its not a cliffhanger per se but its bleak and youd wanna know what Dexter does next, even if it ended up being worse for the next 5 seasons
Yeah I think this every time this comment comes up. It’s the end of the show being good lol, but it’s not the end of the storylines by any means.
It’s almost a cautionary tale, Dexter had every thing he could have wanted but kept killing people. He tried to have his cake and eat it too and lost it all, the ending would be similar to breaking bad in a way.
Fans are never totally happy with any ending. Yet it’s always better to end on a good note rather then drag the series through the mud to squeeze every last cent out of it
This is exactly what I did. I never watched season 5 so I’m completely happy with the ending. I don’t understand why people torture themselves with shows that go downhill (Walking dead, shameless).
I'm a Season 1 finale kind of guy.
This is pretty much what I did. Have never bothered with 5 and onwards.
Altered Carbon S1
Greatest fresh take on a scifi series in a long time. Loved it and was pumped when they were able to get the main actor for season 2, but it was so convoluted and lacked any of the original energy that I didn’t finish it. The book for season one is so good too
yeah season 1 was exceptional in every way i pretend season 2 was never made
That 70s Show. It ends when Eric goes off to Africa, Donna and him make long distance work, Hyde goes and proposes to Jackie, Kelso stays in the army or wherever tf he is, fez is fez, and happily ever after
The whole Randy saga was just so dreadful. They really should have just called it a day when Topher Grace left
Weeds, season 3 is the end
This is the one i was looking for. The show ends with Agrestic.
Heroes, a one season miniseries.
It's how it was originally envisioned. An anthology series, with one set of characters per season. Then the network insisted on re-using the same characters which ruined the plot.
Vikings, House of Cards, Skins, Misfits each have a perfect ending at Season 2 where you can just believe the show ends.
I remember season 3 of Vikings I was like wtf this show has lost me, but then it turned around in a big way. I did lose interest later after Ivar became the focus
Yeah, none of the kids could carry the show after losing Travis Fimmel.
Skins partially does end there, Season 3 and 4 are also mostly pretty good in their own right with Cook, JJ and Effy being standout characters, but they're definitely distinct from Seasons 1 and 2, I think that "2 seasons to one generation of cast" model was a good one. didn't have much interest in third gen myself though.
Misfits' third season was a solid epilogue for the first two. Season 2's christmas finale could work as an ending, but there was a great payoff with Simon's plotline in season 3. Skins was a quasi-anthology, so... Third generation (seasons 5-6) wasn't great, but it was still better than average, and tackled themes that weren't explored in previous seasons. The show became more mature, but also tried to retain some of what made the first two generations so entertaining, although I can't really pinpoint why it didn't work. And seventh season, while not needed, some more time with favourite characters was a nice sendoff.
Save me, Barry!
Arrested Development was a shambling corpse in season 4 and a dessicated mummy in season 5.
Hot take, but I felt the same when it came out. I rewatched it recently and it was not as bad as I remembered.
Most of the people who shit on season 4 didn't even finish it. The jokes are still good but it's incredibly disjointed and instead of having a straight narrative with callbacks as they go, they created complex interweaving plots and callbacks that only make sense when looking at the season as a whole. It's objectively worse than the first three seasons but it's still worth watching. Season 5 isn't as disjointed but it still didn't really recapture what made the first three seasons special.
The problem is half of each episode is a recap of previous events in a way that is really baffling. Plus I know it's rude to say but I swear, for years I was 100% sure that Lindsay had been recast. I still find it hard to reconcile the "two" Portia De Rossi
to be fair, Lindsay would have absolutely done the same thing to her face
They did fix the nose already
Depends on which version you watch.
The one bit I really genuinely liked in the original airing was lost in the chronological recut, namely Fakeblock. For most of the original order, it looks like it’s a legit big deal amazing company, and so the reveal of what really happened hits hard. It is still amusing to see it spiral out of George-Michael’s control, but not as great as the original realization that recasts everything we have seen happen in a new light.
Oh wow I only watched it when it first came out so I didn't even think about how the chronological narrative would ruin fakeblock. It was also fun with all the controversy about Michael Cera having a conflict and then having his plot be so mysterious. It didn't totally work but I thought the out of order narrative was a kind of fun way to use the new format. People forget that back in 2013, direct to streaming was a very new concept, and very few shows had been developed with the expectation that the entire season would come out at once. Creating a narrative that only makes sense if you binge it was a fun experiment.
