Ending a long-running TV series is never easy, and many otherwise great shows have been scuppered
by an uneven finale. Sometimes, however, everything comes together perfectly — leaving
fans more than satisfied. Here are some TV shows that managed to stick the landing.
The Americans is about a family of Soviet deep-cover agents living in the
suburbs of Washington D.C. Obviously, then, things were never going to turn out well.
Over the course of the series, the secret identities of Phillip
and Elizabeth Jennings are unknown to everyone but each other, and, later,
their American daughter Paige. Their FBI agent neighbor Stan Beeman, however, has his suspicions,
and in the series finale "START," they're finally proven true. Although the Jennings
manage to flee to Russia, Stan does get a chance to confront them at gunpoint in a
tense standoff — one that could easily have been the end of the road for the Jennings family.
"All this time…
I would have done anything for you, Phillip."
Hanging over all this, of course, is the bittersweet knowledge that
the Cold War is coming to an end. The title of the episode itself refers to
an actual strategic arms treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union,
one of the most important diplomatic moments of the late Cold War.
The episode received widespread acclaim, with particular focus being given to the
dramatic and nail-biting confrontation between Stan and the Jennings family.
Practically every line in the scene was masterfully written and performed,
making it perhaps the most memorable moment in a series packed full of them.
Broad City is a sitcom about the real-life
friendship between comediennes Ilana [ill-AH-nuh] Glazer and Abbi Jacobson,
two young women struggling to make it in New York City. The whole show is bizarre and wonderful,
and the finale, named after the show itself, is one of its most special episodes.
In the finale, Abbi is preparing to move to Boulder, Colorado, for a new job opportunity. She
and Ilana trek around the city in search of one last bodega breakfast sandwich before the lunch
menu goes up at 11 AM. A whole bunch of hilarity ensues, mostly involving a perfectly functioning
toilet they find on the street and a daylight robbery in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge.
And yeah, it's all a little weird, but that's Broad City, for you. Finally, Ilana and Abbi
throw one last party and part ways for good — but promise to stay in touch regularly over the phone.
This finale simultaneously wraps up the story neatly and perfectly captures the zany,
heartwarming energy that made Broad City one of the best shows of the decade.
By the time you reach the end, part of you wants to just flip back to season
1 and start it all over again — which is exactly the mark of a truly great finale.
The appropriately-named Office episode "Finale"
pivots around Angela Martin's marriage to salesman-turned-manager Dwight Schrute,
also features a seriously meta team Q&A panel about… well, The Office.
"Do you find that your life is pointless, now that nobody's actually filming you anymore?"
"Yes."
In the iconic show's final moments, the main cast gathers in the office to spend a final
evening together. On paper, it's overstuffed even for a double episode, but after nine seasons,
it honestly feels like it's not enough. You want every moment to drag on a little longer,
because the thought of your time at Dunder Mifflin Scranton coming
to an end is, well, a little bit heartbreaking.
And so what if it's a little sappy? "Finale" is a pitch-perfect ending for an outrageous
comedy that found its heart — and then some — along the way. In terms of highlights,
everyone loves the Michael Scott appearance, but the ending is arguably the best moment of all.
Perhaps that's the show's greatest accomplishment: taking a cast of potentially-boring background
characters and bringing them to life — while lampooning the mundanity of nine-to-five work.
Everyone is a bit of a star in the end, and everyone gets just enough of a happy ending
to keep the audience happy, too. Ultimately, the finale more than makes up for the show's final two
questionable seasons, and helps make The Office one of the most rewatchable series of all time.
The West Wing stumbled a bit after creator and head writer Aaron Sorkin departed the show
following its fourth season. However, its seventh and final season is undoubtedly one of The West
Wing's strongest. The season focuses largely on President Bartlet's final months as president
and the election between Democrat Matt Santos and Republican Arnie Vinick — and even features
a live presidential debate between the two candidates that felt bizarrely authentic.
The final episode, "Tomorrow", mostly deals with Santos' victory and upcoming inauguration,
the aftermath of Leo McGarry's unexpected passing,
and the Bartlet administration's fond memories of the past eight years in office.
"Tomorrow" wasn't just a nostalgia-fest, though,
and its most powerful moment comes during the episode's final scene.
"What are you thinking about?"
"Tomorrow."
This vision of earnestness and optimism in politics feels like everything The West Wing
had been building towards — and seems even more necessary today then it did fifteen years ago.
Anyone who's seen it will tell you that Fleabag should never have a third season.
That's not to say the show wasn't great, of course — anything but. The final episode of season two,
however, wrapped things up so perfectly that nothing more needs to be said.
In case you're unaware, Fleabag follows star and creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge through her
escapades as a confused, free-spirited and nameless woman in London. The final
episode is a pitch-perfect farewell to the show. Ultimately, it ends with a breakup:
Fleabag and the priest decide that — despite their love for each other — their relationship just
won't work out. The episode ends with a knowing wink to the show's fourth-wall-breaking format.
It's an achingly beautiful ending with just the right dash of ambiguity: will Fleabag
return to her old, self-destructive ways, or will she grow up at last and move forward?
