The 5 Most Revolutionary Video Games of All Time

I'm currently playing Sonic Generations in my spare time.  I haven't liked a Sonic game since Sonic Adventure 2, but after reading some good reviews, I took the plunge.  I have to say, the game isn't bad. It's strongest selling point is the nostalgia factor which takes you back to a time when Sonic was one of the kings. Back when the announcement of a new Sonic game was met with hope and high expectations instead of dread.  So, in honor of great games, I came up with a list of the top 5 most revolutionary of all time. (Sadly, Sonic isn't on the list). Mind you, this isn't the best video games of all time, just the biggest game changers.


5. Pokemon Red/Blue - Sept/1998

Interesting personal story about Pokemon for me: I wasn't in the country when it caught on in September 1998. I was living in Nigeria for half a year (August to December).  When I left, I had never heard of Pokemon, by the time I came back it was all my friends would talk about. And I had no idea what it was or what was cool anymore.

So Power Rangers isn't a cool thing anymore? All right, I'll go change...please don't remember this.

Pokemon Red/Blue was just a great game.  It spawned a tv show, a card game and ridiculous amounts of merchendise.  We all had our favor starter Pokemon (Bulbasaur FTW!).  The game was easy enough that even gaming novices could pick it up and enjoy it, yet it did require strategy and planning to beat the game. You could trade pokemon with your friends and even battle them, pitting your skills as a trainer against theirs. Battery companies saw profits like never before (Buying drug store generic batteries was a rookie mistake. Yeah they were cheaper but they ran out so quickly).  From assembling your ultimate team, to taking on the elite four, battling Mewtwo,  and using the Missingno glitch for essentially unlimited items, fans have many fond memories of the game. In fact Red/Blue is the best selling RPG for the Nintendo Gameboy. The series is on it's 5th generation now but the original 151 will always be remembered as the spark that started it all.

4.  Mortal Kombat - Aug/1992

I debated for a long time between Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. Both were great fighting games that let you dish out punishment to your friends (what more could you ask for).  I had to go with Mortal Kombat for one reason:

That stylish hat Raiden is sporting?

Blood.  Mortal Kombat was the first mainstream game to show blood. And not "realistically" or "tastefully" or even "responsibly". No, we got ridiculous, over the top, likely having a negative influence on our development, levels of blood. Blood would go flying everywhere.  But even better that the blood? This little treat you got when you beat your opponent (if you knew the right button combinations)

The fatalities are what really set this apart from Street Fighter.  Not only could you beat your friend, you could dismember him/her in the most gory way possible.   This was a time when video games were very PG, with cute characters and poorly simulated violence. Mortal Kombat was such a shock that the industry was forced to start rating games like they rate movies so that parents could know what games were "appropriate" for children.  For all you kids that couldn't buy a rated M game because the store wouldn't sell it to you without an adult being present, you can blame Mortal Kombat.


3. Goldeneye 64 - Aug/1997

A staple of any 90's kids life.  Almost everyone has played Goldeneye at some point. What made this game so revolutionary was that you could play with 3 of your friends at once (no more taking turns). This, along with Mario Kart 64, drove the sales of the Nintendo 64. There are very few video games in history that have house rules. Everyone has tangled with the "can you or can't you use Oddjob" debate before.

However, the biggest contribution this game has made to video game history is making the "escort" mission mainstream and giving it a face (Natalia anyone?).  "GET OUT OF THE WAY!". Here's a real life version of that terrible mission. She almost seemed to want to die.

p.s. for all you non gamers "escort" mission meant escort to safety. I just realized how the video screen grab and the title escort could be misconstrued. Get your minds out of the gutters.

2. Grand Theft Auto 3 - Oct/2001

Grand Theft Auto 3 ushered in modern gaming.  It was one of the first games with a truly expanded universe. You could spend your time taking on the missions one by one or you could explore.  You could get in a Taxi and become a driver collecting money.

Thanks for letting me borrow your taxi bro

You could steal a cop car and exact some vigilante justice.  You could pick up a lady of the night for more...adult activities.  You could just get your favorite gun and become a pedestrian's worst nightmare.

