10 Best Final Seasons In TV History

5. Mad Men (Season 7)

On paper, a drama about the advertising agencies of the 1960s doesn't really sound all that interesting, until you delve into the life of Don Draper and his associates. For years, we had watched Draper spin his professional life as both a marketing expert and later a partner in Sterling Cooper, while juggling his chaotic personal life as he made his way from bad choice to bad choice.

At heart, the show was always about Draper's journey to accept himself and find peace, with the final season leading him on that journey. The whole finale links that personal road with the world around him - changes are afoot in the advertising world as the decade comes to a close, and we see Don longing to find a place within it.

While there is heartbreak for a number of characters (Betty's cancer diagnosis for example is a tragic ending to her arc), many of the characters we had grown to love over the years get their happy endings. Don appears to have found his peace, Peggy begins to find herself more accepted in a predominantly male industry, and Joan finds the courage to branch out on her own in a major feminist statement for the time. Of all the entries on this list, it's the show that arguably provides the most closure.

It also should be noted that after seven years, the show's final season led to a Golden Globe for John Hamm, arguably years overdue.