You can't know for sure, but you can always hope for the latter. At 12 episodes,
Fleabag is so short that it almost qualifies as a miniseries, but it uses every minute of screen
time to devastating effect — and effortlessly leaves its bizarre, wonderful mark on TV history.
The Wire is the story of a society in crisis;
one in which little acts of opportunistic selfishness incentivize yet more cheating,
a cycle that ultimately leads to an endlessly churning wheel of systemic corruption and despair.
The show's final episode, "-30-," is one of change.
Mayor Carcetti [kar-KETT-ee] leaves for the Governor's mansion. Valchek
replaces Daniels as Commissioner. McNulty is fired for insubordination,
and replaced as the resident problematic cop by a disillusioned Kima [KEE-muh] Greggs.
Meanwhile, Bubbles gets clean while Dukie gets hooked. Omar is dead,
and Michael Lee takes up his mantle. Marlo walks free, but loses his empire;
while Slim Charles and the New Day Co-Op assume the reins of power on the streets.
But these changes are deceptive. As The Wire comes to an end, the wheel continues to turn,
and Baltimore's vicious cycle of crime and anger has failed to be broken.
New players may have stepped up to assume control, but you don't need to see what happens
to them — because you've spent the last five seasons learning that it hardly even matters.
In the end, the garbage rolls downhill, and the neglected poor suffer the real consequences.
It's a tale as old as time, but one that has rarely been so powerfully,
tragically, and unforgettably told.
Who said only live-action shows can have mighty endings? The iconic sci-fi series Futurama follows
Phillip J. Fry, a down-on-his-luck pizza delivery driver who's cryogenically frozen
by mistake just before New Year's Day 2000. He wakes up a millennium later, in New New York,
a city now dominated by flying cars, robots, mutants, and aliens. Fry finds work with the
delivery crew of Planet Express, which takes him across the galaxy on a series of bizarre
adventures. More than anything else, Futurama is crass, clever, and genuinely hilarious.
"Bender, honey, we love you."
"Shut up baby, I know it."
Thing is, Futurama also had the ability to slip around your defenses and actually make you feel
something. Fans still reference the episodes "Jurassic Bark" and "The Luck of the Fryrish" with
reverence and awe, and its finale might've been the show's crowning achievement. In "Meanwhile,"
Fry's misuse of a time-reverting button designed by Professor Farnsworth results in
the world being frozen — except for himself and Leela. This allows the two to grow old,
together and alone. In the end, a malfunction results in all the events of the entire show
thus far being reset, as Fry and Leela agree to "go around" one more time.
When the finale first aired, Comedy Central aired the pilot episode again
immediately after, which begs the question… Did Futurama even end?
It's been repeatedly noted by fans and critics alike that M*A*S*H lasted far
longer than the actual Korean War. Nonetheless, it still felt hard to
say goodbye when the 11-season ratings behemoth finally bid adieu in 1983.
The final episode, appropriately entitled 'Goodbye, Farewell, and
Amen,' depicts the final days of the Korean War through the eyes of its main cast.
In the end, a ceasefire is declared, and the group throws a final party. The next day,
after Klinger and Soon-Lee's marriage, everyone says their final goodbyes and departs for home.
The episode was nominated for a whole heap of Emmys and Golden Globes, but,
more importantly, it had the approval of the masses, too — bringing in a jaw-dropping
121.6 million viewers, beating out that year's Super Bowl. 'Goodbye, Farewell,
and Amen' remains one of the most watched broadcasts in the history of television.
Many shows are remembered more for their finales than for anything else, but that's usually because
things have gone very wrong indeed. Not so for Six Feet Under, however, which follows the Fisher
family and their Los Angeles funeral home in the tumultuous years after the death of the
family patriarch. The show itself was acclaimed for its writing and acting throughout its run,
but the finale is most fondly remembered as one of the finest in television history.
The final episode, "Everyone's Waiting", bucks series tradition by opening with a birth,
rather than a death: Brenda and the late Nate's daughter Willa is eight weeks premature,
and the doctor tells her all they can do is hope for the best. After checking in with all the
surviving characters, the episode's final sequence flashes forward to the deaths of the entire main
cast as Claire drives away from her family home to begin a new life in New York. It's a beautiful,
chilling montage that was totally unexpected when the episode first aired. In hindsight,
though, it feels like the only satisfying way to end such a macabre and groundbreaking show.
It seems fitting that the show that came closest to true perfection would be the
one to best stick its landing. It's also worth noting that few people really knew how Breaking
Bad was going to end. That a show could keep such a passionate fan-base guessing right up
until the last moments is a testament to the impeccable vision of showrunner Vince Gilligan.
Probably an even bigger question than how Walter White's story would end was what kind
of catharsis, if any, he'd be permitted. After all, Walt was both the show's main
character and its most soulless villain. In the end, though, he got exactly what he wanted:
a chance to see his family one last time, a last-minute rescue for Jesse,
vengeance for the death of Hank, and one last moment with his true love: a meth lab.
Having been wounded in a gunfight moments earlier, Walt collapses onto the floor of
the lab as the police close in — undone by his own machinations, but satisfied with how he went out.
It's more or less the perfect ending, and few shows have managed to match it since.
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