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Shawn Ashmore, who has committed professional suicide by being associated with The Following, was asked about how a season finale should run. His response regarding the season finale for The Following…….. follows

“What I will say, without giving too much away, is people rarely love the finale. Sometimes shows end on such huge cliffhangers that it’s exciting because it pumps you up for the next season and I understand why they do that. But, sometimes there’s a sense that there’s no closure, no satisfaction about what happened in that season. The creative team really does a great job of not only tying up and giving some satisfaction, emotionally and character-wise, but also leaving it wide open for a second season. It’s a huge episode.”

Now The Following has a huge advantage because nearly every one wished that episode 1 was also the season finale – alas that has not happened but the bar is so low 43 mins of commercials would be a step up come finale time. This can not be said for The Walking Dead and certainly not for Justified which had their season finales this week. Probably not helped by return of GOT and my personal favourite Vikings being in full swing

TWD had a very good second season. My general loathing for all things Zombie related is well known by my loyal band of Followers (the non-psychotic version natch). Season 3 started in the prison and ended in the prison and that pretty well sums up the lack of progress in this yarn. They dont mind killing off some major characters which is definitely a plus but the story simply does not engage me anymore and I imagine that Season 4 premiere will sneak up on me without any warning…… like a zombie even……. and may wait for a season rewatch in 2016 if any good vibes abound

Now Justified is a different animal altogether. Has been a great season but someone seems to have blinked at the end and forgot it was the season finale. Of course I will watch Season 5 premiere tout suite but it will seem more like Season 4 Ep 14 I imagine. Of course I blame Zea. She bought across a The Following script by mistake! They appear to have no idea how to handle Patton Oswalt all season? The show has some good baddies but do think Goggin’s character and his interactions have not really evolved. They have never quite recovered from the loss of Mags Bennett but do like Win Duffy et al.

Its a rich vein of TV around at present with the imminent return of MM also so this finale disappointment will quickly pass but the weak season finale is becoming a common event as many show runners get on the Dexter bandwagon and just keep churning out the seasons

However, as women will always tell you, all the build up in the world means nothing if no satisfactory conclusion at the end which only leaves one unsated.

And unlikely to go back to the well again.

Who remembers the famous old cliff hanger in original(and I assume best but have zero interest) Dallas – Who Shot JR? Don’t fret if you don’t because many of us who would have seen it originally now have Alzheimers. It was the talking point around many a water fountain or school tuckshop for months to come and was classic TV marketing. How they have picked it up now and run with it , not to build suspense but rather to rake in the moolah. Dexter – Hello? This guy should have been caught, boxed and buried around 4 seasons ago but the ratings said otherwise. In other cases we have good stories – Lost? – that do better than expected and are suddenly stretched beyond original concept. There are some exceptions – Breaking Bad has always had a finite life and 5 seasons is about a good number as The Wire showed but Sopranos and West Wing could go the extra distance. There are no hard fast and rules. What is a lock though is that eventually Wile E Coyote has to catch the Road Runner or everyone just gets pissed. Lets face it they need to produce one more Roadrunner cartoon where he throws that bloody bird of a cliff with an ACME ANVIL around its neck and we see blood and feathers. Ok, fine have a parental warning or better still put it on Channel 10 because no kid watches that anyway.

Now to The Mentalist. Red John is a great villain but he appears about as often as Kevin Rudd at The Lodge. That is ok to a point but how can you have an RJ heavy episode like Episode 16 Season 5 and then next week have that army nonsense on. Don’t get me started on Cho’s embarrassing salute at the end but lets just try and work out what the hell they are thinking? Nope, can’t. Before Ep 16 we had the self combusting heiress. Boring. Now I like the whole Jane schtick but I dont understand how we are expected to believe one week he is a shambling barely functioning wreck, the next week bright and breezy. Ok, some say it is an act and that is fine but really WTF? We have the Visualization loonies, we have a half dead RJ accomplice – but no lets investigate a case of sexual harassment in the army

The Mentalist has always been cute with the wording or image of red in its episode title. Now I have no idea how long Bruno thinks he can draw this out but the title for Ep 22 Season 5 – Red John’s Rules – promises yet another tease. Personally I would still watch The Mentalist after Red John was killed off because it is an enjoyable procedural and would not have to keep wondering if RJ was going to turn up again. Chances of that happening anytime soon is like Deb and Dexter doing the nasty next season.

Now I cant get the image of them doing it with a red smiley face above them out of my head. Damn.

