TV Finales - got some spoilers here

My ex roommate used to make fun of me for many things. One of which was how I saved TV series' finales forever, not wanting to see how things ended, and then I never saw them. This happened with "Oz," one of the great early HBO dramas that many people might not have watched probably because they assumed if it was a prison drama it was either boring (people sitting around in a cell) or a lot of tushie rape. It actually went beyond both. And I liked it so much that I saved the finale for a long time (back on good ol' VHS) until one day I realized I'd lost it. To this day I've never seen it. Now, many years later I realize I will have to rewatch about two seasons or so because I forgot a lot of it. Which is fine with me, as it will be all spankin' new again.

So now I watch all my season and series finales, as bittersweet as they are. But it's hard to say goodbye to old friends, families and worlds I've grown accustomed to. I still remember how sad it was to watch the final Cosby Show. That is, the second Cosby show. Between "Fat Albert" and the one where he has the same wife but he's old. And not counting something called "The Cosby Mysteries." I'm talking about the good one. With the great family, humor, strange new characters at the end, big jazz numbers and really, really 1980's sweaters. That was a hard goodbye.

Seinfeld, not a hard goodbye. In fact, kind of a tepid goodbye, but anyone following "Curb Your Enthusiasm" will note that they manned up and made good on that one. Recently I rewatched the Friends finale and got a little weepy, and did you know the Mash finale is still (I believe) one of the most watched episodes in TV history? Try that one without a handkerchief.

One hour dramas can be even more painful. Especially when they pull a "Chuck" (see my earlier blog) and just rip it off the air without you knowing to say goodbye. I wasn't quite a fan of Heroes towards the end but it certainly would have been nice if they had known it was the end so they could go out with a bang instead of just another episode, assuming they had another year or two. Goodbye Heroes.

This week I watched a few finales - one of every type:

1. The season finale of American Idol. Not a hard goodbye at all, but for the second year in a row, they got it wrong and I favor the second place winner. Adam Lambert and Crystal Bowersox are much more compelling than Kris Allen and Lee Dewize. But as I stated in an earlier blog, that's what comes of young girls controlling the voting in this country. It was a series finale in the fact that it was Simon's goodbye. In fact it seemed like a show about Simon, where in the end, they decided "Oh, we should also crown a winner." What was sadder than Simon's tributes was Paula Abdul contributing to the tribute, constantly reminding us that she never got one. Goodbye Simon. Belated goodbye, Paula.

2. A harder finale was Flashforward. This was hard because I loved this show, I click on ten websites a day to try to save it, but it has been yanked off the TV set without my permission. As seen above, since I am over 16, my vote on TV shows apparently doesn't count, I guess. While this wasn't a perfect show (I often tune out at quantum physics meets Nazis meets birds dying in Somalia) I thought the concept of knowing your fate and what that does to people and relationships - was excellent. And I wanted to see a post flash forward world and the next one. Bad. Goodbye Flashforward?

3. And the hardest finale of the week was Lost. Like Flashforward, this had physics meets hatches meets a lot of C4 explosives and a smoke monster but it had seven seasons to make us REALLY come to care for the characters and the relationships. You'd have to go through the whole journey to make it count but boy was this ending a weeper. And smart. And I think I get most of it, but not all. I'll look up other blogs so people can tell me what to think. :) Goodbye Lost.

What I am present to right now, is how powerful journeys and good character pieces are and how much I want my writing to matter to people the way these shows have mattered to me. I have written quite a few scripts in the past years, and recently wrote a statement of purpose for a TV writing program and now, after watching these shows, I really feel what I wrote in it. How important it is to put quality, inspirational, humorous, moving experiences on the air, so through entertainment, we can all become better people.

To the shows that came before, thank you. To the ones that are coming, including any I pen- take from the best and let's continue to broadcast the best of all of us.

Now off I go to watch the season finale of Nurse Jackie and wait for the series finale of the Tudors.*


*If this is really a show about the Tudors, then why is it only about Henry VIII? Why not continue the next seasons about his kids- who are Tudors? And I have many other questions as well, the least of which is why Henry never really ages and is really handsome? We've all seen the pictures, folks.