History AudienceAlienatingEnding / LiveActionTV

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': The 13th Doctor's run was divisive overall, but even many fans who otherwise liked Series 12 turned against it when "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E10TheTimelessChildren The Timeless Children]]" aired, because it [[spoiler:reveals the Doctor is ''not'' an ordinary Time Lord but a mysterious immortal who the Time Lords experimented on to get their [[TheNthDoctor regeneration abilities]] from]]. This reveal, while enjoyed by some fans, infuriated several more, with entire video essays on [=YouTube=] dedicated to arguing why the reveal doesn't work. Common complaints are that it is [[spoiler:a massive {{retcon}} to a decades-lasting franchise that strips the Doctor of their status as TheUnchosenOne, contradicts canon and creates many plot holes, turns the Time Lords into frauds, undermined the CharacterDevelopment of the first Doctor, and generally comes off as disrespectful to the franchise and its history.]]

* ''Series/CowboyBebop2021'': With the show prematurely cancelled, it ends [[spoiler: on a DownerEnding: Spike and Jet having a falling out after Spike's syndicate past comes to light and the latter's daughter gets kidnapped to lure Spike into a trap. Faye leaves the Bebop to find her past. Vicious pulls off his coup as in the anime, but it's ''Julia'' who takes it over, and ''she's'' the one who shoots Spike out of a church window. The series ends with Spike all messed up and wounded, only to run into Ed who states she has a job for him before he passes out.]] And... that's it. Poor word of mouth from fans of the original anime scared Creator/{{Netflix}} into cancelling the show, meaning those that either did like it or those who were curious to see where the story was going were left hanging. This ending sullied the reputation of the live action show.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': The 13th Doctor's run was divisive overall, but even many fans who otherwise liked Series 12 turned against it when "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E10TheTimelessChildren The Timeless Children]]" aired, because it [[spoiler:reveals the Doctor is ''not'' an ordinary Time Lord but a mysterious immortal who the Time Lords experimented on to get their [[TheNthDoctor regeneration abilities]] from]]. This reveal, while enjoyed by some, also infuriated enormous numbers of fans, with entire video essays on [=YouTube=] dedicated to arguing why the reveal doesn't work. [[spoiler:Common complaints are that it is a massive {{retcon}} to a decades-lasting franchise that strips the Doctor of their status as TheUnchosenOne, contradicts canon and creates many plot holes, turns the Time Lords into frauds, undermined the CharacterDevelopment of the first Doctor, and generally comes off as disrespectful to the franchise and its history.]]

* ''Series/QuantumLeap'': The original run of the show was forced to WrapItUp in a single episode due to a sudden cancellation notice. The result was the episode "Mirror Image" which has the main character Sam Beckett realizes that he has subconscious control over his leaps, and all his leaps were done out of a desire to make the world better. Sam decides to use his newfound control to leap to 1969 and let [[MissionControl Al's]] wife, Beth, know her husband is still alive and to not get remarried, despite Sam knowing this will likely cause him to never meet Al. The episode then cuts to a black screen with text that says "Beth never remarried. She and Al have four daughters and will celebrate their 39th anniversary in June. Dr. Sam Becket [sic] never returned home". Many fans were dismayed at the idea TheHero never achieved his HappyEnding for rather vague reasons, to the point several viewers insist that [[ExactWords while Sam Becket never made it home, Sam Beckett did]].

* ''Series/QuantumLeap'': The original run of the show was forced to WrapItUp in a single episode due to a sudden cancellation notice. The result was the episode "Mirror Image" which has the main character Sam Beckett realizes that he has subconscious control over his leaps, and all his leaps were done out of a desire to make the world better. Sam decides to use his newfound control to leap to 1969 to let that [[Mission Control Al's]] wife, Beth, know her husband is still alive and to not get remarried, despite Sam knowing this will likely cause him to never meet Al. The episode then cuts to a black screen with text that says "Beth never remarried. She and Al have four daughters and will celebrate their 39th anniversary in June. Dr. Sam Becket [sic] never returned home". Many fans were dismayed at the idea TheHero never achieved his HappyEnding for rather vague reasons, to the point several viewers insist that [[ExactWords while Sam Becket never made it home, Sam Beckett did]].

* ''Series/QuantumLeap'': The original run of the show was forced to WrapItUp in a single episode due to a sudden cancellation notice. The result was the episode "Mirror Image" which has the main character Sam Beckett realizes that he has subconscious control over his leaps, and all his leaps were done out of a desire to make the world better. Sam decides to use his newfound control to leap to 1969 and let the wife of his MissonControl Al, Beth, that her husband is still alive and a PrisonerOfWar so she doesn't get remarried, despite Sam knowing this will likely cause him to never meet Al. The episode then cuts to a black screen with text that says "Beth never remarried. She and Al have four daughters and will celebrate their 39th anniversary in June. Dr. Sam Becket [sic] never returned home". Many fans were dismayed at the idea TheHero never achieved his HappyEnding for rather vague reasons, to the point several viewers insist that [[ExactWords while Sam Becket never made it home, Sam Beckett did]].

