Season finales - are they good this year?

Over the weekend, two shows I watch had their season finales. Ghost Whisperer, which I watch every week and Desperate Housewives, which I only watch when the hubby is busy playing Wii or watching a movie on the HDTV. Needless to say, both did exactly what I look for in a season finale; they left me wanting more and asking myself tons of questions.

(For those of you who watch these shows and haven't seen the endings yet, there are spoilers below.)

Desperate Housewives neatly tied up the central "mystery" of the season, then went on to show us the housewives (five of them now, as it appears Katherine has been welcomed into their fold) five years later. After a night of poker, they all return home and we get a glimpse of how things have changed. Gabrielle is now a mother to two young girls who love playing with mommy's makeup and fancy dresses. Bree is apparently a successful caterer with a cookbook being published and still happily married to Orsen. Edie comes home to find out her son has been arrested for joy riding, only to find out it isn't the one who has been in trouble recently. Katherine returns home to find a message from Dylan, happy in Paris and engaged. And the biggest surprise is Susan entering her house, saying "Honey, I'm home," and hugging a man who is not Mike.

How did these women get here, to life five years later. I for one can't wait to find out! I might have to find a way to DVR this one next season.

As for Ghost Whisperer, it's been nothing if not confusing this year, but the last few seconds of the show once again have me counting down the days already for a good conclusion. In the final scene, as Melinda, her mother, Delia, her son, Jim and Payne walk together on a sidewalk, they stop at the curb to wait for traffic. Payne looks down and says to Melinda that it's weird that there are six people but only five shadows. What does this mean? One of them has to be dead, but who?

My theory is that it has to be Payne. If Payne was a ghost, only he would know there are six people there at that time. Everyone else would only "see" five people. But I'm curious to know why the writers would do this a second time. Season one ended with Melinda's best friend dying during a plane crash and she (the friend) didn't know she was dead for a while. But, I guess the writers only had so much to work with since Jay Mohr is moving on to do a comedy for FOX, but at the time the finale was written and shot, they didn't know whether his new show would be picked up. It has been, so now, my guess is, Payne is no longer for the Ghost Whisperer world, unless he sticks around as a ghost.

This week, the season finale of Grey's Anatomy. And the best has been saved for last. Lost will end this season with a two-hour finale on Thursday, May 29th. Can't wait!

Now, if anyone can tell me when The Closer will start again, I'd be thrilled.

A Strange TV Season

I feel so discombobulated. We had a normal beginning to the television season, way back last September, then everything just fell apart. New fall shows just ended with no "season finale" and even though we are being told they will be back in the fall (Life, Dirty Sexy Money, Pushing Daisies), I just feel like I was left hanging, with nothing to look forward to. Remember the old days of "Who shot JR?" when we spent all summer anticipating what could possibly happen when the show returned in the fall? So far, the only show that I've felt has given us a good old-fashioned cliff hanger is Nip/Tuck. I don't even remember what happened on the last episode of Life, or Dirty Sexy Money, or Pushing Daisies. So the real question is, will the viewers return to these shows in the fall? Or does the fact that they didn't get a season finale mean that no one really cares to invest in the shows any longer? It's been years since a strike affected television this way, and many shows never recovered -- Moonlighting was one of them.

The only thing good to come out of the strike, IMO, is the rejuvenated season of Lost. I'm not sure I've ever been as intrigued by or confused about any television show. After every episode, I say to my husband, "I am so LOST!" Each episode answers questions, and brings even more questions. "Must See TV" is back again, and while it's still on Thursday nights, this time it's at 10:00 p.m. Eastern on ABC!

Unwatchable Television

I truly hope that everyone involved in the writers strike is watching TV right now. Because there is some truly unwatchable television airing on my TV. Cashmere Mafia is just not any fun at all. Dance Wars is really terrible. And, if I recall correctly, both of these were shows that were going to air even before the strike happened! It's really sad when I catch an episode of One Tree Hill by accident and think it's actually pretty good!

What the heck happened to my DVR?

I know that the tv stations have all decided that shows no longer need to start and end at exactly the top of the hour, but it's really starting to make me mad. Almost everything I've recorded lately is cut off at the end! What is up with that? Why do networks feel it is okay to go a few minutes over? Don't they know people are missing the ends of their shows? My DVR is my favorite invention of the last ten years. What will I do if I get so angry at it that I can't DVR anything anymore?

What to watch now?

I can't believe it has actually come to this. The strike is still in full force with no end in sight, and almost all of my favorite shows have finished airing all their new episodes. I'm still shocked it has continued this long. But it has, and now I must deal with the reality of it all. And the reality of MORE reality television!

My daughters are always excited about the return of American Idol and it appears I will probably be as excited as they are this year with not much else new to watch. I've also got plans to tune in to Medium (its season is scheduled to start soon after the new year) and Law & Order, the original (its season also was delayed and will start in the new year). I'm even a little excited about L&O since Jeremy Sisto will be a new detective. I might even watch a few shows that I originally wasn't planning to watch, like Cashmere Mafia.

But this blog is really about asking all of you (my few readers!) what you think I should watch? What is airing that I should check out? Anything on HBO or Showtime even? We recorded Tin Man on SciFi but I've heard it isn't worth it to even start watching it.

Any ideas will be appreciated!

What are your plans for this upcoming "no new TV season?"