Chuck renewed for fifth and final season

"Big Love" did it, and now "Chuck" is set to follow their lead in announcing that its fifth season will be its last.

After passionate fan campaigns (much to Subway's joy), the show's managed to hang on year after year, which is impressive. Of course, a lot of its continuance likely stems from NBC's chronic failures and lack of good replacement programming, but that's another matter.

I'll admit that I haven't been following "Chuck" this season due to my work schedule, so I'm not going to pass too much judgment on season four. However, I also found myself bored with the first few episodes I did catch online, so it's not high on my television priority list. And, from what I hear from devoted fans, this season's been dull, and signs of strain are showing. It's inevitable with a show like this - there's only so many times Chuck can save Sarah (or vice versa), there's only so many back-and-forth, good-guy-or-bad-guy mysteries that can go on.

So, I'm glad the show will have its fifth season, but I'm also glad that it has an end date. This gives writers the opportunity to tie up loose ends and create and endgame for its characters. "Big Love" had the opportunity to do this, and while its final season wasn't perfect, it was a vast improvement over the previous season. Instead of loosely connected mysteries of the week that don't lead anywhere (entertaining as they may be), the writers can create a narrative like that of the engrossing season two, that leaves viewers satisfied and the show fulfilling its potential.


In other television news, if you're looking for other cancellations or renewals, TV Overmind offers guides to the current state of shows at ABC and NBC. At the network upfronts this week, we'll likely find out more about what shows are picked up at CBS and Fox.

Bid farewell to Big Love

It seemed like yesterday I wrote about how Big Love was ending after its fifth season, and now, the time has come. Tonight, HBO will air the final episode of the polygamist drama. And, surprisingly, I'm excited about it - excited for the right reasons.

I'm not excited for the reason I thought I would be - putting a formerly good show out of its misery. No, I'm actually excited because this season has been fairly good. The show has gotten back to its roots (the family and its drama), and there has been plenty of family drama to keep the show going. Without spoiling too much, the usual suspects at Juniper Creek are proving to be a great threat to the Henrickson family, which is facing self-implosion due to drama from a straying Barb, an emotional Nicki and a conflicted Margene. Oh, and Bill may go to jail. And Rhonda, quite possibly one of the most abhorrent characters in television (the one you love to hate) is back, which has yielded plenty of rage and emotion from me.

Sure, there are a lot of plot lines on the show right now that will need to be tied up tonight, and this season wasn't perfect because of them. Yet, last week's episode, Exorcism, was fascinating and kept me interested. I think the show did a good job of using a self-imposed ending to return to its roots and make a strong final season.

I'm glad that I'm excited for the series finale of a show I liked - I'm glad they were able to make audiences care enough to watch the finale (unlike shows like Nip/Tuck). Amanda Seyfried and Aaron Paul are expected to return in this episode, and I'm glad we'll get to see them one more time. I'm looking forward to the prospect of something bad happening to Bill and Rhonda. As a whole, I'm looking to see if they end the show on an optimistic note (where Alby goes down, Bill avoids jail and the family stays together) or a dim one (the family splits, Bill goes to jail, people die). It could go either way this evening, and I'm interested to see what they do. As ONTD user "arrogant_sage" said perfectly, this is a "great little train wreck of a show," and I'm glad that it's going out on a fairly strong note.

HBO posted a few clips of the finale:







What are your expectations for the finale?

Big Love set to end in 2011 ... good riddance?

Thursday, HBO announced that the fifth season of Big Love, beginning Sunday, Jan. 16, will be its last.

I used to be a fan of Big Love in its first and second season (I'm one of the only people who did not really enjoy season three, minus the amazing "Come Ye Saints" episode), in which the Henrickson/Grant/Heffman family faced the extensive issues that come along with hiding their polygamist family from society, and attempting to deal with a traditional polygamist compound.

And then, suddenly, I found myself reacting like this when watching it:


It became just so complicated; too many characters were in play, and Bill Paxton's character, Bill Henrickson, became more unlikable than Michael Scott. Big Love was good at making us love to hate characters (Daveigh Chase's Rhonda still makes my blood boil when I think about her), but with Bill, they simply ruined him.

In terms of increasing the show's quality, ending the show may be the best option. Hopefully, they'll use their remaining episodes to leave the show with a good legacy. Actually, I hope Bill dies or the wives leave him.

Anyway, Big Love, along with Entourage (also ending next year), needed to end. I'll add the Office to that list as well. Anyone else have shows that they only watch out of habit, because they're still on TV? Ones that you don't really enjoy? Leave a comment.

Dead in the water: shows that jumped the shark

It’s a common crisis for all writers: the creative slump. It’s the moment in which you have to reach for the extreme in order to fulfill your writing obligations, and the results are often unbearable. In television, this creative failure is known as “Jumping the Shark” (originating from the “Happy Days” episode in which Fonzie, literally, jumps over a shark, thus beginning the show’s demise). It’s happened to many shows in the past, and it will surely happen to many in the future. These are some of the shows that suffered some of the biggest creative slumps in recent years.

“Big Love:” This was a unique look at a polygamist family living in secrecy, trying to balance public life and complicated family lives (Bill Paxton and Chloe Sevigny’s characters lived on a polygamist compound for some time, and that compound is a major plot point). Now it’s a show that crams too many pointless and unnecessary plotlines into short seasons. The relationship between sister wives Sevigny, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Ginnifer Goodwin are is only remaining strength of the show.

