As each new year begins, death knells toll for great TV series across all networks. (Not dramatic in the least.) 2016 is no different, and while we’ve just gotten used to all of the shows that ended last year, we have to readjust and get ready to say goodbye to so many of our favorite characters and other assorted personalities.
While more are certain to be announced as the months go by, here are 9 great shows that we already know are coming to an end in 2016, from comedies to dramas and everything in between. Let’s kick things off with one of those in between entries.
Mythbusters
Love means never having to say you’re sorry, and loving Mythbusters means not being able to hear anyone say “sorry” or anything else because there are too many explosions happening all around. As proof, the next episode is titled “The Explosion Special.” It was announced a couple of months ago that Season 15 would be the final one, and although it’s depressing that we’ll no longer be able to watch Jamie and Adam putting themselves in ridiculous situations in the name of science and entertainment, at least we got to watch them do it for over 250 episodes, which is nothing to sneeze at. (Incidentally, sneezing myths were tackled in Episodes 84, 147 and 153.)
Series Finale Date: March 5, 2016
Even though everyone across the pond in the U.K. has already experienced the tearful ending of the period drama Downton Abbey, the show’s rabid fanbase here in the U.S. is just getting started with Season 6, which premiered on PBS on January 3. After all these years of watching the upstairs/downstairs drama of the families at the show’s core, we’re hoping that creator Julian Fellowes pulls out all the stops in delivering a satisfying and memorable final arc for everyone, even if it involves scandals, tragedies, and illicit instances behind closed doors. Wait, I meant to say especially if it involves those things.
Series Finale Date: March 6, 2016
Mike & Molly
When CBS gets its teeth into a hit series, the network often won’t let up for many years, which helps to keep their massive audience pleased. Unfortunately, the Melissa McCarthy sitcom Mike & Molly didn’t have as good a run as other comedies, and the network decided to pull the plug after already halving and delaying Season 6. While we may not know any exact reasons for its cancellation, we do know that viewers will have 13 more evenings to spend with the titular couple and their family and friends, and it all starts this week.
Series Finale Date: Unknown
Once one of the most popular shows on TV, American Idol is now a shadow of what it was when it began back in 2002, whether you’re talking about the judges, the ratings or arguably even how memorable the contestants are. Part of that is because a plethora of other singing competitions came in the wake of its success, which has create a reality fatigue. But you can bet that fans will be tuning into the Season 15 in droves, not only to see who will become the final American Idol victor, but also to see faces from the past returning as the season goes on. Not to mention the final batch of calamity-filled auditions.
Series Finale Date: Unknown
Beauty and the Beast
The latest incarnation of the classic fairy tale, The CW’s version of Beauty &the Beast had more in common with the 1980s TV show than anything Disney, with its titular beauty (Kristin Kreuk’s Cat Chandler) working for the NYPD and dedicating her time to figuring out her mother’s murder, as well as building a relationship with the once-thought-dead soldier Vincent Keller. Beauty & the Beast has been plagued with problems at The CW, with Season 2 interrupted by a months-long hiatus and Season 3 delayed until almost an entire year after Season 2 concluded. It was almost a stroke of luck that the show was renewed for Season 4, although no release date has been set yet, which isn’t exactly a confidence booster.
Series Finale Date: Unknown
Banshee
The modern TV schedule is filled with shows that do action scenes well, but the majority of them bow down in reverence to Cinemax’s Banshee, a show so under-watched that it should count as one of the myriad crimes committed on the show. Featuring characters that never fail to entertain and stunning fights that get the blood boiling, Banshee received a cancellation that came coupled with the Season 4 order, which will sadly have two fewer episodes than the previous three seasons. There is little doubt that this final batch of episodes will ooze intensity, and will likely leave plenty of bodies on the ground by the time the last episode is over.
Series Finale Date: May 20, 2016
Following a Season 1 that was darker than the deepest corners of space, The Leftovers delivered a sophomore effort that retained all of the existential angst and mystery, while also introducing an endlessly interesting new location full of distinct characters and expanding a narrative that puts loss and insanity into a blender fueled by repressed emotions. How Damon Lindelof can possibly top that for the upcoming Season 3, I have no idea, but the third and final chapter of this layered drama will presumably reach a conclusion that leaves audiences bewildered and yet surprisingly content.
Series Finale Date: Unknown
Bitten
Fans of the horror fantasy Bitten have gone through a pretty tumultuous year, at least as far as things can get tumultuous for fans of TV shows. Season 2 broadened the story of female werewolf Elena as her own mission was coupled with the introduction of a coven of witches on a mission to save one of their own from a mysterious threat named Aleister, and it was followed by a renewal for Season 3. Unfortunately, it was announced months later that this would be the show’s final season, so viewers had better soak up all the hairy mayhem they can handle when it hits Syfy later this year.
Series Finale Date: Unknown.
Gravity Falls
It’s admittedly not often that the final episodes of an animated series are worthy of widespread attention, but then few animated series are as fun and imaginative and universally enjoyable as Disney’s Gravity Falls. A show that makes the Pacific Northwest as delightfully strange as Twin Peaks – at least to a certain degree –Gravity Falls puts its characters into oddball situations and quests involving monsters, time travel, magic and the mysterious journal at the center of it all. Though it premiered back in the summer of 2012, the acclaimed series only has two 20-episode seasons, with episodes being released seemingly randomly. Sadly, all that’s left is the series finale, the final entry in a three-part storyline.
Series Finale Date: February 15, 2016
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