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Great TV Shows with Endings That Left Fans Reeling (Or At Least Debating)
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items Sometimes, I start watching a show that's absolutely fantastic…until it isn't. (But that's just my opinion.) Here are some of my favorite shows that had series finales that left fans either angry, confused, upset, outraged, or divided. Love ‘em or ha...
Sections
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Let The Debating Begin
Spot-On Goodbyes
Let The Debating Begin
What do you think? Which of these shows have you watched? Did you love the finales or hate them?
Castle and Beckett had a great will they-won't they dynamic and slow burn romance story. But that last season was uneven, and the ending was controversial, to say the least. It left fans confused, upset, and having to come up with their own theories....
Castle
For a show that was famous for being about nothing, the ending of Seinfeld sure caused an uproar. Personally, I loved seeing the parade of characters returning. But it definitely earned the title “controversial” among longtime fans of the comedy seri...
Watch Seinfeld | Netflix
If you type “How I Met Your Mother” into Google, the first thing that pops up is “ending” because hoo-boy, that last season and specifically the finale caused an absolute uproar among fans. Personally, I liked the full circle on it, but I can underst...
How I Met Your Mother
It's hard to believe it's been 25 years since The Sopranos came out. It was an intense show with well-developed characters and a highly controversial ending that left many fans scrambling to figure out exactly what happened. Personally, I thought it ...
Watch The Sopranos | 25th Anniversary | Max
Boy, people had strong, strong opinions about the ending of Game of Thrones. To be fair, it was a complex world of characters from the start, and the showrunners never hesitated to court controversy at any point. Part of the reason that it was a tric...
Watch Game of Thrones (HBO) | Max
You can count me among those who is still scratching her head and feeling, well, lost over the ending of Lost. While the show always delivered twists and turns, it definitely didn't live up to the magic of the first few seasons, in my humble opinion.
Lost | Netflix
I had to include Newhart as having one of the most notoriously wild twists of a series endings in TV history. I grew up watching (and loving) the show Newhart. I was too young to have watched the Bob Newhart Show (which was his former TV series, in t...
Newhart
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I watched St. Elsewhere reruns growing up, and I loved the medical drama, all pre-ER. Starring Denzel Washington, Mark Harmon, and Howie Mandel in the first seasons, it never shied away from controversial and realistic topics, but (without giving any...
St. Elsewhere
Scrubs was such a fun, funny, heartfelt show, but the series should have ended at least one season earlier. (Most fans pretend that last season didn't happen at all). It kind of fizzled at the end, which is always disappointing.
Scrubs
The X-Files had not one but two controversial finales. Scully and Mulder always had such great chemistry, and I'm glad they brought them back for that revival, but there was no way to please all the fans in this popular sci-fi series.
The X-Files
Sometimes, a show's ending is controversial because it got cancelled prematurely (at least in the fans' opinion). Pushing Daisies was a delightful, oddball, quirky comedy about a guy who can bring corpses back to life. (And he does so in order to hel...
Pushing Daisies
While most fans seemed to like where the characters ended up in their lives, the final season (and really the final few episodes) made some POV decisions that left a few fans upset.
The Office
The finale of The Mentalist didn't leave fans reeling so much as divided. Some felt it was a bit too sweet for the tone of the show throughout. Personally, I loved it.
The Mentalist
The fan reception to House's series finale seems to be pretty evenly divided.
House
The first three seasons of Sherlock were absolute perfection in my humble opinion. The last season was a bit uneven and the last episode seemed to come out of left field (again, in my opinion). I still rewatch the show regularly as it's a terrificall...
Sherlock
For a show known for its nonstop drama, True Blood's finale was seen as a bit lackluster and disappointing by many of its fans.
True Blood
Mad About You was a great comedy that didn't shy away from the ups and downs of marriage. Any time that a series finale decides to fast forward into the future, though, it's a gamble. Some fans loved it. Some fans hated it.
Mad About You
I was always kind of “take it or leave it” about Two and a Half Men. It was good for a quick laugh when it was on, though. But true fans of the show BRUTALIZED the finale.
Two and a Half Men
Spot-On Goodbyes
It's a rare TV show that I feel absolutely nails the ending, but here are some of my favorites.
Friends was definitely a cultural snapshot. It's still a comfort food show for me, and I felt like the show came full circle in a nice way. It showed the characters moving on but still being there for each other.
Friends
New Girl was such a fun, quirky, sweet show, and I loved that they brought closure and had a final moment of throwback to an earlier inside joke. Flash forwards can be tricky, but they did it well.
New Girl
Parks and Rec is one of my all-time favorite sitcoms. The ending was silly and hopeful and fun, much like the whole series. Some people didn't love the flash forward of the final season, and so I guess I could have put this in the controversial secti...
Watch Parks and Recreation Streaming | Peacock
I'm a big Trek fan, and TNG is my favorite in the franchise. They nailed the ending to this beloved series. Everybody got a storyline, it connected back to the first episode, and it launched pretty seamlessly into their film years.
Star Trek: The Next Generation - Watch on Paramount Plus
Nine-nine! Brooklyn 99 was such a fun, quirky show, and it provided closure without being too syrupy.
Watch Brooklyn Nine-Nine Streaming | Peacock
Yes, I put The Office in both categories. I thought that The Office went a couple seasons too long, BUT that final episode was a sweet sendoff.
Watch The Office Streaming | Peacock