What: A dataviz about the worst-received TV finales
Who: Data analytics consultant (and Redditor) Bo McCready.
Why we care: The memory may have faded a bit by now, as all memories quickly do in this overstuffed era, but last summer’s final episode of Game of Thrones left a sour taste in many viewers’ mouths. Disillusioned fans put together a Change.org petition for HBO to remake the entire eighth season of the series—and got nearly two million signatures—before HBO breezily swatted the idea away. According to one data-obsessed Redditor, the GoT series’ much-maligned finale is near the top of a list of the 18 most-hated endings for beloved TV shows.
In a new dataviz entitled “Good Shows, Bad Endings,” analytics consultant Bo McCready combs through IMDb audience ratings data to find instances of extreme disappointment. His data journey centers on shows whose every episode received at least 10,000 audience ratings on IMDb and lands on 18 of them with an average rating of 7.0 or higher whose finale rated 6.0 or lower.
Some of the shows graphed out below may be surprising, while others should be entirely expected. House of Cards, for instance, premiered to much fanfare back in 2013, instantly announcing Netflix as a formidable player in original series content. By the end of its run, though, fans had already begun to lose interest even before series lead Kevin Spacey was revealed to be an alleged predator and thus written out of the show. Dexter was another series whose ending was widely derided, even by its star. Who knew, however, that Girls fans were so upset about that show’s ending, or that How I Met Your Mother stans were fuming over the ultimate revelation of the show’s titular promise?
Have a look at the other 14 shows in the graphs below, which all back up Fast Company’s recent plea to Peak TV-era showrunners to start ending more series before they outstay their welcome.
Recognize your brand’s excellence by applying to this year’s Brands That Matter Awards before the early-rate deadline, May 3.
