When it comes to the greatest endings that do its respective show justice, Breaking Bad‘s Felina is often the first one to cross fans’ minds, and for good reason. But similar wasn’t the case with Jerry Seinfeld’s Seinfeld, which is notable for its polarizing finale that wasn’t received well among its viewers when it first aired.
Similar to AMC’s Breaking Bad, Jon Hamm’s Mad Men was successful in giving fans a satisfying conclusion, and the Unfrosted star too holds it in very high regard.
Mad Men’s Finale Is Jerry Seinfeld’s Pick for the Greatest Finale Ever
While the general consensus towards Seinfeld‘s finale has wormed up over the years, when it originally aired, the episode left a sour taste in fans’ mouths, as the main cast ended up in jail in the finale. Although Jerry Seinfeld stressed that he doesn’t believe they could’ve done anything different than what they did, he acknowledged fans’ issues with it. On the contrary, the actor deemed the Mad Men finale as the greatest finale of a series ever, stating that it was both satisfying and funny.
I feel ‘Mad Men’ was the greatest. A lot of people like the ‘Bob Newhart’ one. ‘Mary Tyler Moore’ was OK. ‘Mad Men’ was the greatest final moment of a series I’ve ever seen. So satisfying. So funny.
Interestingly, Matthew Weiner, the creator of the acclaimed series, initially struggled to find a home for the IP, as the higher-ups at HBO disregarded the idea without even giving it a proper shot.
HBO Passed on Matthew Weiner’s Mad Men Without Reading the Pitch
Before finding its footing at AMC, Matthew Weiner initially attempted to pitch his idea for the Mad Men pilot to HBO. While Weiner had a lot of goodwill leading up to Mad Men, as his pilot pitch was also recommended by The Sopranos showrunner David Chase, the regime under Carolyn Strauss didn’t even bother giving it a shot.
Considering Weiner had previously worked on The Sopranos and felt like he was part of the family, the ignorance on HBO’s part was hard on him.
It was very disappointing to me, as I pushed the rock up the hill, that they did not notice me. Because I was part of the family
But as the story goes, the setback didn’t hold The Romanoffs director back, as the show eventually landed at AMC and even pushed Jon Hamm to stardom.
Mad Men is available to stream on Apple TV.
Seinfeld is available to stream on Netflix.
