Let’s be honest—there’s nothing more infuriating than hanging in with a show for years, only to have the final episode come off like a slap in the face. Whether it’s a confounding creative decision, a rushed mess to the end, or a twist that negates everything that has previously happened, some shows have ended up in the books for all the wrong reasons. Here are ten that continue to ignite controversy, memes, and “what were they thinking?” debates—listed in reverse order for maximum flair.
10. Empire
At its best, Empire was appointment TV, with Taraji P. Henson’s Cookie Lyon owning every frame. But when the pandemic shut down production on the last season, rather than waiting for a proper finale, Fox pieced together a “finale” out of half-finished episodes. The result was jarring, muddled, and left huge loose ends—including those creepy flashforwards foreshadowing Lucious and Cookie’s demise, which never amounted to anything. Fans (and Cookie herself) deserved better.
9. Yellowstone
For a program constructed around epic Western drama, Yellowstone’s finale was oddly vacant. The Duttons returned their ranch to the Broken Rock Tribe in what the narrative presented as a noble gesture—but it felt undeserved and consequence-free. Rather than working with the Dutton family grappling with the uglier elements of their legacy, the finale gave them neat resolutions. Meanwhile, actual Montana was still contending with the tourism boom the show helped create.
8. Scrubs
Scrubs accomplished the unusual task of leaving on a perfect, bittersweet note with its Season 8 finale. The network attempted to continue the magic with a “med school” retooling that tasted of a completely different (and substantially weaker) show. Gone were most of the show’s original cast members, the new additions never gelled, and by the time it limped out of existence, audiences were regretting that Season 8 might have been the actual goodbye.
7. Dexter
Few finales are as notorious as Dexter’s original one. Years of vigilante justice in Miami come to an end with our beloved serial killer staging his death and. becoming a lumberjack. His sister Debra was brain-dead and left drowned in the ocean, and Dexter escaped any real comeuppance. The backlash was so intense that “going full Dexter” became code for messing up an ending. Even the revival that came later couldn’t eliminate the bitter taste.
6. The Walking Dead
After eleven seasons of surviving the apocalypse, The Walking Dead concluded—not with closure, but with trailers masquerading as plot. The finale took more time setting up spinoffs than bidding adieu to iconic characters. Rather than a resolution for Daryl, Maggie, and the gang, fans were offered corporate franchise-styling. The apocalypse was better.
5. Lost
Lost was a cultural event, riddled with conspiracy theories and fan lore. But when the truth was finally revealed during the last season—yes, sort of—many people were left baffled. The “flash-sideways” twist explained that the alternate timeline was an afterlife purgatory; some misread it as implying that the entire series existed in the afterlife. It didn’t, but the finale was muddled enough to make people debate years later.
4. Game of Thrones
The globe’s most-viewed program concluded in a rush of hasty plot threads. Daenerys’s sudden descent into tyranny, Bran’s sudden coronation, and inadequate ends for fan favorites made Game of Thrones Season 8 one of the most loathed final stretches in television history. HBO has been attempting to repair the brand by working on spinoffs, but “Who has a better story than Bran?” is still an internet joke.
3. How I Met Your Mother
After almost a decade of foreshadowing, viewers finally were introduced to “the mother”—only for her to perish off-screen so that Ted might marry Robin. The twist disrespected years of character development and had viewers raging over the bait-and-switch. What might have been a comfort-show staple is instead remembered as one of TV’s biggest gut punches.
2. The Sopranos
The cut to black that became infamous polarized audiences in an instant. Tony Soprano is having onion rings with his family one minute, and then—nothing. Was he murdered? Did life just continue? Creator David Chase has remained tight-lipped, but for many fans, the uncertainty was infuriating. For others, it was daring genius. Either way, it’s one of the hottest debated finales in television history.
1. Roseanne
In its initial run, Roseanne concluded with a shocking twist: the entire final season’s storyline was merely a narrative Roseanne had invented to deal with her husband Dan’s passing. The lottery jackpot, the shifts in the Conner household—it was all make-believe inside the make-believe. The twist was jarring against the show’s earthy, blue-collar roots, leaving some viewers more confused than ever. Even the revival couldn’t fully reverse the damage. These finales show that regardless of how great a show is, a bad finale can tarnish the entire ride. Occasionally, the true shock isn’t the twist—it’s the fact that the writers didn’t stick the landing.