TV Party Tonight! '09/'10

An eventful TV season, with lots of good shows coming to an end. It's sad to see them go, but it's always better to see a show end while it's still in relatively top form rather than have it go on too long and become stale, thus tarnishing the reputation and enjoyment of the series as a whole (All in the Family, The Simpsons, Family Guy, etc.) Plus, this means that there are fewer shows that I have to worry about watching next year, meaning more time to actually, like, be productive and stuff.

WARNING: MANY, MANY SPOILERS AHEAD

Lost
What a season and what an ending. It's always been a good enough show that I've always enjoyed going along for the ride without knowing the how and why of everything that's going on, so it was a little disconcerting to actually start getting explanations about Jacob and the Smoke Monster and why everyone was brought to the island, and that it all boiled down to a battle between good and evil over the fate of the world, more or less. But through and through, the show still maintained an air of intrigue and mystery and managed to be one hell of a ride.

And it had a good ending: the Jack/Locke rivalry running through the entire series came to a head (even if it wasn't really Locke in the end), good triumphed over evil once and for all, Jack took charge and completed his six year-long transition from man of science to man of faith, Sawyer and the gang finally got off the island, Kate finally got to rescue Claire, and the island has new benevolent caretakers in Hurley and Ben. And best of all, everything on the island was real. No lame "it was all a dream" or "they were dead all along" endings, although a lot of people seem to be under the impression that they did all die in the plane crash. Hell, actual publications are printing articles complaining about the show based on the misinterpreted "everyone's dead" concept.

The key moment of the flash-sideways occurs when Christian tells Jack something along the lines of "Everyone dies. Some before you, some long after you." The people who died on the island died on the island. Hurley and Ben probably lived on for thousands of years. And the people who escaped on the plane made it home and lived full lives. Or maybe they crashed in the ocean. Who knows? That side of the story was open-ended; make up your own epilogue. Then everyone met up in a purgatory completely independent of time that showed them what life would've been like if the island had never existed, with the ultimate message being the notion that their time spent with each other on the island was the most important time of their lives (which could explain why Michael, walt and others weren't there; their time on the island wasn't all that enjoyable or meaningful in their own lives). Everyone comes together in the end and learns to let go of/move on from the things holding them down. It was fuzzy, heartwarming, and kind hokey. And beautiful. Not a perfect ending, but a near perfect ending for this show.

Oh, and the shots of the wreckage during the credits? Meaningless. Just a nod to where everything got started. ABC even made an official statement saying so. Calm down, people. I just don't see where all the "This show wasted six years of my life!" sentiment is coming from, beyond any misinterpretation of the ending. The whole show has always been rooted in the mystical and supernatural. The ending isn't any real deviation from that. And while plenty of small, insignificant questions went unanswered, most of the big questions were. It wasn't perfect, but it was a solidly interesting and entertaining wrap up to one of the best shows of the decade. It's been one hell of a ride.

24
24 has been another one of the best shows of the past decade. It was an action drama that struck a chord by combining an inventive format with post-9/11 concerns about terrorism and national security. Though not always eloquent or accurate, it got us thinking about serious issues like torture, corruption, and the moral fiber of a nation in wartime. Eight years was long enough. The plot cliches had been well-worn for years. (The middle eastern terrorists are being backed by the Russians! And the U.S. government is taking over operations at CTU! And there's a mole in CTU! And the bad guy wants an immunity deal!) But the show still at least managed to be fairly entertaining most of the time. Okay, season 6 was terrible. And until the show's cancellation was announced, I had given up watching season 8 for a good month or so. But overall, it was a kick-ass show that I was happy to have around for a while.

The last season started off pretty slow, to the point that many loyal fans got tired and jumped ship. But as the main storylines started to wrap up, the show got more interesting and exciting from week to week, culminating in Jack Bauer unhinged and on a killing spree for the last few episodes. It was interesting to see them do away with the "bending the rules to save the world" theme and have Jack degenerate into cold-blooded revenge. It was looking like the show would end in a way that Jack Bauer could never come back from (i.e. He can't come back and save the country if he's wanted for killing foreign officials). That's what happened, but they still ended the show in a way that leaves the door open for more Jack Bauer adventures somewhere down the road. In short, it felt like an intense season finale, not an epic culmination of the entire series. But I enjoyed it. After growing stale and nearly unwatchable, the show had a nice mini-comeback as one of TV's more exciting powerhouses.

One of the most lasting moments of the season (and probably the series): Jack tortures this Russian guy to try to get information (one aspect of the show I won't miss), absolutely eviscerates him - I mean, I've never seen anything this brutal on network TV before. It was genuinely tough to watch. He gets nowhere though, and finally he retreats to another side of the room and quietly utters, "Dammit, this isn't working." The show has been criticized over the years for espousing a "Torture good!" stance, but this scene demonstrates that things were a little more complicated than that. The show was never just black-and-white, but ventured into various grey areas, areas of endless debate with regard to national security and the shape of the world. For better or for worse, 24 was a show of its time. Sayonara, Jack Bauer.