Being a man of leisure these days – ok unpaid leisure at least:) – there is plenty of time to watch all the new TV shows but every now and then you go back and watch an old series and realise what you are missing. Recently decided to rewatch some later West Wing seasons having watched the early seasons on occasion. Started with Season 4 and before you know it finished Season 7 in 2-3 weeks. Its interesting, actually got quite sad as approached the end of season 7 knowing there was no more to come. Have seen the show in its entirety a few times over the years and can go back and watch selected episodes at times but having watched four seasons in a row recently felt the loss more this time around. Of course in another 12-18 months could start again and a lot would seem fresh again but there are some memorable characters that you simply miss when they are not around anymore in your life as pathetic as that may seem Probably not helped by the fact that it reinforces there simply are no great “drama”shows around in last several years, with possible exception of Breaking Bad and Mad Men, that engage you so much and you find yourself watching rubbish but only really understanding it is rubbish when some actual quality comes across your desk. Probably doesnt help it also makes me want to visit Washington again and I dont really have the resources for that anymore. Starting at Season 4 was also interesting to pass through the Sorkin departure. Many would say the show was not as good after he left and indeed most “greatest episodes ever” lists are heavily populated by the first 3 seasons and for good reason. It is not the post Sorkin era though in my view but rather the natural progression of the Bartlett term where it was lively and energetic in the first term and then slowly withered towards the end much as Jed himself did. Personally though I find the US election system fascinating so enjoyed the Santos/Vinnick campaigns enormously. Toby was often an annoying, though interesting character, but for me his story line in Season 7 was the only weak point for the whole series and he became largely unlikeable.

So I will keep watching Spartacus, Girls, Justified et al until it is time for another rewatch – or at least until BB and MM come back! The only show I get invested in at all at present is The Good Wife – and yes I know it is an odd choice but its mix of legal and politics just works for me and will have to do for the time being. Now if there was another WW around the corner then all my prayers would be answered.

Hey Francis 1 old mate got time for a miracle?

Naked sheilas usually work for me but as we have seen with Girls it can depend on which naked sheila is CONSTANTLY getting her kit off. It is part of the anatomy though

Heart. With a little bit of Pi or π.

Now Person of Interest is without doubt one of the more ludicrous shows around, now well into its second season and rating well I assume. Ratings dont mean a lot regarding quality of a show given the general non-discerning intelligence of the great unwashed but it does mean the show may be around for a while. Hell The Man in the Suit may finally even catch Dexter! I started off with Season 1 and while liked the concept of the “machine” the ease with which “The Man in the Suit” – hereafter Superman – dealt with multiple baddies was simply ridiculous even if he had actually once rounded up Saddam, Adolf and Osama all in one afternoon all by himself and during a half time break in the footy. We all like the good guys to win but there has to be at least 1% of reality involved occasionally. So would watch an episode and then leave it for a couple of weeks to see if it had changed. Superman didnt but other elements started to appear. We had HR bubbling along in the background, shady FBI guys and of course the introduction of Elliot the Fashion Photographer as an interesting and very nasty baddie. So we got through Season 1 but then Season 2 kicked off and once again sat around for a while before starting to watch and then finally got to Season 2 Episode 11 and the Life of Pi. Superman was locked up all episode so it was time for the real superhero of the show Harold the Gimp to shine along with the usual help of Bonnie and Clyde. Carter is a smart operator of course who basically has all the time in the world to devote to these specific cases given how safe and quiet NYC is. Apparently. Fusco is just a lovable and loyal lapdog but he does have heart. Harold plays the role of substitute teacher who is stuck teaching Maths to the usual bunch of cool retards. Of course there is the obligatory boy genius cleverly disguised as a drop kick and he is the heart of the story and more specifically his number has come up. In trying to communicate with said retards Harold introduces the concept of π. In a rather clever way. As he explains π is never ending and contains every single other number and never repeats. Then the zinger – every infinite possibility in life rests within this “one simple circle”. Deep shit but clever. As this season has progressed we have got to know more about Harold and even his past romance with his real life wife Carrie Preston. He has blossomed and with him so has the show. Now we still have the saccharine sweet endings often that make The Love Boat seem like The Walking Dead but we still have shady FBI guys, HR and Elias bubbling along. And keeping it all pumping along steadily, as one would expect, is the heart inherent in the show and often lost in the hail of bullets and bullshit. It will never win an Emmy of course and nor should it but it does have some intangible that draws you back.

And,luckily, Superman is still locked up.

Avid Followers – not of the serial killer kind – will know of my love/lust for Tina Fey so it is with sadness that we see the end of 30 Rock. Mind you it went out on top so that is the way to go. Seinfeld remains my favorite comedy series of all time and it ran for 10 seasons and was still delivering. It was a more consistent show for moi while 30 Rock had its highs and lows, even if the highs were some of the best ever. Seinfeld had some clever lines of course but it was more the circular nature of an episode and the interaction of the characters over time that was its strength – much like Curb that followed on. 30 Rock had many memorable and sharper lines but it also had some episodes that wandered. I always felt you could enjoy an episode of Seinfeld more if you understood the idiosyncrasies of George et al displayed over years. You could come in cold with 30 Rock and laugh your ass of because the characters were every easily identified. My new fave now – yes slow to the party – Parks and Rec falls somewhere nicely in between these two without quite reaching either – yet. My favorite period on 30 Rock was when Matt Damon and Elizabeth Banks were front and centre. 30 Rock used guest stars very well and it would appear from my friends at Firewall&Iceberg that it was often simply the case of them being in NYC at the time. Will Arnett was a great recurring character.

Fortunate enough to do the NBC tour when in NYC in 2011 and had to take the chance to hold Tina just once. Worked out ok