Knowing when to leave, and then executing that exit strategy with dignity and creative energy intact, is possibly the toughest task in all of TV. (Everybody Loves Raymond pulled it off better than most.) In the year ahead, quite a few longtime faves are heading toward the finish line, even if some — like the fading West Wing — have yet to make it official. Here's my take on how these swan songs are playing out. While watching them, I also started wondering which ones are most likely to live on in spin-offs and which are best suited for nostalgic reunions somewhere down the road.
The West Wing Sundays, 8 pm/ET, NBCSeason: 7Showing its age? By definition, a lame duck is no spring chicken. Moving this once-majestic show to Sund
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Question: Who sang the theme song for The Golden Girls?
Answer: Cynthia Fee sang an abbreviated version of Andrew Gold's "Thank You for Being a Friend" for the show, which, as you know, ran on NBC from 1985-92 and starred Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty as four seniors living in Miami.
The song was a Top 25 hit from Gold's 1978 album, All This and Heaven Too. The singer-songwriter (a term popularized when you needed to do at least one to have a career in the music business) had a previous Top 5 hit with "Lonely Boy" in 1976 and, putting in time as a producer, studio musician and songwriter for others, has worked with such notable talent as Linda Ronstadt, Karla Bonoff, James Taylor, Ringo Starr, Brian Wilson, Jackson Browne, Don Henley, Dia
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If I were to sum it up in one sentence, I would say: "This monkey of an episode was smokin' but extremely disturbing, scars and all — the middle was a drag, and the end was a real p---er!" But let me elaborate. First of all, why did I have to be eating a late dinner while watching the scene with Ava's dead and decomposing son Adrian on the floor right after Matt had his fantasy sex scene? Pretty. Besides that, I never thought I'd see Vanessa Redgrave smoke pot with her real-life daughter Joely Richardson and watch a gorilla get plastic surgery in the same hour. At least there was no Carver this week. Christian said, "For the first time in weeks, I forgot all about the Carver," but you know he's not telling the truth. Last week he told Sean the Carver raped him, but he wouldn't admit it to Kit, so you know there will be repercussions. But back to this week. As soon as angry Matt walked into the drag bar, I knew right away it would end in violence. What I didn't expe
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Question: I am in the minority and am not a fan of Desperate Housewives. On the flip side, I do understand the concept of a guilty pleasure, which I consider this show to be. And, of course, it's extremely popular. Since when does extremely popular guilty pleasure necessarily translate into superior acting? I don't understand why the actresses on one show have to gobble up all the nominations. (This used to happen with Sex and the City and it drove me nuts.) I don't think the show is poorly acted, but the performances are not top-notch either. If it were in the drama category, I don't think any of the actresses would be in the top five. What do you think?
Answer: Have you seen how weak the drama-actress category is? Dramatically speaking, Marcia Cross and Felicity Huffman would easily qualify, and I'm thinking Cross in particular could give Glenn Close more of a run for her money than any of this year's other drama contenders. (Close would probably still win.) Hot ensemble shows,
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