all good things...

First Leo (John Spencer) died in real life, now the entire show is dead. I had suspected as much, but it is official that The West Wing is over after this season. Now I sort of wish they would just abandon the whole Santos v. Vinnick story and just do Bartlett for the rest of the term, because really, what does it matter who wins the election now? Maybe I'm just in a bad mood, or maybe I'm just bitter because all the good, smart shows are going off the air and nothing very excellent is replacing them except Project Runway, which still doesn't really fill the void. Not that Project Runway isn't fantastic, but it's not the same as Six Feet Under, Felicity, or old school West Wing. And sure, Prison Break is great, but will it be one of the classics? I don't see where it can go after one season. And 24 is kind of letting me down thus far, but it's only been four episodes, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. My favorite pasttime is letting me down...maybe I should go read a book or something. Nah...I think there's a reality show on somewhere to make me feel brainless for awhile.

I wrote that stuff last night just before bed, and I'm glad I delayed posting it until I could review it again, because while the outlook is bleak for tv, there do remain a couple of bright spots. Lost is one of those bright spots, and in 6 days Jeff and I watched the entire first season. It's a different kind of good than Six Feet Under or The Sopranos or My So-Called Life, something more along the lines of The X-Files meets CSI (a show I do NOT advocate) meets Desperate Housevives, but it's definitely engaging, watchable, and best of all chock full of hot guys (including Matthew Fox, and alumnus of one of my top five tv shows of all time: Party of Five). We have obtained copies of the already-aired episodes of season 2, but haven't watched - so no spoilers please! If you haven't jumped on the Lost bandwagon yet, I'd do so before it gets stuck in the mud.

The other bright spot is indescribably overlooked: The Wire. Yet another incredible HBO Original Series, this is like Law & Order on a crack high - almost literally. It's extremely well written with a cast of characters and brilliant actors that make it far exceed your garden-variety cops and bad guys drama. Again, I've only seen season 1, but there are several seasons on dvd that I need to get around to, because damn if Omar isn't the best character ev-er.

Ahh, the good ole days. When Rob Lowe was Sam, Josh and Toby weren't assholes, and Charlie actually had a part.