TV’s Worst Series Finales of All Time, Ranked
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Sometimes good series not only go bad, they do so at the worst of all possible times — as in, right when they’re coming to an end. As a result, instead of leaving us reflecting fondly on a show that we’ve loved and lost, we’re stuck with an unpleasant aftertaste and a nagging question: It wasn’t always this crummy, was it?
The answer, thank the TV gods, is generally no, our favorite programs didn’t always reek. But that doesn’t diminish the “Ugh!” of a debatably lousy series finale.
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Below, we’ve ranked 25 of television’s worst series finales ever, a list now updated to account for recent underwhelming swan songs like NBC’s The Blacklist and Max’s Search Party. But our series finale dissatisfaction goes back as far as Little House on the Prairie, and includes memorably panned finales like those from Seinfeld, Weeds, How I Met Your Mother and more. (Oh, are you looking for Lost? You’ll find it on our ranking of Best Series Finales.)
But which series finale topped our list as the worst of the worst? Keep scrolling to find out, then drop a comment with your own thoughts!
25. Search Party
While we were wowed by the final season’s guest stars (John Waters! Jeff Goldblum!), we were perplexed by its last installment, which wrapped with Dory turning into a quasi-cult leader, and a time jump that delivered a decimated New York and… zombies?! Season 5 — including its series finale — frequently went off the rails and lacked its typical hipster charm. — Nick Caruso
24. Will & Grace
We’ll always be grateful for the NBC comedy’s eventual revival if for no other reason than it completely threw out Season 8’s depressing “The Finale,” in which the besties that give the show its name became estranged for so many years, their kids were in college by the time they reconnected! — C.M.
23. The Blacklist
NBC’s crime drama was often at its best when it leaned into its offbeat, unusual side. But with its series finale, The Blacklist leaned a little too far into the eccentric, killing off James Spader’s Raymond Reddington with a bull goring (?!) that felt both utterly random and completely anticlimactic for a character as towering and impenetrable as Red. Plus, even though the series ostensibly revealed Red’s true identity back in the Season 8 finale — we stand by the theory that he was really Liz’s mother, Katarina Rostova — The Blacklist ultimately ended without ever truly answering that question for viewers, bringing this show’s central mystery to a half-baked conclusion. — Rebecca Iannucci
22. La Brea
Working off a mere six-episode order, La Brea had a lot of loose ends to tie up with its farewell run. The result was a breakneck 42-minute finale where you could veritably feel shortcuts being taken and story beats skipped right past. Throw in an awaited family reunion that was more clunky than heartwarming, and you get a finale that was far from dino-mite. — Matt Webb Mitovich
21. Gossip Girl
Dan being revealed as the titular blogger in “New York, I Love You XOXO” was shocking, sure. But that was only the case because it was about as logical or likely as Nate becoming the mayor of Manhattan — which, thank you very much, a five-year time jump suggested might be in his future! — C.M.
20. Little House on the Prairie
By the end of Season 9 (aka “New Beginnings”), the iconic family drama had been diluted to a shell of its former self, since almost every original cast member/character had “moved away” from Walnut Grove. The Last Farewell — the last, chronologically, of three subsequent TV-movies — aimed to give proper closure by bringing back Charles and Caroline Ingalls (Michael Landon and Karen Grassle), for a slapdash storyline that resulted in the exploding of all Walnut Grove homes/businesses. ‘Twas a sad, almost morose finish to a favorite series. — M.W.M.
19. Killing Eve
The last episode of BBC America’s bloodthirsty thriller did finally give fans what they wanted to see: Eve and Villanelle giving into their long-brewing romantic impulses during an impromptu road trip. But we’re here to talk about that gut-punch of an ending. In the final minutes, Eve and Villanelle were celebrating a victory over evil cabal The Twelve — when Villanelle was suddenly shot dead by a sniper. It was a brutal shock to fans who were finally getting to see these two enjoy a tiny glimmer of joy together, and a slap in the face to anyone hoping for anything resembling a happy ending. Fans revolted, and even the book’s author disavowed the ending. — Dave Nemetz
18. Battlestar Galactica
The legacy of the well-respected sci-fi reboot has been forever tarnished by “Daybreak,” the three-part finale that left enough dangling threads to sew a Colonial Fleet uniform and tossed in a “because God” explanation for which somebody really shoulda coined the term “unoriginal sin.” — C.M.
17. Pretty Little Liars
“I think I heard a scream” went the last line of “Till Death Do Us Part.” And oh yeah, there was screaming, all right — lots of it, from viewers! — when it was revealed that the Liars’ malevolent tormentor A.D. was Spencer’s heretofore-unheard-of evil twin, Alex. Sorry — make that her British evil twin! — C.M.
16. Quantum Leap
Don’t blame Donald Bellisario for his series’ unsatisfying ending; he wasn’t sure if “Mirror Image” was going to be the ending. Nonetheless, after five seasons of joining time traveler Sam in “hoping each time that his next leap… will be the leap home,” it was crushing to learn from a title card that he never got there. — C.M.
