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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,
00:07but 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.
00:2710. 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,
01:06compared to its all-time high of 17.29 million for the season 5 premiere.
01:11Though AMC already has numerous spin-off projects in the works,
01:14one centered around Daryl and Carol, another around Rick and Michonne,
01:18and 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.
01:289. 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?
01:41Back 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 1 million viewers for the first time.
02:04Up to 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.
02:14For all but the most hardcore fans, audience passion had dried up too.
02:198. The Crown
02:20Though it's only premiered back in 2016, it feels like The Crown has been on our screens for a damn
02:26long time, perhaps because its endpoint 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 an
02:44additional 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 endpoint.
03:04Despite the sure 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.
03:157. Riverdale
03:17It's been something of a running joke that nobody hates Riverdale more than the actors starring in it,
03:21and with the show being renewed for a seventh and final season back in March,
03:25many 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
03:51their own half-joking disdain for the series, and given that many of the primary cast members are
03:56gaining momentum outside of the show, their eagerness to move on is understandable. There will be those who
04:01miss Riverdale and its flagrant trashiness, yet its time to wrap up feels thoroughly overdue.
04:066. Stranger Things
04:08On paper, Stranger Things doesn't feel like it's majorly outstayed its welcome,
04:12but due to both the big budget nature of its production and the pandemic,
04:16its four seasons to date have been spread over six years. One of the key problems with the show
04:21in recent years has been the passage of time. The four seasons to date have taken place over just
04:26two and a half years, despite the central cast members having all noticeably aged considerably
04:30more per the series shooting schedule. And though season five will reportedly have a time jump of
04:34some sort, it feels like the credibility of these youngsters both being youngsters and remaining in
04:39Hawkins will reach snapping points if it continues on much longer. Plus season four so brilliantly set
04:44the stage for an epic apocalyptic final season that going on any longer would feel like a massive mistake.
04:50At least in that regard, the Duffers appear to have mapped things out and conceived season four and five as
04:55effectively a two-part finale centered around the villainous Vecna. Here's to hoping they stick the landing.
05:015. 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
05:19season three, where it regularly pulled in over 20 million viewers, the recent 18th season still
05:24average more than four million viewers per episode. That longevity is largely credited to one person,
05:30star 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
05:40end when Pompeo is ready, and given that the upcoming 19th season will see Pompeo only appear
05:44physically in eight 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.
06:064. Community
06:07If you're thinking that Community wrapped up its
06:10sixth season run all the way back in 2015, remember that this wasn't ever the plan of creator Dan
06:15Harmon. Ever since the season two episode Paradigms of Human Memory birthed the line six seasons in a
06:20movie, fans have championed the idea of Community lasting long enough to fulfill that prophecy.
06:25And just recently, Peacock announced that the Community movie is indeed finally happening,
06:30with most of the original cast all confirmed to return. The statuses of Yvette Nicole Brown and the
06:35ever busy Donald Glover are meanwhile currently unknown, though hopefully they can at least be
06:39corralled for a cameo to decisively tie their character arcs off. It's safe to say that in
06:44finally delivering six seasons and a movie, this will almost certainly be the final piece of the
06:49Community puzzle. A dew-eyed reunion which hopefully provides fans with the closure they deserve
06:53around 15 years after it first began airing.
06:573. Mock the Week Mock the Week is an undeniable institution of British TV comedy. A topical panel
07:04show which launched in 2005 and, offering up a more irreverent riff on Have I Got News For You,
07:09quickly became a major rating success for the BBC. Viewership has remained relatively consistent
07:14throughout the show's run, yet this past summer it was revealed that Mock the Week was finally
07:18coming to an end with its current 21st season. The BBC's official reasoning for the cancellation was
07:24to create room for new shows, yet many industry commentators noted that the decision reflected
07:28a general decline of panel shows over the last few years. For one, panel shows now have to compete
07:33with 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
07:47Boyle many years ago, the writing has been on the wall for quite some time. Nothing can ever take
07:52away what a cultural monolith Mock the Week was for the British public, but it's been time to go
07:57for quite a while. Number two, 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, and a water
08:08cooler show that everybody was talking about. Yet the series, adapted from Margaret Atwood's 1985
08:13dystopian novel, is also another classic case of a hit TV show that just didn't know when to stop,
08:19as it became clear with each passing season that the narrative was being artificially elongated past
08:24its natural endpoint. Since season three, The Handmaid's Tale has frustratingly spun its wheels
08:29time and time again, enough that even Elizabeth Moss's outstanding performance can't entirely prop it
08:34up. And so there was a sense of relief when Hulu recently announced that the sixth season,
08:38due to air next year, will be its last. This runs counter to showrunner Bruce Miller's original
08:43vision for a ten-season run which, given its current trajectory, would surely have been excruciating.
08:49That won't be the absolute last we see of Atwood's universe on the small screen though,
08:53as Miller is already prepping an adaptation of her recent sequel novel, The Testaments.
08:58Number one, The Good Fight. It's incredibly tough to predict how a spin-off series will do. They can
09:03either be Frasier and arguably outperform their source material, or more commonly they struggle to
09:08retain the original fanbase, no matter how good they are. And so when a spin-off to legal drama series,
09:13The Good Wife premiered in 2017, few expected it to get anywhere close to the original series seven
09:18season run. But never underestimate the appeal of the great Christine Baranski, as The Good Fight
09:23recently began airing its sixth and final season. Yet it's not unfair to say that the recent seasons
09:28haven't quite matched the catty brilliance of the earlier ones, even if it's remained consistently
09:33entertainingly absurd. Six Seasons is an incredibly respectable run for a spin-off that could so easily
09:38have fallen off of a cliff after a year or two. Whilst many could watch Baranski play Diane
09:43Lockhart forever, best to close things off before there's a more noticeable decline in quality.
09:49And that's the list. Let us know what you thought of this video down in the comments below. Which of
09:53these shows are you going to miss the most when it finally does end? And let us know of any
09:57other
09:58shows that are currently ramping down. Make sure you like this video, share it with your friends,
10:02subscribe and hit that notification bell. I've been Seifel Wattculture and have a good week.
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