With a measure of sadness that the TV season is over and a full awareness of how pathetic I truly am, I will now weigh in on the rest of the finales:

24–Nobody does action like 24. There is a reason that I anticipate it more than any other show on the schedule and that is its ability to continually create new plot elements and angles every few episodes. What would have been a season finale on any other show, the disarming of a nuclear submarine, is dispatched at the beginning of the episode. Incredulous? Absolutely. But it is the most riveting show on TV. It now sets the standard for all shows that want to grab the viewers in a serialized form. And who doesn’t want to know what will happen to Jack after that ending? Grade: A

House–Where 24 is most riveting show, House is the best character today. I love the fact that the writers avoid the need to make him likeable. He is who he is. The finale tried for trickery, but fell a tad short in pulling it off. But a lackluster House, is still the best medical show on the networks. Grade: B+

Lost–I’ve been critical of Lost this year. I believe that it lost some of the momentum that it amassed last year, a fact born out by its dipping ratings. You cannot maintain the intensity and mystery of a show of this caliber if you constantly interrupt it with repeats. Luckily, ABC will fix this problem next year. Another problem I have is, with the exception of Sawyer and Hurley, there are no characters I absolutely love. With that said, this finale was classic Lost. It answered enough questions to satisfy the viewer while maintaining enough mystery to bring us back in the fall. Grade–A-

American Idol–Okay, I don’t watch this show. It comes on opposite Gilmore Girls. But at least it’s over. I like Simon and that’s about it. I don’t like that now this music will be thrust on us through record contracts for the contestants. As my friend Matt Elliott says, “In my humble opinion, American Idol is to music what pasteurized process cheese food is to actual cheese. It’s not actual cheese; it’s merely cheesy.” Winner–Taylor Hicks. Loser–the American People.

Ok, what do I watch now?