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The 10 Most Controversial TV Finales Ever

It's often said not to judge a TV show by its pilot episode, as those are notoriously difficult to get right. However, at the other end of the process, a finale is probably even harder to write. By that point, you have a whole series that's depending on you not screwing things up. It's not surprising, then, that so many popular shows have delivered hugely controversial finales over the years.

Roseanne

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Never do an “it was all a dream” ending. It’s something that everyone knows, whether you’re in the writing business or not. It’s head scratching, then, that so many TV shows have decided to drop this awful reveal in their finales. The only other surefire way to annoy the fans is to kill off one of the main characters.

Presumably in an attempt to make it especially hated, Roseanne‘s final hour decided to implement both of these loathed twists. The final season of the show had seen the Conners family’s fortunes rise after winning the lottery. Or so it seemed. It actually turned out that the show had been a fiction written by Roseanne all along. In real life, she hadn’t won the lottery…. and her husband, John Goodman’s Dan, had died.

Though Roseanne Barr’s performance in this unexpectedly emotional episode was praised, most found a needlessly depressing outing to end the series on. It’s no surprise, then, that the upcoming revival of Roseanne is set to totally ignore the last episode and resurrect Dan. If only every finale on this list could be stricken from the record like that.