I've decided that TV shows are a lot like relationships. Not only do they take up a lot of time and emotional capital, but they inevitably end. (The one exception is that you can get lucky with a relationship and make it last forever. I'm one of those lucky guys).
Each show takes on characteristics similar to that of relationships that many of us have had throughout our lifetime. Here are some examples:
1. The relationship that, at its peak, was consistently better than any other relationship that you've ever had. Then it abruptly, unofficially ends but remains open to booty-calls whenever and wherever.
The Office
The Office, at its peak (Seasons 2 - 4.5), is in my opinion the best show on television. It was hilarious in a way that no other show has been, but somehow hooked you with its big heart. Name a better fictional romance than Jim and Pam. There isn't one. I can still remember where I was when, at the end of season 3, Jim interrupted Pam's interview to ask her out to dinner.
The latter end of the series started to tail off, becoming less-frequently hilarious and scrambling to find a new heart of the show once Michael left and they had milked everything they could out of Jim and Pam's relationship. Admittedly, the show ended on a high note with three great episodes to finish it off, but nothing ever quite matched what happened in the middle of the series.
The Office, because of it's consistent awesomeness, remains one of the few easily re-watchable shows in my mind. My wife and I call it up for TV show booty-calls all the time. And it always delivers again and again. Which reminds me. I should do a top-five episode post for The Office.
2. The summer fling that, had it not been cut disappointingly short, would have become the best dang relationship ever.
Friday Night Lights
FNL delivered one of the best seasons of any show ever (Season 1), one of the most iconic moments in any show (The championship parade at the very end of season 1), and some of the best writing and best acting ever put into a show. Period. So what doomed FNL? A writer's strike in the middle of season two that then limited the remaining three seasons to a mere 13 episodes per season, culminating in a premature ending after five seasons.
It all ended too soon. Sure the entire series delivered the goods every episode, every season, but the whole thing just felt incomplete. Like a summer fling being rudely cut short (Does anyone besides Ryan Gosling and Rachael McAdams really have summer flings? I'm just assuming that they feel similar to watching FNL).
3. The rebound that accidentally becomes a serious relationship, requiring you to awkwardly end it when the other person starts acting like things are something that they're not.
Castle
Ah, Castle. I have a few things I'd like to say about Castle, but they'll have to be saved for another day and another post. Castle was our rebound following FNL. We had a tough time recovering from the end of FNL, but Castle helped us get over it. It started out very casual; you know just friends and all. And then all of a sudden things got serious. We really got into seasons 3 and 4. But then Castle decided to try to be more than just a comedy/crime show and quickly fell flat on its face. It thought that it could be more than just a fun rebound, so we had to quickly cut it short before things got too creepy and uncomfortable.
Ah, Castle.
4. The relationship that is wild and fun, even a little scary, and you know it's going to end badly, but you can't help but stick along for the ride because it's, well, just too wild and fun not to.
You always hear about how great the first couple of seasons of Prison Break are, but I've yet to hear about how great the series' ending is. But who gives a crap? Prison Break is the lovechild of 24 and the Great Escape. Granted, it is almost as heavily reliant on angsty stares from its stars as the Twilight series was, but it's intense, smart, and entertainingly brutal. Where Prison Break and 24 find their most success is in their willingness to address touchy subjects and explore the moral grey area of the world. They put you, the viewer, in a crappy situation and force you to ask yourself "What would I do if I were Jack Bauer?"
Speaking of Jack Bauer, wouldn't he be the best GPS direction voice ever? Can you imagine trying to find your way to your hotel and Jack Bauer is yelling at you, "Jordan, you've got ten seconds to get across three lanes of traffic to make this exit!" And then when you miss the exit he'd yell, "Son of a b****! Alright, we're going to have to bypass the downtown traffic by releasing the biological toxin into the downtown area. It's the only way to get you to your meeting on time."
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