. . .

• In case you've been paying attention², that "MLS" on the end of my signature means I (shockingly) graduated.
• In other shocking news, I have a job! I start tomorrow.
• Obviously, the big TV news was the series finale of The Sopranos. How do I put this? It³ sucked.
  
• No, not because there wasn't a bloodbath, or even a definitive ending. The show has never been about that. The show has been about depicting what Tony's (or any Mafia life) would be, creating a sense of constant tension and uncertainty. But not everything comes to a giant climax because not everything in life comes to a giant climax; in other words, not much happens on the show because, well, not much happens in real life. The problem with this approach is you often get a boring, anti-climatic show. In the first three seasons and season five, this wasn't a problem because the things that built up to the anti-climax were actually compelling.
  
• The really inexplicable thing was all the stupid, pointless "predictions" thrown about last week. My "favorite" was the speculation that Tony was going into witness protection. Really? A show whose creator has been insistent about this not being a stereotypical Mafia drama is going to end the series in the exact same way as Goodfellas?
• Gilmore Girls also ended. I bailed in November.
• How disappointing was this season of Scrubs? Here's a list of things:
• The lack of development in JD's character. He's actually regressed since season one.
• The lack of development/maturation of JD & Dr. Cox's relationship. There's no respect, bordering on pure contempt, from Dr. Cox towards JD, which was understandable if JD was still an intern, but he's an allegedly good doctor now. Of course, since he's turned into a giant douche, Dr. Cox's contempt is somewhat understandable.⁴
  
• The utter waste of Elizabeth Banks' talent in a pointless, chemistry-less relationship with JD.
• Oh God, the stupid, intelligence-insulting Kim-lies-to-JD-about-the-baby storyline.
  
• The forced tone of the wackiness combined with the poignant that was once effortless, and to me, the most disappointing thing in this list, since it made the show so great.
  
• Back to something actually great: Knocked Up. Regular readers of the blog⁵ know how much Judd Apatow's work, ranging from Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared, and The 40 Year Old Virgin, has meant to me. Not suprisingly I absolutely loved Knocked Up.
  
• I've also started to NetFlix back episodes of The Shield, which is very good. Not at the level of The Wire, but what is?
• The Reds suck, and since I've moved down here the Rangers suck too. Clearly, I'm baseball poison.
  

1. They have not.
   
2. You haven't.
   
3. The whole season, for that matter.
4. For a good example of a maturing relationship within the show, look at Dr. Cox and Turk. He's gone from utter dismissal of him, to a grudging respect, to now, where they are more or less friends.
5. All one of you.
   

Labels: baseball, movies, random, TEG, TV