Thursday , March 28 2024
There comes a time when we all must say goodbye.

Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen – Two Shows Disappearing and One More About Dying

I am, as they say, giddy with excitement.  I'm happy, pleased, and greatly amused.  I know you're dying to find out why, so I'm going to tell you. 

The reason for this happiness is multi-fold (and none of those folds involve the weekend being upon us).  First, my Harper's Island screener arrived today.  I know, I know, I haven't seen the show, I've done little more than read about it for months on end and, more recently, watched CBS promos.  Even so, it's a show I've been greatly anticipating since I first heard about it, and to finally have the pilot in my grubby little hands amuses me.  Naturally, there is a chance that I will be let down by what I watch, but I'm looking at the positive side of things today – there's also a chance I'll be overjoyed.  Only time will tell, and don't worry, when I know how I feel about it, you'll know how I feel about it. 

Just FYI, the Harper's Globe website is live and there are apparently going to be webisodes there starting on March 18.  There are apparently a bunch of "hidden" websites out there too.  That sort of thing is fun, as long as the info contained on the various web portals doesn't overshadow the show itself.  I don't want to have to go to the internet to solve the puzzle, it's fine for the internet to make it easier, but it shouldn't be required.

Next up – as it's Friday, it's a Battlestar Galactica day.  Including tonight there are only two episodes left.  That's not a lot, and the producers have a huge amount of work ahead of them if they're going to give some semblance of a resolution.  I'm not looking for everything to be all nice and pat, I'm just looking to feel satisfied with the resolution, even if my satisfaction comes via the form of some sort of cliffhanger.  It's okay if they open a whole new can of worms provided the one we currently have is pretty much over.

Finally, speaking of finales, ER's is fast approaching.  Last night's episode featured Eriq LaSalle in front of the camera (he's directed episodes), as well as (I'm sure you already know this) the return of Julianna Margulies and George Clooney.  After so many in the last third of ER's run, it's really nice to see that they're still pulling back into the show the original cast and giving us some closure there.  I was thrilled to see that Doug and Carol are still together, and hear that Benton and Cleo are still together.  The scary thing is that the writers must have worked out how old Benton's kid, Reese, would now be, and reminded us.  He's 13!  13!  We saw Benton hold Reese in his arms when he was a baby, and there was a long story about Reese's trouble hearing when he was young.  Time does fly.

To me, Anthony Edwards' return earlier in the season, and now LaSalle, Margulies, Clooney, and Wyle returning is the right way for the show to go about getting closure.  They're reminding viewers of the good times and what made ER a great show.  I don't think they're doing it at the expense of the current cast either, which would certainly upset a contingent of the fan base.

I do not imagine that the series finale of the show will hit the incredible heights of the greatest television series finale of all time, "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen," which still actually ranks as the highest-rated television show ever, but the show feels poised to do something special.  I debated going back to the show for the entirety of its last season, and while I'm happy not to have done that, I will be tuning in from here on out to see what they have in store.

I don't think I'm going to be disappointed.

About Josh Lasser

Josh has deftly segued from a life of being pre-med to film school to television production to writing about the media in general. And by 'deftly' he means with agonizing second thoughts and the formation of an ulcer.

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