Spoiler Alert, The Dexter Finale is Terrible

Oh, Dexter. I watched all eight seasons of your show with a really strong, interesting premise. After the season with the Trinity Killer (played by a terrifying John Lithgow), there was no where to go but down. But did you have to sink so, so far?

The following are my thoughts immediately following my viewing of the Dexter series finale, which aired last night, 9/22/13.

After setting up a race through airports that would lead to not only girlfriend and convicted murderer girlfriend Hannah's arrest but Dexter's eventual reveal as a serial killer, the episode was actually based around Debra getting shot in the gut, wheeled into surgery, being told by the doctors that she's going to be fine, and then making a complete 180 and becoming brain dead.

The highlight of the episode was Dexter stabbing nemesis serial killer Oliver Saxon in the jugular with a pen. It's something I thought of doing to myself while watching this show years ago.

During an evacuation of the hospital where Deb is hooked up to life support, Dexter enters her room (wearing his kill outfit to really set up what he's set out to do), and detaches her from the machines that keep her alive. It is a heartfelt goodbye, but is completely ruined by the next scene, in which Dexter steals his dead sister's body from the hospital in plain sight, takes it to his boat waiting nearby, and drives out to sea, TOWARDS A HURRICANE, MIND YOU, to dispose of the body and deprive any of the other characters that loved her (Joey Quinn, Angel Batista) from saying their goodbyes to their newly fallen colleague.

Then comes my favorite part. Dexter, wanting to save ladyfriend Hannah and son Harrison from himself (or so one of Dex's famous voiceovers tells us), drives his boat directly into the oncoming hurricane. The boat does not survive and neither does Dext---

Wait, what's that you say? There's more? We cut to a logging yard where a very hairy Dexter is alive and well. The end. No Moral.

Now, I don't typically watch shows expecting things to be tied up in a neat little bow, and let's be honest: that was never going to happen for Dexter. That having been said, aside from the episode being generally unsatisfying, it never did what the show promised and foreshadowed from day one: it never revealed to its supporting characters that our hero is a serial killer. There was also no conclusion for our recurring characters at the Miami Metro PD: Masouka, Quinn, Batista, Chief Matthews, Masouka's daughter who was introduced just before the end of the series for seemingly no good reason, and Jamie. Luckily, we tied up loose ends with Ghost Harry in the penultimate episode.

I've seen a lot of TV in my day, some of it good and some of it bad. I really wanted the end of Dexter, which has been slumping for years, to surprise me and be a rewarding ending to something that was once so good. It was not.

Goodbye, Dexter. I'll watch your actors in the next things they do, but I can't say that I found you to be anything but disappointing as a whole.

There's more where that came from,
Meljo

The Sun Sinks Slowly into Space

Many people have asked me to answer the question "what are your favorite shows of all time?" The list isn't short. But off the top of my head, a few shows instantly come to mind without thinking too hard. The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., Seinfeld, Gilmore Girls, and Futurama.

I remember the anticipation of the premiere of the "new Matt Groening show" that was about to premiere on Fox. Named after an exhibit at the 1939 World's Fair where the invention of television was first introduced, Futurama's animation looked like our familiar Simpsons, but there were more aliens and robots. When I watched the premiere, I enjoyed myself, but had no idea I was about to fall in love with one of the most moving, clever, heartbreaking shows of all time.

Futurama is the story of a lovable loser who lives at home, Philip J. Fry. He works as a pizza delivery boy ("do not tip delivery boy!"). As the result of a prank pizza order, Fry is cryogenically frozen for 1000 years and hurled through time to the year 3000. He meets a lovable but hateful robot, Bender (he loves "the cool crime of robbery"); the cyclops that will become the love of his life, Turanga Leela; and through odd circumstances gets a job at an interplanetary delivery company - Planet Express. There he meets his own distant nephew, Professor Hubert Farnsworth; a crablike alien doctor John Zoidberg, fat girl turned beauty queen Amy Wong, a tubby ganja loving Rastafarian bureaucrat Hermes Conrad. The Planet Express crew is tasked with delivering items to ridiculous and usually dangerous planets in other galaxies, putting themselves in harm's way. Hilarity ensues.

