10 TV Shows That Are Finally Ending

Australian Cinephile

12 minutes ago

The Handmaid's Tale is finally wrapping up with season six.

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00:00Deciding when to end a TV show is incredibly tricky.

00:03Race to the end and you can wind up with a very clearly rushed catastrophe,

00:06but let it drag on for years longer than the story needs,

00:09and you get something that fizzles out long after its audience have moved on.

00:13And so while fans will usually be sad to see their favorite shows go regardless,

00:17these 10 TV series feel like they're getting an ending that's been one hell of a long time coming indeed.

00:23I'm Cy for WhatCulture.com and these are 10 TV shows that are finally ending.

00:27Number 10, The Walking Dead.

00:29It's often repeated among The Walking Dead's long-suffering fans that the show itself

00:33has become a shambling zombie that simply refuses to die,

00:37but after 11 seasons it will finally air its last ever episode on November 20th.

00:42Even though many have dubbed the last few seasons a fair return to form,

00:45The Walking Dead is a show that clearly just kept going far beyond its actual creative threshold

00:50because the ratings remained relatively high.

00:53But when protagonist Rick Grimes departed the show midway through 2018 season 9,

00:58the ratings entered a seemingly irreversible death spiral,

01:01with a recent episode garnering an all-time low of just 1.55 million viewers,

01:05compared to its all-time high of 17.29 million for the season 5 premiere.

01:11Though AMC already has numerous spinoff projects in the works, one centered around Daryl and Carol,

01:16another around Rick and Michonne, and one focused on Maggie and Negan,

01:19it'll nevertheless be a relief to see the flagship show finally put out to pasture,

01:24many years after it reached both its narrative and ratings peak.

01:27Number 9, The Flash.

01:29When The CW's The Flash launched back in 2014,

01:32who could have predicted that it would run for a whole nine seasons,

01:35and in turn become the longest running Arrowverse series, beating out even Arrow itself?

01:40Back in March, The CW confirmed that The Flash was wrapping up with a shortened ninth season,

01:45and given that it's the only Arrowverse show left standing,

01:48it will also effectively bring the entire franchise to an end.

01:51And it's certainly long past due.

01:53Though The Flash enjoyed strong reviews and ratings during its first few seasons,

01:57things eventually tapered off, and in Season 7 last year,

02:00the ratings finally dipped below one million viewers for the first time.

02:04After three or four seasons, The Flash settled for being too much of the same,

02:08and it became increasingly clear the central cast members had largely lost their enthusiasm for

02:12their roles, beyond a paycheck of course.

02:15For all but the most hardcore fans, audience passion had dried up too.

02:19Number 8, The Crown.

02:21Though it only premiered back in 2016, it feels like The Crown has been on our screens for a

02:26damn long time, perhaps because its end point has seemed within sight for almost three years now.

02:31In early 2020, creator Peter Morgan stated that the historical drama series would end with its

02:35upcoming fifth season, deeming it the perfect time and place to stop.

02:39But a few months later, Morgan backpedaled and revealed that the show would indeed run for

02:44an additional season, with six seasons having been his original plan when conceiving the show.

02:48Season 5, set to premiere in November, will begin the show's final arc for Queen Elizabeth,

02:52now portrayed in the later decades of her life.

02:55Season 6 began filming in August, meaning it likely won't air until late 2023 at the earliest,

03:00but it's nevertheless reassuring to know that the acclaimed series has an end point.

03:04Despite the short temptation to drag the show on in an attempt to forensically detail every

03:09major event in Elizabeth's life up to her recent death, it's good to know that Morgan will be

03:13employing a little restraint.

03:15Number 7, Riverdale.

03:17It's been something of a running joke that nobody hates Riverdale more than the actors starring in

03:21it, and with the show being renewed for a seventh and final season back in March,

03:24many remarked that the young cast members were finally free from this commitment.

03:28There's little denying that the CW's supernatural drama series started to go off the rails in its

03:33third season, with a glut of increasingly silly storylines, though fans are sharply divided on

03:38whether this was a good thing or not. To some, it elevated Riverdale into the canon of guilty

03:42pleasure schlock, while some felt it stray too far from the comparative modesty of its earlier seasons.

03:47In recent years in particular, the Riverdale cast hasn't made much of an effort to disguise their

03:52own half-joking disdain for the series, and given that many of the primary cast members are gaining

03:56momentum outside of the show, their eagerness to move on is understandable.

04:00There will be those who miss Riverdale and its flagrant trashiness, yet its time to wrap up feels

04:04thoroughly overdue.

04:06Number 6, Stranger Things.

04:08On paper, Stranger Things doesn't feel like it's majorly outstayed its welcome, but due to both the

04:13big budget nature of its production and the pandemic, its four seasons to date have been spread over six

04:19years. One of the key problems with the show in recent years has been the passage of time.

04:23The four seasons to date have taken place over just two and a half years, despite the central

04:27cast members having all noticeably aged considerably more per the series' shooting schedule.

04:32And though Season 5 will reportedly have a time jump of some sort, it feels like the credibility of

04:36these youngsters both being youngsters and remaining in Hawkins will reach snapping points if it continues

04:42on much longer. Plus, Season 4 so brilliantly set the stage for an epic apocalyptic final season

04:47that going on any longer would feel like a massive mistake. At least in that regard, the Duffers appear

04:52to have mapped things out and conceived Season 4 and 5 as effectively a two-part finale centred

04:57around the villainous Vecna. Here's to hoping they stick the landing.

