PERSON OF INTEREST
Though handicapped by a shortened farewell season, the CBS sci-fi drama still served up a satisfying (if tremendously bittersweet) grand finale, in which Reese selflessly and cleverly swapped places with Finch on a suicide mission that would destroy Samaritan with a missile. Harold, as a result, was able to reunite with lady love Grace in Paris, while Shaw and Fusco stayed put in the Big Apple — with the former negotiating custody of Bear, after coldly taking out Root’s killer but before answering a call from a random pay phone….
Justified is way too low, “we dug coal together” should be a lot higher. Also, no Sons of Anarchy?
I started looking at the list thinking you wouldn’t have any or some of my favorites, and amazingly you had all of the them on the list in the top 10. Great job!
You forgot two (though one is contentious).
Ugly Betty has a finale that feels like coming up for air. It is simply wonderful.
And though disputed by many, the last 5 minutes of the Big Love reaffirms to me that the entire show was about the relationship of these three women.
The love for SIX FEET UNDER finale is a bit ridiculous at this point.
THE AMERICANS had the best series finale…hands down. BREAKING BAD and FRIENDS are too low on this list. And MASH and NEWHART need to be moved up.
And you’re welcome.
No Sopranos? Blasphemy!
you’re right
No love for the St. Elsewhere finale?
Apparently “All Time” only goes back to 1990 except for M*A*S*H, The Fugitive and MTM. There were plenty of final episodes before 1990 that were more memorable than the post-2000 shows listed here.
In fairness, It was highly unusual prior to 1980 for a series to do a true finale show, because it was believed at the time to impair the show’s success in syndication. Sometimes the producers knew it was a finale so there were small moments that indicated it (Leave it to Beaver characters reminisce with a scrapbook) but mostly, the producers wanted to leave the audience thinking the show would never go away
They thankfully finally removed it. The idea of an autistic boy imagining the rape, suicide, eating disorder, and other massively inappropriate for a grade school child was never a good one.
I will never understand why The Middle gets zero love! The final episode was absolutely, spot-on perfect. Emotionally satisfying and made me miss it all that
The Middle, is a criminally ignored series, being not only one of the best sitcoms but also one of the few that managed to carry the passage of time in its characters, other series seem to want to prevent their characters from growing up or aging , The Middle, on the other hand, always knew how to handle it very well. And of course its final episode proves it.
This.
Yes!
I can quibble here and there – but I can’t argue with this list at all.
Will always agree with Six Feet Under being number one. However, Parenthood is way too far down this list. Definitely better than Lost!
I completely agree with you on both points, especially in regards to Parenthood.
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Would love to see them bring back Vic Mackey – maybe as a PI or something.
Some of these are not even very good, let alone being in top 30.
One of the biggest omissions is Mr. Robot.
Really happy to see The Leftovers on this list!
I must say, the Six Feet Under finale is so good and satisfying, that it’s almost ruined TV for me. Everytime a series finale comes around, I hope it will be as good as SFU and I am disappointed everytime. Everytime! They set the bar way too high and nobody has been able to reach it since! I was hoping This is Us would come close, but that was one of the flattery, anticlimactic endings I’ve seen.
Some of my personal favorites: The Good Place, Person of Interest, Fringe, Charmed (the original), Lost, Game of Thrones (yes), The Big Bang Theory, Everwood, The OC, Dawsons Creek, Homeland, Damages, Medium, The Vampire Diaries, Revenge, The Closer, Major Crimes, The Killing (US), The Newsroom, Parenthood, Downton Abbey, Six Feet Under & Bones.
I sobbed watching the Medium finale. It just broke my heart.
Couldn’t agree more. You’ve listed basically all of my absolute favourite shows, including their endings.
Justified had such a great ending. I just love that show!
I think You’re the Worst had a nice ending.
Love that the list includes some of my all time favorites like Lost, Fringe, Justified, ER, Star Trek TNG and 12 Monkeys. They are perfect to me.
The 12 Monkeys love has me not arguing the small stuff.
Wynonna Earp was IMO the best finale
Always glad to see the love for PoI, despite CBS’s attempts to bury the last season by holding it for so long then dumping 13 episodes across only 7 or 8 weeks (IIRC).
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As I’ve often said, if it hadn’t been on CBS it’s level of critical acclaim would be so much higher.
Absolutely!!! It was NOT a typical procedural.
Overall it’s a great list. For me, personally, I would add Schitt’s Creek, Coroner and Quantum Leap. Just three series that I enjoyed from the first episode to the finale and all ended the way they started, brilliantly.
This list means nothing without The Sopranos.
The ending known for infamously leaving people to think their cable went out. What a legacy.
Pretty good list. I would have like to have seen Justified ranked higher and Parks and Rec even on the list. I love that finale.
My top four are MTM, Newhart, MASH, and The Good Place, in that order. The Lost final episode is on my worst list, with HIMYM, Quantum Leap, and Seinfeld. I liked the St. Elsewhere finale, though.
I agree about Seinfeld. Worst tv series finale I ever saw, out of all the shows I watched.
The sad part of HIMYM’s finale is it could have been on this list if they had used the (on YouTube) alternate ending. They had it and did Robin instead.
UGH the painfully generic “And they all lived happily ever after!” ending would’ve been absolute garbage.
The actual HIMYM finale was perfection. End of story.
Lost’s final episode was amazing and emotional. The greatest show ever for me
Boy meets world, community, desperate housewives, homeland, the affair, Modern family, Frasier and Friday night lights had amazing series finales
Good Times should be on this list.
Come on, the Good Times finale was ridiculous. Way too much happened within a short amount of time. I’m surprised Michael didn’t become President of the US, and Florida didn’t get superpowers.
What about Frasier? Moving to a new city. Will true love finally play out? Will his show catch on in Chicago? Come on, people.
I’d say it was good, but not particularly memorable.
How is Breaking Bad so low..? Absolutely should be in the top 3. It was perfection.
Just lacking the 2 part heist final from B99 !! What a final day.