>>I thought the finale was terrific and completely true to the spirit of the show. I didn't think Tony was going to get whacked and I didn't think everything was going to get wrapped up in a bow.
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>>Terrific???? More like nauseating.
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>>The news is out...it's official, and what many feared - David Chase hasn't really cared about this show for a long time...he's been making it up after season 5. He had no way to end this, and decided that his only literary device was to tease fans in the last five minutes (A.J. turning on the ignition of a car, people staring at Tony's family in that diner, "Boys to Men" walking into the diner [cheap reminder of Tony nearly getting clipped in season 1]...still not sure why the need to show that Meadow flunked parallel parking 101)...and then pull that brief blackout crap.
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>>The first half hour was tolerable (loved seeing what happened to Phil) - but the last 30 minutes was just cheap amateurish stuff. Chase has known for a VERY LONG TIME that the show was going to end now, so it's not as if he had to scramble to think of a way to end things. It's sad that Chase seemed to come alive in the last month, after a full year and a half of worthless crap that was almost funny in a pitiful way. There's a rumor circulating that the REAL ENDING will only be available on the DVD. Regardless, this ending was horrible and cheap.
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>That's too bad you feel that way. I thought it was very well done. Not your usual "let's make everything have closure and make 'em happy" on this series. You probably had that in "The Lakehouse" though. You want to talk about bad last shows? Seinfeld. Very poorly done.

I really enjoyed the Everybody Loves Raymond finale. I thought it would done really well. You are right about the Seinfeld finale. I thought it was funny, but it wasn't really finale-like.