Top 10 Most Frustrating TV Finales

“Quantum Leap” (1989-93)
It’s the final episode, everything’s just about resolved, and Sam is at last given the chance to hop back to his own time! So, surely he takes it and walks off into the sunset, right? No, in a maddening turn of events, “Quantum Leap” robs its viewers of a happy ending, and has the gall to finish Sam’s story with a title card saying he never returned home. What gives? Audiences deserved a whole lot more resolution than that. While the 2022 revival tried its best to give the series more closure, that was cancelled on a cliffhanger, too. “Quantum Leap” fans just can’t catch a break.

“Roseanne” (1988-2018)
The “it was all a dream” twist is one of the most surefire methods to turn your fan base against you. For some reason, “Roseanne” thought it was the exception. It wasn’t. The series finale reveals that Dan’s actually dead, the Conners never won the lottery, and the last twenty-two episodes were a figment of Roseanne’s grief… and also a total waste of time. Now, to be fair, the show’s final season was hardly winning over any critics. But, even so, hand-waving away an entire year of storytelling was a smack in the face to “Roseanne’s” remaining audience. There’s a reason the revival outright ignored this ending.

“Twin Peaks” (1990-91; 2017)
Topping the list of shows cancelled too soon, “Twin Peaks” was a mystery that should’ve had way more than two seasons. While it eventually ended on its own terms, for over twenty-five years, this brain-melting trip to the Red Room was the chronological end of “Twin Peaks.” It’s not a bad episode by any stretch of the word. In fact, critics and audiences are still dissecting the layers of symbolism buried in this weird, doppelgänger world. The issue is that it’s not an ending. If anything, these tidbits busted open the possibilities for even wilder stories in “Twin Peaks.” So, it’s a real shame it took until 2017 to get a proper continuation.

“Dallas” (1978-91)
Wrapping up fourteen years of scandalous affairs and mysterious shootings is no easy task. So, “Dallas” decided to go small. Instead of more soapy plot twists, the finale is two hours of J.R. reliving his life and realizing everyone would’ve been better off without him. Yeah, it’s a real downer. The worst part is the final scene, where Bobby here’s a gunshot, races upstairs, opens the door - and it cuts to black. That’s right, even though “Conundrum” spends its entire runtime focused squarely on J.R., it doesn’t even give him a clear ending, either. If it weren’t for the reunion film, “Dallas” fans would have a lot to complain about.

“Family Matters” (1989-97; 97-98)
When you think of “Family Matters,” what comes to mind? Probably Steve Urkel, well-meaning hijinks, and good morals. For some reason, though, the final episode is all about outer space. Don’t get us wrong; in a vacuum, the two-parter has plenty of nice moments and laugh-out-loud gags. But, as an ending, we kind of expected things to, well, end. “Lost in Space” was clearly written as a gimmicky hour-long special, not a series finale. As a result, it spends more time on intergalactic jargon than saying goodbye to the characters we’ve loved for the last nine years. The final image of “Family Matters” should’ve been the family, not the stars.

“Lost” (2004-10)
Some call it masterful, others say it’s disastrous, and the rest of us are still trying to figure out what the heck even happened. That’s the ending of “Lost” for you. After six seasons of increasingly muddled storylines, the show untangled its greatest secret by killing off Jack. And also letting him into purgatory. Or, maybe he’s leaving? It’s confusing, and while some admired the bold creative swing, the vast majority were unhappy that “Lost” still wasn’t giving any damn answers. Even if you don’t think about the outrageous number of plot holes and timeline inconsistencies, “The End” still disappoints by finishing the show on a question mark instead of a period.

“How I Met Your Mother” (2005-14)
After nine seasons, over two hundred episodes, and a whole lot of suiting up, the long-awaited Mother just dies. You can guess why people were a bit taken aback. To make matters worse, the episode shoehorns in conflict between Barney and Robin so Ted can swoop in and steal his real love interest. It’s not just out-of-character and unsatisfying; it reframes Ted’s whole story as a strange obsession over a girl that’s literally married to his best friend. Not quite the meet-cute he wants it to be. If Ted and Tracy had just stayed together, maybe “How I Met Your Mother” would still have a shred of its legacy left.

“The Sopranos” (1999-2007)
It’s deeply ironic that what is considered one of the greatest television conclusions of all time is also one of the most befuddling. Really, it’s all because of one scene. At the conclusion of the finale, Tony has accepted that he may soon be indicted due to Carlo’s potentially impending testimony. He meets his family at a diner, and waits with Carmela and AJ as Meadow is the last to arrive. The bell rings as the door opens, Tony looks up, and that’s it. End of show. This moment’s spawned so many theories and interpretations, we could fill a whole list of them. Is it really his family? Or was Tony shot for his years of crime? And why all the ambiguity? There’s no clear answers here, and anyone hoping for one should look elsewhere.

“Dexter” (2006-13)
Evading the cops while catching serial killers is hard work, and it always felt inevitable that Dexter would end up behind bars. So, fans waited. And waited. And waited some more. But, bafflingly, the series ends with the authorities none the wiser to Dexter’s real extracurricular activities. It’s a mind-boggling gaffe that could’ve really livened up this ho-hum finale. In lieu of dramatic revelations, emotional goodbyes, or any culminating character growth, the show limply kills off Debra and then retires Dexter as a lumberjack. It sounds like a bad joke, but it’s real, and fans were not laughing. They were so nonplussed, many cite “Remember the Monsters?” as one of the worst TV endings ever.

“Game of Thrones” (2011-19)
In the middle of a council deciding who should sit atop the Iron Throne, Tyrion Lannister asks a question: Who has a better story than Bran the Broken? Well, we can think of a few, starting with the characters who didn’t vanish for seasons at a time. That kind of backwards justification is symptomatic of why this whole finale fizzles out. Moments like Daenarys’ death and Sansa’s crowning should be vindicating payoffs the likes of which TV has never seen before. But, as the climax of a very wobbly final season, the story practically crumbles before our eyes. It’s so unsatisfying, you can’t help but wonder, how did it all go wrong?


Are these shows still worth checking out even with their questionable endings? Let us know in the comments below!