What TV show did you love but had an ending so bad that it retroactively ruined... - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

TMC · 01-06-2019, 04:23 AM

or changed your experience of the show? The ending to How I Met Your Mother is probably the most infamous contemporary example. It was planned it from the beginning, yet the producers and writers didn’t stop to re-evaluate before actually doing it. So in order for that finale to make any narrative sense at all, they had to regress some of the characters and essentially erase several seasons’ worth of growth and change. Also, finale literally invalidated the entire show when you really think about it. The show's name is literally How I Met Your Mother and it turns out the mother is a misdirection the entire time.

DeadlyToolTime · 01-06-2019, 04:56 AM

Night Court. After seeing the series finale, I really started to loathe the later seasons when Reinhold Weege dropped down as showrunner.

cfr1970 · 01-06-2019, 02:25 PM

Two shows immediately come to mind off the top of my head for me:

1. Lost: The writers for years insisted the passengers of the plane were not dead and in the finale....yep, they were all dead. It majorly pissed me off and made me feel I wasted all that time on the series. I will never watch that crap show again.

2. Revenge: It was a Sunday night soap on ABC that was always low rated, but I loved tuning into each week. The finale was such a letdown for so many reasons and made me wind up hating the entire series because of it. That's another show I will never watch over.

A bad Series Finale really can make or break an entire series imo.

I can't think of any sitcoms that had Finales that upset me. I was ok with the How I Met Your Mother finale because it was not only a surprise twist, but also realistic as well. I know i'm in the minority on that and that's ok.

TSMIV · 01-06-2019, 03:09 PM

Quote:

1. Lost: The writers for years insisted the passengers of the plane were not dead and in the finale....yep, they were all dead. It majorly pissed me off and made me feel I wasted all that time on the series. I will never watch that crap show again.

That's the first one that came to mind for me too. I also HATED the last series and final episode of BBC Sherlock (it may not be the last episode, but it probably is) so much that I'll never watch any of it again.

I hated the Seinfeld finale because it was so insulting to the fans of the show. According to Jerry, there weren't supposed to be any "lessons" on Seinfeld and he broke that rule in the very last episode. That said, I don't hate it enough to stop watching the show; I just refuse to watch the last episode.

DSfan · 01-06-2019, 08:44 PM

I remember being very disappointed that the Wonder Years ended with the flash forward narration saying how Kevin and Winnie ultimately didn't get married, that was a major heart sinking type of moment. I thought there was no need to even say anyone's fates at the end of the show, they didn't need that final narration. Or if they did, they could've had them be together. I didn't see how that was a good idea at all, would only annoy fans.

rusty spike · 01-07-2019, 12:06 AM

I refuse to watch the Seinfeld finale as well. I watched the finale the first time around and was deeply disappointed.

TSMIV · 01-07-2019, 12:46 AM

Jerry's been asked if he ever regretted the finale and he admitted that sometimes he does. Of course, that could mean anything.

Quote:

I remember being very disappointed that the Wonder Years ended with the flash forward narration saying how Kevin and Winnie ultimately didn't get married,

Me too and I was bummed that Kevin's dad died so young. I agree that the show didn't need to tell us what happened to them.

The Newhart finale sucked, too. The "it's all a dream" joke was not funny for those of us who preferred Newhart to The Bob Newhat Show.

icecream · 01-07-2019, 11:47 AM

Under the Dome. First 2 seasons were some of the best sci-fi TV ever made. Season 3 though destroyed everything the first 2 seasons had set up, although the series finale ended in a promising direction. But by that time too much former audience had left, and since it had been cancelled because of that there was no season 4 to continue what was set up in the finale. As many of you have seen, I am in the process of making my top 1000 characters list. If it had been based on just the first two seasons, Barbie, Julie, and Big Jim would have been strong contenders for the list. But I ended up deciding I couldn't include anyone from Under the Dome as a contender because of season 3 ruining everything. On a smaller scale season 3 of Zoo was terrible compared to the first two seasons. However, I was never as big of a Zoo fan as I was Under the Dome. Also, I liked season 1 of Extant, but season 2 ruined it and I ended up dropping Extant halfway through that season, which was also its last.

stevea · 01-07-2019, 04:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rusty spike

I refuse to watch the Seinfeld finale as well. I watched the finale the first time around and was deeply disappointed.

Yep. Me too. Once was too many times for that one.

They could have just gone with that second clip show.

FaceReality · 01-07-2019, 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TSMIV

Jerry's been asked if he ever regretted the finale and he admitted that sometimes he does. Of course, that could mean anything.

The Newhart finale sucked, too. The "it's all a dream" joke was not funny for those of us who preferred Newhart to The Bob Newhat Show.

Who cares what you think? The Newhart finale was AWESOME and brilliant.

DeadlyToolTime · 01-07-2019, 04:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FaceReality

Who cares what you think? The Newhart finale was AWESOME and brilliant.

No opinions allowed.

icecream · 01-07-2019, 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevea

Yep. Me too. Once was too many times for that one.

They could have just gone with that second clip show.

Really? I know there is a camp that doesn't like the Seinfeld finale (I personally like it), but ending such a long running megahit with a clip show as the series finale would not be a good move.

icecream · 01-07-2019, 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FaceReality

Who cares what you think? The Newhart finale was AWESOME and brilliant.

