Shows That Were Good From Beginning to End

[kguillou]

Felt like this was an appropriate topic due to....recent television events lol. And also may be a good gauge for people to get recommended shows that are worth their time. All too often we get invested in a show, especially a serialized one, only for the ball to be dropped in season 5,6,7 etc and then limp to the finish line. Or they are canceled unceremoniously and don't get a good satisfying ending. Rare are the Breaking Bads out there that are just good all the way through and have a natural end.

So what are shows that maintained its quality from the pilot to the series finale and provided a nice satisfying "The End?"

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

Ripper Street springs to mind. Also Ash vs Evil Dead was really good all through. It got cancelled early, but there's some debate around whether the final episode gave the series a good closure (I thought it worked pretty well).


Edit: And for those in the UK above a certain age (and with long memories!), undoubtedly The Sweeney.

 

[_Superman_]

Deadwood.

 

[Shinobi Shaw]

Dead Like Me.

Cancelled in 2 seasons but those were 2 damn good years.

ETA: I’d also give Xena: Warrior Princess this distinction.

 

[MadVillainy]

Psych. I think it's 98 episodes. All of them except maybe 2 are good imo.
Parks and Rec is good until the end.
Fresh Prince of Bel Air was good until the end.
Veep was good until the end.

 

[JimThompson]

For me, just off the top of my head:
Battlestar Galactica
House
Sherlock
M*A*S*H
Magnum P.I.
Justice League
Spectacular Spider-Man
Justified
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Cowboy BeBop
The Tunnel

 

[DarkShadow10]

Ripper Street
Being Human (UK)

 

[Incarnadine]

Nobody mentioned Breaking Bad yet?

This was a show that started out great and just kept getting better and better each season and even had an amazing finale.

 

[Pennywise]

The I.T Crowd
Hannibal
Cowboy Bebop
Spartacus
Counterpart
Breaking Bad
Santa Clarita Diet
Spectacular Spider-Man
Key and Peele
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Spawn The Animated Series
Angie Tribeca

 

[Batmannerism]

For me, just off the top of my head:
Battlestar Galactica
House
Sherlock
M*A*S*H
Magnum P.I.
Justice League
Spectacular Spider-Man
Justified
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Cowboy BeBop
The Tunnel

Hmmmm..... would agree with some of that.


Justified - started strong and just got better and better, probably the most satisfying finale ever. A truly great show.

Battlestar, MASH and Magnum PI, all have a few hit and miss episodes but were otherwise great - particularly MASH ! I've never seen the finale of Magnum sadly.

Sherlock, I feel like it peaked in season 2 although the wedding episode was great fun. Season 4, particularly the finale I found a bit too far fetched even for a Holmes story.

Justice League is great fun, although I've only seen seasons 1 and 2.

House....lost interest after season 2, enjoyed the finale though.

Never saw spectacular Spider Man.

Okay, as a big trek fan back in the day I have to say that IMO TNG did not hit it's stride until season 3 - which might just be the best season overall ( there are great standout episodes in other seasons but I feel like season 3 took the show to a whole new level). Also later seasons had more than a few filler episodes. The finale was just magic, another one for the GOAT list.

DS9 again for me it didn't really hit stride until things really heated up with the Dominion War. The show started off as a sci fi version of Bonanza and turned into an extended version of Winds of War. Another great finale though.

Haven't seen the others

I would add to the list....

Fringe ( it loses some steam in the first half of season 4 but then recovers).

Person of Interest - I have some issues with the final season but otherwise it was great.

Firefly......great show right from season 1 to, oh never mind.

 

[Manasrepublic]

Game of Thrones yes?

The best show for me was Freaks and Geeks. Each episode is absolutely brilliant and the ending makes me wish there was a season 2 and on. One of the best shows ever made

 

[Persona]

I can think of a lot of shorter series that were good most of the way through (basically didn't have a chance to fade or jump the shark) so I am going to narrow down the category to non-anthology series that have at least five seasons. With that parameter, I'd pick these shows as the most consistently good ones:

Breaking Bad
Battlestar Galactica
Star Trek: The Next Generation
The Wire

Batman: The Animated Series doesn't technically qualify because it was split into 2 seasons... but it's 85 episodes total, so let's call it an honorable mention.

 

[Luigi]

The Americans
Nikita
Breaking Bad
Gravity Falls

Really need to get around to watching Justified.

 

[Pink Ranger]

Six Feet Under
Cheers
NYPD Blue
The Larry Sanders Show
30 Rock
WKRP

 

[Prison Mike]

Breaking Bad is the only show I felt where the quality never dipped.

 

[rebellion]

Breaking Bad and Damages (personal favorite).
I hope Billions can join this trio once it wraps up.

 

[Mandon Knight]

Frasier - consistently funny, moving, dark, light, brilliant for a sustained comedy series, that's a hard thing to do.

 

[SPO2 Dalisay]

Hill Street Blues
The Shield
Firefly
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Justified
Dark Matter

 

[psylockolussus]

Lost
Ugly Betty
Sex and the City

 

[_Superman_]

King of The Hill - such a great show.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

I am going to leave off one season shows, as they would qualify, but that feels more straight up cancelled way too soon. Also just going to limit it to 10, or I will be here forever trying to think up shows.

1. Justified

2. Adventure Time

3. Person of Interest

4. One Day at a Time

5. Hannibal

6. Avatar

7. The Americans

8. Pushing Daisies

9. You're the Worst

10. I.T. Crowd