Pay your parking tickets people

GTA 3 started the trend of extending game time by adding more and more features/side missions that don't necessarily add to the plot of the game. In fact, games today seemed to be designed to prevent us from finishing the game by distracting our already low attention spans.  It rejuvenated the franchise which has continued to give us great games.  And it renewed media criticism of video games. Truly revolutionary.


1. Super Mario Bros - Sept/1985

Truthfully, there are a lot of games in the Mario universe that could have made this list.  It seems every few years, the people at Nintendo will release a new Mario game that completely changes the field.  I had to go with the first though because it is the prototypical platforming game. The game's soundtrack is still the most recognizable of all the Mario games.  "Thank you Mario, but our princess is in another castle" is almost a legendary phrase for people who played video games.

From this game, a brand was truly created. Mario was able to play basketball, tennis, golf, soccer, become a doctor, race his friends and enemies, and even throw parties.  He's seen rivals come and fall (Sonic and Crash Bandicoot to name a few) but still he remains. You know what, he's essentially the Jay-Z of gaming.   (There could easily be a youtube remix of "A star is born" by Jay-Z for Mario).  What's amazing is Mario shows no sign of stopping, we're almost ingrained to support Mario games.

In Defense of Carmelo Anthony

I have to start this post out the same way everyone starts out a post about the NY Knicks these days (i.e. Jeremy Lin). Lin has been nothing short of spectacular, winning 5 games in a row without the best two players on the team.  Outside of his tendency to turn the ball over, Lin has been everything a Knicks fan could have hoped for and more.  He has likely saved the Knicks season along with Mike D'antoni's job, neither of which were easy tasks.  However one of the most interesting things to emerge from his jaw-dropping play, outside of media personalities straddling the line between clever jokes that recognize Jeremy Lin's Asian American heritage and overtly racists comments, has been the effect this has had on the still injured Carmelo Anthony. As the WOW factor of Lin's emergence has begun to wear off, the media has started to shift it's focus to Carmelo Anthony and, as I will argue, have been criticizing him somewhat unfairly at times.  Below will be some of the criticisms posted against Anthony and my take on them.

On not being a winning player


I started with this one because it is the most ridiculous and baseless out of all the arguments I've heard. Some media personalities have been saying that the recent winning ways of the Knicks without Anthony confirms that he isn't a winning player and that the Knicks never should have traded for him. Let's do a comparison.  Dwayne Wade. Lebron James. Chris Bosh. Chris Kaman. These players, along with Anthony are considered the top 5 out of the 2003 NBA draft (widely considered one of the top 3 drafts of all time in terms of talent).  Only one of these players has been in the NBA playoffs every year they have been in the league. Yep, that's right, it's Melo.  Not Wade. Not Lebron.  Remember, the Denver team that drafted Melo was just as bad as Cleveland.  Think about that. Since 2004, Carmelo Anthony has been a fixture in the playoffs.  Not even Kobe can say that.

The counter to that is of course is that most of those years the Nuggets were booted out of the playoffs in the first round with only one playoff run to the Western Conference Finals. Meanwhile both Lebron and Wade have made multiple trips to the NBA finals. It's true that Carmelo's teams have been disappointing in the playoffs but to be fair, the West has been ridiculously stronger than the East for almost as long as I can remember.  Kevin Garnett faced this same problem when he was playing for Minnesota.  Up until last season, Dirk's teams had also been disappointing in the playoffs. So had Steve Nash's and frankly most teams in the West not named the Lakers or the Spurs.  Melo had 4 consecutive years of the Nuggets winning 50+ games. He did it with constant changes in personel (from Andre Miller, to Allen Iverson, to Chauncey Billups).  If you want to decide that he can't be on a "winning" team, then you have to say the same about every other Western Star not on the Spurs, Mavs, or Lakers.