The show, by all accounts, should be (and mostly is) pretty goofy and fun. But on top of that, the show is also completely heartbreaking at times. I don't usually cry at cartoons, but I regularly cry at this one. I'm sure as the sun sinks slowly into space tonight and the series comes to an end, I'll cry again. Here are the most touching moments from the 13 glorious years we had with Futurama.

5. The holophoner concert

In the intended first ending to Futurama, Fry learns how to play the universe's most beautiful and complicated instrument, the holophoner, in an attempt to woo Leela. However, Fry has stupid fingers and can't play. After making a deal with the Robot Devil that results in a hand swap between the two, Fry becomes the world's most renowned holophoner artist. Wanting his hands back, the Robot Devil tricks Leela into becoming his wife, but won't follow through if Fry will give back his hands. Fry does this, and his attempt to woo Leela through the holophoner fails.

Why it's terribly sad: The series was pretty much over to us at that point, and the series-long love story between Leela and Fry went unresolved. I know it's cliche to have a happy ending wrapped up with a neat little bow, but come on. Can't Fry catch a break?

4. Yancy Fry's eternal love for his brother

In the episode "Luck of the Fryrish," Fry recalls his competitive, stunted relationship with his older brother, Yancy. Yancy was always better than Fry at everything until Fry finds a seven-leaf clover during a game of basketball, and his luck changes. The brothers fight over the clover, which Fry hides inside his copy of the Breakfast Club soundtrack and locks it away in the Ronco Record Vault (the combination is "3").  In the future, Fry finds a statue in Old New York that looks exactly like Yancy but bears the name Philip J. Fry. On the lapel of the statue's suit is the seven-leaf clover. Angry at his brother's theft of the clover and his success in making something out of himself, Fry soon discovers that the Philip Fry on the statue is actually Yancy's son, whom he has named after his long lost brother, passing the clover along as a family heirloom.

Why it's terribly sad: Fry's whole family is very, very dead and he'll never get to have a relationship with the part of his brother that openly loved him.

3. Leela meets her parents and finds out they've always been there for her, despite not seeing them.

Thinking herself to be an alien for all her life, cycloptic Leela who grew up as an orphan spots two mysterious figures in robes following her. Following them, she discovers that they are her long lost biological parents, and they aren't aliens at all: they're sewer mutants, sworn by the earth government to stay underground in the sewer. Wanting her to have a normal human life, they abandoned Leela at an Orphanarium. Leela develops a relationship with her parents with many ups and downs as she quickly goes through the phases one might go through during their relationship with his or her parents.

Why it's terribly sad: At the end of the episode, Leela remarks that she's upset that her parents missed out on so many key moments in her life. They admit that they did not miss out on these moments: a montage shows us key moments in Leela's life, aided by her parents who are just out of her immediate environment. Seeing an arm coming out of the vent and covering up a little girl with a blanket as she sleeps is a beautiful moment.

2. Fry's mom dreams of spending one last day with her missing son

An alien ship is on its way to destroy earth, and emits a deafening series of tones as it gets closer. Fry recognizes the tones but can't place what they are. Convinced that Fry's memory of the tones is the key to stopping the aliens from destroying earth, Professor Farnsworth places Fry in a memory coma in which he relives his last day in the year 1999. He gets to go spend one more day with his family in his dreams, and has trouble leaving to find the tones - his desire to spend time with his mother is too great. The Planet Express crew comes into Fry's dream to retrieve him, and a heartbroken Fry is able to determine the source of the tones, and the earth is saved.

Why it's terribly sad: The alien inside the ship ends up being a Nibblonian who, in a fit of drunken mayhem, lost his previous ship and came to look for it. Fry helps them find it, and as such, they will do him a favor. The favor that the Nibblonians do for Fry is to allow him to spend one last day with his mother in his dreams.

1. Jurassic Bark

A trip to a museum reveals a fossilized version of Fry's old stray dog, Seymour, whom he acquired during his time as a pizza delivery boy. The dog became a beloved pet to the whole Fry family, so when future Fry is reunited with the fossil, the Professor offers to clone the dog. Throughout the episode, a very jealous Bender resents the fossilized dog, and eventually tries to destroy it. Wanting to remember Seymour the way he was, Fry decides not to clone the dog, saying "he probably forgot all about me, anyway."