“Glee:” I was attracted to “Glee” because I used to be a big fan of creator Ryan Murphy’s other show, “Nip/Tuck” (we’ll get to them in a moment) and it was set in nearby Lima, Ohio (I expected more Ohio-related jokes than the show has delivered). I’m not a musical fan, but I watched the pilot that aired in May, and loved it. I was eagerly anticipating the show’s fall 2009 premiere, but it did not live up to its hype. Jane Lynch is fantastic, but for me, even her character isn’t enough to keep me sitting through ridiculous plot lines that often go nowhere. I know it’s supposed to be a cheesy, fun show, but some of the musical numbers (“Gold Digger,” mainly) are just cringe-worthy.

“Weeds:” The show started off quite well, with hilarious characters and engrossing plot lines. You rooted for Mary-Louise Parker’s pot-dealing widow to succeed, and her relationships with her suppliers and fellow suburbanites were fun to watch. After a while, the shtick got old, characters came and went, and it became difficult to root for Parker’s character after a while, since she always manages to get away from danger every single time (usually by using sex to get herself out of these situations), and acts completely selfishly.

“Two and a Half Men:” It is the epitome of everything that is wrong with television today (bland, repetitive humor that uses an excessive amount of crudeness and insults the intelligence of the viewer. I’m not a prude, but if you’re going to be “raunchy,” be funny as well.), and it angers me to see that it is the number one comedy on television. Plus, it stars Charlie Sheen, whom I despise, and Jon Cryer stole Jack McBrayer’s Emmy last year. I’ve hated it since the beginning of its run, but I think I have a reason to say that it “became” stupid. The other day, I was having a conversation with my grandmother, who is in the prime audience demographic for this show, and she said she could no longer stomach the show’s repetitive and crude humor. She made a wise decision and quit watching, and I hope more people emulate her.

“Entourage:” Like “Weeds,” this show’s plots are incredibly repetitive, and go nowhere. Vince is in a new movie. This means his clingy friends will score with women way out of their league for the umpteenth time this season, fantastic. Wow, there’s another party at a rich guest star’s mansion, I haven’t seen that yet, at least I haven’t seen it in this episode! All of the show’s seasons began to run together in my mind, and while Jeremy Piven’s Ari Gold is an amusing character, there can be too much of a good thing, and even he became unbearable.

“Nip/Tuck:” Like the month we are in, this show came in like a lion, and out like a lamb. Controversial, ridiculous and sexually graphic, “Nip/Tuck” managed to turn the unrealistic trials and tribulations of two Miami (later Los Angeles-based) plastic surgeons in the bedroom and operating room into addictive television. Once the show introduced the ridiculous “Carver” arc of season three, this show crossed the line from being enjoyably trashy and campy into an eye-roll inducing wreck. The show just ended Wednesday night, and I have no desire to see how it ended. For my money, I’ll stick with Ryan Murphy’s “Popular” instead of this or “Glee.”

“Veronica Mars:” This is one of my favorite shows. The first season of the show, which focuses on Kristen Bell’s titular heroine looking to solve the murder of her best friend, was one of the best televisions seasons of the last decade. Season two wasn’t as strong as season one, but it’s the show’s final season that lost me. “Dawson’s Creek” lost a lot of creative gusto when it moved the characters to college, and “Veronica Mars” made the same mistake in season three. The “mysteries of the week” Veronica solved weren’t as captivating, and the half-season long arcs weren’t compelling either. Granted, I will place blame on the CW network, which clearly made creator Rob Thomas change the show to fit a broader, newer audience when the CW formed (it aired on UPN until the UPN-WB merger). However, it’s still a creative mess, no matter who gets the blame.

“South Park:” I miss episodes like the one I am currently watching, “the Mexican Staring Frog of Southern Sri Lanka.” Referencing Mark Twain, having Jesus Christ battle redneck hunters in the quest for television show ratings? That’s the randomness of the show that I love. I feel the show has become nearly unbearable with the incessant need to be completely topical. The earlier seasons, with the cruder humor, are much more enjoyable and effectively balance silliness and satire.

“The Osbournes:” I’m not a big reality television fan, but the first season of this show yielded some fantastically hilarious moments. Who can forget Ozzy Osbourne throwing the ham into their loud neighbors’ yard? It was outrageous, yet it felt absolutely real. However, once the show became a hit and returned for subsequent seasons, the bar had t be raised. In later seasons, the family was clearly acted in staged or scripted situations, and minus Jack Osbourne’s ecstatic “Ooh, McRib is back!” proclamation, anything past season one is terrible.

“The Office:” It breaks my heart to say this. One of my favorite television shows of all time, I have been obsessed with the show for years. It managed to carve out an identity separate from its British predecessor, and seasons two and three were brilliant. However, in subsequent seasons, it became clear that both the writers were trying to dumb down the show to appeal to a broader audience, and they were hitting creative slumps. These days, Dwight Schrute has gone from ridiculous but realistic to just being ridiculous, unrealistic and just outright annoying. Good for Pam for finding love and gaining confidence, but did she have to become so self-righteous in the process? I see why Ricky Gervais ended the British version so early, it’s better to go out on top than to break the hearts of fans week after week.

Do you agree with my choices, or do you want to defend the show’s I’ve mentioned? Have any other shows that I omitted (I watch a lot of television, but I don’t watch every show, so I may have missed some shows.) that you wish to vent about? Leave a comment!