On being a selfish player


Carmelo Anthony loves to have the ball in his hands. I don't think ANYONE can deny that.  He has a shoot first, shoot second, shoot third mentality.  I'm not here to argue that he doesn't need to pass the ball more. He has a hard time trusting his teammates, which you see in many great individual talents.   He would rather take a contested 2 pointer than pass to Landry Fields for an open 3.  He's not the first star player to think that way and he won't be the last.  My beef here is the notion that he doesn't care/ isn't willing to change.  The Knicks have a roster devoid of all around talented players. To get the most of their players, you need a pass first player who understands everyone strengths and weaknesses. That is a lot to ask for in a non pg but Melo has tried. He is averaging a career high in assists this year.  While his 4.2 apg isn't breaking any records by any means, it's still the first time he has ever averaged over 4 and it's over an assist per game more than last year's totals. In other words, he is trying.  He isn't the type of guy that can easily in 1 or 2 dribbles, penetrate into the post and kick it out to the open Lin as many point guards can. He needs jab steps, pump fakes, post ups, etc to get past people. That game isn't conducive to trying to run a team with the kind of players on the Knicks roster.  He brought the ball up knowing that he essentially had to create opportunities for everyone else on his team (including Amare who has become somewhat limited with Tyson Chandler also clogging up the post).  Melo was put in an awkward position for his talents and never complained.  He has attempted to alter his game to suit the coaches demands which are way above his ability.

On Being able to co-exist with Jeremy Lin

Another favorite argument of some is that Anthony's game will not gel at all with Jeremy Lin.  And on the surface that seems legit.  Both of their strenghts lie with the ball in their hands.  However, if you look deeper (linception) you'll notice some flaws.  First things first, Melo has ALREADY played with Lin. Lin's first breakout game (25pts 7assts and 1 TO vs the Nets) came with Melo playing 35 minutes.  Of course the media rewrote history to  make it seem as if Lin didn't start playing well until Amare and Melo were out.

Secondly, Carmelo has played with other ball dominant guards before and it's never hurt his game.  Again he played with Andre Miller, Allen Iverson, and Chauncey Billups.  AI is well known for his ability to dominate the ball. And as much as we like to look at Billups with rose colored glasses, he has the same characteristics. In fact, Bill Simmons had repeatedly stated that the Clippers would never become a great team until the got Billups "ball hogging" under control.  Melo has already said his plan is to give Lin the ball and get out of the way and help relieve some of the pressure he has been receiving from defenses.

On the Knicks being better off without Anthony

In the short term this may be true.  There are enough average to bad teams that, with the team as currently constructed, the Knicks could compile a strong record and a top 6 playoff seeding.  However, the goal in NY is never just to make it to the playoffs. It's what makes NY unique.  Many other cities are okay with their franchise building a team that can make it to the playoffs, maybe win a round if things break right, and then get eliminated. Their teams year in and year out have no legitimate shot at winning a title and the moves they make in the offseason are not intended to get them any closer to winning a title or even make it seem like that is the goal.  Knicks fans don't accept that.  Lin will likely get a pass for the season as long as they get in the playoffs. However, once the Knicks are eliminated, expectations will change.  Mark my words, next year Knicks fans will expect a championship. Linsanity will still be around but it will be tempered by the need to win.  For the Knicks to have a chance to win it all, they need Melo.

Lin racks up so many turnovers because he constantly has the ball in his hands. Defenses have begun to key in on him, play him physically and pick him up further away from the 3pt line. No one on the team can create their own shot so Lin is constantly trying to create it for them. He gets tired and makes tired plays which is where his turnovers come from.  He needs someone to prevent the defense from keying in on him. Someone who can get their own shot at anytime.  Someone who defenses have to game plan for.  That someone is Melo.  I guarantee you that the Heat, the Bulls, the Celtics, or even the Magic will not let Jeremy Lin dominate them for a 7 game series. He's gonna need help. Another star they have to worry about outside of Lin.  Melo is that guy.

The real argument against Anthony

Now, I'm in no way saying that Carmelo is without fault. His defensive insight is shockingly poor at times.  Even when he is giving effort he doesn't seem to fully grasp the idea of what his role should be or where he should be on the court. He's a below average one on one defender and a terrible team defender. In fact, this has me more worried than anything else. During this run the Knicks have played great defense. I'm nervous about how that will change once Melo gets back.  That could hurt the Knicks more than anything else.

Secondly, Carmelo gives up on his teammates way to early.  He does come out passing but once his teammates miss a few open shots or blow a couple of layups he reverts back into one on one isolation mode. He needs to be more patient with his teammates. His impatience causes them to press and then their lack of participation on offense starts to affect their defense and it spirals out of control. Having a true pg should help alleviate that as he can just play offense but he does still need to be willing to pass the ball and continue the fluidity this offense has played with in the past week and a half.