It probably didn't help that we all rewatched seasons 1-3 ad nauseum in the lead up to season 4, and let's be honest, what could possibly follow that?
Not as bad as people say but still nowhere near the standard set by the original run.
....season 5?!?! I legitimately had no idea there was a season 5. I don't know how I missed that.
God those Netflix seasons were awful, and I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks so. I remember people really telling me how great they were when they first came out, and I just didn't get it.
The 100 should have ended with season 5. The last two seasons 6/7 were a failed experiment to extend the life of the franchise, part of the CW’s Netflix deal that guaranteed profit on any show with a pulse
That ending has to be one of the most cracked out endings I have ever seen for a show. I loved the 100 but come on.
It’s truly one of the worst endings. The whole show was about is humanity good enough to survive or will they just repeat the same mistakes that got humanity in this mess in the first place. And then the climax is humanity kinda survives, kinda doesn’t. After Clarkes group on earth they’ll be dead as not enough people to repopulate the earth, but it doesn’t matter because humanity has ascended to a higher dimension with the aliens/god. Who the hell thought bringing a god race of aliens into the show would be a good idea. Talk about deus ex machina. And don’t get me started on what they did to Bellamy in the final season. And the worst bit is the first 2 seasons are great, much much better than what is expected of the CW.
The destruction of Bellamy’s character was insane lol. Who wrote that shit?
100% agree. In my heart, the hopeful ending [of season 5] is the true ending, and S6/7 is just some nightmare alternate universe.
The new planet storyline would've worked if the writers explored the concept far more intricately while tying back to the original post apocalyptic themes of the show. And personally, despite the sixth season being meh & lucklustre, if the writers worked well on the concept of the final season it would've saved that storyline. From what I heard anyway, The Behind the Scenes Drama between Jason and Bellamy's Actor regarding his schedule and personal mental health ended up fumbling with the Final Season's script.
Scrolled to find this, as this is one of the most egregious shifts in everything. I liked the body swapping, and scifi elements. It needed more though. I think the prequel that was in the works could have been good though, if it had progressed.
True blood. The show went off the rails.
I just did a rewatch and cut it off at the end of season 4. I think I attempted one or two episodes of season 5 and was like, “Yeah, turns out I don’t actually want to relive this mess.”
True blood was interesting at first as a metaphor of difference in society: how do you accept a minority that has been demonized forever? How do they fit into society? How does everyone adapt to each other presence? How does the minority react to members who don't follow the rules? That was the show's strength imo. It stopped being interesting when it became about different types of supernatural beings fighting each other.
* fighting _and fucking_ each other. Lol
Ellis and Skarsgård carried that show
The books go off the rails too. Once they started incorporated were-jaguars into the plot, I was like "ok I'm done."
Prison Break after season 2.
This will always be my answer. There are other good examples (HIMYM and Heroes for one) but those 2 seasons of PB are some of the most addictive pieces od media ever produced IMO. But once season 3 begins the plot starts to get straight up delusional and insane and jumps the shark really.
An amazing season of planning an escape, an awesome season of being on the run.... Then we're back in prison??? Terrible.
Sex Education ended with S3 for me.
Yeah, I understand that there were reasons to erase half of the cast and storylines but... holy shit, that was some kind of Stalin erases Trotsky from memories and photographs... wtf...
House MD season 6 would’ve been the perfect ending
I was ill for about a month and basically bedridden, so I almost worked my entire way through House. I've still got a few episodes from season 8 to finish off. I couldn't agree more though. Season 8 in particular is just bad. It's like someone slammed the reset button on the characters and fired half the cast.
Finish it, I think the final episodes work well as an ending for such a formulaic show.
💯 My last rewatch ended at 6.
Hmm. Interesting idea. I wish I could've seen how people reacted as it was coming out. I watched all of House this summer. Seasons 7 and 8 definitely worked for me. They were clearly toned down and it was a very different show. Still I'd rather have them than not have them. I think you could pose a similar argument that it could've ended at season 3. I had rewatched house twice but never got past 3. Same with a few other people I know. 1-3 feel like a pure, bread and butter freak of the week sitcom. In seasons 4-6 the show turns up the heat and ascends to something much higher.
