Which final season of which TV show fits the bill of a perfect final season in your eyes and why?
The End
- Thread starter Joe Washington
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This is a merger of two threads I've written some time ago but because of their age, I thought it would be better to type up a new thread. Nothing aganist the rules about that.
Even though it wasn't intended to be the final season (the producers got screwed over by the network when they cancelled the show after promising another season), I think Farscape's last full season, even with the way it ended, was almost picture perfect. I'm glad they did the mini-series, but even with the ending the way it was, if they'd not been able to do it, it still would have worked.
I won't go so far as to call it "the best" but I feel I should give a shout out to Season 26 of Doctor Who. It often gets maligned by critics and fandom, but I found the 4 stories showed a real maturity and complexity that had been missing from DW, with a few standout exceptions, for several years. The show might have ground out but I think it ended its original run with head held high.
Alex
I won't go so far as to call it "the best" but I feel I should give a shout out to Season 26 of Doctor Who. It often gets maligned by critics and fandom, but I found the 4 stories showed a real maturity and complexity that had been missing from DW, with a few standout exceptions, for several years. The show might have ground out but I think it ended its original run with head held high.
Alex
I don't think anyone will ever be satisfied with a final season. The expectations are always too high and there's too much sadness for a show ending to truly be unbiased in viewing it.
I think Buffy's final season was a nice full-circle for the character. They had a ominious bad guy, plenty of homages to the original, and they had a housefull of Buffys for her to play mom towards. The ending was poetic and big. I liked it. As for the worst, I don't like Next Generation's final season.
I'm sure I'm in the minority here, but I did enjoy Lost's final season and even the ending. Having given up several seasons back on any coherent explanation for the mythology - the odds of coherence kept dropping as they kept adding more complication - I was watching to see the characters' stories resolved.
DS9 had a sketchy final season but if you only count the last half of the season, it was very good.
But it's much more common to see shows with great first seasons that go to hell by the time they end. Heroes, Prison Break, et al.
DS9 had a sketchy final season but if you only count the last half of the season, it was very good.
But it's much more common to see shows with great first seasons that go to hell by the time they end. Heroes, Prison Break, et al.
This. Not Fade Away was a very neat and efficient closer, tying things up in satisfactory, though not always predictable, ways and functioning as much as a fond send-off for the series as it did as a conclusion.
I thought that Red Dwarf VIII, like Angel's final season, gave the show a new lease of life, taking the premise in entertaining new directions. Back To Earth was a mis-step and devalued the currency, but hopefully if they go ahead with another season it'll recover some of that lost ground.
While Lost's final season was not perfect, I have come to really like it a lot (I know there are plenty of other people who will disagree). BSG's final season was particularly strong, IMO. DS9 also had a fairly good final season. The Final Chapter arc was a good way to bring the series to its proper closure.
Angel's final season had some amazing moments, but the pacing was terrible and they wasted too much time with too many stand-alone and unnecessary episodes. Things didn't really kick into proper gear until late in the season, and as a result, the arc of the season felt unfocused. Buffy's final season also felt weak. It had a decent enough premise, but the focus really fell apart about half-way through the season and it didn't recover until the end, but I felt it could (and should) have been stronger.
Angel's final season had some amazing moments, but the pacing was terrible and they wasted too much time with too many stand-alone and unnecessary episodes. Things didn't really kick into proper gear until late in the season, and as a result, the arc of the season felt unfocused. Buffy's final season also felt weak. It had a decent enough premise, but the focus really fell apart about half-way through the season and it didn't recover until the end, but I felt it could (and should) have been stronger.
Me too.
The final season of Firefly was great. 
^ Was gonna mention that myself, but didn't (for the obvious reason).
The obvious reason, of course, is that everyone already knows that it was great!
The obvious reason, of course, is that everyone already knows that it was great!
Most of the shows I watch have great final seasons: LOST, The Shield, The Sopranos, Brotherhood, The Wire. When the creators know it's the final season it's almost always good.
Perhaps my standards are too high, but no show has ever come close to having a perfect final season.
Some shows have had very strong final seasons. Some shows have had a final handful of episodes that were amazing(Angel). But I can't think of a show that had an entire final season that was near perfection.
Mostly because resolutions and climaxes are rarely set up properly on TV. You start a show with characters and a premise, but it is very rare that the end of story is approached in a completely satisfying way.
And of course a lot of shows have climaxes at the end of early seasons that are more satisfying from a storytelling perspective than what we get years later after the characters and premise have been milked too far.
"Always leave the audience wanting more." Is a maxim that more showrunners need to follow.
Some shows have had very strong final seasons. Some shows have had a final handful of episodes that were amazing(Angel). But I can't think of a show that had an entire final season that was near perfection.
Mostly because resolutions and climaxes are rarely set up properly on TV. You start a show with characters and a premise, but it is very rare that the end of story is approached in a completely satisfying way.
And of course a lot of shows have climaxes at the end of early seasons that are more satisfying from a storytelling perspective than what we get years later after the characters and premise have been milked too far.
"Always leave the audience wanting more." Is a maxim that more showrunners need to follow.
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