Spoilers TV Shows with Great Endings

[Ryujin]

I find this true for every episode of The Prisoner. My first exposure to The Prisoner was catching the episode "The Girl Who Was Death" about 15 minutes into it on a local PBS channel late one weekend. I was utterly lost but oddly fascinated by it at the same time. I looked at the TV Guide (it was 1985) to see what this bizarre show was, and when it was on again. I have been hooked ever since, but it is not for everyone.

No, definitely not for everyone. I can't recall my first exposure to it as I was very young, and it was a lifetime ago. My second exposure was watching the entire series, in college, for a film class. Everything else that we watched, for purposes of analysis and commentary, I thought was absolute self indulgent crap. Fellini's "La Strada" for example. "The Prisoner" drew me right in and finding out that McGoohan had done "Danger Man" almost exclusively to fund "The Prisoner" made me more than happy about my initial reaction to the show.

'I don't know if that last bit is actually true, but it made for a great story at the time.

 

[pukunui]

I would say both Avatar: The Last Airbender and Avatar: The Legend of Korra have nicely satisfying endings. Yes, both shows continued their stories in comic books afterwards, but they are just that - continuations. The shows' endings wrap things up nicely for their respective Team Avatars.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Snarf's Inarguable List of Top 10 TV Endings

1. The Leftovers. Perfect ending.

2. The Shield. The last few episodes, and the last episode, haunt me to this day.

3. Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul. I'm cheating here, so why not both?

4. Mad Men. A show that delighted in the possibilities of all that was not shown, had the perfect ending for that show.

5. The Americans. We all get we deserve, even if we don't understand it.

6. Rectify. Despite still dealing with the ramifications of all that happened to him, it's possible that Daniel finally was free.

7. Review. I know, you never saw it. SHAME. So I won't tell you.

8. Veep. The show left as it came in, with all the backstabbing and ludicrousness that this entails.

9. Newhart. SHOCK PICK! Yes, the show that first taught us what "Shocking finale" means.

10. Bojack Horseman. No notes.


Now, there are a lot of shows that are honorable mentions (The Good Place). And there are shows that I can't place because I haven't seen them (Six Feet Under). But that's the story, and I'm sticking to it.

 

[Richards]

I know a lot of people were disappointed with the ending, but I really liked how Lost wrapped up at the end. Yeah, they could have explained a few more of the island's mysteries (like what was the deal with Hurley's "magic numbers?"), but I thought the resolution of what had been going on that last season in the "parallel universe" was pretty cool.

Johnathan

 

[Ryujin]

"Justified" - It ended satisfyingly, while still leaving enough room that they could do a follow-up series later.

 

[Zardnaar]

"Justified" - It ended satisfyingly, while still leaving enough room that they could do a follow-up series later.

Kinda under rated show. Never had a bad season, great characters. Yet a lot haven't seem it.

Genre might not appeal to everyone.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

Six Feet Under!

Back in the day when this first aired in Australia I worked nights. So I didn't see a lot TV. Eg. I've never seen more than a few snippets of Twin Peaks. What I did manage to catch of Six Feet Under hooked me. I know it's on one of the streaming services I've got. I think it's time I went back to watch it properly.

Not everyone gets the final episode of "The Prisoner." It's a bit psychedelic, maybe even moreso than the rest of the series. Austin Powers turned it into toilet humour with, "Who. Does. Number. Two. Work. For?!"

Embarrassed to say I never put this reference together. It actually elevates the gag a bit.

And I can't believe I forgot Bojack Horseman. It has the most Bojack ending it could possibly have.

 

[deganawida]

"Justified" - It ended satisfyingly, while still leaving enough room that they could do a follow-up series later.

I was listening to Brad Paisley’s cover of “You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive” the other day, and reminiscing just how appropriate that song was for that series.

 

[Richards]

Here's another one I just thought of: Sons of Anarchy. For a show often described as a "soap opera for guys" and a "modern-day Shakespearean tragedy," it ended pretty much in the only way it could have. And much like Black Adder Goes Forth, the immediate juxtaposition at the final scene between the slow-motion highway chase scene and the crows on the side of the road was jarring.

Johnathan

 

[Zardnaar]

Here's another one I just thought of: Sons of Anarchy. For a show often described as a "soap opera for guys" and a "modern-day Shakespearean tragedy," it ended pretty much in the only way it could have. And much like Black Adder Goes Forth, the immediate juxtaposition at the final scene between the slow-motion highway chase scene and the crows on the side of the road was jarring.

Johnathan

Yup it was a good one.