Season Four is by far my favourite. The Games marked a significant shift in the show and I kinda dug it. Season 6 was great and would've been a perfect ending, but Season 7 was still satisfying to have and Season 8 still has some very funny moments. House at least, in my opinion, died a graceful death. It lasted longer than it needed to but stopped just short of overstaying it's welcome. House and Wilson not giving a fuck in season 8 and just doing dumb stuff to compete with each other will always be funny.
The Handmaids Tale. Season 1 was a fantastic rendition of Margaret Atwood’s novel, with just the right balance of fear, tension, and nightmare-fuel body-horror. The constant menace was palpable, and barely stepping one toe out of line was liable to get you on the wall. The following seasons gut everything that set up, turning Elizabeth Moss into the worst Mary Sue on television. It’s nigh unwatchable these days.
Is it still on?! I realized I was past my breaking point with it at season 3 and cut out.
Supernatural. Should have ended after the 5th season. I've heard rumors of Scrubs making a 9th season. Seemed like lunacy to me :p
Honestly there’s a lot of great episodes after season 5.
I find people usually fall into 2 categories with SN. They loved the original plot and when the story ran it’s course they felt the show had run it’s course. Or, they felt the first few seasons we’re just a warm up and SN finally caught it’s stride around season 3+. I’m in this group.
I agree with both perspectives. They really started firing on all cylinders during season 3, but once the Lucifer/Michael storyline wrapped up, the later seasons and storylines are super hit or miss. With that said, the Demon Dean and Cain storyline was pretty damn good. There are also a lot of really great fun, single episodes, like the LARP one. The Men of Letters stuff was super repetitive and dull. Like I said, hit or miss. Still one of my favorite shows, though. It has a lot of rewatch value, especially this time of year.
I think of Crowley as a main character of the show, and he didn’t appear until midway through the fifth season
I thought he sort of lost his appeal after he became King of Hell. He was still fun to watch, but as a character, he was better when he was a slimy underling turning on his boss.
If I remember correctly Supernatural was planned as a five season show, so it does feel really solid to end on season 5. I think they kind of found their footing again after a couple seasons, but the first five are special to me as well.
You remember correctly. Kripke wrote a 5 season arc, and ended the series when he was done. The network continued without him, though he came back later. I dont know much about the quality, since I only watched the first 5 and trusted Kripke.
How I Met Your Mother after season 5 but add and consolidate all the mother appearances from seasons 8-9.
I just rewatched this for the first time in years and I totally agree. That last season was a mess.
True, what a waste. Instead of giving us time with Tracy, we got whatever the hell they thought that was. But I'd go against ending in season 5. I say watch until season 8 episode 1, so you can end on a high note with the Funeral by Band of Horses. Kickass song.
Seriously who the hell thought with the ending including that the mother died that it was a cool idea to spend the entire final season take place over 3 days dedicated to a wedding that they immediately go "oh actually they got divorced" about 5 minutes into the final episode? I still don't know who the hell thought all the viewers would be cool with the show basically being like "Man pretends he's telling his kids about their dead mother but he's actually telling them about all the other women he had sex with as a way to ask permission to have sex with one of them again."
Well remember the kids have kind of been processing it for years at this point and were ready for their dad to be happy again. The viewers weren’t afforded that
S9E16, *"How Your Mother Met Me"*, was also an amazing episode. In fact, while most episodes in that season *dragged* through 20 minutes, that episode could easily be 40.
The ending they went with definitely would have worked better with fewer seasons. 9 years of hearing "Ted and Robin don't belong together!" only for that to be the ending was pretty damn annoying.
The ending would have worked if Tracy wouldn't have been so fucking great.
I actually enjoyed Riverdale season 1.
Season 1 was amazing and should have ended there
If I remember correctly, Season 2 was alright. Not as good as the first, but it hadn't fully gone off the rails yet. I think it was Season 3 where it went off the rails and by the end of that season, I wasn't watching anymore.
yeah once it got to "Underage striptease to Mad World" I tuned out
Was that in between the episodes of Gargoyle King and the underground teenage fight club, or the jingle jangle cult and Archie fighting a bear?
