Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Finales

It's been finale time on TV. Here are my thoughts on the finales of a couple of my favorite shows.

Alias -- Not just a season finale, but a series finale. I started watching Alias just last year. I watched all the old episodes by renting the DVDs for them from Netflix. I would then watch one episode per day, while eating my lunch at work. I then caught a break last fall when TNT started showing Alias nightly and played all of last season. I was able to dvr the new episodes from this eason and catch up to current about a month into the new season. Thus my love of Alias has been concentrated and intense. I thought the new season was very good. The finale was a bit of a letdown, but it really had to be. It's a series based on mystery and intrigue, and a finale cannot really use these devices. No matter what the ultime Rambaldi power was, it could not possibly live up to its five year build-up. Nonetheless, I thought that giving immortality to Sloane and then burying him alive was a clever twist. The final showdown between Sydney and her mom was not nearly as good. Her mother had always been such a complex character, but that complexity was discarded in the end for stock evil and selfishness. Still a good finale to a great show.

Lost -- This was the best finale of any show. The hatch was even cooler than expected. Brining Desmond back and then showcasing his life was clever. The end scene of his ex-girlfriend searching for him was a great twist. As was The Others letting Michael and Walt go. Every time you think you understand The Others (or the hostiles as Desmond referred to them) they prove you are wrong. All in all, this was the perfect kind of finale. It gave you some closure on the current season, but made you eagerly anticipate the next.

My Name Is Earl -- Another great finale. It's not surprising that this show can stay funny. After all, the redneck/white-trash zeitgest is such a great source of humor. What's more surprising is that the plot of each episode is usually pretty interesting too, not just funny. It's definitely a show in the Seinfeld mold.

American Idol -- Yeah that's right, American Idol. This season was over for me a couple of weeks ago. The two best singers were Paris and Chris. They should have been in the finale, but instead we got Taylor and Katharine. Taylor was always the fan favorite just because of his personality. So it wasn't surprising for him to win. It's hard to imagine what kind of CD he will release, but of course it will sell. All American Idol CDs sell. My favorite part about the finale was Meatloaf. I was actually eating a meatloaf sandwhich when Sir Loaf was performing. My wife was in Bakersfield seeing our niece play in a high school softball championship. I called her up and happily reported that I was eating meatloaf while watching Meatloaf sing on American Idol.

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