It’s unfortunately far too common for our favorite TV shows to end abruptly or without satisfaction. Whether due to cancellation or a poorly written finale, a bad ending to popular television shows seems to be the norm in the industry. Not every show, however, suffers from this, and some of them are able to stick the landing. We’ve collected some of the shows that we think concluded their shows very well, with a majority of their plotlines tied up and characters given a proper send-off before the screen turns dark. Note that there are some spoilers as we touch on each show’s ending. Let’s get into it.
1. The Big Bang Theory
After a stellar 12 seasons, The Big Bang Theory finally decides to bid goodbye, leaving the show at the height of its fame. Even so, we get a satisfying conclusion for each character and plotline, making it a justified ending. Good things can’t last forever, after all. The finale showcases Sheldon and Amy winning a Nobel Prize, with the entire gang heading to Sweden to celebrate their achievements.
Amy then uses her winnings to get a makeover, which amplifies her confidence. Howard is happily married to Bernadette, and we get a little glimpse of his little family. If anything, Raj received the least satisfying ending as he planned to propose to his girlfriend but was stopped by Howard.
We also get a final scene of everyone around the coffee table, as usual, eating takeout. Everyone is happy and laughing, and it’s a fitting send-off for a show that inspired a lot of laughs and happiness.
2. MASH
True to its war-drama nature, we get a climactic ending that starts with the camp being attacked by the opposing side. Hawkeye saves the day and even saves a child one last time. After this whole fiasco, the war is declared over. We get a camp goodbye party where everyone talks about their post-war plans.
It is bittersweet and personal as it feels like we’re parting with long-time friends after spending so much time with these characters. Klinger plans to get married to Soon-Lee and stay in Korea to find her family, while Father Mulcahy intends to work with deaf people. Margaret Houlihan decides to work in the hospital back home as Hawkeye decides he wants to take it easy. Hunnicutt’s plans are vague as he jokes about perhaps meeting women in Guam.
As everyone says farewell to each other, Hawkeye and Margaret even share a little kiss to sweeten things up for the audience. It was great while it lasted and is one of the more satisfying TV show endings.
3. Friends
We’ve all gotten a little teary-eyed as we notice Monica’s apartment all cleaned out and bare bones as the gang gathers for one last time. Everyone has fully matured and grown a lot from the first season. Chandler is now married to Monica with children; Ross and Rachel finally decide to be endgame after the hot and cold seasons, while Phoebe is happily married.
Joey is the only single but happy one. Even so, his character has grown significantly over the years, and he is right where he is supposed to be. Plus, the Joey spin-off sees him moving to Los Angeles to pursue his acting career further, which is a fitting end.
As bittersweet as it is, the ending is pretty fitting for the gang we’ve spent years with. Most of their challenges as twenty-somethings in love, life, and career will always be relatable.
4. The Golden Girls
Who knew a show about women in their golden years would garner so much love and success? Truth be told, no one really did back then. But The Golden Girls stole our hearts with charm, relatability, and humor. The finale starts with a ruse that ends in an actual marriage and the four girls splitting up.
After much drama, Dorothy marries Lucas, and Sophia stays with Blanche and Rose. This ties up Dorothy’s plotline of overcoming her desperation for love and marrying someone she loves. Sophia gives Dorothy space with her husband and instead becomes a motherly figure to Blance and Rose.
The sweet farewell and tearful embrace at the end make us all want to join in on a group hug, and it is one of the most satisfying TV show endings out there.
5. Parks and Recreation
It’s another excellent show with a natural conclusion and plotline that perfectly ties up each character’s woes. The finale of Parks and Recreation is unique as we glimpse each character’s future every time Leslie touches them. We get to see where everyone ends up, which sends a heartwarming send-off to some beloved characters.
Some endings are hilarious, like Jean Ralphio’s, which directly cuts to his headstone and turns out to be a ploy at an insurance scam with his sister. But there are more serious ones like April and Andy, who took the leap and built their own family. As a superintendent in Pawnee’s Natural Park, Ron finally gets his dream of spending days on solitary walks in nature. Donna lives out a life of luxury and charity while Tom ends up writing a bestselling self-help book.
