Remember the good old days when everyone discussed and debated the Sopranos series finale. Went on for weeks. Some loved it, some hated it. I started out disliking the ambiguity of it all but slowly came around to actually thinking it rather brilliant. It ran for 6 seasons – about the max for a show methinks. Mad Men will bow out next year after a similar run. Devoted followers would know of my admiration/angst over the brilliance of Fawlty Towers 12 episode model – everyone a classic, leave them wanting more. Of course comedy and drama are different animals.
Then we had the lumberjack episode of Dexter . Whenever there is a bad series finale these days inevitably the Dexter Lumberjack conclusion is used as the gold standard for worst series finale ever. Unlikely to ever be beaten – but damn there are some writers out there that are giving it a bloody good crack
SOA finished after 7 seasons with a completely stupid final scene/ last 5 minutes. Sutter shot his load early in the previous two excellent episodes but will sadly be remembered most for the finale. Whether you go with the Jesus symbolism or whatever does not matter – if the 3 hr police pursuit prior did not put you in the land of nod then you are a better man than me Gungadin. His love of drawn out musical montages also increased with time. Sadly
Lotta people creamed their jeans over The Fall Season 2 – too be fair most of that was the sight of Scully in uniform. It was drawn out drama to start with – should have been one season of 8 episodes like The Missing. Now The Missing had a slightly ambiguous ending too but that is ok as it was a self contained season and it fitted in with the general theme of the show. The Fall had so many plausibility issues already with the way that Spector wandered the streets of a CCTV-obsessed city with gay abandon that the only thing that could save it – apart from Scullys uniform tearing – was a definitive ending. But no – we just have to tease the possibility of a third season ca ching ca ching and go out with a self indulgent final last scene
Homeland has a bipolar clown as its main and most annoying character which is kind of fitting as it reflects my attitude with the show. Initially the fact that his wife only called Brody by his last name as well was enough to reach for the pills but in between the annoying there was some good stuff. Each season though you think will I watch it again? Of course you do – but you may just have finally done me a favour folks with one of the worst season endings (as opposed to series endings) have seen since lumberjacks were falling out of trees. There had been some tense moments and good set up prior to finale – and then we got a fucking episode of Days of Our Lives!! Seriously I am at a loss of words to describe the narrative shift – 90% of the episode devoted to bloody Nut job, her dead dad, her missing mum, her carrot top kid and a CIA operative who wants to bone her bad but then realised fighting the Taliban would be a more rewarding experience.
Of course these days we also have the mid-season finale. Sometimes this is left on a poignant moment like The Good Wife and other times it is simply “Ok time for Egg Nog folks, see ya next year” as with most others . In summary then I cant recall a satisfactory season/midseason/series finale this year and that tells me a lot about the current state of television and why I much prefer my drama in the short mini series version that UK do so well
And then we also have the shows that simply stayed at least one season too long. Front and centre at present is The Mentalist. It is simply drivel since Jane and Lisbon went all gooey eyed at each other. TV Sitcom 101 first rule is – keep the sexual tension going, no nooky nooky or show goes crappy crappy. Here endeth the lesson.
I see Larry David is quoted as saying he may not do a final season of Curb due to some left over ill will from negative comments about the Seinfeld finale – which I actually liked. Got news for ya Sonny – whether you do another season or not there will always be a final season.
Only difference is you may not have written it that way!
flashman181 