Elaine, Jerry, George and Kramer wound up in jail after past characters testified against them in what some say was one of the worst series finales ever.

http://specials.msn.com/A-List/TV-show-finales.aspx?cp-documentid=24269707&imageindex=9&cp-searchtext=%27Seinfeld%27&FORM=MSNIIT

I really detested the Seinfeld series finale when it originally aired. Looking back now I can give the writers some credit. They did find a way to include many of the guest characters and supporting characters in the finale and that is to their credit. However the central story involving the main cast still seems weak to me. It seems to me that all of the main characters committed much worse acts through the course of the series than the one for which they are ultimitely prosecuted. They could have found a better reason to put the characters on trial I think. (re-gifting comes to mind!)

I thought it was a great finale. Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer, as much as I loved them, were deeply flawed people who screwed up a lot of lives and i got a kick out of seeing all the characters they wronged coming out of the woodwork in the final episode to see them get thier comeuppance.

Horrible finale. I don't think I laughed once.

Yes, they were shallow and crass but were they so bad that we wanted to see them end up in prison? Hardly. It seemed like a "concept" episode that was more about satisfying a creative itch by Larry David than pleasing the audience.

I thought it was kind of funny that a show about "nothing," had the characters being tried and convicted for doing "nothing."

I appreciate that they got almost all the minor/recurring characters back one more time, but the last episode itself was pretty lame. Then again, who could live up to all the hype?

I actually really enjoyed the Seinfeld finale - I thought it was totally unique and had a somewhat satisfactory ending.

I may have been happier had it been a more 'ordinary' episode, literally about nothing, but I still think they achieved something terrific.

Why The ‘Seinfeld’ Finale Didn’t Work (http://uproxx.com/tv/2015/05/3-reasons-seinfeld-finale-failed/)

I hated it then and I hate it now.

I really detested the Seinfeld series finale when it originally aired. Looking back now I can give the writers some credit. They did find a way to include many of the guest characters and supporting characters in the finale and that is to their credit. However the central story involving the main cast still seems weak to me. It seems to me that all of the main characters committed much worse acts through the course of the series than the one for which they are ultimitely prosecuted. They could have found a better reason to put the characters on trial I think. (re-gifting comes to mind!)

I didn't care for the finale when I first saw it, but when I saw the Seinfeld episodes after the finale, I came from Ignorant to Understood on why they all went to jail for a year.

http://i.imgur.com/SxXwX6t.jpg (http://lunapic.com)

Back when it aired, yeah I was disappointed. But now I think the writers just wanted to do something different and not typical of a series finale. :D

http://www.vulture.com/2015/05/jerry-seinfeld-can-take-a-seinfeld-finale-joke.html

Seinfeld says he and Julia Louis-Dreyfus didn't like the original joke given to her, "so we went to the writers and it was quite a long negotiation and then they came up with this other line, which was sensational." PLUS: Seinfeld says execs nixed his idea for a Claymation Seinfeld episode (http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/confidential/seinfeld-claymation-episode-article-1.2242198).

I think the factors that make a good TV series work against having a good ending. In the Seinfeld case, there really wasn't a plot so there couldn't be an ending. All that could happen was that the show ended, which is what happened.

I think series finales usually suck because they violate the very premise of the show. The show was conceived as an on-going story, not something with an ending. So when they try to put a bow around it, it feels wrong somehow (at best) or fails miserably (at worst).

It can and has been done right. TMTMS, M*A*S*H, Barney Miller, and Friends are all examples of writers ending the show's ongoing storylines without sacrificing the premise of the show or betraying its characters.

I think many writers just want to do something "shocking" or "new" at the end of the run, which misses the point of what viewers really want to see. Most modern shows have failed miserably at doing a faithful and satisfying finale.