The most important characters, Leslie and Ben, thrive in Washington, D.C., where Leslie runs for governor of Indiana. Ultimately, as the team reunites for Jerry’s funeral in 2048, we see Leslie and Ben escorted by secret service agents, which means one ends up as president. In a way, everyone’s dreams come true.
6. Monk
We finally get the answer to one of the most critical questions in Adrian Monk’s life, ‘Who killed his wife?’ while at the same time cramming more complications to create a tense yet humorously ridiculous finale. Minutes into the episode, our question is answered on who the killer is (Judge Ethan Rickover), but we are hit with more revelations.
Trudy, Adrian’s wife, had left a tape recording of herself to be played upon her death, where she confesses that she has a child with her past lover, whom she thought was dead but was apparently alive. Her lover is none other than Judge Ethan Rickover himself, hence the motive for the murder.
Did we mention that Monk is also in pain due to getting poisoned? He gets cured, though, and has a newfound obsession with his ‘daughter.’ After all this, it seems Monk gets back to solving crimes as usual, and we are presented with a montage of some funny moments in the show while the credits roll.
7. Breaking Bad
Bear with us now. Breaking Bad has three endings, depending on where you left off in the franchise. But for this article, we’ll be referencing the TV show ending in 2013 with the episode, ‘Felina.’ This finale episode presents a bittersweet ending out of the three as Walter goes out with a fight after massacring Jack’s gang.
The last shot is of him lying motionless on the ground with a slight smile on his face, all alone. It’s bittersweet because Jesse rides happily in the wind on Todd’s Camino to freedom while Walter dies. At least he got to see his kids as well as Jesse one last time before his death.
In a way, we get a highly emotional and satisfying ending to the show that wraps it up quite well. Ultimately, Walter gets what is coming for him, while everyone he loves is kept safe and their futures secured.
8. Gravity Falls
It would be remiss not to have at least one animated TV show on this list. Gravity Falls has one of the most chaotic, explosive, and satisfying TV show endings. It is a four-parter finale collectively titled ‘Weirdmageddon’ that starts with Bill Cipher making his way into Gravity Falls with all his minions, turning everything into chaos.
The Pines family has to devise a plan to seal Bill once more while struggling with inner conflict. At the height of the episodes, the twin Grunkles, Ford and Stan, finally put aside their differences as Stan sacrifices himself to save his family. Stan’s memories get wiped out, and Bill gets destroyed.
In the end, everyone says farewell to each other as Dipper and Mabel board a bus back home. We get a little fast-forward segment that showcases Soos and Melody running the Shack successfully while Stan and Ford are out at sea adventuring. Dipper pulls out Wendy’s later and finds a cute note with signatures from everyone in town.
9. Newhart
The best thing about Newhart’s finale is that no one saw it coming, which made it ten times more memorable. As it starts, we find out that the entire town is being purchased by a Japanese tycoon to be turned into a golf course and resort. Dick and Joanna are the only ones who refuse to leave their home. At the same time, everyone else gets paid millions as compensation.
Fast forward five years later, and they’re still running the Stratford Inn as all the townspeople return for a reunion. Dick gets annoyed and walks out, only to be hit by a golf ball. The next scene is in the bedroom of Dr. Bob Hartley (Newhart’s character on The Bob Newhart Show) and his wife as he wakes up angrily. He tells his wife about the weird dream he just had where he was an innkeeper of a small town.
Get it? Everything was a dream! What a plot twist this was; it skyrocketed the show’s ratings to new heights. Not only is this one of the most satisfying TV show endings, it is also one of the most surprising. Hats off to the show’s producers, indeed.
10. The Good Place
You would be lying if the finale of The Good Place didn’t leave you with at least some degree of sadness. We witness a fully functioning revamped afterlife system and each character living out their dream lives, doing all they want with their time. At the same time, new and old characters throughout the seasons join in for a conclusion on their minor plotlines, too.
Everyone in the team achieves their goals individually, ready to move on into the unknown. Jason goes first, then followed soon after by Chidi. Tahani refuses to walk through the door but instead asks to be a part of the architects, which Michael accepts. Eleanor finds herself alone yet struggles to find fulfillment.
