Spoilers TV Shows with Great Endings

[Ryujin]

I count myself a non-Trekkie but general sci-fi fan. I think DS9 is the best series, although since I haven't seen any of the newer series maybe there's mo' better to be had. And by newer I mean anything after DS9.

That being said - I don't think DS9 actually had a very good ending. It was fine. Perfectly cromulent, to borrow a feeling from another show. But was Cisco's much vaunted connection to the space gods really nothing more than an ability to fire a phaser rifle? Pretty sure plenty of Star Fleet grads can do that.

Also, the lead up to the ending was just weird. They actually dedicated time (Was it 2 episodes? My brain is saying 2 episodes) to having several of the central cast help some holograms from the holodeck. Saved their holo-bar from holo-mobsters or something naughty word stupid like that. Episodes that could have been dedicated to the main plot. Truthfully, I don't think they ever quite threw off the shackles of episodic TV.

But the show did have some good character arcs. And the over arching plots worked pretty well.

"Strange New Worlds" is the spiritual successor to the original series, as far as I'm concerned, and well worth watching.

 

[payn]

Some of my top of my head :

• Westworld only had a first season for me.

Add second season for me, but definitely goes off rails in season three.

• Altered Carbon only had a first season for me.

Yeap, should have been a limited series. I only saw 1 episode of second season before giving up.

• The Boys only had a first season for me.

Absolutely. Writing is not good at all and seems to be just a surface level shock joke at this point.

• The X-Files had 9 seasons, a lot of episodes can be marked for me as do not watch even story arc ones. Excise complete new season ending. Keep old one.

I think the old 24 episode seasons and appointment TV allowed a lot more experimentation that lead to a lot of hit and miss episodes. Sometimes I miss it, but sometimes when I rewatch I realize probably not as much as I think.

• Star Trek, Stargate, Farscape: a lot of episodes can be marked for me as do not watch. Excise Farscape ending. Excise Stargate Universe ending. Give some thought to considering excising the end of Stargate from when Macguyver left. Definitely keep Voyager ending.

There's some negotiation with myself for this. I long considered Farscape to be a dumpster fire of mind-numbingly boring episodes and bad writing from in-the-day watching, with a terrible ending. Nowadays I think I'd mostly excise the ending.

Farscape was a lot of fun at times. A really cool idea that actually felt alien. John was the perfect vicarious character to lead us through this strange part of the galaxy or whatever. There just didnt seem to be any plan beyond the next week when it came to writing. The ending felt particularly weak and hurts my desire for any rewatch. Interestingly enough, Defiance was pretty much the same and both had Rokne S. Obannon involved. I'd say maybe thats something to avoid, but Evil so far is really good.

Thinking in relation to serial television, I think there needs to be more of a plan. That doesnt prevent aimless writing week to week though as some series definitely attest (Lost, Heroes, Manifest, etc..). Though, some of the highly regarded series and finales all seem to be tightly written, well thought out, and executed.

I think for genre series this is really difficult. They seem to be on the button from the get go so planning a 2,3,4,5 season arc is something that cant be counted on. Which means you often get the reset ending and an entirely new direction season that doesnt really need the previous season or build a particular strong following season (The Boys).

On the subject of the Phenomena genre (Lost, Manifest, The Leftovers) I noticed something. Whenever big reveals of why the phenomena happened or by whom, the show goes right into the crapper. Which is interesting becasue The Leftovers is by far the best of the genre and its not even close.

Finally, I'll submit The Watchmen series as a top 5 ending. I thought the series was well thought out and planned, executed expertly, and intriguing from start to finish.

 

[Willie the Duck]

I count myself a non-Trekkie but general sci-fi fan. I think DS9 is the best series, although since I haven't seen any of the newer series maybe there's mo' better to be had. And by newer I mean anything after DS9.

That being said - I don't think DS9 actually had a very good ending. It was fine. Perfectly cromulent, to borrow a feeling from another show. But was Cisco's much vaunted connection to the space gods really nothing more than an ability to fire a phaser rifle? Pretty sure plenty of Star Fleet grads can do that.

Also, the lead up to the ending was just weird. They actually dedicated time (Was it 2 episodes? My brain is saying 2 episodes) to having several of the central cast help some holograms from the holodeck. Saved their holo-bar from holo-mobsters or something naughty word stupid like that. Episodes that could have been dedicated to the main plot. Truthfully, I don't think they ever quite threw off the shackles of episodic TV.

But the show did have some good character arcs. And the over arching plots worked pretty well.

I have to agree. The finale was... fine, I guess. Most of the ending of the Dominion War was pretty good. About half of the Sisko-Dukat-Kai Winn battle of the Space Gods narrative was good*.
*honestly, there wasn't a lot there to work with. The Changelings/Dominion were simply better developed antagonists. While they had successfully removed the sympathetic-ness from Dukat with Waltz, they never really got him beyond mustachio-twirling evil after that, and the Pah-wraiths are pretty much just anti-Prophets.

The character wrap ups varied all over the map. Sisko gets whisked to Space Valinor and Odo goes back home to teach peace and harmony to his family while bringing the cure for Space Germ Warfare. They are foreverfor an indeterminant time separated from their respective loves. Kira, Worf, and O'Brien get to go on to big important roles for their respective cultures. Those are all good.

Then the rest. Garak gets to kill the last Weyoun clone and go back to help rebuild Cardasia (somehow). Bashir gets to hook up with the second Dax with which he has little chemistry. Ezri likewise gets to sideline her development to pair the spares. Quark, Rom, Nog and Jake... are there. Vic Fontaine continues to overshadow characters anyone asked for to satisfy some writer's love of Rat Pack aesthetic.

