One For The Road

One of my most favourite things about TV is the fact that it goes on...and on and on and on. It's not like a film that only entertains you for 2.5 hours, give or take [although I watch the six Star Wars films once per month so they do keep on a-givin']. Generally speaking, television programmes can entertain you week in, week out [or in the case of talk shows and soap operas, each weekday]. They give so much and require so little from you, the humble viewer. I dig. And yet, as a cliche once said - all good things must come to an end. And, if you're really lucky [or if you have middle of the road taste in TV - this is not a insult - I like many programmes that are also very popular] you will get an ending - a series finale, if you will. If instead, your programme is cancelled, you will likely not be afforded this luxury. And yet, while it's a great opportunity to wrap things up for all of your TV friends [including the friendly friends of "Friends"], it's not always good thing.

Here in my household I have declared this week to be Series Finale Week [it's also Spring Break! Woooo!]. I enjoy declaring certain weeks [generally they involve either a Salute to Miniskirts or Salute to Cleavage] - it makes me feel powerful to create my own holidays. Anyway, it was declared so because while I was purchasing the tickets to the Battlestar series finale I finally rented the entire season nine of The X-Files. What was begun in May of 2002 would finally be completed last night. You see, I was a latecomer to The X-Files [as I am with most shows] - I started watching right before Mulder left, but watched many older episodes @ 2am when I was working the evening shift @ an old job [these episodes dovetailed into Buffy the Vampire Slayer @ 3am, which led into Dragonball Z - it was a wild summer]. Well, we had to go out on the evening of the series finale and set up our faithful VCR...but our local Fox affiliate [which is not Fox, but a Canadian channel] decided to air Survivor instead of The X-Files series finale. I know - whiskey. tango. foxtrot. We were pretty pissed when we got home and discovered this. And then, The X-Files all but disappeared from syndication in these parts. We never got the opportunity to see the finale so we started waiting on the DVDs and then eventually forgot.

So...was it worth the near seven year wait? Ummmm, in a word, no. Not really. I mean, it was okay and obviously nice to see the characters back onscreen and everything. In all honesty, it was a lot like the Seinfeld finale - with previous characters coming back for a trial. Only, less hilarious [only slightly though - all that X-Files stuff sounds frakking funny when you say it in a serious voice...and I didn't love the Seinfeld finale]. But, I'm glad to have some completion at long last, even if it was a bit dull [and then we stayed up until 2am watching season nine episodes of The X-Files, sending me to bed in a fit of rage over Agent Reyes]. And it's kinda bracing me for the mediocrity of Friday's finale [which...my screening thing got cancelled today because NBC Universal is the devil so I dunno what I will be doing for the finale - maybe renting a hotel, haven't decided - this is serious business].

What makes a good finale? What makes a truly bad one? I'm not sure that any show that I've been seriously dedicated to has ended in a truly dissapointing manner. Sure, The X-Files and Seinfeld finales weren't as great as regular episodes of these series, but the entire show wasn't crapped upon as a result. The closest I can think of to a true crapfest for a series finale would be Buffy. They really, really should have ended things as originally planned with the whole "death is your gift" thing @ the end of the 5th season - that was magic. Seasons six and seven were both pretty stinky. Therefore, the ultimate series finale was pretty dang ripe. They killed off one of my favourite characters, universally dispised characters continued to live...I dunno - the specialness of Buffy was taken away [every girl a slayer]. And while it was a cool idea to destroy the whole town, it all seemed a bit too much [even for a series finale - no holds barred].

As for good finales - may I submit the following examples:

Arrested Development - Oh heck yes I was dang sad when this series was cancelled. Pure television comedic brilliance that is unlikely to be repeated. And yet, the last season seemed to make the most of it - they totally embraced the cancellation. That made things better. They broke even more of the traditional TV rules as they headed to the finale, but all of the character and story arcs totally worked. And the sailing off into the sunset was anything but hacky and cliched.

Cheers - This was one of the first "adult" shows that I watched all by myself. Yes, I watched Dallas and other soaps with my mum, but Cheers was one that I would watch whether or not I was with my dad and I would seek it out in syndication. The finale was a wonderful bookend to this show [and that's saying a lot as it was so popular @ its conclusion that the finale could have easily gotten too sickly sweet]. It was sentimental and funny without being cloying or heading into perfect ScoobyDoo ending territory. I totally cried like a baby.

Extras/The Office [UK] - Yeah, I'm combining them because England is special. They tend to have very short seasons [like, maybe six episodes as opposed to 20-something for American shows]. And neither of these had a series finale, instead they both had Christmas specials. Both are amazing and completely destroyed me emotionally. I seem to find that an indicator of something I like very much. And both not only wrapped things up, but also provided a jumping off point for the characters. I like knowing that life goes on even when I'm not watching. There's a certain comfort in that.

While I am not a fan of this show, I feel for those who were really into The Sopranos. That ending...guh. I imagine that was not such a great feeling for fans. The thing is, Battlestar showrunner Ronald D. Moore was a big fan of that conclusion...so it leaves me pretty worried for Friday night. Well, first I have to worry about finding a suitable TV and quiet location...but after that, then I will worry about more important TV things.