In the end, she finds fulfillment in helping Mindy St. Claire and Michael find fulfillment. Once all this is done, she decides to step through the door of the unknown, turns to sparks, and is gone forever. The point of The Good Place is to teach us that everyone deserves redemption, no matter how bad they are.
11. Insecure
Through the last five seasons of breakups, makeups, and questionable life choices, Insecure ended on an episode celebrating everyone’s birthdays and simultaneously closing a chapter in their lives while closing a chapter in ours. The overall show may be about how messy love and life can be, but the ending ties it all neatly.
On Tiffany’s birthday, Molly receives terrible news about her mother. On Kelli’s birthday, she decides to announce her pregnancy simultaneously. For Molly’s birthday, she is grieving the loss of her mother while Taurean plans a surprise for her, and they end up getting married a year later. Then we get to the wedding reception, where Issa helps Molly out while they reminisce about their friendship.
In this finale, we watch Issa achieve her dreams and succeed. She’s even wearing a ring in the one-year flash-forward, meaning she will be getting married to Lawrence! The final scene has her walking away from a mirror while on the phone, and her alter-ego reflection no longer stays. This signifies that she no longer needs it.
12. Scrubs
We’re completely ignoring Season 9’s Med School Scrubs plotline here, as the show technically ended in Season 8. Season 8’s ending ties everything together, and season 9’s chaos of adding new characters and resurrecting JD’s character is messy and unnecessary.
By the end of the season 8 finale, JD has grown so much as he spends his last day in Sacred Heart. He hears what his mentor, Dr. Cox, thinks about him and shares numerous hugs with Turk. Even though most of the day proceeds as usual, it is tinged with the idea of everything ending as we see colleagues say their goodbyes.
It is a bittersweet ending as he walks out the doors of the hospital, and the memories and imaginary versions of his friends, colleagues, and patients stand in the hallway to bid him farewell. He thinks about his future, which leaves us hopeful for what’s to come.
13. Friday Night Lights
Arguably one of the most dramatic tear-jerking endings to a TV show, Friday Night Lights ended with everyone going their separate ways, leaving Dillon, Texas, behind. So many moments in the finale make it great, from proposals and apologies to the demolition of East Dillon and tearful goodbyes.
Sure, the State Championships game was barely touched upon, and we don’t know the conclusion of it, but it doesn’t matter in the end. Coach Taylor moves to Philadelphia and starts up a new team there instead. Truthfully, a lot happened in the finale, and summarizing it all can be a lot. Still, everyone got the send-off into the future that they deserve, especially with the montage.
The ending was fitting for Coach and his team as everyone gets their plotline tied up, even if some may be more ambiguous. Either way, this is one of the most satisfying TV show endings ever.
14. Six Feet Under
This time, the episode starts with a birth rather than a death as Brenda gives birth to a premature baby girl. Six Feet Under is a show about love and grief that is dark and moving simultaneously. Its finale provides fulfillment for its characters, closure, and a new sense of direction for the future.
Everything about the show is cyclic, so the finale mirrors the first episode, which revolves around Natahaniel’s (the patriarch of the family) death. The ending focuses on Nathaniel’s death and the aftermath of it. Additionally, they have a final sequence that explores every central character’s death in the future as well.
The finale is emotional as it closes all the major plotlines, leaving no stone unturned. But despite all the tears, the show still gives hope to anyone watching.
15. The Office
Tying up so many plotlines and giving each character a fitting ending is challenging, especially when you have so many characters, but The Office did just that. Michael Scott even makes one last appearance for the finale. The final episode occurs a year after the previous episode as everyone gathers for Dwight and Angela’s wedding.
As such, we get a glimpse at everyone’s lives and future after Dunder Mifflin. Jim and Pam will pursue Jim’s dream of being a sports marketer, and Andy gets a job in an Ivy League admin office. Oscar gets revenge against a senator by running against him while Kevin opens a bar. We can’t explain everyone’s plotlines, but these are good enough to satisfy your curiosity.
The show ended on a good high that left everyone emotional. You’ll laugh and be teary-eyed simultaneously, making this one of the most satisfying TV show endings.
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