End of season TV round-up

A few comments on some of the TV I've been watching lately, including a lot of end of season and end of series shows (literal end of series and effective end of series in that I won't watch them next year). THE WEST WING finally came to a close. The last scene was pretty good, kind of telegraphed, but a good callback to one of the best episodes from back when it was a good show. I was briefly worried that they were going to end it with the new President, which would have been insulting. Otherwise, the show pretty much limped to a conclusion, and I don't really accept this as the end, since as far as I'm concerned these haven't really been the same characters I've been seeing for the last several years anyway. I've still got the first four seasons on tape, and it really was so much a better show. I wonder what the odds are that Sorkin will be allowed to stick around on his next show? LOST finished up it' second year, which will probably be the last I watch on a semi-regular basis. I still like some aspects of the show, but the average episode (apparently any not shown in sweeps months) is kind of weak, and I'm more convinced than ever that they're mostly making it up as they go along. A shame, as there is some potential and some of the cast is really good. I might watch the first few of the next year to see how quickly and cheaply they're able to restore the status quo. PRISON BREAK ended up a bit better, and is pretty much at a point where they can't go back to the status quo, so I'm really curious about what format the second year will bring, and how long they can keep it up. It's still a pretty dumb show, but if you go in expecting that it's not a bad 44 minutes. THE OFFICE probably had the best season ending, although I'm kind of dreading that the next season will start with Jim returning to Dunder-Mifflin six months later after his boat sinks during a round-the-world trip, and finding a new romantic lead. Hopefully not played by Kristie Alley.... THE DAILY SHOW and THE COLBERT REPORT have been pretty good lately. They're on repeats this week, and I always miss them when they're gone. I'm enjoying Keith Olbermann's COUNTDOWN on MSNBC, although it's kind of frustrating how obvious it is how to make it a better show. Let Olbermann do more sports features, drop the Hollywood gossip stuff. And expand it to two or three hours and get rid of some of those other dead-weight MSNBC hosts. A few TV shows on DVD have popped up at bargain prices recently. I picked up the first two sets of BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES and first two seasons of ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT. I always enjoyed that Batman show (not so much the later versions), but have only seen about a third of the shows, and those not in years, so it's been a lot of fun watching those. AD I think I mentioned before I somehow never watched until the recent third and (shortened) final season. I'd watched the earlier ones on borrowed tapes a few months back, but it's been great seeing them on proper copies, and the commentary tracks and deleted scenes are a lot of fun.