Warning: Spoilers follow for the series finale of The Sopranos (and other episodes).
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Warning: Spoilers through the finale of season six of “24″ follow.

So, “24″ wrapped up with its finale on Monday. It was a by-the-numbers finale to a thoroughly disappointing season — easily this series’ weakest. Given what they’d set up, there was virtually no other way this season could’ve ended. After the finales of seasons four and five, another shocker like the ones that sent Jack off into self-imposed exile or Chinese prison would’ve felt superfluous and false for the sake of needlessly cliffhangering us. It was time for a more dialed-down ending. We got that, at least — not that I liked the outcome. (Read more…)

Time soldiers on, but some things never change.

Steven Wright, the deadpan comic of wry and bizarre observation, is back in “Steven Wright: When the Leaves Blow Away,” which apparently aired last October but was just released on DVD. Comedy Central aired it again last night. It’s Wright’s first stand-up comedy special in 16 years. (Read more…)

This season of “24″ started strongly, with a first half-dozen shows that were fairly gripping: all-too-realistic suicide bus bombings, America under siege and bordering on full-scale mayhem, talk of harsh crackdowns on specifically targeted segments of the population … and then that nuclear bomb went of in an L.A. suburb. The show had my attention.

But where can a counterterrorism series writer go after a nuke blows up? This season has gradually become a wandering mess in search of purpose and direction, with less-than-satisfying characterization and a plot arc that barely resembles an arc and seems more like a random smattering of events chasing around this season’s MacGuffin, the Remaining Suitcase Nukes. The writers are throwing a ton of material at us and hoping something sticks. Some of it has worked; a lot of it hasn’t. (Read more…)