The Sarah Silverman Program
I've always liked this show, but felt that it's the kind of show that would function best with a relatively short lifespan. And after a mere 32 episodes over three seasons, that's exactly what happened. Comedy Central almost didn't even make a third season (the Logo channel saved the show at the 11th hour by agreeing to split the season's production costs), and they buried the show halfway through the season by moving its timeslot from 10:30 pm to midnight. It's sad, but fitting, since the show seemed destined to be more of a cult hit than something with widespread appeal. But it remained ridiculous and offensive right up to the end, with Sarah's dog going back in time and stopping the Holocaust from happening. And now I have the "banana cop" song stuck in my head.

The Office
Another great comedy came to an end this past year, one of the best comedies to hit network TV in years. When the American adaptation of The Office first started, it was a miserably awkward clone of the British version. But before long, the show established its own identity and became one of the most solid shows on TV. It was funny, clever, interesting, entertaining - an all around oustanding show for at least the second and third seasons. The next few seasons suffered a little due to storylines that were never properly fleshed out and the use of cheap deus-ex-machina plot devices (the end of the Michael Scott Paper Company story arc, in particular). But when everything clicked, it was a thing of beauty.

It was odd to see a series come to an end in the middle of a season, but in all honesty, the wedding episode was a perfect way to end the series, a beautiful conclusion to the entire Jim/Pam dynamic that fueled the show for so long. It was easily one of the best hours of TV this year, and it's good to see the show go out on a high note. If the show had kept going on after that episode, it probably just would've been a pale shadow of its former self, with nothing fresh or funny happening, and with no driving force to keep the show interesting. It's nice to see a show that has some class and knows when to wrap things up instead of plummeting into mediocrity. It had a good run, and it will be missed.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

New Shows
Modern Family was not only the best new show this year, but I'd even go as far as calling it the second best show on TV this past year (right behind Lost). It's like Arrested Development meets The Office, with a little heart thrown in. Outstanding writing week after week, and great performances from all the actors involved. Good, funny stuff all around. An excellent piece of work that stands head and shoulders above most of the comedies out there. My second favorite new show was Justified, a cool, modern-day western that has never blown me away but has always put a smile on my face simply because of how well each episode works. This show could have a great future ahead of it. And let's not forget Community. For a while, I was on the fence about this one. It's consistently funny enough to keep watching each week, but a lot of the first season wasn't anything particularly special. For much of the year, I used this show as a barometer for how good a show needs to be in order for me to justify watching. Now, I view it simply as a damn good show. Not sure how long of a shelf life it can have, but I'm definitely enjoying it for now.

I got into Glee briefly, and then gave up on it just as quickly. I had minor surgery a few months ago and was out of commission for a few days. During that recovery time, I borrowed my roommate's Glee Volume One DVD, which had the first 13 episodes. So I watched and gradually got sucked into it. Yeah, it's basically just a cheesy soap opera with musical numbers, like High School Musical for teenagers. It's reputation for being edgy and satirical is somewhat of an overstatement. It's about as edgy as the movie Mean Girls. But despite all that, it still manages to be just funny and clever enough to be worth watching. And the first 13 episodes actually were pretty fun to watch. Then I made the mistake of watching the show once its hiatus ended in April. In their first episode back, they quickly undid everything that they had spent the first 13 episodes building toward. The whole thing smacked of desperation to keep things interesting by "mixing it up" or, more accurately, hitting the reset button. Then the second new episode was essentially an hour-long informercial for Madonna. They even had Jane Lynch (the rock of the show, the only real thing holding the show back from mediocrity) and had her character spend the entire episode going on and on about the greatness of Madonna. After about ten minutes, I threw in the towel for good. Record industry product placement aside, the show went from clever dramedy to just unwatchable. I also started and gave up on The Good Wife. It's a solid show, but it's basically just your typical courtroom drama, which has never really appealed to me.

Returning Shows
I watched the first three seasons of 30 Rock last summer and loved every minute of it. The fourth season was no exception. Great stuff all around. Probably the funniest show on TV right now. Parks & Recreation wins this year's most improved award. Like The Office, it got off to a slow start in its first season. But season two started off on a high note and the show never looked back. What started as awkward and unsuccessful eventually fulfilled its potential and became an endearingly funny and offbeat show with one of the best casts on TV. And there's South Park, which is still going strong. At this point, the show has been on long enough that it's not really worth debating whether or not it jumped the shark (or how many times it has). At this point, it's just a funny, outrageous show that's always there to poke fun and pop culture and provide a few good laughs. The 200th/201st episode extravaganza was a fun treat for the fans, even with Comedy Central's apparent meddling.

We'll see what happens in the fall. Hopefully there'll be one or two new shows worth checking out. And I can't wait for Conan's new show. (A gamble, but a good fit for Conan's mid-sized but fiercely devoted fanbase, not to mention an interesting test for the entire cable TV medium.) But until then, here's to summer, reruns, and having more free time.