davidklecha | Day 22 of 30 Days of TV Shows (Reply)

Yeah, I’m aware that I’m outrageously off the mark in terms of doing these day after day. Oh well.

Day 22 – Favorite series finale

There’s only a few series finales I’ve even seen, and most series that I really like have been killed before their time. So that leaves out a lot of awesome shows, like Firefly and Brisco, since they vanished before they even knew they needed a series finale. Others, I haven’t seen yet, like LOST (I know, I’m going to be way outside the traditional spoiler limit by the time I get around to seeing it).

One show that ended before its time, but had a great series finale (I thought) was Life. In case you haven’t seen it, this was a cop drama starring Damien Lewis (of Band of Brothers) and Sarah Shahi as LAPD Detectives. Lewis played Charlie Crewes, a former beat cop who had been wrongly accused and convicted of killing his friend and the friend’s family, then exonerated, and enriched by a settlement with the LAPD. Part of the settlement included allowing him back on the force, which of course not everyone was on board with. And, of course, he was somewhat secretly investigating who had framed him.

The show was quirky and rather beautiful. Sarah Shahi played Dani Reese who came pretty close to being my favorite female character of all time. Lewis played Charlie as pretty deeply damaged ex-con, who masks a lot of his damage with Zen quirkiness. Adam Arkin played Ted, a friend of Charlie’s from prison who had been an Enron-type executive, now charged with keeping track of the newfound wealth.

It was just a beautiful show, full of abrupt changes of direction, surprises, good crunchy stuff. And then… Leno decided he wanted the 10pm time slot to himself, and the show died before it had a chance to live. And I think, if you’ve ever seen the series finale, you may know what I mean when I say that I think the last couple of shots were intended as the first few shots of the third season, resolving the cliffhanger.

Instead, those are the ending of the series, as Charlie does the unexpected, giving himself up to a master criminal that has been plaguing them from early on and had captured Dani… then killing him, brutally, swiftly, and without remorse. For a show that had a lot of those sudden, unexpected moments, the series finale capped it all with a good one. Loved that show, and I’ll miss it very very nearly as much as I miss Brisco.

Day 01 – The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. (should never have been canceled)
Day 02 – The IT Crowd (show that you wish more people were watching)
Day 03 – Detroit 1-8-7 (favorite new show)
Day 04 – Stargate SG-1 (favorite show ever)
Day 05 – The Office (show you hate)
Day 06 – “Window of Opportunity” (favorite episode)
Day 07 – “Demons” (least favorite episode)
Day 08 – Mythbusters (everyone should watch)
Day 09 – Mulder sings “Shaft” (Best scene ever)
Day 10 – NCIS (show you thought you wouldn’t like)
Day 11 – Stargate: Atlantis (show that disappointed)
Day 12 – “The Chronicles of Meap” (episode you’ve watched more than 5 times)
Day 13 – Danger Mouse (childhood show)
Day 14 – Alexander Scott from I Spy (male character)
Day 15 – Samantha Carter (female character)
Day 16 – 1980s Detective Shows (guilty pleasure)
Day 17 – Band of Brothers (mini series)
Day 18 – Dr. Who (title sequence)
Day 19 – Firefly (TV show cast)
Day 20 – Mulder & Scully (Favorite kiss)
Day 21 – JD & Elliot (Favorite ship)
Day 22 – Life (series finale)
Day 23 – Most annoying character
Day 24 – Best quote
Day 25 – A show you plan on watching (old or new)
Day 26 – OMG WTF? Season finale
Day 27 – Best pilot episode
Day 28 – First TV show obsession
Day 29 – Current TV show obsession
Day 30 – Saddest character death