TL;DR: In an age where I rewatch things I enjoy and gain reenjoyment from the rewatch, I can excise specific shows or seasons from existence and make a better experience. I can make a great ending for myself.

When I was younger and watching things like Farscape and Stargate as they aired I often complained about endings and season cliff-hangers and series that never got resolution.

This brings up a good point. For me, while a nice wrap-up and nice finale are both positives*, they are not the primary value I find in a show. Mind you, it is better for them to be there then not. However, a perfectly wrapped-up mediocre show is not better than a good show that ends poorly (or just stops).
*and reasons to laud the showrunners, as 1-doing so is hard, and 2-one has to fight the financial impulse to run the show out until people stop watching and it is unceremoniously cancelled

 

[the Jester]

It's likely already been mentioned, but Star Trek: The Next Generation had an incredible finale. Especially given that it was before tv shows were so... serialized, I guess? where the episodes connect to a through plot that runs through the season and so forth... anyway, for being from before that trend took off, it did an amazing job of circling back to the beginning and tying things together thematically.

Also, two more I have recently finished watching- Archer had a pretty good ending; and Justified did as well.

 

[Gammadoodler]

TL;DR: In an age where I rewatch things I enjoy and gain reenjoyment from the rewatch, I can excise specific shows or seasons from existence and make a better experience. I can make a great ending for myself.

When I was younger and watching things like Farscape and Stargate as they aired I often complained about endings and season cliff-hangers and series that never got resolution. Part of it was that things were different then, the media had to be caught on air and I didn't want to miss it and wanted to be caught up so I could discuss it without for instance being spoiled and so on. Now we can rewatch things on demand, and can often consume a whole series as it comes out.. well you know this.

Now given how often I rewatch series I like I've come to different conclusions from the different perspective. If I didn't like the ending I can excise that episode and enjoy the story I was told. Often if I didn't like the ending I didn't like the season (especially given many shows have season-long story arcs) and I can excise that season and end up with the standout first one I did like.

Some of my top of my head :

• Westworld only had a first season for me.
• Altered Carbon only had a first season for me.
• The Boys only had a first season for me.
• The X-Files had 9 seasons, a lot of episodes can be marked for me as do not watch even story arc ones. Excise complete new season ending. Keep old one.
• Star Trek, Stargate, Farscape: a lot of episodes can be marked for me as do not watch. Excise Farscape ending. Excise Stargate Universe ending. Give some thought to considering excising the end of Stargate from when Macguyver left. Definitely keep Voyager ending.

There's some negotiation with myself for this. I long considered Farscape to be a dumpster fire of mind-numbingly boring episodes and bad writing from in-the-day watching, with a terrible ending. Nowadays I think I'd mostly excise the ending.

I've done this exercise with How I Met your Mother. Excise the ending and its pretty great.

 

[trappedslider]

Thinking in relation to serial television, I think there needs to be more of a plan. That doesnt prevent aimless writing week to week though as some series definitely attest (Lost, Heroes, Manifest, etc..). Though, some of the highly regarded series and finales all seem to be tightly written, well thought out, and executed.

One of my friends is re-watching Heroes and i pointed that the writer's strike that happened kneecapped it and it only partially recovered.

One show that I watched had an ending I didn't understand: The Man in the High Castle

 

[payn]

One of my friends is re-watching Heroes and i pointed that the writer's strike that happened kneecapped it and it only partially recovered.

I did hear that, but the sort of bonkers reset with no plan was kind of crazy how well thought out season 1 was. The show never recaptured that even with a reboot attempt.

One show that I watched had an ending I didn't understand: The Man in the High Castle

Yeah I didnt even finish it. A great premise with a great cast that just got written into the ground.

 

[Deset Gled]

I've done this exercise with How I Met your Mother. Excise the ending and its pretty great.

I have never experienced a greater disparity between my interest in watching a show the first time and interest in rewatching it than HIMYM. I was definitely invested in that show for a long time. The last season didn't just ruin the ending for me, it really tainted the rest of the show.

Thinking in relation to serial television, I think there needs to be more of a plan. That doesnt prevent aimless writing week to week though as some series definitely attest (Lost, Heroes, Manifest, etc..). Though, some of the highly regarded series and finales all seem to be tightly written, well thought out, and executed.

The counterpoint to this is that overplanning can stifle the ability to adapt to what is successful with a show and what isn't. Lots of shows need more time for everyone (from the writers, to the actors, to even the suits) to understand how things should go together. Can you imagine a finale season of ST:TNG, BtVS, or Supernatural that was planned when season 1 was written? Not to mention what happens when actors lead, budgets change, etc.

Balance is hard.

 

[payn]

The counterpoint to this is that overplanning can stifle the ability to adapt to what is successful with a show and what isn't. Lots of shows need more time for everyone (from the writers, to the actors, to even the suits) to understand how things should go together. Can you imagine a finale season of ST:TNG, BtVS, or Supernatural that was planned when season 1 was written? Not to mention what happens when actors lead, budgets change, etc.

Balance is hard.

It sure is. Which is why I was so impressed with DS9 being able to accomplish what it did as an episodic/serial hybrid and 7 seasons!

 

[Gammadoodler]

I have never experienced a greater disparity between my interest in watching a show the first time and interest in rewatching it than HIMYM. I was definitely invested in that show for a long time. The last season didn't just ruin the ending for me, it really tainted the rest of the show.

Yeah, I soured pretty hard on it after watching the ending. Then I decided to just not remember that the ending exists and enough time has passed that the plan actually worked.

Now, when I catch a random clip from TikTok or whatever, I can appreciate how good the ride was without recalling the specifics of how it went wrong.

It is kinda weird though, I can't think of another time where I've deliberately done this.