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From disappointing superhero reveals to confusing plot twists, these TV finales left audiences fuming! Join us as we count down our picks for the most disastrous endings in television history. From "Game of Thrones" to "Dexter," these series finales betrayed years of character development and storytelling with rushed conclusions and baffling creative decisions.
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00:00Computer, and program.
00:05Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most dismal endings in television history.
00:12Don't you mean we did it? Yeah, but mostly me.
00:18Number 19. Finale, Smallville.
00:20I ask you to remember one thing. Your abilities may be of my blood, but it is your time in
00:29Smallville, with Jonathan and Martha Kent, and all the people there that made you a hero, Colin.
00:35For 10 seasons and 217 episodes, fans of this Superman prequel respected the creator's one strict rule.
00:43No tights, no flights. We patiently waited a decade to see Tom Welling finally suit up as the Man of
00:48Steel.
00:49When the finale arrived, expectations were sky-high, but the result was a massive visual cheat.
00:55While Clark technically became Superman, the audience barely even saw it.
00:59Instead of a glorious full-body shot of the actor in the costume, we were given extreme close-ups, distant
01:05CGI models, and a cheap shirt-rip animation.
01:08It felt as though the show was embarrassed by its own source material.
01:11After investing 10 years into Clark's journey, refusing to give fans one clear shot of Welling in the iconic suit
01:18wasn't just a letdown.
01:19It felt like a betrayal.
01:37Number 18. The Truth. The X-Files.
01:41Why risk perfect happiness, Mulder? Why risk your lives?
01:44Because I need to know the truth.
01:45The original run of The X-Files ended in perhaps the most bureaucratic way possible.
01:51After nine years of chasing monsters and unraveling government conspiracies, fans were desperate for an epic resolution.
01:58Instead, The Truth was a bloated two-hour lore dump.
02:02The writers put Mulder on trial, using the courtroom setting as a flimsy excuse to bring back old characters and
02:08replay footage from previous seasons.
02:09It functioned as a glorified clip show, exactly when the narrative momentum should have been peaking.
02:15Rather than a thrilling final chase or alien abduction, viewers were forced to sit through a tedious history lesson.
02:20It was a finale bogged down by its own mythology, prioritizing exposition over the excitement that made the show a
02:27cultural phenomenon.
02:28Any alien force.
02:31And if you and I are powerless now,
02:35I want to believe that if we listen...
02:56For years, this CW drama was defined by its gritty, do-whatever-it-takes-to-survive morality.
03:02However, the final season took a bizarre pivot into fantasy that completely alienated its fanbase.
03:08The 100 concluded with the human race transcending into a glowing alien hive mind,
03:13a nihilistic twist suggesting that humanity was incapable of redemption.
03:17It essentially argued that the only way to save humanity was to stop being human and begin assimilation.
03:23To make matters worse, the show brutally killed off fan-favorite Bellamy Blake just episodes prior for practically no reason.
03:30The Last War felt like a different show entirely, swapping grounded survival stakes for magical aliens.
03:36It was a confusing pivot that left the main character stranded in a finale that satisfied almost no one.
03:42Transcendence is a choice.
03:44You can choose to come back.
03:46Of course.
03:48Though until now, no one ever had.
03:51Number 16.
03:52Chapter 73.
03:53House of Cards.
03:54It's time for me to treat you all like the adults you are.
03:58The truth is, I'm not the only one who's in danger.
04:03Necessary though it was, getting rid of Kevin Spacey was the death knell for House of Cards.
04:07The writers faced the impossible task of pivoting the show entirely to Claire Underwood,
04:12but no one really wanted that, and the result was a disjointed disaster.
04:16The finale felt less like a dramatic climax and more like a show being taken out back and put out
04:21of its misery.
04:21The plot was convoluted, the pacing was agonizingly sluggish,
04:25and the final confrontation with Doug being killed in the Oval Office lacked the strategic brilliance of the earlier seasons.
04:31Without the central dynamic between Frank and Claire, the ending rang hollow,
04:35leaving unresolved plot holes and a tired fanbase that had long since stopped caring about the Underwoods.
04:41It's alright, Doug.
04:44Everything is gonna be alright.
04:46Number 15.
04:47Till Death Do Us Part.
04:48Pretty Little Liars.
04:50They couldn't risk tarnishing their name, so they even took that back.
04:54And she was given her birth name.
04:58Alex Drake.
04:59After seven seasons of drama, texts, and convoluted mysteries,
05:04the reveal of A.D. needed to be a masterpiece.
05:07Instead, it was a punchline.
05:08The finale unveiled the mastermind as Alex Drake,
05:11Spencer's evil British twin sister whom the audience had never even heard of.