Finally, how Melo reacts to the criticism he's gotten the last week or so really scares me.  I haven't really got a grip on his mentality yet.  He didn't come to NY because it offered him a better chance at a ring.  But winning does seem important to him.  I'm nervous he'll try to come out and remind the NY crowd why we were so happy for the trade.  I'm nervous about what happens if the Knicks lose the first game he plays and the media rains down on him.  They will lose again and since Melo returns soon, he's bound to have the blame placed on him. That's how Knicks fans and the NY media are.  If he can be mature about it or let it drive him to become a better teammate then they'll succeed. But if he starts trying to prove a point, it could really derail the season and fracture Melo's relationship with the fans.

Finally, in defense of Carmelo Anthony, he did have enough sense to get rid of the cornrows, which I can't say for every player in the NBA. No one in 2012 should have cornrows. That's just unforgivable.

My worst sports moments of all-time

I wanted to do a blog post to commemorate the ending of the football season which always feels more significant than the ending of all other sports.  At first I wanted to do a post on what it's like being a fan and watch your team win it all, but since I'm a Jets, Mets, and Knicks fan I still don't know what that is like, so I had to scrap that idea.

WTF are those? Vases? Are they vases?

Then I was going to do an end of the year ranking of all 32 starting QB's but that feels like a beginning of the season type of post, not for the end of the season.  The playoffs are too fresh in my mind for me to objectively rank them.
As I was trying to think of a topic I was watching the Giants superbowl parade in NY. Many old HS friends were posting pictures of themselves at the parade. Justin Tuck, a defensive lineman for the Giants, said (in reference to Metlife stadium, which they share with the Jets), "you can be sure of whose house it is". Then while watching Sportscenter, one of the anchors made the off handed comment that "There was a parade in NY...and Mark Sanchez wasn't there". All of a sudden, the Giants win which I had been celebrating mere days earlier (well, I was more celebrating the Patriots loss), had now become a source of pain. Then I realized that all I know from sports is pain. That got me thinking of what the worst sports moments in my life were.


5. 2000 World Series (Mets vs Yankees)

Let me set the scene. The Yankees are coming off of back to back championships so Yankees fans are in rare form. They've never been more annoying, self centered and entitled (with apologies to my mother and brother. They are the exception).  I HATE the Yankees, I hate what they stand for, I hate that smug look on Derek Jeter's face, I hate how they get all the breaks, and most of all I hate Clemens. During the season Clemens had intentionally thrown a ball at Mike Piazza's head giving him a concussion, then in game 2 he threw a piece of a shattered bat in Piazza's direction and claimed that he didn't do it intentionally. (He later gave about 4 more excuses. Curiously he left out the "I'm really a terrible human being" excuse).  At this point I was beyond furious. The Mets finished the season with a better record than the Yankees.  The Yankees had clearly become the bad guys and it was time for some sweet justice to be served courtesy of the Mets...or so I thought. The sports gods had different plans because the Yankees beat the Mets 4 games to 1 (almost all the games were really close nail-biters) to clinch their third world series in a row. If you think Yankees fans were bad before, they achieved a whole other level after that win.  Those few months after the world series might have been the worse of my life. The fact that I didn't get suspended from school for fighting is a testament to my self-restraint.


4. 1994 NBA finals (Knicks vs Rockets)

This is a very unique time for me. I'm 7 about to turn 8. I like basketball but I'm not old enough to understand how rare a finals appearance really is.  I'm still a kid and I still have child-like beliefs. Why wouldn't my team make it to the championship. Heck, why wouldn't my team win? They're my favorite team, they're suppose to win.  Not the stupid Rockets.  No one I know even cares about the Rockets.  The series was a closely fought series between evenly matched teams (in fact, this series is what made basketball my first love).  It goes the full distance to 7 games. Olajuown and Ewing have played great, Olajuwon winning the points battle, Ewing winning the rebounds and blocks. Game 7 starts and while I'm not old enough to remember every moment, I do remember thinking that John Starks was shooting, and more importantly, missing a lot. In fact he went he only made 2 of the 18 shots he took that night.

For the next week I had nightmares of Starks throwing things at me. He never hit me but it was still scary.

