So, how does the Lost finale stack up to other series' big send-offs? I have mixed feelings about it, especially those last five minutes, but it beats the heck out of "anti-time" in TNG and Jadzia-less montages on DS9. The all-time best finale, IMHO, is M*A*S*H. It had tons of heart, great character arcs, and there were no "WTF?" moments. Your thoughts?
BSG/TNG, B5/DS9/Roseanne/Seinfeld/Lost
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I'd put it with BSG. Both had the characters receiving some level of happiness after all the trouble they had been through. Also both have completely divided reactions between those who hate it and those who love it.
Roseanne--loved it but around season six fell off the rails and turned into a bad parody--Roseanne promised all the zaniness would make sense in the series finale--much like LOST--but ultimately it was a mess. I hated the way they rewrote everything from not just the year since Dan died as being a novel but from the beginning of the show. It did have a few nice moments and I liked the final scene but this was definitely a finale that fell into the crap category.
BSG had an uneven final season and the mythology payoff sucked(but unlike LOST mythology wasn't as a siginificant part of BSG) but it had a great finale that was far more emotionally satisfying than LOST. BSG made me as a viewer experience the whole range of emotions--from excitement during the final battle, to exhiliaration at the sight of Earth, to sadness realizing Roslin had passed away. There were a lot iof unanswered questions/spiritual mumbo jumbo but it didn't grate as much since it wasn't as much a part of the show's DNA. Third best finale of all time.
DS9 had the best final season of any show I've seen. The Final Chapter was great and WYLB worked well for the most part even if I didn't buy how easily the Founder gave into Odo or the anticlimatic Bajoran cave showdown.
TNG had an uneven final season but managed to pull off the best swansong in tv history. It managed to have a fascinating plot/mystery unlike LOST did tonite that looked at much larger issues, a worthy adversary in Q unlike MIB on LOST, had the highest stakes imaginable, revisited the series in loving ways instead of the hamfisted way LOST did this season with gratuitous namedropping(hello Nikki/Paolo) and brief cameos and the TNG cast really did feel like a family. Unlike LOST which had a massive cast and I doubt many even worked with one another despite being on the same series, TNG had a more intimate cast and their love for one another shone through brightly. And that final scene "The sky's the limit" and zooming out to see the E-D in all its glory.
Seinfeld's finale sucked. MASH has the second best finale and while Newhart's finale was only okay it made up for it with the great idea of it was all just a dream Bob had.
BSG had an uneven final season and the mythology payoff sucked(but unlike LOST mythology wasn't as a siginificant part of BSG) but it had a great finale that was far more emotionally satisfying than LOST. BSG made me as a viewer experience the whole range of emotions--from excitement during the final battle, to exhiliaration at the sight of Earth, to sadness realizing Roslin had passed away. There were a lot iof unanswered questions/spiritual mumbo jumbo but it didn't grate as much since it wasn't as much a part of the show's DNA. Third best finale of all time.
DS9 had the best final season of any show I've seen. The Final Chapter was great and WYLB worked well for the most part even if I didn't buy how easily the Founder gave into Odo or the anticlimatic Bajoran cave showdown.
TNG had an uneven final season but managed to pull off the best swansong in tv history. It managed to have a fascinating plot/mystery unlike LOST did tonite that looked at much larger issues, a worthy adversary in Q unlike MIB on LOST, had the highest stakes imaginable, revisited the series in loving ways instead of the hamfisted way LOST did this season with gratuitous namedropping(hello Nikki/Paolo) and brief cameos and the TNG cast really did feel like a family. Unlike LOST which had a massive cast and I doubt many even worked with one another despite being on the same series, TNG had a more intimate cast and their love for one another shone through brightly. And that final scene "The sky's the limit" and zooming out to see the E-D in all its glory.
Seinfeld's finale sucked. MASH has the second best finale and while Newhart's finale was only okay it made up for it with the great idea of it was all just a dream Bob had.
I haven't seen very many series finales. The series I watch tend to get canceled before they can do a send-off. Still....
Better than Lost:
Babylon 5. It got the spiritual/afterlife thing in, but played within the universe's rules. It also suggested reconciliation between enemies, whereas Lost just gave us a gratuitous fistfight between the male leads.
Futurama (first series). Fry's final holophonor solo, and the Devil drags Nixon down to Hell (for poker). One is left feeling hope, justice, satisfaction.
