The nature of TV shows mean that quality can vary drastically from season to season. For example, many of the greatest TV shows get better over time, starting off slowly and taking a season or two to find their voice. However, there are also those that do the opposite, starting off strong and gradually becoming less respected as the seasons wear on. Sometimes this is due to dragging stories out beyond their shelf life, but it can often be attributed to behind the scenes dramas or unavoidable cast changes. Regardless, even great TV shows sometimes deliver truly disappointing final seasons.
Wrapping up a story that has spanned years and maintained a loyal following is no small task. Sadly, these TV shows failed to rise to the challenge, delivering underwhelming endings that are disappointing when compared to the seasons before them. Despite many of the shows in question boasting years of serious quality, they simply failed to stick the landing.
1) Two and a Half Men
Over the course of Two and a Half Men‘s run, it earned a reputation as one of the best TV sitcoms of its era. The odd couple dynamic between Charlie Sheen’s womanizing Charlie and Jon Cryer’s neurotic Alan worked well, and living with Alan’s pre-teen son Jake afforded the show countless opportunities for comedy. However, after the incredibly public acrimony between Charlie Sheen and executive producer Chuck Lorre, Charlie was killed off and replaced with Ashton Kutcher’s Walden for the show’s final four seasons.
Once the novelty of Walden’s character had worn off, not even Kutcher’s charm could keep the show alive. Angus T. Jones’ Jake also left the show ahead of its final season, leaving its cast seeming decidedly threadbare. With so little of its original premise surviving, Two and a Half Men limped through its final season, a shadow of its former self. The result was a weak and disappointing send-off for a once great sitcom.
2) Scrubs
Shortly after it began airing, Scrubs earned itself a reputation as one of the most unique shows on TV. Combining the high-stakes environment of a medical hospital but leaning heavily into wacky comedic elements, the ensemble comedy delighted audiences with its capacity to make them laugh, cry, and empathise with its larger than life characters. After running for eight seasons, Scrubs reached what seemed to be its natural end, with its core cast going their separate ways. However, it soon returned for an ill-fated ninth season.
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Season 9 of Scrubs was considered massively disappointing by fans. Though most of the shows main characters returned in supporting or recurring roles, it focused instead on a whole new group of medical students, completely changing the whole dynamic of the show. It proved to be too much of a departure for most, and was swiftly canceled, though not before tainting Scrubs‘ good name for many fans.
3) Once Upon A Time
Once Upon a Time took an excitingly unique premise and span familiar characters into all-new stories. Borrowing fairy tale characters primarily from Disney movies, Once Upon a Time adapted them not just into live-action, but also into the real world. The premise alone helped to make the show a success, and strong performances from its talented cast only elevated it further.
Despite once being considered one of the best fantasy TV shows, Once Upon a Time‘s seventh and final season was wholly disappointing. After the departure of several of the show’s most beloved characters, it simply wasn’t the same, and couldn’t recapture its earlier magic. Compared to the six seasons before, Once Upon a Time‘s final season was simply nowhere near up to scratch.
4) The Vampire Diaries
The Vampire Diaries‘ success seemed to come on the crest of a wave of romantically-skewed vampire media, though it outlasted the phenomenon by at least a few years. The show, which followed two vampire brothers, Damon and Stefan Salvatore, ran for eight seasons in total before ending in 2017. Sadly, the show’s final season was not a hit with fans, and proved to be a hugely underwhelming ending to its story.
After the departure of main character Elena, The Vampire Diaries struggled to find its narrative footing, but its final season was nothing short of a mess. It has been heavily criticized for its rushed storytelling, uninspiring developments, and generally dissatisfying plot. It’s a final season that soured what was once a hugely popular show with a thoroughly unimpressive ending.
5) How I Met Your Mother
Once flatteringly likened to legendary sitcom Friends, How I Met Your Mother boasted an exceptional reputation and a massive global following. The show’s central premise and innovative approach to storytelling made it one of the most exciting sitcoms of its time, thanks largely to the excellent comedic chemistry of its cast. As its seasons wore on, its central plot point began to dangle precariously over all of its stories, and it headed into its ninth and final season buried under a self-imposed weight of anticipation.