05:15While the evil twin trope is already bottom-of-the-barrel soap opera writing,
05:19pairing it with Troy and Bellisario's ridiculous accent turned the thriller into a comedy.
05:24It sounded less like a threatening villain and more like a bad Dick Van Dyke impression.
05:28For a show that prided itself on intricate clues and audience engagement,
05:32this solution felt like a lazy and cheap cheat.
05:34We think the writers wrote themselves into a corner and simply pulled a new character out of thin air,
05:39having no idea what else to do.
05:41He's settled for Yvonne.
05:43We both know that.
05:45And now, he's free to be with his one true love.
05:49Me.
05:50Number 14.
05:51The Final Problem.
05:52Sherlock.
05:53Did you bring it?
05:54Sorry?
05:55My hairband.
05:57Did you bring it like I asked?
05:58I'm not one of the...
06:00I don't work here.
06:02My special hairband.
06:04I'm not one of your doctors.
06:06The one I made you steal.
06:09Mommy.
06:10This show began its run as a grounded and brilliant update of the world's greatest detective,
06:15relying entirely on observation and deduction.
06:18It made you look closer at the world around you.
06:20It ended with characters having superpowers.
06:23In The Final Problem, the show introduced Sherlock's secret sister, Eurus,
06:27a super genius with mind control powers who traps the trio in a dungeon of death games.
06:32The episode completely abandoned the logic that made the series a global hit,
06:35replacing the clever whodunit tone of the earlier seasons
06:38with impossible stakes and goofy set pieces out of a James Bond movie.
06:42And that's not even going into the whole secret sister thing,
06:44which is barely a step up from the twin trope.
06:47It was loud, dumb, and utterly disconnected from the realistic charm of the earlier seasons.
06:52You've still got the gun, haven't you?
06:55I told you you'd need it because only two can play the next game.
06:58Just two of you go on from here.
07:00Your choice.
07:01It's make your mind up time.
07:03Whose help do you need the most?
07:05John or Mycroft?
07:07It's an elimination round.
07:09You choose one and kill the other.
07:12Number 13.
07:13Into That Good Night.
07:14Roseanne.
07:15He's still the first thing I think about when I wake up and the last thing I think about before
07:20I go to sleep.
07:22I miss him.
07:23The original run of Roseanne is infamous for its bizarre ninth season,
07:27where the blue-collar Connors won the lottery and became rich.
07:30However, the finale managed to make a bad season even worse.
07:34In the closing monologue, Roseanne reveals that she had been writing a book to cope with trauma
07:38and that everything in the ninth season was just her imagination.
07:41The lottery win was fake, couples were swapped, and most devastatingly, her husband Dan was dead.
07:47It was a gut punch that just felt needlessly cruel.
07:50By telling the audience that the happy moments they invested in were lies,
07:53the show invalidated its own history.
07:55The recent revival wisely retconned this disaster.
07:58But for decades, this was a bitter pill to swallow.
08:02I learned that God does exist.
08:04He and or she is right inside you.
08:08Underneath the pain, the sorrow, and the shame.
08:14I think I'll be a lot better now that this book is done.
08:19Number 12.
08:20These are The Voyages.
08:21Star Trek Enterprise.
08:23Is he nervous?
08:24Wouldn't you be?
08:25Oh, he'll be fine.
08:27I had to memorize this speech in grammar school.
08:30How do you respectfully end a prequel series?
08:33Apparently by turning it into an episode of a completely different show.
08:36The finale of Enterprise framed the entire plot as a holodeck simulation being watched by Riker and Troi from The
08:42Next Generation.
08:43Yes, they unironically did the it was all a dream thing.
08:46The actual cast of Enterprise were completely stripped of their agency,
08:50turned into background NPCs in the misguided attempt at fan service.
08:54To add insult to injury, the legendary Trip Tucker was killed off in a meaningless contrived skirmish
08:59that served no narrative purpose other than pure shock value.
09:02The episode was widely slammed by fans, critics, and even the actors themselves,
09:07standing as a disrespectful slap in the face to the cast and the four years they spent building the show.
09:13I think I'm ready to talk to Captain Picard.
09:15I should have done it a long time ago.
09:18So I guess we're through here.
09:20I guess we are.
09:21Number 11.
09:22Hello, Losers.
09:23Killing Eve.
09:30This entry remains a sore spot for fans of character-driven drama.
09:34For four seasons, the electric dynamic between Eve and Villanelle captivated audiences.
09:39And in the final moments of the series, the two finally unite, sharing a rare moment of pure earned joy.
09:45Then, barely three minutes later, the writers ripped it away.
