30 Days Of Telly #22

Day twenty-two, your favourite series finale. Awkward, given that television tends to axe most of the shows that I watch, without giving them a finale. Sometimes that's a good thing - there are some shows where it's better to leave them going on to fight another day, rather than brought to an ultimate stop - but even if it's for the best, it doesn't make for a memorable finish. There are a few could-have-beens. The intended Between The Lines finale, at the close of series two, was one of the best ever, and although I liked series three more than most people did, the eventual final episode was a bit of a mess. Had Buffy The Vampire Slayer ended with season five, I might have gone for that one. Blake's 7 nearly wins it. I love the final episode (although I love the originally intended one, closing series three, rather more). "Blake" is just too downbeat to win, though. Ditto the Sapphire & Steel closer; and since neither was supposed to be a final episode, I'm not sure that they should count anyway. We're forever left wondering what would have happened next, if it had been allowed to. So, just like with the favourite TV show cast, I'm left having to choose between Babylon 5 and The West Wing. Both brought their respective stories and casts to a good conclusion, and both were handled exceptionally well. The final season of Babylon 5, however, didn't throw an unfathomable curveball at Toby, and have him act against character and lose his job. So I'm choosing it. Sorry, The West Wing. I love you, and almost everything about you. I love your characters, and I loved spending seven great years in their company, but you screwed up at the end there. So did Babylon 5, admittedly, but at least the showrunner apologised. He even said that he regretted getting rid of Marcus, which doesn't actually make up for getting rid of Marcus, damn it!, but it's a start. And at least Marcus isn't actually dead. Toby, however, is still technically a traitor, which prevented the finale from being everything that it could have been.

And besides, it's "Sleeping In Light". You really do have to go some to beat that.