Somewhat predictably, How I Met Your Mother struggled to live up to its own hype. After building up its romantic story for eight years, its ultimate reveal of the titular mother’s identity was underwhelming, as she featured only briefly before the show’s final twist. The revelation did not sit well with audiences, earning How I Met Your Mother‘s final season a reputation as a disappointing ending to an otherwise great show.
6) True Blood
Years after its release, True Blood season 1 is still considered perfect by many. The show’s refreshingly stark take on its subject matter felt original and edgy, contributing to general success both with critics and audiences alike. However, as its story went on, it became less believable and decidedly less entertaining, and fans quickly tired of its overly wild attempts to keep its audience guessing.
True Blood‘s final season is often considered one of the most disappointing in TV history, especially when weighed up against the early years of the show. After its first few seasons established its massive potential, its final outing was one that embodied just how badly True Blood had stagnated. By the time its final season came around, it was practically an entirely different show, and one that couldn’t deliver a satisfying finale.
7) Lost
When it comes to awful finales that ruined their TV shows, no final episode has ever been quite as vehemently despised as Lost‘s. The show’s tense atmosphere and edge-of-the-seat storytelling had earned it a reputation as one of the most exciting things on TV, only for its narrative to take a number of questionable turns in its final years. By the time the finale rolled around, Lost has effectively been written into a corner, and it shows.
Lost‘s final season might have featured a few good moments, but its ending was disappointing enough to ruin everything that came before. In fact, there are few finales that have ever received quite the level of hatred as Lost‘s, with much of its audience struggling to even understand its meaning. What was once one of the most promising shows on TV ended in the weakest way possible, making its final season incredibly underwhelming.
8) Dexter
Dexter was another show that once boasted a tantalising premise and the respect of global audiences. Its eponymous character being a serial killer who kills killers was an excellent hook that lent itself to a surprising amount of excellent storytelling. After running for seven seasons without growing stale, Dexter went into its eighth and final year relatively strong. However, season 8 was utterly terrible.
After a whole season of unlikely narrative developments and countless cliched plot points, Dexter ended with a disappointing finale that did the show an incredibly poor turn. Not only did it make for an unsatisfying conclusion to a once great TV show, but the dip in quality was so drastic that many fans simply tuned out. The ending was so disappointing that the show was eventually revived, seemingly to remedy the bitter taste left by season 8.
9) That ‘70s Show
That ’70s Show boasts a cast of young talent that went on to exceptional careers, which is a testament to its quality. The chemistry of its core cast was undeniable, with Topher Grace leading the show alongside Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis, Laura Prepon, and Wilmer Valderrama. However, when Grace left ahead of the show’s eighth and final season, it left a hole in the cast which That ’70s Show could only attempt to plug.
The result was, predictably, a poor final season. As well as Grace’s departure, Kutcher only appeared as a guest star, and new addition Randy served as a valiant but ineffective attempt to flesh out the show’s cast. Though the final season wasn’t completely terrible, it was a huge disappointment considering the quality of its predecessors.
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10) Game of Thrones
In the history of television, there have been very few final seasons as utterly disastrous as Game of Thrones‘. After six exceptional seasons of fantasy storytelling made Game of Thrones an absolute cultural phenomenon, the show’s seventh season built up to what was tipped to be an epic conclusion. The resulting eighth season was nowhere near as good as it needed to be, and has come to be universally considered as one of the worst final seasons in TV history.
While season 8 boasts a few excellent episodes, the overall thrust of its narrative was more than a little disappointing. This culminated in a devastatingly disappointing ending, with many of the show’s best characters meeting their unceremonious deaths and a poor attempt for a final twist serving as the series’ ultimate conclusion. When considering the quality and potential established by previous seasons, the final season of Game of Thrones was disappointing across the board.
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