TNG: Sure, most of it didn't actually happen, but it would have happened. There is something appropriate about closing your canon with apocalypse and prophecy.
About the same:
X-Files. Mulder gets a new superpower out of nowhere, and we have a clunky trial. But at least it addressed most of the show's mysteries. The parade of guest stars and reunions is exciting the first time you see it, but it becomes plodding on rewatches.
Worse:
Quantum Leap. A couple of neat tricks, but no real finality except for a title card that disappointed many viewers.
Better than Lost:
Babylon 5. It got the spiritual/afterlife thing in, but played within the universe's rules. It also suggested reconciliation between enemies, whereas Lost just gave us a gratuitous fistfight between the male leads.
Futurama (first series). Fry's final holophonor solo, and the Devil drags Nixon down to Hell (for poker). One is left feeling hope, justice, satisfaction.
TNG: Sure, most of it didn't actually happen, but it would have happened. There is something appropriate about closing your canon with apocalypse and prophecy.
About the same:
X-Files. Mulder gets a new superpower out of nowhere, and we have a clunky trial. But at least it addressed most of the show's mysteries. The parade of guest stars and reunions is exciting the first time you see it, but it becomes plodding on rewatches.
Worse:
Quantum Leap. A couple of neat tricks, but no real finality except for a title card that disappointed many viewers.
TNG's All Good Things is the best finale for a TV show I've seen, at least on its shows terms in that context.
DS9 had a decidedly mixed bag for a finale, not up the standards of the series thats for sure.
As for worst... Law and Order probably qualifies since we now know its last episode was its finale without it written to be.
DS9 had a decidedly mixed bag for a finale, not up the standards of the series thats for sure.
As for worst... Law and Order probably qualifies since we now know its last episode was its finale without it written to be.
Lost's finale left me with the same feeling after Buffy's finale. Everything seemed a bit rushed (tho Lost had 2.5 hrs to do it) and the preceding final season could've been much better paced and filled with "little" answers and finales.
Having said that, Angel found out late in its last season that it was over for them and that show managed to have a much more satisfying (imo) finale (and a great afterlife in graphic novels)
BSG's finale = meh. I would have been much more satisfied if the series had ended a few episodes before when the crew landed on the postapocalyptic planet. Everything that came after just seemed like a tacked on epilogue to me.
Also would like to mention a non-scifi show's finale - Six Feet Under, which - being a show about death - handled its last moments well by showing the deaths of all the main characters.
Having said that, Angel found out late in its last season that it was over for them and that show managed to have a much more satisfying (imo) finale (and a great afterlife in graphic novels)
BSG's finale = meh. I would have been much more satisfied if the series had ended a few episodes before when the crew landed on the postapocalyptic planet. Everything that came after just seemed like a tacked on epilogue to me.
Also would like to mention a non-scifi show's finale - Six Feet Under, which - being a show about death - handled its last moments well by showing the deaths of all the main characters.
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Lost's finale 15 minutes left a bad taste in my mouth. It was on track for All Good Things levels of awesomeness though.
My favorite ending is still the one for BSG. It was a real ending with some great conclusions and a brilliant twist.
TNG is one of my favorite shows of all time but "All Good Things..." was too much of a non-ending for me.
I'm not a big fan of emotional endings where the characters get some closure but the plot is left unresolved, but I still enjoyed Lost's ending.
TNG is one of my favorite shows of all time but "All Good Things..." was too much of a non-ending for me.
I'm not a big fan of emotional endings where the characters get some closure but the plot is left unresolved, but I still enjoyed Lost's ending.
it's hard to count All Good Things because we all knew the characters would go on in the movies. I knew I'd see them again.
The. Best.
Lost was great.
The ending of Scrubs was also amazing. (the "true" season 8 ending, not the last minute season 9 ending).
Both are among my favorites.
I also liked the ending of Quantum Leap.
The Buffy Season 5 ending (what was originally supposed to be the series finale) was also really good and would have been a great way to end it.
The ending of Scrubs was also amazing. (the "true" season 8 ending, not the last minute season 9 ending).
Both are among my favorites.
I also liked the ending of Quantum Leap.
The Buffy Season 5 ending (what was originally supposed to be the series finale) was also really good and would have been a great way to end it.
doubleohfive
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^^What she said.
without spoiling anything since I'm planning on checking it out this summer, but I hear The Wire's finale was really good and the whole series altogether. Is that true?
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