10 TV Shows That Are Finally Ending

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00:00Deciding when to end a TV show is incredibly tricky.

00:03Race to the end and you can wind up with a very clearly rushed catastrophe,

00:06but let it drag on for years longer than the story needs,

00:09and you get something that fizzles out long after its audience have moved on.

00:13And so while fans will usually be sad to see their favorite shows go regardless,

00:17these 10 TV series feel like they're getting an ending that's been one hell of a long time coming indeed.

00:23I'm Cy for WhatCulture.com and these are 10 TV shows that are finally ending.

00:27Number 10, The Walking Dead.

00:29It's often repeated among The Walking Dead's long-suffering fans that the show itself

00:33has become a shambling zombie that simply refuses to die,

00:37but after 11 seasons it will finally air its last ever episode on November 20th.

00:42Even though many have dubbed the last few seasons a fair return to form,

00:45The Walking Dead is a show that clearly just kept going far beyond its actual creative threshold

00:50because the ratings remained relatively high.

00:53But when protagonist Rick Grimes departed the show midway through 2018 season 9,

00:58the ratings entered a seemingly irreversible death spiral,

01:01with a recent episode garnering an all-time low of just 1.55 million viewers,

01:05compared to its all-time high of 17.29 million for the season 5 premiere.

01:11Though AMC already has numerous spin-off projects in the works,

01:14one centered around Daryl and Carol, another around Rick and Michonne,

01:17and one focused on Maggie and Negan,

01:19it'll nevertheless be a relief to see the flagship show finally put out to pasture,

01:24many years after it reached both its narrative and ratings peak.

01:279. The Flash

01:29When The CW's The Flash launched back in 2014,

01:32who could have predicted that it would run for a whole nine seasons,

01:35and in turn become the longest-running Arrowverse series, beating out even Arrow itself?

01:40Back in March, The CW confirmed that The Flash was wrapping up with a shortened ninth season,

01:45and given that it's the only Arrowverse show left standing,

01:48it will also effectively bring the entire franchise to an end.

01:51And it's certainly long past due.

01:53Though The Flash enjoyed strong reviews and ratings during its first few seasons,

01:57things eventually tapered off, and in Season 7 last year,

02:00the ratings finally dipped below 1 million viewers for the first time.

02:04After three or four seasons, The Flash settled for being too much of the same,

02:08and it became increasingly clear the central cast members had largely lost their enthusiasm for

02:12their roles, beyond a paycheck of course.

02:15For all but the most hardcore fans, audience passion had dried up too.

02:198. The Crown

02:21Though it only premiered back in 2016, it feels like The Crown has been on our screens for a

02:26damn long time, perhaps because its end point has seemed within sight for almost three years now.

02:31In early 2020, creator Peter Morgan stated that the historical drama series would end with its

02:35upcoming fifth season, deeming it the perfect time and place to stop.

02:39But a few months later, Morgan backpedaled and revealed that the show would indeed run for an

02:44additional season, with six seasons having been his original plan when conceiving the show.

02:48Season 5, set to premiere in November, will begin the show's final arc for Queen Elizabeth,

02:52now portrayed in the later decades of her life.

02:55Season 6 began filming in August, meaning it likely won't air until late 2023 at the earliest,

03:00but it's nevertheless reassuring to know that the acclaimed series has an end point.

03:04Despite the sure temptation to drag the show on in an attempt to forensically detail every major

03:09event in Elizabeth's life up to her recent death, it's good to know that Morgan will be employing a

03:14little restraint. 7. Riverdale

03:17It's been something of a running joke that nobody hates Riverdale more than the actors starring in

03:21it, and with the show being renewed for a seventh and final season back in March,

03:24many remarked that the young cast members were finally free from this commitment.

03:28There's little denying that the CW's supernatural drama series started to go off the rails in its

03:33third season, with a glut of increasingly silly storylines, though fans are sharply divided on

03:38whether this was a good thing or not. To some, it elevated Riverdale into the canon of guilty

03:42pleasure schlock, while some felt it stray too far from the comparative modesty of its earlier seasons.

03:47In recent years in particular, the Riverdale cast hasn't made much of an effort to disguise their own

03:52half-joking disdain for the series, and given that many of the primary cast members are gaining

03:56momentum outside of the show, their eagerness to move on is understandable. There will be those who miss

04:01Riverdale and its flagrant trashiness, yet it's time to wrap up feels thoroughly overdue.

04:066. Stranger Things

04:08On paper, Stranger Things doesn't feel like it's majorly outstayed its welcome, but due to both the

04:13big budget nature of its production and the pandemic, its four seasons to date have been spread over

04:18six years. One of the key problems with the show in recent years has been the passage of time.

04:23The four seasons to date have taken place over just two and a half years, despite the central cast

04:28members having all noticeably aged considerably more per the series' shooting schedule. And though

04:32season five will reportedly have a time jump of some sort, it feels like the credibility of these

04:36youngsters both being youngsters and remaining in Hawkins will reach snapping points if it continues

04:42on much longer. Plus, season four so brilliantly set the stage for an epic apocalyptic final season

04:47that going on any longer would feel like a massive mistake. At least in that regard, the Duffers appear

04:52to have mapped things out and conceived season four and five as effectively a two-part finale centred

04:57around the villainous Vecna. Here's to hoping they stick the landing.