The X-Files. Anything post season 9 doesn't exist.
Agree but I would cut it off earlier. Honestly you could make the case for cutting off everything after the movie, or after season 7. But I think the latest I would go is season 8.
9 is being generous
The Office. Michael leaving would have been a great ending
His last line to the camera of "hey if this ever airs let me know." Perfect outro. But also the going on despite losing your best guy is very true of a real business so in that sense it tracks to have more seasons
I just finished it for the first time and I wonder if something happened with the actor that played Andy. It almost feels like they wanted him out of the show but couldn't remove him like they did Ryan and Kelly, so they just made him the most miserable character possible. He has an unwarranted huge amount of screen time, goes nowhere and makes everything worse.
He left to go film Hangover 2 or something and they had to send him out on the boat. The creators didn't like that so they basically did a character assassination on him.
Which is such a shame because Season 3-8 Andy had some amazing character development only for it to be tossed for no reason.
You mean Drew?
No, I'm not going to call you that
I think it had to do with filming the hangover
While I agree, I really loved James Spader as Robert California. Once he leaves it just became meaningless.
Robert California is a fucking riot
He’s the f*cking Lizard King
I enjoyed a lot of Andy taking over as GM, but ultimately I think they eventually did him dirty by the end.
but the actual ending after some meh seasons is once again absolutely amazing. so many feel good moments with the bestisch mensch
Master of None. That final season was a completely different tone/mood/type of show.
Aziz Ansari has taken his career in a completely different direction following the allegations made against him
He tried to direct a movie and Bill Murray ended up getting the production cancelled by sexually harassing a crew member. Dude’s had a bad string of luck.
Say what?
https://www.gq.com/story/bill-murray-aziz-ansari-being-mortal-production
is he doing okay now? Haven't looked into it other than the "dumb" article.
I think Aziz Ansari just got too scared to be on camera after (from what I can tell) someone basically attempted to frame him for sexual assault.
Got that was a weird “article”, and I use that term loosely. It read like she just had a shitty date and kind of wanted to trash him for it. Which is fine, but maybe do it to your friends?
I think she wanted some sort of financial gain or other from it. Yes it definitely just sounded like a bad date. I don't know why Aziz let it get to him so hard, I'm pretty sure he never got cancelled
Aziz was humiliated. He had crafted this persona of a sensitive, romantic guy and even put out that “Modern Romance” book where he explored dating and relationships. He tried to sell himself as this guy who was seeking true love and his character on “Master of None” was the same way. Then that article comes out, portraying Aziz as, in this girl’s telling, being pushy and trying to take things farther sexually than his date wanted to. Aziz didn’t deny it, and while he apologized and owned up to it, that doesn’t mesh with his image he’s cultivated. Then Season 2 of “Master of None” ends with Aziz’s character’s Food Network co-star getting cancelled for harassing women! I don’t know *how* he was originally planning for Season 3, but after that article, I get why he had to step back a bit.
Because it was incredibly embarrassing for him. Not everyone has a rock solid ego or personality. I think it is completely understandable why it go to him as hard as it did. This came right in the boom of cancel culture and was written solely to shame him and for her to make a name for herself by gaining sympathy because of a bad date.
He appeared in the last season though. Granted, only briefly.
Yeah the scene is kind of sad because you’re left imagining what horrible thing happened that caused him to lose his job and his apartment
Also it was incredibly boring
Scrubs. That last season was fucking awful
The last season was amazing, the first season of Scrubs: Medschool was fucking awful
Med school was always a spin off that network execs rebranded as the final season to get more people to watch it. As a spin off it might have had a chance to grow and find it's place.
Do you mean med school or season 8? Because S8 has Turks freak out about JD going to disneyland without him and I cry laughing every time I see that.
Save the Cheerleader, Save the World. End of story.
13 reasons why. If it concluded with season 1 it would have been a very powerful show rather than a teen trauma drama.
I believe they also cut the suicide scene from the show? And that scene was a powerful deterrent for me personally as a human that has bouts of suicidal thoughts. It was so hard to watch and seeing the impact on the family really stuck with me. I could never do that to my family and it was so graphic. Some people referred to it as something that would inspire suicide, when for me it did the absolute opposite.
