For the past few years, Smiling Friends (2020) has been one of the beacons of Adult Swim and a huge hit on HBO Max. Michael Cusack and Zach Hadel’s bizarre workplace comedy endeared itself to fans around the world, mostly thanks to its understated but freestyling sense of humor and its inventive use of different types of animation in each episode. That makes it all the more stunning that, even though the show was renewed for a fourth and fifth season and has garnered critical acclaim, the two of them just announced they were ending the show with the third season.
To many, including myself, this was crushing. Smiling Friends was absolutely hilarious, but the two of them put it best in their announcement video as to why they were ending it. They said, ”We wouldn’t want to do any more seasons half-hearted, burnt out or not feeling it. It’s not fair to us and it’s not fair to our audience to give f**king slop. That sucks.” It’s shocking, but not entirely unprecedented. A handful of shows have decided to end on a high note instead of dragging on for endless seasons. Walking away from everything at its peak is ballsy, but it helps make a series all the more iconic. Much like Smiling Friends, these are five shows that ended well before their time, but for all the right reasons; catch them now on Disney+, Prime Video, and more!
Watchmen (2019)
Watchmen was going to be a tricky beast to produce. How do you make a sequel to one of the most famous comics of all time, one that had an incredibly open ending with no clear continuation? DC Comics and Damon Lindelof’s answer, at least in the world of television, was to keep the ending intact and expand on the logical underpinnings of it.
Watchmen, like the source material, is very politically charged. Topics like white nationalism and the ramifications of living in a police state are mixed in with comic book iconography, but with a much darker and more down-to-earth perspective. The new characters are far more mentally unstable, given the world they were forced to grow up in, while the returning characters from the graphic novel are more jaded, given the ramifications of what they’ve done in Alan Moore’s graphic novel. It’s a TV show that elevates something kid-friendly into a genuine drama, not unlike Andor (2022). The first season was critically acclaimed and won 11 Emmys, but Lindelof declined to continue the show, saying he told the story he wanted to tell and had nothing else to add about Watchmen. The nine episodes he directed were all immaculately done, and if you’re looking for a short, multi-faceted story to binge in a weekend, Watchmen is a top-tier choice.
Gravity Falls (2012)
Animation is never easy, and in a world where most Western animated shows are seen as merchandise cash cows by studios, creators like Alex Hirsch and the series, Gravity Falls, stand out all the more for how self-contained and short they are.
When Gravity Falls was pitched, Hirsch had a clear trajectory for the series and already knew what its ending would be. When it became a hit, Hirsch was adamant that the second season would be the show’s final season, mostly in part because of how exhausting it was to make the show, but also because he didn’t want anyone to interfere with its ending. Thanks to that, the spooky vibes of Gravity Falls became an instant cult classic, channeling the brevity of summer vacation and spooky Halloween vibes that would later influence The Owl House (2020). The series combined serialized storytelling with weekly adventures in a way that felt invigorating for the time, and it all came to an end in an apocalyptic ending that felt not only definitive but thematically fulfilling. Hirsch was right to call it when he did.
Twin Peaks: The Return (2017)
Twin Peaks (1990) has always been a weird show to discuss. While it may not fit in neatly with the concept of a show choosing to pick quality over quantity, Lynch’s direct involvement in the production allowed him to reclaim his vision from the studio heads at ABC.
Given how studio executives pressured Lynch to quicken the show’s pace in season 2, Lynch had distanced himself from the show midseason, only to return for the finale, given how most of the second season strayed from his original vision. He rewrote the ending, presented it in his typical Lynchian, dreamlike style, then walked away from the show for 25 years. When he did return with Twin Peaks: The Return, Lynch was given carte blanche to create the ending of his dreams, and what an ending it was. Avant-garde cinematography, campy humor, tragic farewells to longtime characters, and whatever the hell “Part 8” was made it a striking series that blends surreality in a similar way to The Leftovers (2014). Lynch returned to the series to create the ending he wanted, and it resulted in a cerebral show that will make even lofty academics break into a sweat while deconstructing Twin Peaks: The Return’s various allegories and symbolism.
The Good Place (2016)
Sometimes, a show can end because its creators want to leave before they are forced to turn a series they love into just another product for consumption. In the case of The Good Place, although the show’s creator, Michael Schur, didn’t want the series to go on forever, the ending serves as a coda to its themes.
The Good Place is a sharply written and smart comedy, but one of the reasons why it ended after four seasons was that the show is about endings. Each of its characters is trying to find a way to reach “the good place” and receive their happy ending. Prolonging their suffering and creating more drama for the sake of content would dilute the show’s message, so the series finale was always meant to be attainable. The characters all confront their demons, grow from them, and each new season puts them one step closer to ‘the good place.’ It makes the show quirky, and fans of Pushing Daisies (2007) will definitely appreciate how logically planned out the universe of The Good Place is, but its early ending was thematically justified and only serves to help drive home the idea that the destination and the journey are both equally valid.
Samurai Jack (2001)
While Genndy Tartakovsky was actively involved in the creation of the first four seasons of Samurai Jack, he ended the series on a cliffhanger at the time, citing burnout. It was always his intention to return to the series and finish it, and Cartoon Network respected that decision. When Tartakovsky was ready, Season 5 was produced, and it was glorious.
Much like how Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011) presented a much darker conclusion to what was initially a kids' series, the same happened to Samurai Jack. While the final season still had all of the stylistic flourishes and Kurosawa-esque presentation of the earlier seasons, the last season delved into a much darker and disturbing state of mind for Jack. He had frequent bouts of paranoid hallucinations, more violent impulses, and the world, while already bleak, had become even more horrible under Aku’s control. Gone was the humor of the first four seasons, but audiences were okay with that, given how it had been 13 years between seasons, and they were ready for a more mature take on the series. Samurai Jack is an animation powerhouse, and those looking for a true samurai epic will find the last season sensational.
