10 Exact Moments These TV Shows SHOULD Have Ended

1. "Behind The Laughter" (Season 11, Episode 22) - The Simpsons

The Simpsons is unquestionably the most iconic TV series on this list, but it's also the show that's most egregiously outstayed its welcome, continuing on long after its best days were behind it.

Though the answer differs from fan to fan, the general consensus is that the legendary animated series began to decline in quality during its tenth season, and so with season thirty-one due to start in September, an argument can be made that there are now more mediocre-to-bad Simpsons episodes than great or even good ones.

And while the show has, bar a few exceptions, kept its characters more-or-less frozen in time, there is one episode in the eleventh season that's by far the closest The Simpsons has ever come to a kayfabe-destroying series finale-type episode.

Season eleven's finale, the Emmy-winning "Behind the Laughter", was a meta-narrative experiment of sorts, a mockumentary that examined the lives of The Simpsons, the "real" family, through the lens of a Behind the Music parody.

A deliciously creative satire of the entertainment industry and of The Simpsons itself, there's a fair argument that it's the show's best post-Golden Age episode, and its distinct break with "reality" would've made it an incredible way to end the show for good.

When The Simpsons does finally end, one has to imagine how it can possibly pay-off a decades-long legacy, but had Fox actually let it bow out gracefully before complacent rot set in, this would've been a wonderful playful ending.