09:48Villanelle is unceremoniously shot by a sniper and washes away in the Thames,
09:53followed immediately by a flamboyant The End title card.
09:56Fans actually thought the show was trolling.
09:58It was not.
09:59This was a textbook example of the infamous bury your gaze trope,
10:03punishing the characters in the exact moment they found happiness.
10:06The sudden and bleak conclusion rendered the entire four-year journey pointless,
10:10leaving loyal viewers with nothing but emotional whiplash and a sense of profound disdain.
10:31Number 10.
10:32The finale, Seinfeld.
10:35In theory, bringing back everybody Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer wronged over the years
10:39sounded like a fun way to cap off the series.
10:42Yeah, very bad.
10:43Very, very, very bad.
10:45Instead of cleverly integrating these characters into a fitting farewell, though,
10:49the Seinfeld finale plays out like a glorified clip show.
10:53The big trial culminates with our four main characters sentenced to a year in prison for their petty selfish behavior.
10:58You had to hop.
10:59You had to hop on the plane!
11:02When you really think about it, however,
11:04almost every character in the history of the show was deeply flawed.
11:08So, the fate of our protagonists just seems cruel and unearned.
11:12Honestly, we would have had more respect for the finale if nothing significant happened to Jerry and the gang.
11:17Haven't we had this conversation before?
11:19You think?
11:21That was basically the entire idea behind the series, after all.
11:25Number 9.
11:25Daybreak.
11:26Battlestar Galactica.
11:27It appeared that Galactica's search for a new home had been in vain when they discovered that the fabled 13th
11:33colony, Earth, had been nuked.
11:35In the series finale, though,
11:36Starbuck inputs mysterious coordinates that transport our heroes to a planet that will one day prosper into the Earth we
11:42know.
11:43We'll admit that this is kind of a clever twist, but its execution feels like a cheap deus ex machina.
11:49Commercialism, decadence, technology run amok, remind you of anything?
11:54What's more, the series leaves us with several questions the writers don't even try to resolve.
11:59Namely, what the frack was Starbuck supposed to be?
12:02One of the finale's most high-profile critics was author George R.R. Martin,
12:06who felt the show copped out by simply saying,
12:09God did it.
12:10Number 8.
12:11Mirror Image.
12:12Quantum Leap.
12:12What makes the Quantum Leap ending so frustrating is that all the pieces were in place for a satisfying conclusion.
12:19In Mirror Image, Sam discovers that he has the power to finally make the leap home.
12:24God bless, Sam.
12:34When he wrote the episode, though,
12:37creator Donald P. Bellisario wasn't sure if the show would be renewed for another season,
12:40so he left the finale ambiguous.
12:43Instead of seeing Scott Bakula travel back to his own time period,
12:46the audience is left with a tacked-on title card saying that he just kept hopping through space-time.
12:51For years, there's been talk of a potential Quantum Leap continuation.
12:55Until then, the words,
12:57Dr. Sam Beckett never returned home,
12:59will remain a bitter blemish on this show's otherwise enjoyable track record.
13:03I know you're out there somewhere, Sam.
13:05Number 7.
13:06Of course he's dead.
13:08Two and a Half Men.
13:08This sitcom officially jumped the shark after Charlie Sheen left,
13:12and had been running on fumes by the time its final season was farted out.
13:16As one last middle finger to those who stuck with the series for 12 seasons,
13:20the finale continually teased the return of Uncle Charlie.
13:23All that build-up led to the ultimate anti-climax,
13:26in which an obvious Charlie Sheen body double was crushed by a grand piano.
13:36Then, in an even more curious move,
13:39co-creator Chuck Lorre was hit with another piano after spouting Sheen's infamous catchphrase.
13:44Winning.
13:48We think this is supposed to be meta-humor,
13:50but we have no clue what the showrunners were trying to say here.
13:54All we know is this finale is anything but a winner.
13:57You're not the only one to point out the illogic.
14:04The last couple seasons of True Blood were rough,
14:07but we stuck with the sexy vampire drama to see who ended up with who.
14:10I now pronounce you husband and wife.
14:13You may kiss your vampire bride.
14:15The final episode features a wedding between Jessica and Hoyt,
14:18who were never exactly anyone's favorite couple.
14:21The womanizing Jason sporadically settles down with Hoyt's ex-girlfriend,
14:24who had like five lines.
14:26What about Sookie and Bill?
14:28Did they get a happily ever after?
14:29He's sure now.
14:30Nah.
14:31Bill, for some reason,
14:32decides that he's ready to pass on to the next life,
14:35and asks Sookie to stake him.
