The regular TV season ended yesterday and so this is probably going to be the last of my weekly TV Reports until the new season starts up again in the fall. With that said, let's run down some finales that aired this past week...
GLEE - Apart from a few scenes (Kurt and Rachel singing on the Wicked stage, Brittana's final scene, Blaine and Kurt saying I love you), it was a bloated crazy mess. I know believability is not one of the show's strongest suit, but the fact that they went into the competition without having anything prepared is ridiculous. And the songs they did end up singing for the competition? A bit uninspired so it made sense they loss. Don't get me started on the tediousness that is Rachel/Finn and her life-or-death decision of whether to be with Finn or to follow her dreams. Also wasn't Quinn supposed to do something evil? Guess that new haircut (which looked awesome BTW) did the trick. Frankly, I would've preferred Brittany singing about her cup for the entire hour. THAT SAID, I will be back next season. How could I not? Glee is pretty much like crack. The highs are highs and the lows make you suicidal. It's so bad for you and yet you're addicted.
MODERN FAMILY - Just like Claire and Mitchell wanted to callback to their own past as a gift for Jay's birthday so to was this episode full of callbacks from this season. The most obvious was the birthday video montage that contained new scenes from episodes past, but even Manny bringing the boat into the pool and Luke asking for extra salt in his hot chocolate were small, but lovely callbacks. Also loved how much overlap each stories had even if for most of the episode they were all separate. Was this season as strong as last season? Maybe not, but we got to learn more about them, and I'm looking forward to doing more of that next season.
COUGAR TOWN - Sometimes when shows leave their normal setting to go off to another location, it can feel gimmicky and just tonally different. And yet this special outing to Hawaii to rescue Travis from a life of bumming around the beach felt like vintage Cougar Town. The episode brought lots of funny as expected, but it was the deeper character moments that I really fell for. Laurie using her crush on Travis to convince him to move back was heartbreaking especially since she knows how that'd impact their relationship. Laurie and Grayson dealing with their issues about their future was nicely done. But it was Bobby's loneliness, which has been an ongoing thread this season, that really resonated. Sad we have to wait a long time until the next new episode. I bet Abed also hates that (Community cameo FTW!). In the meantime, I guess I'll drink some wine and play some Penny Can (or is it Coco Rocks?).
HAPPY ENDINGS - Very glad to have this show back next season, because I really love these characters and I can't wait to see what they do over the summer as they tinker the show to keep doing what they've been doing right and perhaps also learn from what they did wrong. At the very least I'm looking forward to a season where the episodes are aired in the right order. But in any case, the finale hearkened back to the pilot with another wedding, and it had quite a few moments that were laugh out loud for me.
THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW - Okay, I don't really watch Oprah, at least with any regularity, but since she's pretty much a TV institution, the end of her Oprah Winfrey Show deserves a few words. First of all, I actually appreciated the fact that for her very final episode, she chose to strip it all down and pretty much deliver a sort of sermon to her millions of fans. It didn't make for gripping television, but it didn't need to be. The two episodes prior to this though was all about the glitz and spectacle with a huge stadium tribute to Oprah full of honorary guests, celebrities, and lots of musical performances. Wish her nothing but happiness on her own cable network.
That final sentence on glee is perfect.
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