TVLine’s Decade in Review: The 15 Best Series Finales, From Friday Night Lights and Chuck to The Big Bang Theory
There is perhaps no bigger source of anxiety for TV viewers (and creators) than the series finale. How will the writers tie things up? Will all lingering questions get answered? Will fans be satisfied, or be left to feel their years of viewing was a waste of time?
Though such concerns haunt showrunners and writers, a few shows do stick the landing, even when expectations are ridiculously high. To that end, our Decade in Review series (which runs bimonthly through December) continues with a look back at the very best series finales of the last 10 years.
AN IMPORTANT NOTE: The decade isn’t quite over yet. With several shows still due to wrap their runs in the weeks and months ahead (including Jane the Virgin and Orange Is the New Black), there’s a chance at least one of those series finales will knock it out of the park — and if one (or more) is worthy of a spot on our list, we will update the attached gallery accordingly.
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In the meantime, though, we’re reflecting on 15 other shows that delivered satisfying, well-executed final episodes, including a few (such as The Big Bang Theory and The Americans) that just recently wrapped their runs.
Scroll through the attached gallery — or click here for direct access — to see our picks, then drop a comment with the series finales that would make your lists.
Looking for more of our Decade in Review? Scroll down for links to our previous galleries:
The 10 Best Drama Series of the Decade
The 10 Best Comedy Series of the Decade
No 30 Rock or Gravity Falls? Phineas and Ferb? iCarly?
I came to gripe about the lack of Gravity Falls, and I wondered where the best place to leave a comment would be. Well done sir. I didn’t think of 30 Rock, but that was a great finale as well.
Orphan Black.
This…..this 10 times over.
I know some had issues with Lost’s but I thought it was great.
BIg Bang Theory’s finale was great.OUAT&Glee should be on this list too.Reign &VD were good too.
Penny Dreadful had the WORST ending ever! It felt so rushed, and they introduced so many new potential storylines in the last season that ultimately ended up going nowhere!
For sure! How could that be on a best list?! They clearly had not planned for it to be a finale. Why even bring Brona back from the dead for her never to run into Ethan?! WHY?!
Thank you!! OMG that was the worst finale! It was so scattered, rushed, and uncharacteristic.
I definitely would have put Fringe on that list.
Second that, such a perfect show with a great ending!
I was going to post the same comment.
I was about to say the same thing.
Add my vote to that! Fringe most definitely should be on this list.
Yes. In every possible universe Fringe should be on here. Just thinking about Walter and how it all ended makes me tear up a little. Not from sadness but from the pure magic of it all.
Thank you for putting Chuck on here. I often like the Chuck series finale as one of my favourites and everyone looks at me like I grew a second head.
I agree, especially after rewatching the series a couple of times. There were so many great shout outs to the 1st season in the last two episodes, the Demova virus, the Wienerlicious, the beach, and many more, and the Jeffster symphony concert was hysterical and epic. Yes, the last season had a lame villain and Sarah lost her memory, but the ending with Chuck and Sarah laughing on the beach was wonderful.
Chuck left me so angry, so I respectfully disagree.
*
And I think Lost, Bones, and Grimm should have been listed.
Chuck was a spit in the face of its fans. Like Lost, the finale was so bad that the show doesn’t air in syndication.
I was reading this list thinking that’s a pretty good list until I got to Penny Dreadful and was wait what!? That was a pretty bad series finale but S3 was so bad that I suppose nothing could fix that so they just went all out for a bad finale, it was fitting. But mostly everything else was on point, there were some shows I wish were there but overall, nice list.
Where’s Nashville?
Hopefully on the worst finales list, where it belongs
If that’s a joke, thank you I laughed.
I haven’t seen a lot of these, though they’re on my watchlist, so I’m glad I have something to look forward to. I’m glad you included Chuck. I thought it was a great ending, though I understand why people are disappointed. Your analysis of The Office finale is spot on. The Michael-less seasons were less than great, but the really knocked it out of the park with that finale. Parks & Rec has the best finale ever. Totally biased assessment on my part, though, because I think it’s the best show ever made. But it was just so well-done and emotional.
I’d also include:
-30 Rock
-The Almighty Johnsons (not a US show, but still. That was a fun little show)
-Girl Meets World
-Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
-Dollhouse (I know this show wasn’t super well-received, but I’m an apologist. I thought it was fantastic. And the Epitaph finales were highlights of the series).
-Hot in Cleveland
-Life Unexpected (okay, not a proper finale, but those final few minutes were great and gave the series proper closure)
-Merlin
-The Middle (not sure why The Middle isn’t getting any love in these lists!)
-You’re the Worst
-Dexter (lol jk)
I was thinking that Dollhouse had a pretty great ending considering the short run the show had.
Dollhouse did the near impossible with its ending, and showed how the entire rest of the series would have gone. Jericho did the same thing. Both gave so much information while also making sure the characters had proper send offs. If only we’d gotten 5 seasons of each…
Jericho was fantastic, as well.
Gonna disagree about GMW it was great as a season finale but as a series finale it left a lot to be desired. That’s mainly because it wasn’t intended as a series finale but the show got a raw deal from Disney who follow a 3-4 season rule on their programs. Then(based on what I heard) Disney essentially blocked other networks from trying to pick it up.
I feel like it mirrored the BMW finale really well. They were on the precipice of this big life change. They got to have this massive reunion with almost everyone from the original series, and even though the story ends there, it was a nice open ending. Not a lot of lose threads, just a lot of possibilities. I hope they’re able to get a second revival going.