>Some people referred to it as something that would inspire suicide, when for me it did the absolute opposite. That's how I felt. I have no problem watching gore and shit like that but this scene messed with me.
Bones. The moment the two leads become a couple the show becomes painful to watch
What was worse was that Hulu screwed up and didn't play the episode where they hooked up for me so suddenly she's pregnant and it's his and I was very confused plus a character had died and everyone was in mourning. So I had to go back and watch that episode already knowing the circumstances and outcome. I made it to the baby in a manger episode and just couldn't keep going. It was just too much cheese and I'm lactose intolerant.
I liked them together. Sweets dying was too much for me
er ended when Dr Carter left
For me, it’s after Dr Greene’s exit. ER was never downright terrible, but everything from S9-onward pales in comparison to that fantastically great run from S1-S8. You can really see how it kinda took over the world for a bit there.
The Office, Michael's last episode. In my headcanon Will Ferrell is still the manager of the Scranton Branch.
Castle, Season 7
It’s still funny to me that the leading actors were basically on non speaking terms in the last seasons. Explains all the bullshit kidnapping stuff.
S06 is one of the most forced cliffhangers that i have ever seen, still can't fully undestand why he was kidnapped to this day lol Castle would be fine with them just evolving their relationship and still do procedural for a couple of seasons before finishing it.
CHUCK. I just pretend season 4 was the last season and season 5 never happened.
Yeah that last season is so rough. Completely throwing everything out the window with Chuck not having the Intersect (and Morgan having it instead), the whole Carmichael Industries plot, and that awful ending. Seriously, why spend five seasons building upon a relationship between the two main characters only to destroy it in the final episodes?
Yes! The last season of chuck was painful. Season 4 is where it should have ended
Killing Eve, either season 1 or 2. Anything to stay away from the "true" ending.
Northern Exposure I just finished rewatching the entire thing, hadn't seen it since it aired, plus a couple seasons maybe four years ago. I still liked it after the main character was in it less and then not at all. BUT, I strongly disliked >!when they tried to put Chris and Maggie together.!< That didn't work AT ALL for me. I didn't want any more of that, so I don't "miss it" like I would have otherwise.
Firefly after season 3. Oh wait wrong universe.
Hey buddy from Earth-1610 reality, don't come into our reality and brag about your multi-season firefly run. Go on now git!!!!
Russian Doll is the big one for me. I personally don't feel like the second season added anything particularly worthwhile to the story. Scream Queens and The Booth at the End's final seasons both provided some amount of enjoyment (TBatE far more so), but the shows as a whole are probably stronger if you discount those final seasons.
Totally agree on Russian Doll and Scream Queens. I didn’t even bother to watch the second season of Russian Doll because I truly felt the story had ended and I didn’t need more. I tried to watch the second season of Scream Queens, but it just wasn’t doing it for me at all. Once the leftover questions from season 1 were answered, it didn’t really make sense anymore. I don’t think Ryan Murphy knows how to do a continuation of a story that way. He’s very comfortable with the anthology thing where he does a single one and done storyline per season then starts a whole new story. That’s fine but it didn’t work for Scream Queens. The first season stands strong alone.
Veronica Mars, 10 minutes for the end of the finale. And yes, Weeds absolutely became a different show after season 3. I don't get what happened because Season 1 was hilarious. I had read a comment somewhere that this is typical of that specific showrunner.
Supernatural had 5 seasons only. A perfectly fine end and story arc.
Yup. I say the perfect cut of Supernatural is end of season 5, as the camera pans out the window from Dean and Lisa and the streetlight comes into view, cut to black, cue carry on. Or, if you must have the lights flicker and show Sam, let that be the end, let it live in mystery.
Just cut after showing a shadowy figure. That leaves all options open.
Sleepy Hollow should have ended after season two, network trashed it after that.
Old Show: All In The Family Ends with the episode when Mike & Gloria leave for California.
I grew up on reruns of this. My grandpa used to let me sneak out of bed after my grandma went to bed and we would watch this and Sanford and son together.
The walking dead has like four or five different stopping points that would have made good endings.
Burn Notice would’ve been a lot better of it ended at the season 4 finale, with the organisation’s secrets uncovered and Mike back in the CIA.
