The Weekly TV Roundup: The Season Finale
Written by: Ron Bricker
By movie standards, it's been summer since Iron Man came out. TV usually takes a little longer, and the strike pushed it back a few weeks, too, but now it's June and all of our favorite regular-season shows are over – making way for low-rated reality shows (on the networks), low-rated summer dramas (on boutique cable stations), and some leftover episodes of Men in Trees. So before we get to that, how'd you like how your favorite series ended?
Lost's finale was probably the most recent, which is as good enough excuse as any to start off with it. Unlike last year's meticulously planned flash-forward shocker, this was an everything-and-the-kitchen-sink deal in the vein of the Season 2 finale. We still don't know if Jin's dead; we still don't exactly know the deal with Claire; and we still don't know what happened when Ben moved the island, except that it disappeared entirely. Of course, if you want my opinion: he's alive, she's dead, and it jumped forward in time ten months.
Oh, and Locke was in the coffin. My money was on Ben. So it goes.
Over on Desperate Housewives, the gang jumped forward in time, and now Eva Longoria's a boring mommy or something. I don't really know, I just read a blurb about it in Entertainment Weekly. Using the finale to jump ahead in time is the newest TV trend; come to think of it, Lost did it too, kind of. I really have no idea "when" Season 5 will take place.
Unlike the third season finale of Grey's Anatomy, the recent one actually ended rather happily. Even Derek and Meredith stuck together. Of course, we already knew that because creator Shonda Rhimes told us a month ago that she was sticking them together for good. Way to create some suspense.
What else? On The Office, the promise of Jim/Pam drama sounds painfully manufactured (something's going to happen with Pam and another guy when she's in New York this summer because Jim didn't propose to her), but everything with Steve Carell and Amy Ryan was terrific. Honestly, it could've served as an easy series finale if (A) Jim had proposed and (B) Michael had gone out to get a drink with Amy Ryan's Holly. But that would go against the American tradition of stretching shows out until they get bad!
All right, let's take a look at the upcoming week – although I'm warning you, it's not too pretty. In fact, it's impossible to highlight new episodes for each day, because I could only find five new episodes total. Of them, three are new series: Swingtown on CBS, a show about middle-aged swingers; Fear Itself, a horror anthology show on NBC bound to play like a cheesier Twilight Zone; and In Plain Sight on USA. It stars Mary McCormack as a U.S. Marshal assigned to Witness Protection.
THE RUNDOWN
Monday 6/2:
Greek, 8:00, ABC Family
Wednesday 6/4:
Men in Trees, 10:00, ABC
Thursday 6/5:
Swingtown, 10:00, CBS
Fear Itself, 10:00, NBC
Sunday 6/8:
In Plain Sight, 10:00, USA
And with that, it looks like the 2007-2008 TV season has passed the invisible baton. I won't be doing regular TV updates, but just because there's not a lot doesn't mean you don't still have quality options – personally, I'm thinking Weeds, returning this month, and Mad Men, returning at the end of July. Happy TV watching…