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Recently in Obituaries Without Pity Category
Season 3 of Downton Abbey claims its second big-name victim. Warning: Spoilers ahead.
Rather than write a second long piece in praise of 30 Rock, add yet another blog post to the world about how Tina Fey changed television (though, she did) or try to convince you how much the series transformed TV while glazing over the fact that the show was almost unwatchable for two seasons, let's just focus on the finale... the very satisfying and heartfelt finale.
What can I say about Desperate Housewives? Once a clever, black humor soap opera about life as a woman in the suburbs, Marc Cherry's series eventually became a Sunday-evening afterthought that only the most devoted of fans watched and even then, it was mostly to see it end. In Season 1, it averaged 23.69 million viewers -- in Season 8, it never quite reached the 10 million mark. Now, Desperate Housewives has left us... and against all odds, takes a tiny bit of each fan down with it.
With another regular television season coming to a close just in time for the Memorial Day weekend, we'd like to hold a memorial of our own for all of the characters and other elements that we'll miss the most from this year's ridiculously robust round of cancelled and concluded shows. Important note, however: This list is just about shows from the 2010-2011 season, so no putting, like, Firefly people or whatever in the comments, please. We know you'll want to, but just try to resist.
After a star-studded week of shows honoring the two-and-a-half decades of The Oprah Winfrey Show, its final hour aired today with just Oprah -- in a fabulous pink dress, dripping in diamonds -- alone on the stage, recalling the show's history and imparting some final words of wisdom and thanks to her unparalleled loyal audience. We joke a lot about Oprah, but I've loved the show since I was a kid, so I decided to watch and write a minute-by-minute account of the final hour of the most influential talk show of all time. Read and comment along, and we'll all get through this together.
After five seasons, Big Love bowed out for good last night with a shocking twist, a few final signature Bill Paxton bad acting moments (for good measure), and a mostly happy ending. The series finale was like this show has always been -- uneven, at times brilliant, other times overly wacky -- and though it wasn't perfect, it was at least a satisfying send-off for all in the Henrickson marriage. Actually, make that extremely satisfying for one member in particular.
During last Friday's Countdown with Keith Olbermann telecast, Olbermann abruptly announced that, after eight years his show was ending that night, as was his relationship with MSNBC. Nobody knows exactly what happened there or why (yet), and I'm in no position to speculate. I will, however, miss the show and Olbermann's over-the-top, ridiculously entertaining and yes, sometimes even insightful, comments on how horrifying all the people in this world are. So I've decided to eulogize Countdown the best way I know how -- with a look back at Ben Affleck's reactionary, egomaniacal, awesome cat-lover version on SNL.
After only two episodes, Fox has cancelled Lone Star, making it the official first casualty of the fall 2010 season. It's a sad, but unsurprising move on Fox's part, considering the obvious fact that Lone Star -- a slow, more-intelligent-than-Glee (not that there's anything wrong with Glee) adult drama -- belonged anywhere but on network television. But let's buck up and move on to the important question: who should be next? What else is just so terrible, or so poorly scheduled, or just plain misplaced that it should be put out of its misery next? In ascending order, here are the new shows that most need to be cancelled, and the alternate networks where they could have lived long, happy, minimum-ratings-pressure lives.
After eight seasons, one failed movie and about 800 million fake MacGruber explosions, Will Forte is leaving SNL. It's reportedly his choice and the split is amicable, but still -- pretty sad. MacGruber's not my favorite thing in the world, but Forte is brilliant, and was always the best at coming up with truly great, bizarre end-of-show sketches. The show is going to be weird without him next season. To give him a little send-off, I've rounded up a few of his finest and most popular works currently available on Hulu as a sort of half-assed yet fun eulogy. Watch these at work and laugh so hard you annoy your officemate! Angel loved it when I did it!
After seven insane seasons Nip/Tuck ended far past its prime last night (though, admittedly, I've never stopped loving the show as a guilty pleasure), and the few people still watching expected a mind-blowing finale. Well, they didn't get that, but though it was an anti-climactic and surprisingly emotionless series finale, maybe that's what it needed to be. MOST RECENT POSTS
Speakers for the TV Dead: Downton Abbey
Lessons Other Shows Can Learn From the 30 Rock Finale
Desperate Housewives: A Eulogy
TWoP 10: Things We'll Miss from Recently Cancelled Shows
Oprah's Final Show: A Minute-By-Minute Account of the Most Important Hour in Human History
The Best and Worst of the Big Love Series Finale
Ben Affleck's Keith Olbermann Impression: How We'll Always Remember Countdown
Fall TV Death Watch: Which Shows Should Be Cancelled Next?
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