Channel Surfing with CT: THE VAMPIRE DIARIES, SUPERNATURAL, LOST & More!

Last night’s VAMPIRE DIARIES was the season finale and I’ll be honest: I expected more. During its freshman season, the series has proved itself to be so much more than a Twilight knock-off, specializing in sparkling dialogue, complex relationships and the kind of cliffhangers that would make any daytime soap scribe cry out, “We’re not worthy!” But having said all that, I expected more from the cliffhanger meant to keep us buzzing with excitement all season. Come on, seriously… who hasn’t suspected for months that the whole season was building up to Katherine’s return? And while the “Elena”/Damon kiss was shocking for a second or two, the second Jenna said, “You’d better come on in,” it was pretty clear what was going on. Having believed there was something fishy going on in the mayor’s manse for a while, I’m actually more intrigued by Tyler’s reptilian eyes than the Katherine twist. Obviously, we’re about to introduce another supernatural element… and here’s hoping it’s not werewolves. Making furry manboys the second creature introduced is the oldest trick in the vampire-series playbook. Heck, when daytime sudser DARK SHADOWS gave bloodsucking Barnabas a relative, they brought on cousin Quintin, who soon began howling at the moon and having his mutton chops take over his whole body. All in all, DIARIES had an amazing first season, and last night’s finale was a great capper. If, like me, you’re gonna miss the show a whole lot over the summer, never fear, TRUE BLOOD is returning soon. And how brilliant was HBO to run an ad during DIARIES last night? Very smart, people. Very, very smart!
 

If DIARIES left me feeling a tiny bit let down by its season-ending cliffhanger, the opposite proved true of SUPERNATURAL. While this has been an amazing season for the show, the scenes for last night’s epi didn’t seem all that exciting. But dios mio! Castiel being reduced to a pink mist! Bobby’s neck snapped! Sam beating the living crap out of Dean before throwing himself (and half-bro Adam) into the pit! And that wonderful, heartbreaking final scene. I have to assume this episode was purposely designed to serve as a wrap-up for the series had it not been picked up for another season, and man, did it work on that level. In fact, having dealt with armageddon all season and then capped it with the appropriately titled episode “Swan Song”, I’ll be fascinated to see what the writing team comes up with next season. I’ll admit, there’s a part of me that really wishes it would end there. There is nothing better than watching a show go out on a high note, and I can’t help wondering if when SUPERNATURAL finally does conclude, we’ll be left thinking, “Geez, yeah, in retrospect, that woulda been the perfect stopping point.” I don’t want to see this show go past its prime as so many other (coughbuffycough) have over the years. There ain’t nothin’ wrong with knowing when to say when.
 
There’s apparently a lot of controversy swirling around last week’s episode of LOST. I never had a chance to comment on it before, so I’ll throw my two cents in now: Loved it! I don’t give two craps about the Man In Black’s name. Didn’t know it before, don’t need to know it now. The episode did a pretty awesome job of answering an early question regarding those bodies Jack and Kate found way back in season one, and it was an intriguing story to boot. I found it a whole lot more interesting than some recent outings, that’s for sure.
 
So ABC picked up V, huh? Not sure I’ll come back for the second season. So far, this season has seemed like much ado about nothing. I’ve complained about its storytelling week after week, and nothing changed with the penultimate episode of the season. There simply is no sense of this being much more than a spitting contest between Erica and Anna, and I can’t help feeling several key, major roles were miscast. Will I tune in for next week’s finale? Of course. (Hello, I’m an addict, remember?) But I may just opt out next season, if only because I’m pissed at ABC for picking up this crapfest and cancelling my beloved BETTER OFF TED. (Oh, who am I kidding. We all know I can’t NOT tune in next season, at least to see how the presumed cliffhanger is resolved.)
 
This weekend is the DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES finale, and let me tell you something: If the final scene is of a bomb going off with a “who lives, who dies” cliffhanger — and you KNOW it will be — I’m gonna be pissed. This show has suffered a serious lack of creativity and originality for years now, and this season has been nearly unwatchable. It is in desperate need of someone who knows how to tell a real mystery with real consequences on the characters we love and use its subplots as something other than time-killers.