BURN NOTICE

For me, one of the hardest things to deal with in my normal enjoyment of televised entertainment is watching the end of a favored show, particularly one that ran for a long stretch and provided a good cast of characters. Some of the ones that left me melancholy with their passing were BATTLESTAR GALLACTICA, FIREFLY, DEADWOOD, OZ, SONS OF ANARCHY, all of the TREKs, especially VOYAGER. So tonight I bid a fond adieu to BURN NOTICE, which over seven seasons chronicled the fight of masterspy Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) to understand and overturn his sudden expulsion from the CIA (getting burned, cut off from any support). We followed his love affair with the Irish beauty and deadly shooter Fi (Gabrielle Anwar, obviously not Irish though), his friendships and partnerships with Sam Axe (Bruce Campbell) and later Jesse Porter (Corby Bell), and with his mom Madeleine (Sharon Gless) and dysfunctional little brother Nate (Seth Peterson). Many of the bad guys and support personnel were very good. While searching for answers the generally decent Michael helped many people with sticky problems under the radar, while explaining to his viewing audience (kind of like a running commentary) the secrets of spycraft. Sure, the acting was often stiff and overdramatic, the scenes repeatedly used, the explosions often as fake as they come, not to mention that the story probably went on for two more years than it should have. But I enjoyed it nonetheless. The part I liked best, especially in the later seasons, was the relationship and banter between Sam and Jesse. So now it is off to new stories. Goodbye, Miami.

TV SERIES

For me, one of the hardest things is watching the final season of a cherished or much-enjoyed television series. There have been quite a few for me, some of which inflicted that weird melancholy I experience when things are coming to an end, in real life or fantasy. There have been many really good series that I loved and completed: BAND OF BROTHERS, BATTLESTAR GALLACTICA, CARNIVALE, DEADWOOD, DEXTER, LOST, M*A*S*H, MIAMI VICE, OZ, ROME, SOPRANOS, SPARTACUS, STAR TREK (all of them), and X-FILES. All of them I watched on dvd. There are several others that I am still engaged in. I like these types of shows, especially if well written and interesting, with good acting and characters. I am about to wrap up a few more, such as JUSTIFIED. One day I will have to rank all of them for my readers, few that they are.

But today, I celebrate the conclusions of two of my long-time favorites, and it is sad to see them go. The first is BOARDWALK EMPIRE, featuring the excellent Steve Buscemi. based largely on the historical development of organized crime in New Jersey, New York, and Chicago during the Great Depression, and featuring appearances by many real life individuals, I loved the costumes and sets and the complicated stories. You never knew when there would be a weird twist or the sudden demise of a favored character. And the bad guys were complex and often funny. Michael Shannon was good, although too grim and stiff at times. I liked when slips of humor wiggled past the facade. I never totally warmed to Shea Whigham's Eli nor Kelly Macdonald's Margaret, although they did fine jobs and are good actors. Stephen Graham was amazing and disturbing as Al Capone. Jack Huston's Harrow must have been harrowing (ba dum dum) to play, and I thought he was very good. There were many other good actors, and even the smaller and bit parts were well cast. I enjoyed how in the final season they did some backtracking and explained some of the development of the characters and how they fit together. It was a really fine series.

Last night I finished SONS OF ANARCHY, a really good series about life in a California biker gang with dark secrets, but that was hard on the emotions. I was surprised that quite a few characters survived in the end, many of whom I thought surely would get the early axe. Charlie Hunnam was pretty consistent and excellent in the lead role as Jax, and you have to give a lot of credit to Katie Sagal (Gemma) and Ron Perlman (Clay) for doing a wonderful job in their roles. There were so many good actors: Kim Coates (the crazed and unpredictable Tig), Dayton Callie (Unser), Ryan Hurst (Opie), Jimmy Smits (Nero, who I thought was consistently excellent), Niko Nicotero (Rat), Drea de Matteo (Wendy, who managed to shed her role in SOPRANOS), Emilio Rivera (Marcus, who was also consistently good), and Theo Rossi (as Juice, whose work seemed to get better and better as the show progressed). My favorite character, however, was Tommy Flanagan, as Chibs, the ultra-loyal and rock-solid right-hand Irish vice president of the club. I also liked Mark Boone as Bobby. Again, there were many really good smaller roles, and casting was wonderful, but for their looks and the professionalism of their acting, I thought. You never felt they were just going through the motions. The producers also got in enough salacious stuff, but didn't turn it into SPARTACUS. Here were bad guys that you still rooted for. I will miss them.

SPARTACUS

Last night I finished viewing the three-season SPARTACUS series. Although at times it seemed little more than a vehicle to present soft porn and sling globs of blood about, as beautiful in-shape actors brawled with ancient weapons and acrobatic UFC moves, not to mention saucy language designed to give any censor pause, it was still an interesting show. Ok, I'll admit it. . .I did like seeing all the gorgeous women. Beyond that, however, I also liked many of the characters. The first year was awesome, and I missed Andy Whitfield (and mourned his passing), although Liam McIntyre did a credible job replacing him in the title roll. I loved Lucy Lawless as the scheming Lucretia, enjoyed the manic gladiator Crixus (Manu Bennett) and pretty-boy fighter Gannicus (Dustin Clare). A whole host of good actors participated (many for only short arcs): Daniel Feuerriegel as Agron, Peter Mensah as Doctore, Ellen Hollman as the fiesty bisexual warrior Saxa, Pana Hema Taylor as Nasir, and the whole Benneton of characters. Even the scheming bad guys were a joy to follow: John Hannah as Batiatus, Nick Tarabay as Ashur, and Christian Antidormi as Tiberius. A fanciful and entertaining retelling of the slave revolt against Rome, I enjoyed the fighting, the costumes, the story. It did seem silly to me how often they portrayed Roman soldiers as inept and clumsy. And the producers reveled in the slow-motion fight scene, the never-ending pools and spools of blood. They would do anything to titillate, that was certain. I will miss this lusty, violent gang. I think ROME was more stylishly done, but in many ways, SPARTACUS was more fun.

MEDIUM

From 2005 to 2011 one of my favorite television series was MEDIUM. Although I don't normally watch a series until it comes out on dvd, this was one I took in regularly, especially in the early years when it was on NBC. I particularly loved the interplay between psychic/medium/special assistant to city DA Allison Dubois (Patricia Arquette) and engineer/loving husband Joe Dubois (Jake Weber). I loved Joe, who seemed to reposnd to his wife's dreams/sleepless nights and unpredictable behavior with a mix of love/patience/age advice/bemusement/humor. There was never any doubt they had a special love affair, even when his attention strayed. The three daughters sometimes didn't feel as real to me as they should have, but I enjoyed the smart-talking middle child the most (played by Maria Lark). I always liked DA Manuel Devalos (played well by Miguel Sandoval), thought I was less enamored with police detective Lee Scanlon (David Cubitt). Many of the guest dead (ghosts) who inhabitied both her sleeping and awake hours were a hoot. Early stories were better, and the later ones seemed to simplistic, and maybe even too "cutesie". Arquette wasn't the strongest actor I have ever followed in a series, but she was ok, and you kind of felt for her character, as she tended to lean toward the sympathetic, honest side of things. The show kind of spawned (or got out of the gates early) on the paranormal solving of crimes genre. I finally got to see last season, and it was ok. A bit melancholy in the final episode. Decent television for the most part. Not nearly as gory or intense as some of the other criminal procedurals.