May Bad

Or May-a Culpa, whatever. A brief apologia for my absence, which is not justifiable beyond my laziness and ennui with my own voice. Everything political I need to say has been covered on the Bill Maher HBO series. (Interesting sidebar: I once actually wrote for Bill Maher when he was a character on a 1985 sitcom).

Anyhoo, it is the week after Memorial Day. Memorial Day denotes amajor signpost of the ongoing year; the end of spring, the beginning of summer air fares and hotel rates, and the moment when one can take seriously the standing in Major League Baseball. This is bad news for the Yankees, who are undergoing their Annus Horribilis, and have the worst record in the majors. Not very impressive for a 200-million payroll. Terry, who may or may not ever read this, may be joyful. My only solace is that I predicted a Yankee fall and a Red Sox rise, though neither as extreme as is happening. Oh well, at least my Fantasy Team is thriving again.

But there is another national pastime, which used to be called May Sweeps, when there were normally-viewed commercials and advertising rates relied on blockbuster television programming such as miniseries and high-concept or stunt casting on popular series. Now all we have is "American Idol" and promotable but predictable series finales or cliffhangers.

Of the "American Idol" experience, which is now a pop cultural event on a par with Miss America (or what Miss America used to be) and the Super Bowl, I can only refer to the problems caused by the extension of democracy in which Children Vote. That of course explains the Sanjaya phenomenon and the refusal to accept the most accomplished singer of the group, Melinda Doolittle, as the "champion." But the program is all about exposure, and Melinda will do fine--probably better than winner Jordin Sparks, because of her versatility.

While I still await the hallowed conclusion of "The Sopranos" two weeks down the road I will expound on the finales of several of my favorite series from this year, now that their entire season arcs have been concluded. It's not a pretty picture, I'm afraid. "24," for one, which had been terrific the past two years, fell victim to its own formula and the repetitious scenarios of Arab terrorists, Oval Office shenanigans and personal Sturm and Drung for Jack Bauer. It was intriguing, though far-fetched even for this show, to discover Jack's family members responsible for most of the evil in the World. That was this season's only innovation. But I truly believe that when Valencia (and Magic Mountain!) was nuked in the fourth hour, the scope of that disaster minimized the effectiveness of CPU's efforts and undermined the strength of the program. It was the Jump the Shark moment for Jack Bauer and associates. Now all he represents is a comfortable icon for Republican presidential hopefuls who can't tell the difference between fiction and reality anyway, and think Bauer is more real than Evolution.

The season's most promising new program (after the Dead on Arrival "Studio 60") was NBC's "Heroes," with its intriguing twists on the X-Men formula, and endearing characters such as Claire and Hiro. But as the weeks piled on the story line began to meander, as new characters were introduced, quickly dispatched or hung out to dry. One wants to think that Tim Kring and his staff had the plot neatly arranged so that all the elements would converge cleverly in the final Save New York episode. They all did show up and Peter did not blow up Lower Manhattan, although his "sacrifice," along with that of his brother who flew him up to the Moon or whatever to explode less disastrously was a major let down. Other characters, such as Nikki and the persistently dumb cop played by Greg Grunberg, figured only in the most peripheral way. And Hiro heroically piercing Sylar with his super sword not only had little to do with the exploding denouement, but was undermined by the suggestion of Sylar's survival at the end of the episode.

The problem with "Heroes" is that it was scattershot with the rules it created. When dealing with a supernatural premise at least stay consistent, and don't alter the pretend reality every time you need to adjust a plot element. So, is Peter dead? Can he put himself together form a billion pieces? And what about Nathan? Or the cop? Or D.J., the guy who walks through walls and can take Nikki with him?

I am glad New York was rescued, but will always remember the saving of New York in an old episode of Chris Carter's "Lone Gunmen" series, when they prevented a plane from crashing into the World Trade Center. That episode aired in June of 2001.

On the upbeat side, the series "Lost," which had tried the patience of its loyal fans with two years of tangential plot divergences, as well as a moribund opening this year in the Others' prison camp, sprung into creative life the last couple of weeks. After the brilliant Hitchcockian episode describing the crimes and ironic deaths of Carlo and Nicki, the plot elements converged very nicely leading the last week's sublimely satisfying and mysterious finale. Charlie's death, foretold all year, was touching and gratifying, since his sacrifice apparently will help get Claire and Aaron off the island, along with many other survivors. That their rescue will create even more problems, as suggested by the "flash forward" of a post-Island suicidal Jack desperate to return to Dharmaland, is the mysterious element that will keep the storyline vividly anticipated by the viewers. So many questions to answer--for instance, how is Jack's father still alive in the "future" since he died in the past (Hint: he was buried on the Island. Maybe Nicki and Carlo have a chance as well. Look how Locke revived so easily). And who was the unloved corpse Jack visited in the Funeral Home? Ben or Juliet? s Kate really living with Sawyer--and how does she escape prosecution in Los Angeles? Etcetera. There are as many open roads to travel with these new plot elements as exist in the open-ended "Heroes" landscape, but I feel that J.J. Abrams has a much better feel for the direction of this science fiction premise.

In any event we will have to wait for the Fall to see if "Heroes" can sustain the intrigue or become a quick parody of itself, as happened with "Desperate Housewives." It will not be until January 2008 that we'll see Jack Bauer in some radically new environment, and the survivors of "Lost" leaving or returning to their proper digs. I can wait on all counts, but I'm still interested the last.