This is the end: The 13 best TV series finales ever

By Christine Persaud September 3, 2016

After you invest hours and hours of time in a long-running television show, you want to get some closure, right? Or at least a satisfying final episode that makes you sad to see the show go, but happy that you watched.

Often, television series finales spark outrage because of rushed or lackluster storylines, cliffhangers, or questions that remain unanswered. But every once in a while the creative team hits one out of the park, leaving viewers to bask in the glow of the brilliant conclusion to their long tale.

From yoga retreat revelations, to climactic death, and teary-eyed moments, here are 13 of the best television series finales ever. Obviously, spoilers abound ahead.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Photo Galleries

Christine Persaud

Contributor

Christine has decades of experience in trade and consumer journalism. While she started her career writing exclusively about…

Entertainment

10 best HBO movies ever, ranked

HBO was founded in 1972, and it quickly became the premium cable network of choice for fans who wanted to see Hollywood's best movies from the comfort of their own home. It wasn't until 1983 that HBO began making its own original movies. And back then, Home Box Office wasn't just a name or a brand -- it was a promise that HBO's original programing would be several cuts above traditional made-for-TV films.

For decades, HBO has attracted top-tier actors and actresses, as well as established directors, to deliver feature-film quality content that, in many cases, should have gotten theatrical releases. Although HBO has largely pulled back from making new original movies in the streaming era of Max, many of the network's top films from the past are still readily available to watch. To help keep these fantastic films in the public eye, we've put together a list of the 10 best HBO movies, which you can find below.
10. Behind The Candelabra (2013)

Entertainment

The best movie and TV show trailers of the week of May 3

Freya Allan in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.

Unless you're super dialed in to the latest entertainment news every day of the week, it's really easy to miss a new trailer for your favorite movie or TV show. That's why we're bringing together the best movie and TV show trailers of the week of May 3 in one place. All you really have to do now is scroll down and hit play.

Just releasing a new trailer isn't enough to get it on our roundup. We believe that the best trailers are the ones that don't give away too much about the story, while also building up a sense of excitement for the film or TV series. Most of all, we still want to be surprised when we actually watch the programing in question. Keep this in mind as we go over this week's trailers.
From season 3

Entertainment

Does the sci-fi classic Alien have the best movie marketing campaign ever?

An alien egg cracks open with the tagline "In space no one can hear you scream" underneath in the Alien movie poster.

There’s a case to be made that the Xenomorph is the greatest movie monster ever conceived. It’s certainly among the most iconic. H.R. Giger, the Swiss artist who designed the title creature of Alien, took inspiration from Francis Bacon and Rolls-Royce, and emerged with a biomechanical killing machine that's instantly identifiable in silhouette. Cross a tapeworm with a shark, a cockroach, a dinosaur, and a motorcycle, and you’re close to describing the nightmare Giger and director Ridley Scott inflicted on unsuspecting moviegoers in 1979.

A monster so unforgettable sells itself. One look is all it would take to know that you had to see the cursed thing in action. And yet, there’s barely a glimpse of the alien in any of the original advertising for Alien. The beast is completely absent from the posters, and the trailer contains only a borderline-subliminal flash of its earliest larval stage, the face hugger. Unless you subscribed to a select few science fiction fan magazines — the ones boasting some enticing behind-the-scenes images, all part of a final “hard push” to get asses in seats — you were going into Alien blind, completely unprepared for the exact nature of the threat faced by its cast of unlucky galaxy-traversing characters.