In his quest to be the guy who won the championship for NY, he wound up costing us the game, the series and me personally, my first championship ever (the childhood championship is one of the most underrated things in this world. Only second to extreme hyperbole). This also served as my "Santa Claus isn't real moment" when you realize the world is a colder and darker place than you had been led to believe.

3. 2004 season AFC divisional game (Jets vs Steelers)

This is Doug Brien who you will eventually find out is not very good at physics

Aka the "Doug Brien" game.  This game featured a rookie Ben Roethlisberger who... well played like a rookie.  The Jets started the season 5-0 that year before losing a close game against the also undefeated Patriots because Justin McCareins dropped a sure TD pass in the endzone that would have given the Jets the lead and the game.  The Jets then preceeded to limp into the playoffs at 10-6. After an impressive OT win vs the Chargers the Jets were slated to take on the Steelers. The game was in Heinz field and pretty much went they way a Steelers game would go ( a low scoring defensive struggle).  Fast forward to about 2 minutes to go and the Jets had a chance to break a 17-17 tie with a 47 yd fg which at the time would have been one of  the longest fg ever made in Heinz field in the playoffs. He missed it by about a foot. Now the Steelers and their rookie QB who had already thrown a pick had the ball with under 2 minutes to go. Everyone assumed they would play conservatively but instead Big Ben dropped back to throw and threw another pick that was returned to Steelers territory. After a few run plays Brien had a fg attempt from 42 yds. I knew we would win and get a shot at the Patriots for a chance to go to the superbowl. He BARELY missed a 47 yd fg, no way Brien would miss this 42 yarder.  Guess what happened (seeing as how this game is one of the most painful losses for me, the outcome should be obvious).  Brien missed it, the game went to OT and the Steelers ushered in the era of having two RBs with their 1-2 punch of Willie Parker and Jerome Bettis. The Jets D was so tired by this point that Jerome Bettis consistently broke 3-4 tackles before he could be brought down. When asked after the game what happened, Brien said he tried to hit the second fg harder because he missed the first one. Now common sense tells us that if you missed a 47 yd fg by a foot, when you're 5yd closer you don't have to hit it harder.  Not only did Brien ruin that season, he ruined the next few seasons as well, because the Jets overreacted and drafted kicker Mike Nugent with a 2nd round pick. Mike Nugent currently plays for Cincinnati.

2.  2006 NLCS (Mets vs Cardinals)

He either just lost the game or saw a bird.

The Mets had tied the Yankees for the best record in the league.  They had a great bullpen (that was hurt by Duaner Sanchez getting into a taxi accident in late August causing the Mets to trade one of their promising bats in Xavier Nady for an over the hill Roberto Hernandez and inconsistent Oliver Perez). When the season ended, the Mets were projected by some as the favorites for winning the World Series. The Mets made it to game 7 of the NLCS, after sweeping the Dodgers, one game away from the world series. Game 7 was a great game that featured an homerun stealing catch by Mets outfielder Endy Chavez.

We have to win now. The sports gods would never have such a great play occur in a loss...Right?

The Cardinals broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the 9th with a 2 run homerun. In the bottom of the ninth Carlos Beltran came up with the bases loaded and 2 outs. Beltran had owned the Cardinals throughout his career and everyone knew it.  With an 0-2 count, ROOKIE Wainwright threw a curveball right over the plate and Beltran, the wily veteran, took a huge hack at it and sent it 3 rows in the stands choke artist took a call strike 3. No swing.  Game over.  I was dumbfounded. I was sure that he must have called time out or Wainwright balked or SOMETHING. No way he just watched the season end.  I (and most Mets fans) never forgave him after that. He never had a chance in NY after that. That he wasn't the type to show emotion didn't help because it almost made him seem disinterested.  I accept that he tried but I'll always remember him as the guy who looked at the Mets best chance for a championship in my lifetime disappear with a called strike 3.

