Fall Finales

Where did this Fall Finale idea come form anyway?  Since when did we wrap up shows way before Christmas - some before Thankgiving and have to wait way into January to find out what happens?

The one bright spot is that some shows had a delayed start and are doing a more normal schedule in November and December.  Mike and Molly and CBS's Thursday night line up are in this group. We have also had an early winter premiere or two - the weird Switched at Birth Christmas special and Hart of Dixie.

I found Switched at Birth weird because it didn't make any sense at all.  Of course it was fantasy but there should have been some reason to what happened.  It followed that Regina might never have gotten sober without the switch but Bay's family made no sense at all.  Why was not having the girls switched any sort of catelist for Catherine being the business woman and for their marriage to be so bad?  Not my favorite episode at all.

The best Fall Finale goes to Nashville.  Of course, we knew Rayna and what's his name weren't getting married.  We had seen her in her wedding dress. Even when they tried to say she had bought a different gown, we had still seen it before she was walking down the aisle.  The audience seeing the bride in the dress before the wedding isn't just bad luck it means a no-go.  And thank goodness.  Never have two characters had less chemistry or reason to marry than these two. I will say that the actor playing whats-his-name (truly I can't remember.  Is it Luke?) did sell me on the idea that he really loved Rayna at least a little. I still think this was as much about business for him as love.  Early on I thought he was a spy for Jeff Fordham.

Layla is gone.  Oh well, so sad.  We were just beginning to see some positives in Layla but certainly not enough to invest in the girl.  It's fairly easy to see where this is going.  Jeff is going to expect the mayor to help clean up his mess in exchange for not revealing Teddy's relationship with a call girl.

The reason I particularly liked this episode is that we did get a wedding, the surprise wedding of Avery and Juliette, my favorite couple.  I'm not sure how much of Juliette we will be seeing depending on their filming schedule as Hayden Panitierre just had her baby in real life and congratulations to her!  She is still my favorite character and singer on this show.  And her involvement with Avery has finally shown the primetime world what Jonathan Jackson has to offer.

The Good Wife gave us the best fall cliffhanger. Will Carey go to prison or is there some sort of last minute reprieve?  It isn't looking good for him.

Madam Secretary finally upped the pace and reduced the emphasis on the predictable crisis-of-the-week drama in favor of the overarching story.

Forever also had a fine Fall Finale but have they given us too much info too soon?  I'm not seeing long term series here but I do like the ride so far.  Everyone is just a little too quick to stand by Henry though if you ask me.  I'd be highly suspicious despite the handsome, charming exterior.

Modern Family had a particularly fun finish for 2014.  They have been doing a lot of episodes where the family doesn't blend and just have their own dramas and comedies within their respective households.  I think this makes more sense but they are far funnier when they mix it up.  I love how Gloria was instigating trouble for Claire.  And the whole 'where babies come from' with the younger kids was hilarious.  Lily can sometimes be a bit much and this episode had her more balanced with the other children.

The Big Bang theory had a lovely 'ahh' moment with Sheldon and Amy.  There were so many 'why didn't they just...' moments with the bird in the clean room but then if they had, we wouldn't have been laughing so hard.  I'm sympathetic.  Just the other day, I accidentally let a bird in the house.  My husband easily caught it and released it outdoors in minutes.  

So what to watch for the next few weeks?  I have some shows on DVD and I'm trying to spread them out so there will be plenty to enjoy as it looks like it will be at least mid-January before we are in full swing.

Luke is back, sort of, and Sherlock's Understudies

On GH, Tony Geary is back! How wonderful to see Luke on the screen again and looking well.  Actually we saw 3 Lukes in the last few days.  I was hoping this story was wrapping up though I'm not that surprised that it isn't.  Just because we have been strung along with listening to people talk about Luke for months on end doesn't mean that his portrayer has had the opportunity to enjoy creating and playing these characters.  So I'll give them a little leeway.  Still I hope this wraps up by Christmas.

The big tipoff I think that Luke wasn't Luke yet was that Helena let Alexis just go on into Luke's room and take him out.  You know it wouldn't be that easy.  I think Fake Luke has something to do with the experiments at Crichton Clark and the blood Jerry got to make his radiation poisoning cure.

My heart did a pitter patter this week when I saw Johnny flash his beautiful smile at Sonny - or well, at us lucky viewers at home.  Why can't we spring Johnny so we could see him far more often?  And I miss Anthony, too.  He was a fantastic villian.  I don't think they should bring him back after all the time we viewers spent watching Heather hauling his corpse around. You just can't sell everything.  Then again we loyal viewers have had to buy a lot lately.

I have no segway into this so I'll just jump into another show - Elementary.  Last week, Joan took the week off as she was in Copenhagen with her boyfriend.  It was a brilliant move on the director and writers part as it sold me on Kitty. Seeing her interact with Sherlock without Joan to compare her to, let me really start to like her and value her as a part of the team.

This week they were all back together.  I do like the cases of the week so while I'm enjoying the development of Sherlock and the fantastic job Johnny Lee Miller does with the character, I don't want to lose the weekly stories.  This week's case was weak in my opinion.  I knew the instant we met the young woman that she would be the killer.  Her characters always are.  Plus they should have figured out the reason behind the murder far sooner than they did.  So the overall story arc is being handled very well.  The case of the week though needs more creativity.