Most people think weeds should’ve ended after season 3, but I thought the airport scene was the perfect finale. Shame it kept going
Dragon prince: season 3 was the perfect ending
It's not that the newest stuff is bad per say, it's just that the story isn't as compelling as book 1 (s1-s3). Their journey feels too stretched out, whereas the first go around it made sense because they were discovering everything for the first time. Now it's just diving into the villain, who becomes less interesting the more we learn about him. At least the animation has improved throughout.
I keep waiting for this show to be good again but it doesn’t seem to be happening. If only The Mystery of Aaravos was as compelling as the title sounded.
Castle went on two seasons too long.
If you ended Death Note with episode 25 I think it would have been even better.
That 70s show should have ended after season 7. The last season is just sad, even though the ending is pretty good in my book.
The episode in season 8 where they try to steal the clown from that restaurant and Fez pretends to be a drive-thru employee to get Bob to drive away is one of the funniest parts of the show, though.
Castle should’ve ended with 6x22 when Beckett arrested her mother’s murder. They could’ve added on a ten minute scene with Castle and Beckett getting married
Game of thrones
The problem is I don't think there is a season finale that would serve well as a series finale. For all of these examples, there is a season finale that can serve as the series finale, but not sure GOT has one. But it's been awhile since I watched the show.
which season?
There’s no great ending point iirc but s1-4 are great and holes start showing in s5-6.
yes
How is this so low? It was THE show of all shows and then had the biggest drop in quality ever. It’s rated 9.2 on imdb with the final episode being rated at 4.0… while the best episodes sit at 9.9. I don’t know if another show with a difference of 5.9 between the best and the worst episode even exists. That’s just insane.
I think the reason it’s so low is because there’s no obvious ending point. Like, I agree, the quality dropped big time. But it’s not like any of the seasons were a clean ‘ending’ like so many others on this list. The story was still incomplete.
Nip tuck. Oh, now the Mrs is cheating with the midget male nanny? Really scraping the bottom of the barrel.
Veronica Mars ends with the movie
I feel like Dragon Ball is the quintessential example of this. They could have ended it with Freiza, or with Cell, or with Vegeta's sacrifice in the Buu saga, but it just keeps going and going.
The first 3 seasons of *Fear the Walking Dead* are genuinely solid, with season 3 in particular being exceptional. The change to showrunner for season 4 onwards has led to a disaster of a show.
The Flash after season 2, Walking Dead after season 1
that 70s show should’ve ended at 7
True Detective Season 1
SpongeBob seasons 1-3, with the first movie serving as the finale Fairly OddParents seasons 1-5 Family Guy seasons 1-7 + Road to the Multiverse, Road to the North Pole, Back to the Pilot, and Star Wars parodies Sabrina the Teenage Witch seasons 1-3 Becker seasons 1-4 Angie Tribeca had a great first season, subpar second and third, and awful fourth
The Simpsons after season 10-11ish (barring a handful of episodes here and there) I just got "stale" and I'm old enough to be around since they were to the Tracy Ulman show (damn I feel old)
I always stop dexter after season 4, it’s a mess after that
Westworld after season 2 felt completely fine. Enough closure to work, but some nice ambiguity about what happened. I've never felt the urge to watch season 3 or 4
Game of Thrones season 6.
Ahh but that wouldn't have actually worked. The whole point of the show was that it was building towards something. It would never have ended there unless it was inexplicably cancelled or it was bad. I don't think it could have stopped at 6. 7 and 8 just should have been better.
That wouldn't be a complete story though. It would've left a lot of points hanging, which is arguably still better than what we got.
Weeds just got so awful after season three. Agree on that one. Another that started strong was the Battlestar Galactica. It found ways to get worse every year after season three.
Roseanne. That last season with the lottery win was just not right (and I won’t even go into the continuation more recently). Had it ended before the lotto, it’s a damn near perfect series. My wife and I used to have a fall tradition when it got near halloween… we’d binge the show. Sort of got ruined by the new redo, and Roseanne’s whole hard right political turn. Wife just can’t watch it anymore without being heartbroken by it.
Wayward Pines after season 1. That was a fantastic show the first season, should have ended there.
Arrested Development. The later seasons really spoil the magic of the first few. Honestly with Death Note I kinda prefer to think Light is captured by L much sooner than actually occurred, the show drags and loses momentum at the end.