But you obviously don't agree with yourself that Newhart is brilliant since you think watching sitcoms makes people dumb. What you wrote in another thread after my green words finish:

Anyone who prefers a mind numbing sitcom over a good one hour drama is easily entertained. Sitcoms tend to dumb people down.

Plus I find sitcoms to be boring. I'll take a good drama like "The Bionic Woman" over a mind numbing sitcom any day.

Tubehead · 01-09-2019, 06:13 AM

me it would be sliders!! they changed different people!! the only really person that stayed the whole time was Rembrandt Brown!! they replaced Jerry O'Connell as the leader of sliders!! then it just went down hill after seaon 4!!

Impressions · 01-09-2019, 11:37 PM

Roseanne. Pretty much the whole series, except the first two were a lie, according to the revelations Roseanne revealed in the series finale.

Same goes for Newhart. The twist ending ruined the show for me, because of the cliche “it was all a dream” ending.

01-06-2019, 04:23 AM	#1
TMC Member Forum Idol Join Date: Jan 09, 2001 Posts: 125,621	What TV show did you love but had an ending so bad that it retroactively ruined... or changed your experience of the show? The ending to How I Met Your Mother is probably the most infamous contemporary example. It was planned it from the beginning, yet the producers and writers didn’t stop to re-evaluate before actually doing it. So in order for that finale to make any narrative sense at all, they had to regress some of the characters and essentially erase several seasons’ worth of growth and change. Also, finale literally invalidated the entire show when you really think about it. The show's name is literally How I Met Your Mother and it turns out the mother is a misdirection the entire time.

01-07-2019, 11:47 AM	#8
icecream Cat-tastic and Whiskerlicious Forum Celebrity Join Date: Sep 01, 2006 Location: The Catacombs Posts: 20,704	Under the Dome. First 2 seasons were some of the best sci-fi TV ever made. Season 3 though destroyed everything the first 2 seasons had set up, although the series finale ended in a promising direction. But by that time too much former audience had left, and since it had been cancelled because of that there was no season 4 to continue what was set up in the finale. As many of you have seen, I am in the process of making my top 1000 characters list. If it had been based on just the first two seasons, Barbie, Julie, and Big Jim would have been strong contenders for the list. But I ended up deciding I couldn't include anyone from Under the Dome as a contender because of season 3 ruining everything. On a smaller scale season 3 of Zoo was terrible compared to the first two seasons. However, I was never as big of a Zoo fan as I was Under the Dome. Also, I liked season 1 of Extant, but season 2 ruined it and I ended up dropping Extant halfway through that season, which was also its last.
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01-06-2019, 04:56 AM	#2
DeadlyToolTime Banned Banned!! Frequent Poster Join Date: Jun 20, 2018 Posts: 199	Night Court. After seeing the series finale, I really started to loathe the later seasons when Reinhold Weege dropped down as showrunner.

01-06-2019, 02:25 PM	#3
cfr1970 Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Aug 13, 2017 Location: Kissimmee, Florida Posts: 3,368	Two shows immediately come to mind off the top of my head for me: 1. Lost: The writers for years insisted the passengers of the plane were not dead and in the finale....yep, they were all dead. It majorly pissed me off and made me feel I wasted all that time on the series. I will never watch that crap show again. 2. Revenge: It was a Sunday night soap on ABC that was always low rated, but I loved tuning into each week. The finale was such a letdown for so many reasons and made me wind up hating the entire series because of it. That's another show I will never watch over. A bad Series Finale really can make or break an entire series imo. I can't think of any sitcoms that had Finales that upset me. I was ok with the How I Met Your Mother finale because it was not only a surprise twist, but also realistic as well. I know i'm in the minority on that and that's ok.

01-06-2019, 08:44 PM	#5
DSfan Member Senior Member Join Date: Sep 15, 2006 Location: Canada Posts: 1,204	I remember being very disappointed that the Wonder Years ended with the flash forward narration saying how Kevin and Winnie ultimately didn't get married, that was a major heart sinking type of moment. I thought there was no need to even say anyone's fates at the end of the show, they didn't need that final narration. Or if they did, they could've had them be together. I didn't see how that was a good idea at all, would only annoy fans.

01-07-2019, 12:06 AM	#6
rusty spike Member Senior Member Join Date: Mar 08, 2015 Location: Southwest Posts: 1,124	I refuse to watch the Seinfeld finale as well. I watched the finale the first time around and was deeply disappointed.

01-09-2019, 06:13 AM	#14
Tubehead Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Feb 12, 2007 Location: chattanooga.tn Posts: 5,139	me it would be sliders!! they changed different people!! the only really person that stayed the whole time was Rembrandt Brown!! they replaced Jerry O'Connell as the leader of sliders!! then it just went down hill after seaon 4!!

01-09-2019, 11:37 PM	#15
Impressions She died the way she lived Forum 4000 Club Member Join Date: May 08, 2002 Posts: 4,640	Roseanne. Pretty much the whole series, except the first two were a lie, according to the revelations Roseanne revealed in the series finale. Same goes for Newhart. The twist ending ruined the show for me, because of the cliche “it was all a dream” ending.