A scene from the controversial last episode of The Sopranos.
A scene from the controversial last episode of The Sopranos.
What happens when your favourite TV show ends in a way that makes you wish you'd never watched the damn thing? Here are five series that may have done just that.
* This story contains spoilers. Obviously.
Lost
There were 121 episodes of Lost. Using a calculated mathematics equation of my own creation, I've worked out that that means I invested 121 long, confusing hours in Lost, the confusing JJ Abrams drama about a lonely dude playing bingo in an undergroundbunker. The things I could have done with that time! I could have learnt French and Italian. I could have won Lotto using the numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42. Hell, I probably could have sculpted myself some abs.
But that WTF ending made me so mad I wish I'd never seen one second of the show's increasingly complex flashbacks and flash-forwards, its maddeningly stupid island ordeals and Hurley eating another Apollo Bar from his secret stash. I still don't understand it, and five years on, Lost bosses are still explaining what happened. That says all you need to know.
Seinfeld
So, Jerry finally gets his own show, but on the way to Paris to celebrate, the foursome's plane crashes and somehow they wind up in court getting crucified by almost every character that was ever wronged on the show about nothing. Yep, Seinfeld ending by making the quartet out to be the worst people imaginable, a sin for which they pay for by winding up in jail. Seventy-seven million Americans tuned in to watch this, but even the episode's writer Larry David didn't like the ending.
Seinfeld.
It was a travesty, with reviewers taking Seinfeld and co to task at the time - and rightly so. But in my view, Larry David and Jerry have since made up for it with the excellent Seinfeld-referencing seventh season of David's show Curb Your Enthusiasm. Haven't seen it? Go binge now. And get ready for some awkwardness.
Six Feet Under
The finality of death is surely the ultimate ending - and that's exactly how the makers of this quirky HBO hit about the owners of a funeral home decided to end their show. Six Feet Under closed out with every member of the Fisher family and their entourage getting a CGI makeover montage as they morphed into old age - and then into the ground.
Nate and David in a scene from Six Feet Under.
After five seasons of deeply black humour, twisted family shenanigans and Nate's extremely distressing death, it was a somewhat fitting way to go out - and it was recently celebrated again when the show reached its tenth anniversary. I didn't take part. I loved the show, but that ending annoyed me. I thought the CGI looked terribly budget (especially Brenda's) and by killing everyone off, it seemed like an easy and obvious option by the writers. Still, I might have just been in a depressed stupor about Nate's demise.
The X-Files
It didn't really end, did it? It just went on, and on, and on, and on. Even when David Duchovny bowed out as Mulder, reducing his role to a bit part for the final few seasons, the show about supernatural investigators still kept plugging on. It's a crying shame it didn't end things earlier. To start with, I loved The X-Files; I taped every episode; debated every plot minutiae with friends; and The X-Files website was the very first site I ever logged onto. At one point, I even used masking tape to put an 'X' on my bedroom window. I know.
Mulder and Scully from The X-Files.
But The X-Files ended for me by not ending. It just petered out. Things got in the way, like life, and I stopped watching, stopped caring. Sometimes, not ending is an ending in itself. And it's still not over: the show being rebirthed for a six-episode mini-season starting early next year. Duchovny's on board. I'm not sure I am.
The Sopranos
Did he die? Was there a bomb? Did he enjoy his meal, head home and eat some cured meats? The close of The Sopranos came after six of the most perfect seasons of television you'll ever see - but that often mocked fade to black finale still angers some. To start with, I was one of them.
Tony Soprano.
At first, I hated that ending with an absolute passion. I wanted revenge, I screamed bloody murder, I wanted David Chase's body dumped in a bin behind a dodgy strip bar. But over time, my stance has softened. I love that Chase left everyone to their own devices. You can give Tony his own ending. It is what you want it to be. Isn't it brilliant that, after eight years, a brief mention of it in the Herald newsroom still sparks heated debates? That's surely the best way to end the greatest TV show of all time. Isn't it?
* Which TV finale left you cold? Post your comments below.