Why it's terribly sad: The montage that follows Fry's statement is painful to watch. We watch as Seymour sits in the same spot outside of the pizza place, waiting diligently for Fry to return. While he waits, the seasons change, the dog ages, but he never moves, letting you know that he literally waited for Fry to return for the rest of his life.

For thirteen years, I have been delighted to welcome Futurama into my home and heart, and I'm going to miss it quite a bit. Until something similarly moving and wonderful comes along, all I have to remember is that whenever I want to visit my Futurama friends, they're sitting happily on the DVD rack.

There's more where that came from,
Meljo

I did it - I crammed a few more shows into my life

With the new television season upon us, I figure I'll make an annual count of my official list of things that I watch. I've dropped some things off lately, which is VERY difficult for me to do - I'm a go down with the ship sort of girl (see: Lost), but things like Glee and Once Upon a Time are just completely unwatchable, so away with you! I've got better things to do.

These are shows I'm currently up to date on. Thank goodness they don't all air during the same months.

ABC
Revenge
Castle

BBC
Downton Abbey

NBC
30 Rock
Smash

FX
Sons of Anarchy
Louie
Wilfred
Justified
American Horror Story

AMC
Hell on Wheels
Mad Men
The Walking Dead
Breaking Bad

CW
Gossip Girl

TNT
Dallas

HBO
Boardwalk Empire
Treme
Girls
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Game of Thrones
True Blood
Veep
The Newsroom

SHOWTIME
Dexter
The Borgias

SYFY
Being Human

ABC FAMILY
Bunheads

COMEDY CENTRAL
Futurama

TBS
Conan

Well, that's 30 shows. 30. And I thought 24 was a lot. I also have people regularly telling me to watch other things that I don't really have any interest in - things like Modern Family, which has to have the worst advertising I have ever seen, and Parenthood, which I tried to watch but sort of loathed, despite Lauren Graham and Peter Krause.

And that doesn't even include the TV I watch at work.

There's more where that came from.
-Meljo

An Update

Since my last post, I've picked up some shows and dropped some. An update:

DROPPING OFF:
Once Upon a Time (ABC)
Pan Am (ABC)

PICKING UP:
Smash (NBC)
Being Human (Syfy)

There has only been one episode of Smash, sure, but the writing very much impressed me. Which is to say, the dialogue wasn't very good, but the pace of the episode, the characters, and the premise were all quite good, and I will watch again.

And there's more where that came from.

-Meljo

Admit that we are powerless against Television

I watch a lot of TV. I always have. I was recently asked by a friend just how many television shows I watch, and the results were... plentiful.

So, friends, here is a list of the shows that are currently on the air (including shows that are on hiatus but still being produced) that I watch, by network.

BBC
Downton Abbey

ABC
Castle
Once Upon a Time
Pan Am
Revenge

FOX
Glee

NBC
30 Rock

The CW
Gossip Girl

TBS
Conan

FX
Louie
Wilfred
Justified
American Horror Story

HBO
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Boardwalk Empire
Game of Thrones
True Blood

AMC
The Walking Dead
Hell on Wheels
Mad Men
Breaking Bad

SHOWTIME
Dexter
The Borgias

COMEDY CENTRAL
Futurama


I watch 24 television shows. I have a problem. I'd like to point out that this doesn't include the several shows I watch on DVD that I'm either not caught up on or didn't complete, or are done airing. It also doesn't include the shows I watch at my job, where I get paid to watch television.

We admitted we were powerless over television – that our schedule had become unmanageable.

There's more where that came from,
Meljo

On my way to where the air is sweet...

I work for a political media company. Occasionally I post some of the on-camera work I've done over here, but very rarely do I want to get political.

But when the right-wing media start to attack Sesame Street, I get a little grumpy.

Read my thoughts over here, at Media Matters.

I love you, Sesame Street. Aside from teaching small children not to stare at people who look different from them, you taught me how to read, and you taught me how to be a respectful, loving, free thinking person. I am happy to defend you anytime. Keep up the good work.

And there's more where that came from.
-Meljo

Perfect nominations, perfect night

As we previously discussed, this year's Emmy nominations may be damn near close to perfect. With the ceremony tonight, I will be watching along as @MichaelAusiello live tweets the before, during and after, and wishing I had his job.

Be well, and cheer for Jane Lynch!

There's more where that came from.
-Meljo