05:01Number 5, Grey's Anatomy.

05:03To be clear, no, you haven't missed any sort of official announcement about Grey's Anatomy finally

05:08coming to an end, but as of its current 19th season, it's clear that Shonda Rhimes' medical drama series

05:12has entered its endgame phase. Though its ratings have declined substantially since its peak in 2006's Season 3,

05:19where it regularly pulled in over 20 million viewers, the recent 18th season still averaged

05:24more than 4 million viewers per episode. That longevity is largely credited to one person,

05:29star Ellen Pompeo, who has appeared as protagonist Dr Meredith Grey in almost all of the show's 400

05:35episodes to date. Pompeo and Rhimes have stated numerous times that the show will come to an end

05:40when Pompeo is ready, and given that the upcoming 19th season will see Pompeo only appear physically in

05:45eight episodes, while still narrating all of them, the writing feels very much on the wall.

05:50Pompeo is reducing her role to work on a new drama series for Hulu, which will mark her first major

05:55non-Meredith acting role since Grey's Anatomy began back in 2005. Ergo, putting two and two together,

06:02it seems that Grey's Anatomy will likely end within the next few years.

06:06Number 4, Community. If you're thinking that Community wrapped up its sixth season run all the way back in 2015,

06:12remember that this wasn't ever the plan of creator Dan Harmon. Ever since the Season 2 episode Paradigms

06:17of Human Memory birthed the line six seasons in a movie, fans have championed the idea of Community

06:22lasting long enough to fulfil that prophecy. And just recently, Peacock announced that the

06:27Community movie is indeed finally happening, with most of the original cast all confirmed to return.

06:33The statuses of Yvette Nicole Brown and the ever-busy Donald Glover are meanwhile currently unknown,

06:38though hopefully they can at least be corralled for a cameo to decisively tie

06:41their character arcs off. It's safe to say that, in finally delivering six seasons and a movie,

06:46this will almost certainly be the final piece of the Community puzzle, a dew-eyed reunion which

06:51hopefully provides fans with the closure they deserve around 15 years after it first began airing.

06:57Number 3, Mock the Week. Mock the Week is an undeniable institution of British TV comedy,

07:03a topical panel show which launched in 2005 and, offering up a more irreverent riff on Have I Got

07:08News For You, quickly became a major rating success for the BBC. Viewership has remained

07:13relatively consistent throughout the show's run, yet this past summer it was revealed that Mock the

07:17Week was finally coming to an end with its current 21st season. The BBC's official reasoning for the

07:23cancellation was to create room for new shows, yet many industry commentators noted that the decision

07:28reflected a general decline of panel shows over the last few years. For one, panel shows now have to

07:33compete with the immediacy of social media, which is a losing battle given that they're typically taped

07:38a day or two before airing. Mock the Week's formula also feels rather long in the tooth in 2022,

07:43and with the decline of shock comedy the series was known for during its peak with Frankie Boyle

07:48many years ago, the writing has been on the wall for quite some time. Nothing can ever take away what a

07:53cultural monolith Mock the Week was for the British public, but it's been time to go for quite a while.

07:58Number 2, The Handmaid's Tale. The Handmaid's Tale was an undeniable cultural

08:03juggernaut during its first two seasons, at once a massive critical and award success,

08:07and a water cooler show that everybody was talking about.

08:10Yet the series, adapted from Margaret Atwood's 1985 dystopian novel, is also another classic

08:16case of a hit TV show that just didn't know when to stop, as it became clear with each passing

08:20season that the narrative was being artificially elongated past its natural end point. Since season

08:26three, The Handmaid's Tale has frustratingly spun its wheels time and time again, enough that even

08:31Elizabeth Moss's outstanding performance can't entirely prop it up. And so there was a sense of

08:36relief when Hulu recently announced that the sixth season, due to air next year, will be its last.

08:41This runs counter to showrunner Bruce Miller's original vision for a 10 season run which,

08:45given its current trajectory, would surely have been excruciating. That won't be the absolute last

08:50we see of Atwood's universe on the small screen though, as Miller is already prepping an adaptation of

08:55her recent sequel novel, The Testaments. Number one, The Good Fight. It's incredibly tough to predict

09:01how a spin-off series will do. They can either be Frasier and arguably outperform their source material,

09:06or more commonly they struggle to retain the original fanbase, no matter how good they are.

09:10And so when a spin-off to legal drama series The Good Wife premiered in 2017,

09:15few expected it to get anywhere close to the original series seven season run. But never underestimate the

09:20appeal of the great Christine Baranski, as The Good Fight recently began airing its sixth and final

09:26season. Yet it's not unfair to say that the recent seasons haven't quite matched the catty brilliance

09:30of the earlier ones, even if it's remained consistently entertainingly absurd. Six seasons is an incredibly

09:36respectable run for a spin-off that could so easily have fallen off of a cliff after a year or two.

09:41Whilst many could watch Baranski play Diane Lockhart forever, best to close things off before there's

09:46a more noticeable decline in quality. And that's the list. Let us know what you thought of this video

09:51down in the comments below. Which of these shows are you going to miss the most when it finally does

09:56end? And let us know of any other shows that are currently ramping down. Make sure you like this

10:01video, share it with your friends, subscribe and hit that notification bell. I've been Cy for WattCulture,

10:06and have a good week.

10 TV Shows That Are Finally Ending

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