What were the last TV shows you watched?

[Der_Lex]

There's a big divide among Lost fans concerning the finale. There's a camp that loved it and is perfectly happy with it, and a camp that hated it and thought it didn't live up to the rest of the series. Unfortunately, I'm fully in the latter camp. I had a weekly Lost night with my wife and a group of friends, and I think 'utter disappointment' is the only way to describe the feeling in the room after watching the finale.

[ultimatespidey81]

ok.

[Der_Lex]

On a more cheery note, Amazon has season 1 of Community back in stock and I'll have it by Saturday or Monday instead of in two weeks. Cool. Coolcoolcool.

[disturbed11]

There's a big divide among Lost fans concerning the finale. There's a camp that loved it and is perfectly happy with it, and a camp that hated it and thought it didn't live up to the rest of the series. Unfortunately, I'm fully in the latter camp. I had a weekly Lost night with my wife and a group of friends, and I think 'utter disappointment' is the only way to describe the feeling in the room after watching the finale.

I agree there was so much more to be done with the finale!!!

[topperharley]

I'm fully in the latter camp. ... I think 'utter disappointment' is the only way to describe ... the finale.

I'm with Lex on this one.

[Cubecubed]

On a more cheery note, Amazon has season 1 of Community back in stock and I'll have it by Saturday or Monday instead of in two weeks. Cool. Coolcoolcool.

I got mine from Target for 11 dollars, lol. Season 2 i got off of Amazon for 18.

[BevoTheWarrior]

On a more cheery note, Amazon has season 1 of Community back in stock and I'll have it by Saturday or Monday instead of in two weeks. Cool. Coolcoolcool.

I'll be excited when they finally release it on blu-ray. I can't wait to see Annie's Boobs in hi-def. (And by that I mean the monkey. Yeah, that's the ticket.)

[Dante1847]

As for BSG, the ending left a lot to be desired, but no time travel was involved. It merely turned out the show was set in the distant past rather than the distant future. The only similarity with Lost (albeit a strong one) is that both left a lot of viewers unsatisfied by going for 'god(s) did it' as a final explanation.

the element that annoyed me the most with the last season (and the finale) of BSG was Starbuck. How she is resurrected or whatever and becomes this angel figure, and just disappears on Lee when her "work" is finished....just didn't buy into it. Almost completely destroyed the Kara Thrace image for me.

Speaking of BSG...how I miss that series, but it was an up and down experience. Seasons 1 and 2 were FANTASTIC. But then 2.5 was pretty much garbage, at least until the final few episodes dealing with the presidential election. 3 was solid, though had its share of lame episodes after they finished the New Caprica occupation episodes. Season 4 had potential, giving glimpses of the awesomeness that the first 2 seasons showed during the mutiny episodes but regressed quickly after that.

[Der_Lex]

*spoilers for both BSG and Lost ahead)

Dante, I agree. Both BSG and Lost pretty much jumped the shark when they started to focus too much on the 'faith' aspect that, even though it had certainly always been present in both series, up to that point had always had rational thought/science as a counterpoint (especially Lost was pretty heavy-handed with the 'man of science, man of faith' theme). Jumping entirely on 'team faith' as both series did is pretty much the laziest, easiest way to bail out when you've written yourself into a corner, because you don't have to explain anything anymore, you can simply say 'it's magic/a miracle' and be done with it. It also really lessens the enjoyment of a second viewing, because both Balthar's 'Head six' and Lost's smoke monster, for example, become a lot less interesting when it turns out the first is an angel(taking away a lot of the complexity of the Balthar character and his motivations) and the second is simply a dude who hates his brother (whereas the smoke monster was interesting in the first place because it was so alien).
When you set up a complex mythology for a show, you need to know where you're going and how to deliver a payoff that will satisfy viewers who are looking for more than cliches and simplifications. Again, Babylon 5 is the primary show I think of when looking for an example of a show that did this right, although shows like Supernatural and Star Trek: DS9 (and several others) did a good job of handling their mythologies as well.

That being said, the first two seasons of BSG (especially the Pegasus arc) and the first five seasons of Lost are absolutely fantastic television that I thoroughly enjoyed. It's just a shame they both broke a leg on the dismount. I really hope Fringe, which is possibly my favorite show on TV right now, doesn't make the same mistake. They've set up a wonderful, complex series mythology so far, but I really hope they know where they're going with it.

[Dante1847]

the Baltar character basically ran the whole gamut. Dick-swinging, irreverent stud to shamed, insecure refugee to confident presidential candidate to (still dick-swinging) religious icon to--finally--inspired commando.

One of the reasons why BSG is a roller coaster.

Three things that pissed me off in the latter parts of BSG:
1) Baltar's transformation to religious figure. Writing on this was pretty weak I thought, and the show didn't execute it well; thought it was too impulsive, too sudden...like it was turned on by a switch. I missed the old Baltar who was weak and could put the whole human race on the line just to maintain the image of credible know-it-all scientist, or who was a ***** in the field but could shoot an over-anxious, incompetent lieutenant. That was one helluva character.

2) Tigh's relationship with the Six...took too much away from his awesome character traits in the older seasons, where he was a drunken, belligerent a-hole who nonetheless was able to shine in key moments and was loyal.

3) Kara Thrace. Kara Thrace. Kara Thrace.