* ''Series/QuantumLeap'': The original run of the show was forced to WrapItUp in a single episode due to a sudden cancellation notice. The result was the episode "Mirror Image" which has the main character Sam Beckett realizes that he has subconscious control over his leaps, and all his leaps were done out of a desire to make the world better, so he uses his newfound control to leap to 1969 to let Beth know that her husband and Sam's MissionControl Al, is still alive and to not get remarried, despite Sam this will likely cause him to never meet Al. The episode then cuts to a black screen with text that says "Beth never remarried. She and Al have four daughters and will celebrate their 39th anniversary in June. Dr. Sam Becket [sic] never returned home". Many fans were disappointed by this bleak and vague ending for TheHero, causing many to insist [[ExactWords while Sam Becket never made it home, Sam Beckett did]].

* The final episodes of ''Series/GameOfThrones'' are widely disliked for abruptly turning Daenerys Targaryen into an unhinged and merciless tyrant, and retroactively framing her series-wide character arc into a ProtagonistJourneyToVillain plot--which most people viewed as [[AssPull coming out of left field]] with no real set-up. Relatedly, fans generally found the conclusion to the series-wide struggle over the Iron Throne (i.e. Westeros transitions to an elective monarchy, and Bran gets ''voted'' king because he has "the best story") to be deeply unsatisfactory, and largely out-of-step with the themes of the show; furthermore, numerous previously-beloved characters' endings completely discard most if not all of their CharacterDevelopment received throughout the series and bring their personal arcs to incredibly unsatisfying conclusions, most infamously Jaime Lannister and the aforementioned Daenerys. While the later seasons are generally agreed to have suffered from [[SeasonalRot a general decline in quality]], the ultimate ending is particularly singled out for criticism, with many fans and critics feeling that it permanently tainted the show's legacy--resulting in ''Game of Thrones'' largely falling off the cultural radar after it ended, despite being one of the biggest phenomenons of the 2010s. That being said, the prequel ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'' ended up being a massive success regardless, showing that the franchise was not done entirely.

* The final episodes of ''Series/GameOfThrones'' are widely disliked for abruptly turning Daenerys Targaryen into an unhinged and merciless tyrant, and retroactively framing her series-wide character arc into a ProtagonistJourneyToVillain plot--which most people viewed as [[AssPull coming out of left field]] with no real set-up. Relatedly, fans generally found the conclusion to the series-wide struggle over the Iron Throne (i.e. Westeros transitions to an elective monarchy, and Bran gets ''voted'' king because he has "the best story") to be deeply unsatisfactory, and largely out-of-step with the themes of the show; furthermore, numerous previously-beloved characters' endings completely discard most if not all of their CharacterDevelopment received throughout the series and bring their personal arcs to deeply unsatisfactory conclusions, most infamously Jaime Lannister and the aforementioned Daenerys. While the later seasons are generally agreed to have suffered from [[SeasonalRot a general decline in quality]], the ultimate ending is particularly singled out for criticism, with many fans and critics feeling that it permanently tainted the show's legacy--resulting in ''Game of Thrones'' largely falling off the cultural radar after it ended, despite being one of the biggest phenomenons of the 2010s. That being said, the prequel ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'' ended up being a massive success regardless, showing that the franchise was not done entirely.

* The final episodes of ''Series/GameOfThrones'' are widely disliked for abruptly turning Daenerys Targaryen into an unhinged and merciless tyrant, and retroactively framing her series-wide character arc into a ProtagonistJourneyToVillain plot--which most people viewed as [[AssPull coming out of left field]] with no real set-up. Relatedly, fans generally found the conclusion to the series-wide struggle over the Iron Throne (i.e. Westeros transitions to an elective monarchy, and Bran gets ''voted'' king because he has "the best story") to be deeply unsatisfactory, and largely out-of-step with the themes of the show. While the later seasons are generally agreed to have suffered from [[SeasonalRot a general decline in quality]], the ultimate ending is particularly singled out for criticism, with many fans and critics feeling that it permanently tainted the show's legacy--resulting in ''Game of Thrones'' largely falling off the cultural radar after it ended, despite being one of the biggest phenomenons of the 2010s. That being said, the prequel ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'' ended up being a massive success regardless, showing that the franchise was not done entirely.