This week is about beginnings and endings. Ok, it’s about two endings, one semi-beginning, and one of us going on about the same old stuff (me). The point is: stuff changes. Shows end, the revamp, the go from “critically acclaimed” to “we all used to watch Grey’s Anatomy?” in the blink of an eye. So enjoy it while you can. Or, barring that, tell us about what’s driving you nuts in the comments.
Dennis
Melrose Place: “Wilshire”
In watching this (let’s face it, series) finale, I know there’s not a snowball’s chance in LA that Melrose 2.0 will see a second season, but I kind of wish it would. This might not be saying much, but I still maintain this show is better than most everything on The CW. It’s cast are more grown-up than everything else on the network (no long-in-the-tooth casts of Smallville and One Tree Hades, you do not count), and it’s certainly better than its sister show 90210. Sure most of the storylines are fast-forwardable (much as I do actually like Shaun Sipos and Michael Rady, I could care less about art thief Sipos’ David and his ex-prostitute doctor girlfriend or Rady’s lame filmmaker). But, I could watch Katie Cassidy and Heather Locklear face off for hour after hour for years to come. I know this reboot just got overhauled (goodbye hair models Colin Eggelsfield and Ashlee Simpson, hello… hair model Nick Zano), but couldn’t The CW re-re-re-tool it? No? Well then, I eagerly await Cassidy’s future acting endeavors (may they look more promising than the Nightmare on Elm Street remake). And I’ll also look forward to Locklear batting off all comers with her walker on the next incarnation of Melrose in a decade or three.
Ugly Betty: “Hello Goodbye”
Sometimes, when a show realizes it’s ending, it feels the need to rush toward having its central character suddenly and magically find happily ever after love (looking at you Carrie Bradshaw… the shame!), and it certainly seemed like Ugly Betty might’ve gone this route, as our title heroine whittled down her love interests in the last few episodes, with only her close pal and boss Daniel remaining. Luckily the show pulled the best switcheroo of all. Daniel didn’t rush to the airport to stop his former employee before she moved to London to tell her she had to stay. Instead, she moved to London, moved forward with the job of her dreams as planned, and he showed up there, asked her to go to dinner, she accepted and then she walked off into a London crowd, with “Ugly Betty” appearing on screen and then the “Ugly” fading away. Nice! I’m kind of OK that ABC cancelled this show. Sure, I’ll miss Willy, Marc, Amanda, Hilda, et al, but we had four seasons to watch a clueless duckling actually grow up (a rarity on TV, for sure). This final episode gave new meaning to the term “swan song,” that’s for sure.
Glee: “Hell-O”
It was a bad week to be a 1st season critical darling. On Wednesday there was another Modern Family episode where I stared at the screen waiting to laugh. But even worse, there was Gleet: Blink. Sue’s back heading the Cheerios and planning to take the glee club down. Again. Blink. Will’s making out with Idina Menzel because Emma is a thirtysomething virgin and even though he no problem not sleeping with his fake pregnant wife, now he needs to get laid? Blink. Everyone’s breaking up. Again. BLINK. …I wish Kurt and Mercedes were getting their love interests this season because there’s only so many more Finn/Rachel and Will/Emma relationship contrivances I can take. Though if evvviil Jonathan Groff and evvviil Idina have taught us anything about future new characters, it’s that they won’t be very fleshed out anyway. Funny, while the rest of Hollywood is making everything 3D, Glee can’t quite make its characters two-dimensional yet.
Zoe
Modern Family: “Benched”
The success of the modern sitcom lies in its ability to have use forget that we are watching a sitcom. For the last few episodes–particularly this one–Modern Family has failed miserably. This week, if it wasn’t the “mom has conflict with teenager” plot, it was the “wacky hijinks ensue just when you don’t want them too” plot. If it wasn’t the “people don’t communicate in a realistic way” bit it was the “all father-in-laws are jerks” bit. Now, granted, Modern Family handled these plots better than, say, a Dick Van Dyke, but that;s just the benefit of time, Mitchell and Cameron especially got the short end of the stick, but hey, at least we got to see them hug! Maybe they’re not just close roommates after all.
How I Met Your Mother: “Zoo or False”
For those of us who are old and have a shady TV-watching past, there was a show called Friends. It was about six pals who lived in amazing East Village apartments, slept with each other, and bumbled slowly through life. Also, for some reason, at some point, there was a monkey. That was a bad move (other bad moves include: lasting forever, having no one seem to enjoy each other’s company, and no on ever really working, etc, etc). While HIMYM has mostly improved or (or avoided) these past mistakes, this week? They brought in a monkey. Sure, it was shorter-lived than Ross’. And sure, monkey’s are adorable. But they’re not a guaranteed laugh. In fact: rarely a laugh. And while I feel like this is brought up a lot: quit treading water, HIMYM! Devoting a whole episode to the fact that, uh, Ted is an unreliable narrator was unnecessary. We already knew that. We didn’t care then and we don’t care (or need it explained now). We’re good with that. Now can something happen?
That said, if you’re going to tread water, a Marshall-centric episode was definitely the way to go. Kudos there.