TV’s 30 Best Series Finales of All Time
Just as all TV series aren’t created equal, neither are all series finales. Many are fine, a few are quite poor, but some are no less than fantastic.
What follows is a definitive ranking of the 30 Best Series Finales of All Time, including the utterly sublime swan songs of gritty dramas, big-hearted comedies and several genre-TV favorites from the past seven decades.
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Review the TVLine staff’s ranking below, and then hit the comments with the truly grand finales that you are glad to see included — as well as those you would have singled out yourself.
30. MARVEL’S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.
Capping a rather unexpectedly stellar season, and across an at-times thrilling two hours, the series-ender served up great fights (including Daisy versus a Quake-ified younger Malick), timey-wimey exposition dumps (Fitz has been where/when all season long?!), incredibly heartwarming reveals (Hey, Alya!), a parade of perfect, individual epilogues in the closing act… and one bit of Marvel-ous, out-of-this-world fan service (S.W.O.R.D., anyone?). — M.W.M.
29. CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM
It was the finale we should’ve gotten for Seinfeld. The fictional Larry David even said it himself after Jerry Seinfeld picked him up from the slammer following his sentencing for breaking a Georgia polling law. Not only did the Curb closer right one of TV history’s outstanding wrongs, but it satisfied on its own accord, bringing back heaps of guest stars who testified against Larry and rehashed his many curmudgeonly acts and social faux pas. Plus, watching Seinfeld and David banter back and forth glued smiles to our faces. Watching a pair of comedy legends nail a big goodbye? What a way to go out. — Nick Caruso
28. FRINGE
When the “child” Observer, Michael, required an escort to the year 2167 (where he might stop the evil Observers’ invasion), Walter decided that it was his fate to make the trip and thus get “deleted” from the present, so as to “to assure the future of humanity, your future with Olivia,” he told Peter. “Your future with Etta.” When Walter later did so, the series leaped back to the park from the opening of Season 5 — only this time, when Peter calls for young Etta, he makes it into his arms, while mom Olivia beams. Back home, Peter finds in the mail the letter that VHS Walter said he’d one day receive: a white tulip card. — M.W.M.
27. THE BIG BANG THEORY
Now that’s what we call going out with a bang! The CBS comedy concluded its 12-season run with a two-parter in which newly minted Nobel Prize winner Sheldon not only apologized to his friends for his insensitivity, he professed his love for them — and inadvertently told the world that Leonard and Penny were expecting while he was at it. — C.M.
26. FRIENDS
Though “The Last One” broke up the old gang by sending Monica and Chandler to the suburbs with their adopted twins, it also reunited Ross and Rachel, and left us with the comforting sense that the six BFFs would always be there for one another, even if the show would no longer be there for us. — Charlie Mason
25. 12 MONKEYS
However difficult it is to craft a satisfying series finale, take that and triple it for a time-traveling genre show full of complicated mythology. And yet, the Syfy series completely nailed the landing with a conclusion that felt carefully crafted and completely earned. When the final minutes echoed the pilot’s opening scene, we were left a bit breathless at how beautifully the story came full circle. — Vlada Gelman
24. SNOWFALL
Snowfall examined how the 1980s crack epidemic destroyed an entire community, so a happy ending was never in the cards for the FX crime drama. That point was eloquently driven home with a devastating series finale that saw the show’s once-powerful drug lord grasping at the remnants of his lost empire. The hour delivered a brutal but fitting ending as a destitute Franklin wandered the same palm tree-lined streets as the series premiere, now a shadow of his former self and a sobering reminder of addiction’s true cost. — Keisha Hatchett
23. THE FUGITIVE
Dr. Richard Kimble’s 120-episode odyssey came to a thrilling close some 56 years ago, in a two-parter that first drew the accused wife-killer, pursuer Lt. Gerard and the elusive One-Armed Man to Los Angeles, then brought the tale full-circle back to Stafford, Ind. There, atop an amusement park tower, Kimble got the confession he had long sought, before Gerard shot the One-Armed Man, who then fell to his death. — M.W.M.