Merllin!? Are you kidding? You mean the show where the main character spends the whole series never being able to tell his best friend the truth about about himself. Then his best friend dies in the last episode before he can tell him. And theh he wanders the earth alone for centuries waiting for said friend to be reincarnated, maybe? That ending? Yikes!
Well, when you put it like that… lol
No, I understand where you’re coming from. But I don’t think every story needs a happy ending. Or even an ending that wraps everything up. I feel like the finale stayed true to the show itself. It would’ve been soooo satisfying for things to go down the way you suggest here, but I’m not upset with the way it did end.
Merlin told Arthur the truth before he died.
The Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and The Middle finales were better than Parenthood’s finale, but I don’t think any of the three deserve to be on the list.
The finales that I would add are:
The Good Wife
Rectify
Leverage had the best series finale I’ve ever seen…
I fail to see how Chuck and Sarah having to fall back in love is a happy ending for our main character. They were on the verge of starting a family and now Chuck has to win back his wife all over again, even though he has changed considerably from the person he used to be and has to simultaneously deal with having the newest Intersect in his head. That is not remotely a happy ending, no matter how much you slice it. The finale may not deserve a spot in the worst finales list but it doesn’t deserve to be anywhere near the top.
Sarah’s character was destroyed and Ellie abandoned Chuck. I thought it was terrible.
I have to agree. I watched Chuck for the first time last summer, and still twinge with rage whenever I think about that finale (and tbh I’m often inclined to forgive endings and try to be satisfied with the majority of them, so it takes an especially awful outcome to invite that response for me). I can’t imagine how long time fans felt watching it originally. A lot of the handling of Sarah was troublesome as it was and wouldn’t work at all were Chuck not a genuinely good person, but her ending was awful and disrespectful to her, and to the entire journey they shared. Yikes.
I think that Monk, Psych and Royal Pains all had very satisfying series endings!
That list is sorely missing the entire last season of Person Of Interest… :(
I checked out the comments just to see how long it took someone to realize that they had made that mistake! I watch a lot of tv, and Person of Interest
managed a very satisfying series finale. Remember the lesson!
Agreed, PoI got pretty much everything right with how they wrapped it up.
Also agree with the earlier comment about Leverage. Having the same ending as the pilot episode but with a scarily intense Parker as the new team leader was brilliant
Person of Interest was not owned by CBS, so they burned off the 13 episode final season from May 2016 to June 2016. The series finale aired on Tuesday June 21, 2016, the first day of summer and was not seen by that many people. The series finale (Return 0) and the movie Rogue One: A Star Wars Story had a lot in common; a person, (or persons), go to a big satellite dish, upload information to a satellite in orbit, there’s shooting, a big explosion, and it turns into a suicide mission. Imitation is a sincere type of flattery. Rogue One is Return 0 with more people, more shooting, a bigger satellite dish, and bigger explosion.
One (1) user name per IP address. Thank you so much! —Mgmt.
Fringe but I would also add ER (2009) and 30 Rock
I was not at all a fan of Chuck’s finale – not just the semi-cliffhanger ending but the entire “Sara gets amnesia” storyline. I actually always thought that Chuck vs the Push Mix would have been an excellent series finale for the show.
Agree (10 x over) – 12 Monkeys
Disagree (100 x over) – Chuck
I was all prepared to say you guys forgot 12 Monkeys because everyone forgets about that show but much to my surprise it was the first one on the list. I would also add Orphan Black, Fringe and Psych to the list.
I cannot believe Penny Dreadful made this list. It is one of my favorite shows ever, but the series finale is on my WORST series finales of all time.
I would include Mad Men! I loved the way the fictional series tied in to a REAL famous advertisement.
My own top 15 (just naming shows I’ve seen all episodes of, so can’t yet judge on shows like Parks and Rec or Veep) (in random order): Parenthood, Fringe, Person of Interest, Damages, How I Met Your Mother (yup, I liked it), Lost (again, yup, I actually liked it), Big Bang Theory, Desperate Housewives, One Tree Hill, Game of Thrones, Bones, Vampire Diaries, Revenge, Glee, The Closer. Notable mentions for Major Crimes, Once Upon a Time, The Good Wife, Brothers & Sisters, Medium & Downton Abbey.
How does HIMYM make your top 15 list? I get that there was a small minority of fans who enjoyed the finale(I can’t for the life of me understand why, but I won’t get into that right now) but even if you did find it enjoyable no way in hell should it make top 15, I’d probably replace it with Two and a Half Men(the story sucked but it was still pretty funny) or another sitcom. Also I disagree with Lost and GoT(I liked both of those too just not top 15 in my opinion) I’d probably replace them with FNL and Grimm
Because it’s all subjective. You don’t have to like it, I did. And I’m saying it’s in my top 15. And that’s saying something considering I’ve watched A LOT of shows. I don’t like Two and a half Men and it baffles me that anyone liked the finale, but I also realise that’s just my opinion and not a fact. You should try the same, thank you! :)
I’m totally bummed no one’s mentioning Six Feet Under. O_o
Why should you be bummed and why should anyone be mentioning it? This list is for shows that ended this current decade (2019-2019). Six Feet Under ended in 2005.
Uh oh, my bad. I wasn’t paying attention to that, sorry!
Chuck erased Sarah’s memory, destroyed her character, turned her into a prize to be won while all of her friends picked up and moved. It was awful.