The Five Worst Finales:1. M*A*S*H. I beg to differ with people who say that the last two seasons of M*A*S*H were horrible. In fact, there were episodes in the final years that were among the wittiest in this show's history. Catch them on repeats some time. I hope you're pleasantly surprised; they are, at times, truly terrific. But not the finale, which wasn't very funny and was the final turning point where this "comedy that also was a drama" became a "drama that was no longer a comedy." And it only got worse with after M*A*S*H, which I've already discussed as among the worst shows in TV history.
2. Seinfeld. The show always made me laugh; the finale didn't. And long before Kramer annoyed America with his racist rants, his Kramer became less and less funny the more he mugged and turned it up way too many notches. Oh well: How could the finale of one of the great comedies in American TV history (and probably the funniest) not disappoint, since so much was expected?
3. Soap. What I think producers were thinking: "Let's set up a bunch of mysteries that jumped the shark and then screw over fans by never airing the show again." Horrible.
4. Twin Peaks. "Let's set up a bunch of mysteries that jumped the shark and then screw over fans with really unfulfilling resolutions." Even more horrible than No. 3.
5. Again, I'm taking reader comments, but let me throw out there Oz (HBO) as my initial pick, because I think the writers took the easy way out. Although my friend (and blog reader) JR will probably applaud the frequent frontal male nudity. Speaking of blog reader JR, rumor has it that when the show aired, he thought it was actually a real prison and volunteered to go to Oz for an undetermined amount of time as restitution for his long history of jay-walking.
4 comments:
Tougher still. Any show that was great for a long time but fucks up its finale (can I say that on the Cup?), either through a cheap gimmick or just writing themselves into a senseless corner, deserves to make the list. Seinfeld, Twin Peaks, X-Files, Dallas, and maybe MASH. Maybe St. Elsewhere too, by that rule.
But is there room for a bad show that went to spectacularly new levels of pretentious awfullity for its finale? Two words: Seventh Heaven. Please don't ask how I know.
Poor JR has never watched "Oz," but has taken note and will get the DVDs so he can view the full frontal nudity.
What happened? There hasn't been a post in a long time.
The Sopranos finale left me cold, but then the last two seasons did that too. It just went on and on...
Click my name to check out my list of great TV shows.
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