JUST THIS SIDE OF SANITY

Fun With Photos

What does this baby know that he's not telling? And when did he know it?

Brief Comments About the Season Finales of "Grey's Anatomy" and "The West Wing"

I don't want to spend a lot of time writing about television--I enjoy watching it and certainly have my opinions about it, but there are plenty of blogs, websites and message boards where fanatics can dissect their favorite shows ad nauseum and I'm not interested in The R Spot becoming one of them. But every now and then, I like to share a thought or two (or three) about something I've just watched.

In that vein, I will say that although I find the writing and acting at times to be a bit too melodramatic and over-the-top for my tastes (let's be honest, the show is basically a medical soap opera played straight), there is no show more on it's game right now than ABC's Grey's Anatomy.

I'm not saying it's the best show on television necessarily, but I am saying that, along with 24, no show is doing a better job manipulating the emotions of its audience and delivering a weekly roller coaster ride than Anatomy. Props to Shonda Rhimes (the only African-American female running a drama show on network television) for having a vision and a specific voice and getting a writing staff and a strong ensemble of actors to deliver that vision week after week. The events of the final three hours of this season's Grey's Anatomy (no spoilers here, sorry) already have this show's rabid fan base primed for the season premiere in mid-September.

Meanwhile, NBC's The West Wing went out the way I expected it would: a tad anticlimactically, but with a great amount of grace, class, sentiment and a bit of wit. Although it's been an up and down last three season's for The West Wing, I will miss this drama which dared to portray the President and "all the King's men & women" as hardworking, noble, flawed but generally earnest functionaries trying to help run the country and keep their boss sane as every crisis in the world swirls about their desks. Yes, the show was overly stylized at times and after seven seasons there wasn't anywhere new left for it to go, but there will never be a show quite like The West Wing again, and television is a lesser medium for not having it on.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

I keep promising new movie reviews - I will get to them. There's NBA playoffs to analyze (they're actually worth watching--at times--this year). I promise, I will get to those sometime too. And I haven't forgotten about all the evil that Bush and his minions are up to. Believe me, we're gonna get back into that soon.

But I need to finish a screenplay and catch the season finales of my favorite shows, so some of this will have to wait. In the meantime, peace y'all...