The Season Finale - Let Them Eat Cake!

As seasons change, so do many of our beloved dish TV lineups. When summer leaves change color and fall approaches, many of my favorite television shows just begin to bloom. And ironically, just as the final traces of winter melt into spring and new blooms begin to appear, these same shows are coming to an end. While the middle episodes of most series provide the real "meat" of the storyline, the season premieres-and especially the season finales-are often the episodes I most anticipate and talk about. Clearly, these two episodes are vital to understanding a series; the season premiere sets up the story, introduces new and important figures or characters, and takes a unique stand on some sort of interesting avenue that keeps viewers' interests piqued. With the right group of people on screen, and the right group of people behind the scenes, this is (seemingly) the easy part.

Finales are a little more complicated, I think. Once a series has devoted followers for a season, traversing giddily through subsequent episodes, the pressure to satisfy the current storyline-and keep it open-ended enough to provide room for that storyline to grow and change-becomes a delicate task.

Really, there are two types of season finales: the ones that have a "winner," and the ones that have a character that you hope will eventually become a winner. America's Next Top Model, for instance, is ending its fourteenth season, and the result will be concrete and measurable: one girl will win. Three others will not. As American Idol wraps up its last few weeks, we know what to expect: one of three very talented singers will be named as American's favorite and will score a sweet recording deal. Shows like The Amazing Race, The Biggest Loser, and The Apprentice all have one thing in common: each season features a new group of people in new places doing the same thing but in a new way. People find that interesting, despite the fact that the idea or theme behind each of these shows remains the same. Let them eat cake, these viewers... the whole darn thing!

Why, then, do these shows remain so popular? Why are their finales just as enticing to watch as a show whose characters will still be around next season? Just as characters in a series become almost real for some viewers, real people become characters: and we love to love 'em, love to hate 'em, love to think we know our favorite characters inside and out. It's satisfying, I'll agree, to be able to know where a program-and its participants-is heading. There's a winner and a loser, and that's that. The ending, in a way, is the series. If someone were to ask you what happened on American Idol Season 4, you'd probably say, "Have you ever heard of Carrie Underwood?"

Alternately, series that carry over a storyline and characters from season to season are a little more complex to bring to an "end," even if that "end" is not permanent. Let them eat cake, these viewers, but only a slice! Often, you can't explain a season finale to someone who doesn't watch the show. That's the point, though, I think. I'm a huge fan of several evolving series available on DISH Network, like Sons of Anarchy and Grey's Anatomy, and I expect several characteristics in a good finale from these types of shows.

First, at least once major conflict from the season needs to be revolved. Are Meredith and Derek a couple? Will Opie find out what role Clay had in Donna's death? Some of the questions that viewers have been asking over the course of the season need to be both addressed and appeased. On the same note, a good season finale will also raise some new questions, in order to complicate the storyline and give viewers a reason to keep watching...next season. A good evolving series, then, is cyclical; it has ups and downs that will eventually lead to a finite story. Will the castaways on Lost ever be found, for instance? We're back to that whole "winner" thing, I guess.

Ultimately, the "end" of a season-be it a reality series or an evolving drama series-carries tremendous weight and often determines whether or not viewers will be back for another delicious (slice of) cake.

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