15. Younger
Younger’s frustrating and long-awaited final season was built around Liza and Charles’ painfully drawn-out journey back to one another, so their extremely abrupt split in the last episode felt like a slap in the face. And while we’re all for big swings, did anyone think it was a good idea to end the series’ final hour with an ambiguous moment of flirtation between Liza and Josh? It was a clumsy — and woefully Diana Trout-less! — end to an otherwise wonderful comedy gem. — Andy Swift
14. Shameless
While we’re all for series finales with some ambiguity, the Showtime dramedy left nearly every single one of its storylines unresolved, leaving frustrated fans with little closure after 11 seasons. And even though we understand that unprecedented pandemic circumstances prevented Emmy Rossum from returning to the series, Fiona’s absence still hurt. (Couldn’t we at least have gotten a mention of her?) — Vlada Gelman
13. Roseanne
How bad was the ABC comedy’s original final season, in which the Conners won the lottery? It was so bad that the even-worse last episode told us that the title character had made up the windfall (and a whole lot more) for her autobiography. Also, Dan was dead. Seriously? (Fortunately, he’s since been revived by way of Roseanne‘s ill-fated revival and several seasons of The Conners.) — C.M.
12. Chuck
They wiped Sarah Walker of her memories — and thus, her personhood — and for what? For some vague ending where it’s up to us to decide if one magical kiss restored all her memories (and five years’ worth of character development)? Chuck’s extremely dedicated fandom deserved better after all those $5 footlongs they consumed to help keep the lights on. Would we be clamoring for a movie if they stuck the landing? — Ryan Schwartz
11. Entourage
In the end, HBO’s bro-tastic L.A. fantasy became just another Hollywood sellout. The finale turned its back on its hedonistic past and indulged in every sappy TV cliché you can imagine: Vince got married! (To a girl he met three episodes earlier!) E found out he’s having a baby with Sloan! Ari ditched his agency to (barf) spend more time with his wife and kids! It was such a stunning betrayal of the Entourage brand, they had to undo most of it for the movie four years later. — D.N.
10. Fear the Walking Dead
By the time the first Walking Dead spinoff finally ended, it had become must-flee TV. But its two-part conclusion still managed to hit a new low by changing Tracy’s parentage twice (!), then having her ride off into the sunset with Madison, whom she’d just watched murder her father. Sorry, but some things, not even an Alycia Debnam-Carey cameo can redeem. (TVLine readers seemed to agree, giving the finale a rare average grade of “D.”) — C.M.
9. The 100
Despite being titled “The Last War,” the series finale of this CW sci-fi drama contained a whole lot of standing around and talking. And if you were hoping for a happy ending, you were out of luck. While many characters were allowed to “transcend” to a higher plane of existence, quite a few others — aka the people with names that we cared about — were left to live out the rest of their days as the final members of humanity. No, really, they weren’t even able to procreate because… reasons. — A.S.
8. 7th Heaven
The second, more outlandish series finale had us believe that Eric had been dead for half the final season, and Keith David was his guardian angel. Or at least some of the Internet bought into that fan theory. (At least if Eric had died, his family wouldn’t have had to endure a cross-country road trip in a cramped RV named — wait for it — the 7th Heaven!) — R.S.
7. How I Met Your Mother
After nine seasons, the CBS comedy’s “Last Forever” told viewers, in essence, “Joke’s on you for ever caring how Ted met his kids’ mother, because in the end, she was gonna die, and he was gonna wind up with Robin after a full season dedicated to her wedding to Barney suddenly ended in divorce!” Not funny. — C.M.
6. Seinfeld
Though “The Finale” trotted out classic characters like the Soup Nazi and Bubble Boy, it was still a criminally bad ending to a historically terrific comedy. By the time Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer were sent up the river for violating a Good Samaritan law, fans felt like they’d already done hard time! At least Curb Your Enthusiasm‘s own series finale eventually righted this wrong a bit. — C.M.
5. House
Lisa Edelstein was smart to sit out the subpar ending to the Fox drama she’d departed a season earlier. After the titular doc bickered with hallucinations of everyone from Thirteen to Kutner, he faked his own death so that he could avoid prison and ride off into the sunset with doomed bestie Wilson. — C.M.
4. Weeds
Somebody had to have been high as a kite to have said, “Yeah, a huge time jump that lets us tie up every loose end and stick a bow on it — that’s how we should end this show that people used to love!” So bad, we didn’t even get the munchies when it was over! — C.M.
3. True Blood
The HBO drama’s sendoff sucked so much that fans would have been well-advised to say “No, thank you” to “Thank You.” Most grievous among its sins was the fact that it ultimately answered the question of Bill or Eric with a toothless “neither” by pairing Sookie in a flash-forward with a guy we’d never even seen before! — C.M.
2. House of Cards
In retrospect, maybe Netflix should’ve folded rather than reshuffled Cards after dealing out Kevin Spacey. Because not only was the final season of the once-great series a total slog, it ended in the silliest of all possible ways: with President Claire stabbing henchman Doug to death — in the Oval Office! — C.M.
1. Dexter
We were hoping that the end of Showtime’s serial-killer drama would be, pun intended, to die for. Instead, it slayed us in the absolute worst way imaginable, by having Michael C. Hall’s homicidal character fake his death and assume a new identity as… a lumberjack? What the… ?! (And we’re not sure that 2021’s limited-run revival, Dexter: New Blood, stuck the landing much better.) — C.M.
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