22. SUCCESSION
HBO’s corporate drama ruthlessly pulled the rug out from under the Roy siblings — and us — with a finale that denied all of Logan’s children the Waystar throne and sent each of them into devastating spirals of despair. (It hurt all the more that the finale also gave us a few fleeting moments of Kendall, Roman and Shiv actually being happy and joking around together.) It was a stone-cold bummer of an ending, yes… but given how cynical and melancholic the Roys’ saga had been, it felt like a perfectly fitting send-off. — Dave Nemetz
21. THE OFFICE
Even in its wobbly post-Steve Carell seasons, The Office retained its ability to stick the landing on a milestone episode. Its series finale served up payoff after payoff, including a realistic end to the show’s documentary conceit, new chapters for central couples Jim and Pam and Dwight and Angela, and emotional resolutions to smaller storylines, like Erin’s sweet reunion with her birth parents. Plus, the episode got us good with the surprise return of Carell’s Michael Scott, who landed his best “that’s what she said” joke of the series. Silly and sentimental, The Office’s swan song was an expertly balanced goodbye to Dunder Mifflin’s motley crew. — R.I.
20. PARENTHOOD
Parenthood wouldn’t be Parenthood if it didn’t make us cry — and the NBC dramedy’s finale certainly brought on the waterworks. But even though the Bravermans lost patriarch Zeek in the final episode, the hour wasn’t weighed down by grief and heartache. Rather, with the help of a several-year time jump, the finale became a beautiful (and, yes, ugly cry-inducing) celebration of love, family and the joyous moments that can be found even in the most difficult times. — Rebecca Iannucci
19. JUSTIFIED
The FX drama wrapped its six-season run with, of course, much gunplay, a couple more deaths, a few happy (or happy-ish, for Raylan and Winona) endings, a four-year time jump and a wee surprise — in the form of the baby boy that Ava apparently was pregnant with, via Boyd, when she fled Harlan for California. Raylan let fugitive Ava have her peace by visiting Boyd in prison to fib that his lady love had died in a car crash. When a moved Boyd asked Raylan why he made the trip from Miami to deliver this news in person, Raylan gave the matter some thought, before Boyd surmised: “We dug coal together,” and in doing so formed a bond that eclipsed their lawman/outlaw dynamic and was a running theme through the series. — M.W.M.
18. VEEP
Selina Meyer’s farewell was anything but a lame duck: A mad scramble for presidential delegates led to plenty of plot twists, F-bombs and Jonah ridiculousness — along with an unexpectedly emotional moment that hit like a ton of bricks, when Selina let the unfailingly loyal Gary take the fall for the Meyer Fund scandal. (It was risky for a show as ruthlessly funny as Veep to get serious in its final minutes, but that risk paid off big time.) It was all capped by a priceless flash-forward to Selina’s funeral… which got upstaged by the news of Tom Hanks’ death. Of course. — D.N.
17. LOST
Forget about the giant stone “cork” for a moment. The fact is that “The End,” despite some perceived storytelling shortcomings, inarguably delivered incredibly satisfying beats that paid off our years spent with the castaways. Hurley being put in charge of the island. “We could go Dutch.” “Sayid….” “Claire…??” “I remember!” Jack slugging it out with The Man in Black. “No. That’s not how you know me.” Ben nudging Locke to rise from his wheelchair and enter the church. “Everyone dies sometime, kiddo.” Wounded Jack dying in the jungle, echoing the series’ opening frame. And all as Michael Giacchino’s score infused each moment with rich swells of emotion. — M.W.M.
16. THE GOOD PLACE
NBC’s afterlife comedy wrapped up on a beautifully philosophical note, with Eleanor and her fellow humans all separately deciding to end their eternal existences by walking through a door in a serene redwood forest. (Even heaven gets old after a while, it seems.) We laughed, we cried… it was forking lovely. — D.N.
15. ER
A wonderful mix of nostalgia and future possibilities, “And in the End” brought back together old friends/colleagues Carter, Benton, Corday, Lewis and Weaver, while also shepherding in County General’s next generation of docs. And who should be among them but the late Dr. Greene’s daughter Rachel! We can think of no more perfect, full circle ending than Carter turning around and asking the prospective med student if she’s coming to treat a critical patient as the show’s iconic theme song started to play. — Ryan Schwartz
14. BREAKING BAD
We could write pages about what made the acclaimed AMC drama’s finale “Felina” so wicked good. But the part we loved best was cancer-stricken chemistry teacher-turned-drug lord Walter White admitting to wife Skyler that he hadn’t dealt meth for their family. “I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it.” And how. — C.M.
