Spoilers TV Shows with Great Endings

[Krachek]

"Heroes" of course has a perfect final episode, and then ruined it by doing a second (and subsequent) season.

But at the end we know how the cheerleader save the world! Which is a good loopback to the first season.

 

[payn]

But at the end we know how the cheerleader save the world! Which is a good loopback to the first season.

You were still watching by the end?

 

[Krachek]

You were still watching by the end?

Of course, at this time there weren't dozens of show to follow at the same time.
I enjoy it, despite they been taken into a strike that messed up the development of the story.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

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 temptation for networks to milk a show to death is usually far too much for them to pass up. It's a shame. Because, although I can enjoy the journey of a show, I much prefer it to have a decent ending. TV shows tend to get a pass on having no proper or just a plain poor ending. Other media does not get given this sort of pass. How many books or movies would we enjoy if their endings were as... mediocre as the average TV show's?

I think this is why the BBC model of rarely doing more than 2 short seasons works so well. The stories are allowed their natural endings rather than being slapped on life support and left to shamble about like inmates at a palliative care home.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I enjoy it, despite they been taken into a strike that messed up the development of the story.

I think what really messed up the development of the show is that some of the stars became too big to kill off at the end of the first season, as they were clearly intended to be, so they then had to deal with the most powerful characters being part of the picture for the rest of the series, and never knowing how to balance things to accommodate them.

 

[Krachek]

I think what really messed up the development of the show is that some of the stars became too big to kill off at the end of the first season, as they were clearly intended to be, so they then had to deal with the most powerful characters being part of the picture for the rest of the series, and never knowing how to balance things to accommodate them.

Managing initial success is harder than we think!
But I got a crush with the first season and each following season I hope they could back in track.
Despite the disappointment, I consider Heroes as a stamp in the history of fantasy tv show.

 

[Rabulias]

I know there will be a second season, but I really enjoyed the way Season 1 of Severance ended.

Yes! When I watched Severance, I thought it was just a one season limited series of 10 episodes. I watched the end of episode 9 and was really jazzed to watch episode 10, thinking, "This is all coming together into a bang-up ending!"

But I uttered all manner of naughty words when AppleTV dumped me back to the main menu and I realized that season 1 was only the nine episodes.

 

[MarkB]

I liked the ending of Ted Lasso. I don't think it was perfect, but it left most of the major characters pretty much where they needed to be.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I think what really messed up the development of the show is that some of the stars became too big to kill off at the end of the first season, as they were clearly intended to be, so they then had to deal with the most powerful characters being part of the picture for the rest of the series, and never knowing how to balance things to accommodate them.

I agree, but I think that the bigger issue is that the plot drove the characters, not the other way around.

There was never a consistent through-line with the characters. Instead, they simply acted in accordance with the needs of the plot, as opposed to from, you know, what the character would do.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

Yes! When I watched Severance, I thought it was just a one season limited series of 10 episodes. I watched the end of episode 9 and was really jazzed to watch episode 10, thinking, "This is all coming together into a bang-up ending!"

But I uttered all manner of naughty words when AppleTV dumped me back to the main menu and I realized that season 1 was only the nine episodes.

I'd call that a good ending. A good cliff hanger, leaving the punters wanting more.

Although I admit in my OP I was thinking about actual finales rather than cliff hangers to get folks back for next season.