Random Rantings about TV

I know, I know. I have a shallow turn of mind. I was sittin' here cogitating about how to spend my Snow Day when my mind turned to what is currently awaiting viewing on my dvr. I should probably watch something that I saved, that Judy isn't interested in--that's the polite thing to do after all. (She could take a lesson here, you would not believe how much crap tv I am forced to watch because of her--Smoking Gun's World's Dumbest Anything 49987, anyone?)

It got me to thinking about the fact that we recently stopped dvring HD channels because it eats up too much memory in the dvr. Apparently, I am a philistine about tv HD-ness because I can't tell the difference all that much. And it doesn't apparently matter to me at all (proof I am not a guy, I guess).

Anyway--we currently have three Eli Stones still in HD. They were saved from December. We need to watch them, and we LOVE Eli Stone--so why haven't we watched them? It's because we know the stupid network cancelled it. Talk about a de-motivator. If you know the show you love has a limited shelf life--you start to withdraw so as to make it easier to deal with the end of the show. I ponder that the people who are running TV are morons that they don't realize that thinking a show you like is destined for the trash can causes a viewer to bail on it.

Of course, this perfectly sets up my next complaint. Series finales. All my friends are groaning here--this is a familiar rant by Robin. Soap box, please. I have long and bitter feelings about series finales because viewers (read, ME) have been betrayed over and over again. As a loyal viewer I think I ought to get closure...a HAPPY-ties-everything-up ending. Did Here Comes the Brides end its run with no weddings? (Really, I can't remember. Did it? Hey, I was a little kid, for pete's sake.) The most famous awfulness of betrayal happened with the Quantum Leap finale. I would love to own that series on DVD but I'll never buy it. Why? Because poor Sam is still out there leaping from lifetime to lifetime--and the leaps were going to get harder. He didn't get to go back to his time and be with his wife. He didn't get to meet the daughter he accidentally fathered in one leap. Nope, he was screwed forever. Why? Because the producers of the show wanted to make a feature film of the series and they needed to leave the ending up in the air. Hey, I'm still waitin' for the film, people.

Second, case in point. Roseanne. They killed off Dan, for crying out-loud. Talk about an audience betrayal. It was a freakin' sitcom--at least until Roseanne went all nutty. Let's go back to the Mary Tyler Moore Show---oh yeah---whole office gets FIRED. What fun. What about Will & Grace--apparently they don't see each other for the next umpteen years. They such close friends they are practically glued together but after the series nothin'? Mad About You---the whole finale was about Jamie and Paul getting a divorce. In the end they don't---but what a downer to a show. Crummy Seinfeld ender, anyone? Didn't a short-lived soap end it's run with a cliff-hanger? A major character was facing a firing squad. Last line spoken: "FIRE". Then black screen...oh, rats---what was that soap called? It'll come to me--probably after I hit publish. Anyway, it's all likes saying, "Hey, thanks for watching and drop dead". Because, you know, punishing the audience that actually watched your show makes so much sense after the network cancels you.

I'm sick of tv writer/producers indulging themselves either in vendettas or trying to produce something "meaningful" and arty as a finale. It all boils down to this--they betray audience loyalty. I get reality in REALITY...I don't need it in my tv viewing. Take a lesson--best series finale ever? Vicar of Dibley when Geraldine got married off to the hunky Richard Armitage. Unlikely, ridiculous, and funny as heck and I watch THAT one over and over!