(A quick word of warning, this article contains SPOILERS on the endings of all of the series mentioned below)
Realistically, it's difficult to make everyone happy. From time to time it can be possible, where a star studded cast leaves everyone satisfied and wanting more when the finales of a television series have happened. However, in other instances this is not the case. For a while now, the world of television has been producing series after series with somewhat of a difficult path to follow for viewers, especially considering that now more than ever television series are a huge part of people's lives nowadays.
With the development of television being at it's peak, thanks to the likes of 'Game of Thrones' to name one of many, any sort of event that occurs in our favourite series affects us in someway or another, and above all if these events happen in the final episode the significance and responses are huge. So, when a series doesn't have the grand finale that every fan was hoping for, it can have big consequences.
Such reasons can be never-ending, but on numerous occasions fans are left with loose ends or the fact it has been too easy to put all the pieces of the puzzle together, or even the complete opposite. As a result, the number of series with controversial endings is very high.
Leaving to one side whether the endings are of high quality or not, here are only eleven examples of series with controversial endings in the history of television.
1 'The Prisoner'
This was one of the first series in which the final ending caused so much controversy to the point that the creator and protagonist, Patrick McGoohan, had to leave the UK for a few days.In 'The Prisoner', the protagonist called Number Six is kidnapped and imprisoned in a coastal town which throughout the series he tries to escape from whilst also attempting to figure out the identity of Number One, the leader of the town. In the final episode, Number 6 removes the mask only to discover that he is the same person. This is somewhat a revelation which mistook the already confused followers of a series full of symbolism. It's safe to say fans were not happy!
2 'Alf'
'Alf' is possibly the series that marked the end of many peoples childhoods. No one imagined that a series mainly targeted towards the younger generation would have such a heavy ending. When the alien arrived to earth years after being rescued by his friend Skip and his girlfriend Rhonda, he is captured by a military organisation who hunt for aliens. The final episode stirred such a controversy that NBC, the company who broadcasted the show, did not renew it in the future. Years later, the show was turned into a film named 'Project:Alf' where the situation was resolved, but not to the fans liking.
3 'Roseanne'
This was probably one of the most popular series during its time, however the ninth and final season was full of very strange plots. The Conner's were a working class family trying to move up in the world. In the ninth season, the Conner family win a million dollars in the lottery, or this is what they were made to believe. The truth is far from it, as it is soon discovered that the ninth season is simply Roseanne having a daydream as a way of coping with the death of her husband Dan,John Goodman, who died from a heart attack.
4 'Seinfeld'
We must talk about 'The Finale', the final episode of one of the most popular comedy series there has been. We are talking about 'Seinfeld'. It was a back to back episode which bought together more than 76 million American viewers on 14th May 1998. The protagonists, played by Jerry Seinfled,Julia Louis-Dreyfous, Jason Alexander and Michael Richards are brought to justice for laughing at an overweight man who gets robbed. Of course we must remember that the creator, Larry David, maintained his witty humour up until the end. Finally, the protagonists are charged and end up in prison.
5 'Dinosaurs'
If we look at this in a logical way, the realistic ending to a series about dinosaurs would result in their extinction, right? This was indeed the route taken in the sit com 'Dinosaurs'. The process of global cooling occurs on Earth making living near enough impossible for the poor dinosaurs.
6 'The Sopranos'
Another series with a nitty-gritty ending was 'The Sopranos'. The final scene, in the restaurant with the Soprano where we find the Soprano marriage (James Gandolfini and Eddie Falco) and their children, is full of symbolism. The last few seconds in total darkness contributed to the already soaring speculation. Did Tony Soprano really die or did he suffer from mild paranoia after years of being in the Mafia?
7 'Two and a Half Men'
What future does a television series have when you are left with having to write off the main character? This is what happened in 'Two And A Half Men' and Charlie Sheen during the eighth season. The solution was clearly to kill him off, or that is what we were made to believe. We later discover that Charlie Harper was kidnapped by his stalker neighbour Rose (Melanie Lynskey), although he manages to escape. In the final scene, Charlie knocks on the door of his old house, where his brother (Jon Cryer) lives with Walden (Ashton Kutcher), but before anyone answers the door a piano falls on top of him. Lovely.
8 'Lost'
Did anyone really think we had forgotten about the ending of 'Lost'? The sixth season brought many headaches to fans. The parallel reality that each character experienced provoked many questions, some of which were clarified in the temple scene at the end where they were all reunited, a slight limbo before facing death. Many fans showed their disappointment with the ending with many questions that were left unanswered.
9 'How I Met Your Mother'
Surely the fans of 'How I Met Your Mother' will agree with the phrase 'it's the journey that matters, not the destination'. Nine seasons weren't really necessary in order to see how Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) met his partner (Cristing Milioti) and it only took a few episodes for that to go down the drain. In the end, it ended up being Robin (Cobie Smulders) something that was pretty clear from the start.
10 'Dexter'
It's slightly strange that a series about a man full of serial killer instincts wakes up with the same urges of killing many fans inside. 'Dexter' started as a good series with a great central cast, made famous by the brilliant Michael C. Hall, accompanied by interesting storylines. As the years went by, the quality worsened right up to the end of the series. In the final episode of the eighth series, after the death of his sister (Jennifer Carpenter), Dexter fakes his own death in order to spend the rest of his days as a lumberjack living in Oregon, far from his beloved Miami.
11 'The Serranos'
This popular Spanish TV series is certainly not well known in the UK, however there is no doubt that it provided Spanish viewers with a very controversial ending. The series tells the every day lives of the newly formed family after a widdower and single father marries his first love. Similar to 'Lost', 'The Serranos' certainly can't be left out of this list. In the end, it was all a dream for the protagonist Antonio Resines, which is something a little worrying for the amount of twisted things going on in his head.