outcastja

Since Breaking Bad just ended with one of the best final seasons ever and Dexter ended last week with a horrible final season.

What other shows would you put on this list?

Quack

The newer Battlestar Galactica for me...the first couple seasons were really good, but the last one I felt really let down.

bluetoast

The Shield has one of the best.

Michael Corvin

Best: NYPD: Blue - after a few seasons of going through the motions, knowing it was the final season clearly gave the writers some inspiration. By the time the final episode aired, I didn't want it to end, which I couldn't have said the season prior.

Worst: Lost - self explanatory

Crocker Jarmen

Six Feet Under is the champ for most emotional, satisfying, and artistic ending, but is severly undermined by the previous two seasons leading up to it being very poor compared to the first three.

I like The Sopranos ending now, but think it was too clever for its own good. I and most people I knew were pulled out of the show, thinking the cable had gone out or something. It felt like an Andy Kaufman stunt. Good idea but poor execution.

I'm not sure if Twin Peaks belongs on a list of worst, because I'm not sure if they knew the show was cancelled already when they shot that ending.

A lot of British shows come to mind having fantastic wrap ups, but they feel like a horse of a different colour, only 12 or 18 episodes compared to an American show that would have had closer to 100.

I dislike the final Seinfeld episode. It is too long and is trying hard to be a "finale". They should have just done a regular episode, gotten some laughs, taken a bow and allowed the characters to live on in our minds.

Daytripper

"Six Feet Under". Best......ever!

outcastja

I agree that Six Feet Under had one of the best finales, but was it really one of the great final seasons?

One thing I was amazed about Breaking Bad's final season was that it went full throttle, I don't remember a final season where each episode had me on the edge.

atrium

The Sopranos final season was brilliant. The ending may have made for an initial disappointment, but it's legendary for a reason and kudos to Chase


As far as comparing the quality to the rest of the series, The Wire's weakest season was easily it's fifth where it got very meta and obnoxious. Also I second Lost which just fell off the rails completely

The fourth season of BB was better than the fifth.

Charlie Goose

The final season of Roseanne was garbage.

Rockmjd23

Yeah I think we're already talking about finales and not seasons.

Seinfeld's final episode was awful but there were some gems in that season.

MLBFan24

If I could speak more specifically about series finales, one thing I hate is when sitcoms do a clip show for a series finale episode. What a waste of time. Lazy writing.

Daytripper

Not to derail the thread because it's about finales and not final seasons, but "Roseanne" had the worst final season of any show. Ever. In fact, the season prior to that was almost as bad. Don't know what happened. Different writers (?) But it was nothing like the seven seasons prior. Just awful. Abysmal in fact.

atrium

I never thought Roseanne was funny.... except John Goodman. He da best.

Daytripper

"Six Feet Under" had a great first three seasons. Season four was widely considered it's worst and most uneven. But the final season bounced back (IMO).

Rockmjd23

No it isn't.

Michael Corvin

I had to read that twice and double check the thread title twice to make sure I wasn't an idiot.

Abob Teff

Firefly ... No season could touch the final season.

hanshotfirst1138

Really? I thought the show wholly deserved it's hype, and the rich season was pretty damn good. It might have gone a bit off character because the characters had to bed a bit to make points about how evil "raw, unencumbered capitalism" was, but I generally thought it was pretty good. Though I think the newspaper stuff is so close to Simon's mirthless heart that maybe he felt the need to be a bit more preachy at that point. I still don't think it diminishes the show's status as one of the major artistic achievements of the last decade, and I don't say that lightly.

Never heard much of anyone say much of anything nice about the final season of Lost. I bailed on Buffy after the terrific fifth season, I found the six to dip so far over into darkness that I found it kind of unpleasant and dour, and the sporadic episodes of the seventh season I saw made me think similarly. I think Whedon's empire got so big by that point that he couldn't be as involved as he'd been previously, and maybe the show suffered for it. Apparently Babylon 5 had a messy final season, I understand the stories about the production on than show are an absolute mess. Stream it Netflix, you motherfuckers!

Mike86

I didn't think season four of Six Feet Under was all that bad. That and Breaking Bad to me are about as perfect as shows can get.

Best Final Season:
Breaking Bad. This show always set such high expectations and always managed to exceed them if you ask me. Just a remarkable show from beginning to end.

Six Feet Under. The show was so well done in so many regards. I felt like I was losing close personal friends by the time of it. The finale episode was very sad yet great at the same time.

Worst Final Season:
Dexter. I loved the show when it started out and was good with it even up to season seven. I've always known it had it's share of problems but still liked it. They manage to royally fuck up that last season. So many questions unanswered, so many plot lines that were started and never resolved. Major disappointment.

Rypro 525

the final season of the Shield was also tv perfection

DJariya

Best final seasons:

Breaking Bad

Friday Night Lights

The Shield

NYPD Blue

Boston Legal


Worst:

Dexter

Lost

Southland - I love the show to death, but it got 5 seasons and it didn't get to go out on it's own terms. One of the most underrated dramas on basic cable. Ended with a cliffhanger.

Daytripper

Sorry, I completely misread the thread title. Plus, I was kind of drunk at the time That said, yes, the last season of "Roseanne" has to be the worst of any show. I thought the last season of "Friends" also sucked.

Raul3

Let's just wait a moment and think about the worst season. The last season of Lost wasn't as good as the rest and had some really bad episodes. But we just had the last season of Dexter. Anyone that watched the entire both series can't put both together.
If you remember reading critics, reviews, etc. it was mixed. With Dexter everyone thought, or 90% of people, that it was really bad.

I may say Dexter final season merits a spot all by itself, if there's a place for something lower than the worst, then the final season of Dexter is there.

mnementh

Ally McBeal and Northern Exposure come to mind as great shows that had horrible final seasons.

Michael Corvin

I've been watching reruns on Nick@Nite and they've been showing the last season lately. I have to say, they aren't near as bad as I remember. Maybe it was the hype or expectations at the time, but I've been enjoying seeing them again.