1.  2010 season AFC Championship game

I was so sure this was the year the Jets were going to the superbowl.  They had a great balance of offense and defense. Sanchez had a ton of 4th quarter comebacks that year.  All my hater friends said they wouldn't beat Peyton Manning and the Colts.  They did. Then they said there was no way they would beat Tom Brady and the Patriots. They said it would be similar to their last meeting the Patriots won 45-3.  When I reminded them the Jets had beat the Pats earlier in the season they said it didn't matter. When I reminded them that the Jets starting safety was injured 3 days before the aforementioned blow out they said it didn't matter. The Jets beat the Patriots.  Now the only team in their was was Big Ben (now owner of 2 superbowl rings) and the Steelers. I had never been so hyped for a game. I was even looking at prices for SB tickets just in case (a rookie mistake on my part. You NEVER count your eggs before they hatch. Or put you eggs all in one basket. Maybe I should just stop eating eggs). The game started and...the Jets quickly spotted the Steelers 24 straight points. I was devastated. Not again. I couldn't believe it. The Jets offense, which had started slow all year finally had it catch up with them. A 24 point lead for the Steeler defense was almost the definition of futility. The Jets never gave up. They scored 19 straight points and Big Ben got the ball back with 3 minutes to go and the score 24-19.
Fast forward, it's 3rd and 6 with one minute and change to go.  Big Ben is flushed out of the pocket, runs to his right and throws a low ball that his receiver needs to dive for. The catch is made about 6 inches above the ground giving the Steelers another first down and the game.  People say football is a game of inches and it has never been more true than in that moment. I must have looked at that replay 100 times praying that the receiver trapped it or lost control as he came to the ground.
 After the game was over I needed to take a walk. I shut my phone off and just left. I don't really remember where I went or when I got back.  I was so sure that was my year to finally root for a championship team. I was so sure. The Jets would have beaten arguably the 4 best QB's in the league at the time to do it so no one could criticize the road. It would have been the hardest road to the superbowl.  They were so close. What made it worse was the wave of "there's always next year" I got from friends who felt bad. Anyone that has rooted for sports knows "next year" is a nice idea but means nothing.  Especially in football.  It's so hard to build a superbowl caliber team. Every year only 3 or so teams are actually able to do it. Injuries, free agency, chemistry , there are so many ways to have a season derailed. When you get lucky enough to keep a superbowl caliber team into the playoffs and you don't come through it hurts.

P.S. Some of you may be wondering about the Longhorns.  Of course I am a longhorn fan. However, I grew up on the east coast not watching college football or basketball.  I came to UT fall 2004. If in fall 2003 you had asked me what a longhorn was, I would have guessed some type of unicorn on steroids. If you asked me where they played I would have guessed Alaska ( because I'm pretty sure Alaska has unicorns). So while that Texas/USC game was awesome, and I was rooting hard for UT their win will never be the same as one of my childhood teams winning. It just can't be.

The 5 most disappointing series finales.

This is the face you never want your fans making after the finale

The series finale. One of the hardest feats in television. There are so many ways to screw up and upset your fans. What do you do with the main characters? Do you make it a goodbye episode or just another episode in the series? Do you wrap it up with some big change or have the overarching theme of your show emphasized? So many choices, and so many shows get them wrong. In fact, it's a rare occurrence for an ending to a beloved series to be satisfying. If the show can get off with fans not actively hating the finale, they consider it a win.  Sadly, some shows fail even to hit this mark.  Their endings leave their fans angry, frustrated, and saying "I could have done a better job than that".  Here are the 5 worst offenders. (Spoiler alert of course, although I try not to give too much away).

5. X-files

The X-files had a great run. They had two great lead actors who complimented each other well, Gillian Anderson as the overly skeptic Dr. Dana Scully and David Duchovny as the wishful believer agent Fox Mulder.  They were part of a special FBI division that investigated abnormal events. The show's episodes came in two varieties: episodes based on the mythology of the series, and "monster of the week" episodes where some event would be investigated that had no lasting impact on the characters, show, or continuity.  This resulted in a really confusing mythology as important episodes would be followed by multiple weeks of "monster of the week" making it hard to keep up.  So to make sure the fans (and staff themselves) knew what was going on, half of the finale was essentially Fox Mulder telling us what were were suppose to have remembered. Sure, they caged it in the setting that he was on trial and had to defend his actions and prove the existence of a conspiracy to cover up an alien landing, but let's call a spade a spade. If you speak to any fan of X-files they will tell you how underwhelming that finale was. There was also no real resolution after our history lesson, and we don't even get to see if the aliens are defeated as we were given the date of Dec. 21, 2012 as the date of the "alien invasion" with the understanding that Mulder and Scully were just gonna wait until then. Um...okay.