13. BETTER CALL SAUL
This one had a lot to live up to after its predecessor ended on such a satisfying note — for more on that, see above — but AMC’s prequel managed to deliver a stirring closing statement of its own, with Jimmy McGill finally coming clean for his years of shady legal wrangling and reclaiming his name. (Bob Odenkirk was never better.) Jimmy won back the respect of his beloved Kim Wexler, and their final scene together, sharing a romantic cigarette while he serves out a lengthy sentence in federal prison, was perfectly bittersweet. — Dave Nemetz
12. STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION
What better way to wrap the sci-fi franchise’s first offshoot than with a throwback to TNG‘s premiere? Captain Picard time-jumped among three distinct eras of his life, only to realize that humanity’s trial — which Q kicked off in the series’ premiere, “Encounter at Farpoint” — was still underway. Of course, Jean-Luc came out on top, avoiding the Enterprise’s eventual destruction and even fitting in a poker game with his crew before the credits rolled. — Kimberly Roots
11. THE AMERICANS
Just when we expected FX’s Cold War spy drama to go out in a hail of bullets, with multiple characters getting killed off, it ended on an appropriately restrained note instead, with an elegantly constructed, magnificently heart-wrenching finale. It packed plenty of epic emotional moments, too — Stan finds out! Paige gets off the train! — before dealing married Soviet spies Philip and Elizabeth Jennings perhaps a fate worse than death: starting a new life in their Russian homeland after leaving their children behind in Reagan’s America. — D.N.
10. HALT AND CATCH FIRE
Sad as it was to see Joe walk away from those he cared for most, it was exactly what was needed to bring the series full circle. Our once-reptilian protagonist had endured the pain of becoming human and all the loss that it entails. And emerging from the dust of Gordon’s demise, and Joe and Cameron’s on-again/off-again romance, was the rebirth of Cameron and Donna’s working relationship, which, over time, had become the very best part of the show. — R.S.
9. CHEERS
We’ll always hoist a glass to “One for the Road” — and Sam Malone’s decision to forsake his chance at a reunion with old flame Diane Chambers to remain in Boston with his true love: the gang at the bar. — C.M.
8. THE WIRE
There was never anything simple about this blue-chip HBO drama. So we were gratified that there was nothing simple about the episode with which it concluded, either. Dishing out endings happy (Bubbles, finally clean) and heartbreaking (Dukie shooting up), “-30-” allowed the series to keep it real to the end. — C.M.
7. M*A*S*H
Never afraid to remind viewers that war is hell, the long-running CBS comedy didn’t just say a funny “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen” with its Alan Alda-directed finale. It also forced Hawkeye to unearth repressed memories of a refugee woman smothering her clucking chicken crying infant to keep their bus from being discovered by enemy soldiers. — M.W.M.
6. THE LEFTOVERS
After three seasons, the HBO drama — arguably one of the most daring series in television history — gave us a last gift before its Sudden Departure: It allowed “The Book of Nora” to boil down its whole surreal plot to a poignant love story between two characters for whom we’d come to care almost desperately. — C.M.
5. FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS
Though the NBC/DirecTV drama was always about much more than football, it really scored with “Always.” Back then, TVLine’s Michael Ausiello called the series ender — which gave a happy ending to the Taylors as the clock ran out — “spectacularly satisfying yet utterly gut-wrenching.” — C.M.
4. THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW
Sad as it was that the Six O’Clock News team (save Ted Baxter!) was fired in “The Last Show,” the episode still felt like as warm a hug as Mary Richards and her friends shared before she mustered up the courage to turn the world on with her smile one final time. — C.M.
3. NEWHART
The last episode of Bob Newhart’s 1982-90 comedy was a dream come true: After being KO’d by a golf ball, innkeeper Dick Loudon woke up as the funnyman’s old Bob Newhart Show character — in bed with his wife from that series, Suzanne Pleshette’s Emily! The entirety of Newhart had been a dream! — C.M.
2. THE SHIELD
Crime doesn’t pay. So Michael Chiklis’ Vic Mackey learned in the FX drama’s near-perfect swan song, “Family Meeting,” as the corrupt cop not only lost his kids and the last of his friends but was [shudder] forced to accept a desk job. — C.M.
1. SIX FEET UNDER
“Everyone’s Waiting” did the near impossible: Just two episodes after the death of Peter Krause’s Nate, it flashed forward to the demises of all of the major characters on HBO’s beloved funeral-home drama, yet managed to feel more uplifting than downbeat. Miraculous. — C.M.
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