I agree it's hard to really come up with a list of really good finales- LOST was certainly near the top, but the finale was good while the pilot was off the charts amazing compared to any other pilot I've ever seen. In fact, I'd hazard a guess that one reason the show became as popular as it did (and imo, more popular than a show if its style SHOULD) was because the pilot was just soooo good. It gripped you like a movie and got you really invested in the characters and the story right away.

The only finale I can think of off the top of my head that I enjoyed more was the finale for Dollhouse, but I don't even know if that counts because the "epitaph" episodes were kind of unique (and pretty awesome). As a show, I certainly enjoyed LOST more than Dollhouse. Babylon 5 also had a really good finale (actually, two kind of)- I don't know where I'd rank it against LOST. I don't remember TNG finale- but I think I liked it a lot. But I also remember liking season 1 of that show a lot and when I went back and watched it again- I was unimpressed.

Back on LOST, I read an article recently where they were talking about LOST being a "cult" show that somehow managed to become hugely popular. I think this is very accurate- and a reason a lot of people aren't "getting it" when it comes to the end. People are complaining about not being told "what the island is"- not realizing that any explanation is going to pretty much suck ("It's the result of a meteor hitting the planet/aliens did it/God slipped and fell down on the 8th day and accidentally created the island/It was a place created by warring gods in ancient Greece/ etc.") when I just never expected that particular mystery to be solved. People are complaining about the religious overtones in the finale (I'd argue it's more "spiritual" than "religious"- but maybe that distinction is only meaningful to me)- but spiritual/metaphysical ideas are right at home in the science fiction and fantasy genres.

I'm not saying that everyone who like science fiction/fantasy must enjoy this show- but it if they don't it won't be for the reasons people are bashing it for now. The best science fiction has always been character driven because at the end of the day- dreaming about future technology only gets you so far. How we might react to a different environment, whether a science or fantasy based on, is what makes a story interesting.

Anyway, I have no idea how some people who really had no business watching the show got sucked in a stuck with it for 6 seasons, but I'm glad they did because it enabled them do keep moving on and providing me a "cult" show produced with a really good budget.