4. Seinfeld

The show about nothing.  My mother loved this show so it was on a lot in our house.  The humor in the show was very clever.  They did have a conundrum though in regards to how to end the show. They couldn't make their finale a feel good, sappy ending a la Friends but they did need to send off the characters in grand fashion.  The finale was watched by over 76 million people. And by the end 76 million people were asking themselves "That was it? really? WTF?".  I didn't think a show with as much good will Seinfeld could generate this much negativity.  They used the tried and true staple of bringing back old characters to get the "oh hey I remember him" reaction. So what went wrong? They got too cute. The four stars get arrested for watching a crime and "doing nothing". Get it? While most fans did get it, they didn't appreciate it. The tone of the finale felt like it was mocking their devoted fans and the plot line was too hokey.

3. The Sopranos

This was the first show that I watched where I was blown away by the writing. It was so smart, deep, and had great characters. Because of the success of Sopranos, shows like The Wire were possible.  Endlessly quotable, somber, and plain fun to watch, this show had it all. That is, up until the finale.  Again, they dealt with the dilemma of how to end such an iconic show. They decided to end it on a cliffhanger, because people love cliffhangers (source?). The show ended just as it appeared that Tony might be killed. But instead of just cutting to the credits they cut to a blank screen leaving millions of viewers to wonder "what's wrong with the TV?".  Then the credits started rolling.  Sadly there was no Samuel L. Jacksonesque cameo after the credits and confusion quickly turned to anger. Even today there are plenty of websites devoted to trying to decode what the ending meant. It will always be sad that such an iconic show left such a sour taste in their fans mouth.




2. Dinosaurs

THE SIMPSO...I mean Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs was a really goofy show. Take your average sitcom with a father figure with slightly below intelligence, add some kids, a loving wife, a slightly senile grandparent, and a baby with violent tendencies and you have this show (i.e the Simpsons).  Oh yeah and make them dinosaurs. A lesser known staple of many 90's kids schedules, it had crude humor at times but was mostly just...goofy. Except for the finale.  I don't know if the producers of the show lost a bet, decided that a show about talking dinosaurs needed to be historically accurate, or that they needed to make up for years of no educational value but that finale was insane. In essence, the patriarch, Earl, through his company's greed and lack of accountability, eradicates all plant life on earth (MESSAGE!!!). Then in a plan to create rain clouds, volcanos are blown up with bombs covering the earth in dust causing a cooling of the earth (MESSAGE!!!).  This induces an ice age, and we all know what happened to the dinosaurs because of the ice age. So to recap, they ended a children's comedy show with the hint that all your favorite characters will either freeze or starve to death. I forgot to mention that during the credits they also debunked Santa Clause because... eff kids.

1. Lost

You can really see the chemistry of the cast here.

Lost. So many emotions come up with... oh I'm sorry, that picture above is garbage. I get the two confused so easily.

I still barely see the difference

 There we go.  There is a fundamental difference between the shows above and this show. The others attempted to pull off a unique and novel idea and failed. There was no malice or deceit. They just misjudged what the reaction would be. Lost lied to its fans. Throughout the final season, we were promised answers. Every promo kept telling us how all the secrets in the show would be explained.  All the lost fans I knew were giddy for the finale.   We had so many questions and couldn't wait until the show tied together their whole mythology. We were all prepared for the most epic finale in television history. We would speak of this day to our children, and grandchildren. This day would become a national holiday to commemorate the moment our lives were given meaning. (We were pretty excited for the finale is what I'm trying to say).  Instead we got a finale that, while it resolved character story arcs, did nothing to explain why things were the way they were. Oh great, they beat the bad guy! Why was he the bad guy again? Oh just because you said so? Okay. Why did Walt have magic powers? Why couldn't the man in black leave the island? There are literally over one hundred of these questions.  They were integral parts of the storyline that helped make the last episode of Lost viewed by so many (Super Spoiler alert). Some of my friends stopped watching when a polar bear showed up on the island. Some stopped when we found out Hurley won the lottery with the same numbers of the island. Even more stopped when they escaped the island only to go back. Many stopped after the island decided it could time travel. They didn't think there was any way to tie in all the mysteries and that the writers were just making it up as they went along.  Sadly, they were right.  And that was reflected in the finale.