14:37Does that mean Sookie hooks up with Eric instead?
14:39Nope.
14:40Well, then who does she end up with?
14:42Some random guy we never see or learn anything about.
14:46Oh, you are dead to us, True Blood.
14:48Number 5.
14:49The last one.
14:50Saint Elsewhere.
14:51Although it was far from television's first medical drama,
14:54Saint Elsewhere stood out as one of the few to have a refreshing sense of humor.
14:58The final episode is a straight-up joke, however.
15:01Turns out the storylines that have been unfolding
15:03and the characters we've grown to love over the past six seasons weren't even real.
15:07He sits there all day long in his own world,
15:11staring at that toy.
15:12They were all figments of an autistic child's imagination,
15:15and exist within the confines of a snow globe.
15:18We're not kidding.
15:19That's seriously how it ends.
15:21This revelation is only made more confusing
15:23when you consider that Saint Elsewhere had crossovers
15:26with shows like Cheers and Homicide Life on the Street,
15:29the latter of which crossed over with several other shows.
15:32Is NBC's entire library just in Tommy Westfall's head?
15:35Number 4.
15:36The End.
15:37Lost.
15:37This groundbreaking drama created an overarching mystery so complex
15:42that not even the writers could solve it.
15:44That being said,
15:45the finale of Lost was bound to leave us with several unanswered questions.
15:49What was the deal with Walt's special abilities?
15:51Where did Christian Shepard's body end up?
15:53Who was Mother?
15:54The finale provides no insight into any of that,
15:57but the Flash Sideways timeline is given an explanation.
16:00We've been waiting for you now.
16:02Turns out the Flash Sideways world is, wait for it,
16:05Limbo.
16:06Wow, who saw that one coming?
16:08It's not like people have been predicting since season 1 that Purgatory would play a role.
16:12While we'd be lying if we said the finale wasn't without its bittersweet moments,
16:16some of these creative choices remain mystifying.
16:19Number 3.
16:20Remember the Monsters?
16:21Dexter.
16:22After 8 seasons of concealing his dark passenger,
16:25imagine how fascinating it would have been
16:27if mild-mannered Dexter Morgan was publicly outed as a serial killer.
16:31Everyone at Miami Metro would have to come to grips with the fact
16:34that a stone-cold murderer was right under their noses this whole time.
16:38Dexter, meanwhile, would be forced to confront his greatest fear
16:40as the monster within was exposed to the world.
16:43Well, rather than taking that route,
16:45somebody at Showtime apparently said,
16:47let's make Dexter a lumberjack.
16:48This ending had no build-up and offers no payoff.
16:52We don't even get an inner monologue from Dexter.
16:54The final shot is just him blankly staring off into space,
16:58which is a fitting metaphor for how empty-headed this ending was.
17:02Number 2.
17:03Last Forever?
17:04How I Met Your Mother?
17:06We waited several years for this sitcom to introduce the titular mother,
17:09but she almost immediately won viewers over,
17:12and sparks flew when she met Ted in the finale.
17:14You're Cindy's ex-roommate, right?
17:16Yeah.
17:16And you are the professor.
17:19If the series ended there,
17:21this finale probably could have avoided a spot on this list.
17:24Alas, it's revealed that the story Ted's been telling his children
17:27was never about how he met their mother,
17:29who's been dead for years,
17:31but about how he still had feelings for Robin,
17:33despite their toxic past.
17:35Mom's been gone for six years now.
17:37It's time.
17:41What, I just, just call her up on the phone and ask her out on a date?
17:45Considering that the last season revolved around Barney and Robin's wedding weekend,
17:49and the show is literally called How I Met Your Mother,
17:52the audience felt like the rug had been pulled out from under them,
17:55and not in a good way.
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18:16Since the previous episode ended with Daenerys becoming the Mad Queen
18:19and burning King's Landing,
18:21Game of Thrones needed more than 80 minutes to deal with the ramifications.
18:25Rather than giving this epic story the room it needed to breathe, though,
18:28the finale shoehorns in a season's worth of plot points.
18:32You are my queen.
18:35Now and always.
18:43Dani is killed by the man she loves,
18:45Bran is randomly selected as the new king,
18:48and Jon Snow's entire character arc is thrown out the window.
18:51Everything wrong with this massive letdown of a finale
18:54can be summed up in a water bottle the crew accidentally left in a shot.
18:57It's so rushed that apparently no one had time to think,
19:01hey, maybe we should do another take.
19:03Or an entire rewrite.
19:05Which finales did you despise?
19:07Let us know in the comments.
19:11I'm good, everyone.
19:12I'm good.
19:14This is the fourth question I brought on to you.
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