What was your favorite season finale? – Poll

While the regular season is over, we don’t have to stop talking about our favorite shows. I asked the Clackers to send me a list of shows they wanted to nominate for best finale of the regular season. The list has been compiled and now we leave it to you to pick the best finale of the season!

Check out some of the picks from my fellow Clackers!

Julia: Community, hands-down. Both parts of it were on their own already so fantastic, but put together they were just amazing. Really, you can’t go wrong with the combo of that show and paintball.

Bob: Definitely Community for me. I really thought they weren’t going to be able to top the paintball episode from last year, but they did. It was awesome.

Deb: As I pondered my answer, all I could think of was the episode of Community where Britta was telling Troy that she was going to act like a grown-up. His retort: “Have fun eating bran and watching The Mentalist!” I’m not all over the bran thing, but I have to say that The Mentalist’s season finale was my favorite. Community was a front-runner, for sure, but The Mentalist’s finale was masterful. The way they built the tension had me on the edge of my seat for the last hour of the episode, and Simon Baker’s and Bradley Whitford’s performances were chillingly perfect.

Ivey: I was spoiled on The Mentalist. I knew what happened, “Red John,” and who he was played by. …  And, still was drawn in by the tension. I agree with Deb. Very well done.

Brett: I agree with Deb and Ivey about the finale for The Mentalist. It was very well done, and I give big bonus points for them bringing that central mystery to an end so we can move on to stories about what happens now that Patrick has had his revenge. However … I can’t help thinking they missed a great opportunity. In playing this game of keeping Red John just out of sight, we lost out on the possibility for some great stories about just who he was, and how he was able to have such a profound impact on people. It would have been better to reveal Red John to the audience earlier in the season while still keeping the secret from Patrick. Then we could have followed along both sides of the story leading up to the big finale showdown.

Chuck: Okay, I have decided that tonight’s SNL season finale was the best finale of the season.  Justin Timberlake is always terrific and Lady Gaga is always amazing and the combination lit a fire under the asses of the writers.  I love JT’s various costumed mascot sketches and adding Gaga to this week’s was genius (my new favorite line is, “Lord lady, watch your mouth!”).  The Digital Short was classic and the “What’s My Name?” game show was hilarious (I still laugh at the “Secret Word” sketch too).  I got goosebumps during the first part of Gaga’s first number, the piano solo of “The Edge of Glory.”  Once again, she proves she has the talent to back up all the wild get-ups and crazy production numbers.  Easily SNL’s best show of the season, and the season finale that I had the most fun watching.

Brittany: Given how consistently superior the show had been, I expected The Chicago Code to have the best season finale, and it did – by a wide margin over any other finale I saw. It worked for me on every single level on which I view television — as a critic, as a screenwriter and as a fan. Critically I was so pleased by how it was not the huge production that so many season finales are; it just did an excellent job of telling a solid story. There’s something to be said for the fact that it worked so well as a series finale even though it was written well before we knew the show would be over; the creative team wrote fantastic plots all season long and brought them to their natural conclusions at the end, regardless of the show’s actual fate.

Rachel: Nothing that hasn’t really been said already, except that after seeing SNL, that’s my pick, and I’ve had the “It’s not gay if it’s in a 3-way” song in my head since Sunday.

Katie: Community, hands down. I’m still a little heart-broken Nathan Fillion didn’t get a cameo (even with the transition from western to Star Wars! It was perfect!), but the finale was still hilarious, smart and gorgeously shot. Plus, Abed and Annie. Enough said.

Michael: Favorite finale? Bob’s Burgers. When a season finale ends on a tussle over a jock strap, well … that’s a nice season ender, a two-out, ninth inning edge-of-your-seater worth every penny of the price of admission. (Bonus Side Note: Business next to Bob’s in the finale? “Chris’s Brisses.” Hot dog.)

What was your favorite finale? Share your thoughts in the comments. If your favorite show isn’t listed, we’d love to hear about your choice!

You can vote once a day until Wednesday night (6/1) 11:59 PM ET when the poll closes.

Clacked by Carla Day
on May 27, 2011 @ 09:00 EST5EDT