It would be delusional to think that anyone checks this page anymore. I am an unforgivably lazy blogger; so much so that is almost foolish to describe myself as such. Most of my snark these days goes straight to my corporate masters. The effect is that of a formerly mostly benign bemusement clashing with the hardened cynicism of capitalism, Needless to say that I find myself to be somewhat embarrassed to show my face here again I do, however, have something on my mind...
With the American Idol juggernaut charging forward seemingly invincible, it very well have escaped your attention that the finale of Gilmore Girls has been set for next week. It is certainly possible that this was common knowledge, I was totally ignorant of this reality until it was announced immediately following last night's episode. Admittedly, I have piked up a habit of flipping to Idol during Gilmore commercial breaks and I am a bit out of the loop, but this was news.
It was news that I expected. The show has been dying a slow, painful death for quite some time now and most people who think about things like this, anticipated its demise. It stings ironically, though. As I remember, part of the contract dispute that the Palladino's had with the network last year was that they only wanted to do one more season. The network held out for two (there was probably money involved as well) and now we'be been subjected to this bizarro-Gilmore Girls for the last year where everything feels a bit off and nothing is compelling.
But, I've been watching this whole time, through all the bad episodes to see how it would end. I was invested and I couldn't resist. I didn't want to resist. I'd wasted a lot of time wathing the Gilmore Girls and I was entitled to a satisfactory ending goddamnit! Such an ending, it seems, is not to be. Rory and Logan broke up even though they love each other because he wants to get engaged and she doesn't. Lorelai and Luke will certainly get back together, probably engaged. Richard and Emily seem to have "lightenedup" just a little. None of it feels complete. So maybe Luke and Lorelai will get engaged again. It's not like we haven't seen that before. I guess Rory will decide to leave and that will give it a logical reason to end. I don't know exactly what I'm saying, but I feel after stagnating for so long, the show owed its fans a more plausible conclusion and not your typical mediocre TV show conclusion, because, at some point, Gilmore Girls was better than your typical mediocre TV show. Much better. well, it's like they say "Everything turns to shit."
Speaking of turning to shit, it seems that a lot of folks out there seem to think that's just what The Sopranos is doing. I'm not sure how I feel. Thee episodes certainly aren't the best that the show has offered, but whether ithey are markedly worse that previous seasons I can't say. It seems to me that each episode of this season aims to "wrap up" a crucial character. sure more will happen, but these episodes linger on characters as if we will never focus on them again. This is heartbreaking. I used to say that I couldn't be objective than the Gilmore Girls because I loved it too much. It seems that this is the case with The Sopranos. These characters are far too real to me. I can't comment on aesthetics when I feel too close to the subject.
Which brings up an interesting point: Since I no longer feel too close to the Gilmore Girls to omment on it, does this mean that the characters "died" to me already, or ceased to be real in my mind. Perhaps, they never were. Heroes, for instance, is a show that watch every week and am totally involved with the narrative. However, it is the narrative, not the characters, that I find compelling. Certainly, there are characters who I would not want to see killed off, but I see the characters as characters, not as people as I do on The Sopranos and as I once did on the Gilmore Girls. Perhaps, when Heroes turns to shit, I won't feel so bad.
Speaking of shows going to shit or dying slow deaths or thoroughly disappointing me or whatever, Veronia Mars took one of the fastest dives from "Wow! This is one of the best shows on TV!" to "What the fuck is this? One Tree Hill?" in the history of modern TV. Considering that there is like a 99% chance of it being cancelled outright at the end of the season and 1% of it being overhauled and set in the futiure in D.C. while Veronica is at the FBI academy or whatever, one would think that they would be working to a half-decent way to end the show. But, it seems like the writers abandoned that ship a long time ago. It just flat out does not work without an overarhing mystery. It does not work without class tensions. The mini-mysteries are pathetic and the shift of the emphasis from dark mysteries and serious emotional issues to light teen drama nonsense has taken away any center that this show had. One would think that a show as good as Veronica Mars once was would have been worth it to its creator (Rob Thomas) to at out with a bang when your time has come to go. But, instead it lumbeers like a wounded animal to die an unceremonious death.