05:015. Grey's Anatomy

05:03To be clear, no, you haven't missed any sort of official announcement about Grey's Anatomy finally

05:08coming to an end, but as of its current 19th season, it's clear that Shonda Rhimes' medical drama series

05:12has entered its endgame phase. Though its ratings have declined substantially since its peak in 2006's

05:18season three, where it regularly pulled in over 20 million viewers, the recent 18th season still

05:24averaged more than 4 million viewers per episode. That longevity is largely credited to one person,

05:29star Ellen Pompeo, who has appeared as protagonist Dr. Meredith Grey in almost all of the show's 400

05:35episodes to date. Pompeo and Rhimes have stated numerous times that the show will come to an end

05:40when Pompeo is ready, and given that the upcoming 19th season will see Pompeo only appear physically in

05:45eight episodes. While still narrating all of them, the writing feels very much on the wall.

05:50Pompeo is reducing her role to work on a new drama series for Hulu, which will mark her first major

05:55non-Meredith acting role since Grey's Anatomy began back in 2005. Ergo, putting two and two together,

06:02it seems that Grey's Anatomy will likely end within the next few years.

06:064. Community

06:08If you're thinking that Community wrapped up its sixth season run all the way back in 2015,

06:12remember that this wasn't ever the plan of creator Dan Harmon. Ever since the season 2 episode,

06:17Paradigms of Human Memory birthed the line six seasons in a movie, fans have championed the idea

06:22of Community lasting long enough to fulfil that prophecy. And just recently, Peacock announced

06:27that the Community movie is indeed finally happening, with most of the original cast all confirmed to

06:32return. The statuses of Yvette Nicole Brown and the ever-busy Donald Glover are meanwhile currently unknown,

06:38though hopefully they can at least be corralled for a cameo to decisively tie their character arcs off.

06:43It's safe to say that, in finally delivering six seasons and a movie, this will almost certainly

06:47be the final piece of the Community puzzle. A dew-eyed reunion which hopefully provides fans

06:52with the closure they deserve around 15 years after it first began airing.

06:573. Mock the Week

06:59Mock the Week is an undeniable institution of British TV comedy, a topical panel show which launched in 2005,

07:06and offering up a more irreverent riff on Have I Got News For You, quickly became a major rating

07:11success for the BBC. Viewership has remained relatively consistent throughout the show's run,

07:15yet this past summer it was revealed that Mock the Week was finally coming to an end with its current

07:2021st season. The BBC's official reasoning for the cancellation was to create room for new shows,

07:25yet many industry commentators noted that the decision reflected a general decline of panel shows

07:30over the last few years. For one, panel shows now have to compete with the immediacy of social

07:35media, which is a losing battle given that they're typically taped a day or two before airing.

07:39Mock the Week's formula also feels rather long in the tooth in 2022, and with the decline of shock

07:44comedy the series was known for during its peak with Frankie Boyle many years ago,

07:48the writing has been on the wall for quite some time. Nothing can ever take away what a cultural

07:53monolith Mock the Week was for the British public, but it's been time to go for quite a while.

07:582. The Handmaid's Tale

08:00The Handmaid's Tale was an undeniable cultural juggernaut during its first two seasons, at once a

08:05massive critical and award success, and a water cooler show that everybody was talking about.

08:10Yet the series, adapted from Margaret Atwood's 1985 dystopian novel, is also another classic

08:16case of a hit TV show that just didn't know when to stop, as it became clear with each passing season

08:21that the narrative was being artificially elongated past its natural end point.

08:25Since Season 3, The Handmaid's Tale has frustratingly spun its wheels time and time

08:29again, enough that even Elizabeth Moss' outstanding performance can't entirely prop it up.

08:34And so, there was a sense of relief when Hulu recently announced that the sixth season,

08:38due to air next year, will be its last.

08:41This runs counter to showrunner Bruce Miller's original vision for a 10-season run, which,

08:45given its current trajectory, would surely have been excruciating.

08:49That won't be the absolute last we see of Atwood's universe on the small screen,

08:52though, as Miller is already prepping an adaptation of her recent sequel novel, The Testaments.

08:57Number one, The Good Fight.

08:59It's incredibly tough to predict how a spin-off series will do.

09:02They can either be Frasier and arguably outperform their source material,

09:06or more commonly they struggle to retain the original fanbase, no matter how good they are.

09:10And so, when a spin-off to legal drama series The Good Wife premiered in 2017,

09:15few expected it to get anywhere close to the original series' seven-season run.

09:19But, never underestimate the appeal of the great Christine Baranski,

09:22as The Good Fight recently began airing its sixth and final season.

09:26Yet, it's not unfair to say that the recent seasons haven't quite

09:29matched the catty brilliance of the earlier ones,

09:31even if it's remained consistently entertainingly absurd.

09:34Six Seasons is an incredibly respectable run for a spin-off that could so easily have

09:39fallen off of a cliff after a year or two.

09:41Whilst many could watch Baranski play Diane Lockhart forever,

09:44best to close things off before there's a more noticeable decline in quality.

09:49And that's the list.

09:50Let us know what you thought of this video down in the comments below.

09:53Which of these shows are you going to miss the most when it finally does end?

09:56And let us know of any other shows that are currently ramping down.

10:00Make sure you like this video, share it with your friends,

10:02subscribe and hit that notification bell.

10:05I've been Seifel Wattculture, and have a good week.

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10 TV Shows That Are Finally Ending

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