Happy BSG Day! What Do You Frakking Want?

James, I have questions galore, but I’m going to wait for the finale and hope they all get answered. My only question to you is this – and lets simplistically quantify this. On a scale of 1-10 – “10″ being “godsdamnit, my mind has blown a frakkin fuse from sheer awesomeness” and “1″ being “holy frak, we just jumped into the black hole” – where would you place this finale?

Don’t you tempt me, joethefinancier! I am staying totally mum.

@joethefinancier: isn’t that a false choice? I mean, couldn’t it be BOTH frakking awesome AND have them jump into a black hole?
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I seriously cannot wait for this tonight. I must say, though (and James, feel free to blatantly rip this off for a column or blog post), I have a melancholoy sense that we are witnessing the slow death of the Golden Age of television. Consider the paradigm shifting, transformational, revolutionary television shows that we’ve seen disappear since 2007 and/or will see disappear by 2010: Sopranos, The Wire, Battlestar Gallactica, Veronica Mars (okay, maybe I’m the only one there), Lost, Friday Night Lights (potentially – still crossing my fingers on 2 more seasons), ER (maybe the first show to “re-invent” drama)….I’m sure I’m missing a lot of shows, as well as some lesser-acclaimed great shows that have/will be cancelled (Gilmore Girls, Life, and Pushing Daisies come to mind) that main list contains a number of series that would be on any critics Top 100 of all-time (including, I believe, yours, James).
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So the question is, in the words of President Josiah Bartlet — what’s next? Can television drama surpass the “Golden Age” we may have just witnessed?

Goodbye BSG. You will be missed.
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To echo Chaddog’s point about the death of a golden age of TV, it really is starting to feel like the end of an era with so many groundbreaking shows ending their runs in the last couple of years. (Plus, we’ve only got one more season with Lost.) Is Mad Men going to end up being the ‘last great show’ of this serialized drama era?
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Much as I like some of the newer shows like Damages, Chuck, Burn Notice or Sons of Anarchy, I don’t see anything on the horizon that’s going to fill the growing gaps.

My DVR comes with my Comcast Cable subscription. The Comcast program guide automatically adjusts to these overruns everyone complains about. So if I adjust the recording to run 11 minutes over it will end at 11:22. Do the other cable and satellite services not do it. Or is it the TiVo service that has to be adjusted.
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Now to BSG. I am usually not one of those people who complains about a lack of answers. Mainly, because I assumed that answers will be given in the final episodes. My problem with Season 4 has that it hasn’t felt like a final season. Since the Cylon history episodes there really hasn’t been that must explanation. So I worry if the finale is going to have too many information going on that it won’t be enjoyable. Then again, Ron Moore did go with the strategy of focusing on the characters so I probably have nothing to worry about.

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Only 9 hours and 43 minutes left until the finale!!!

Re: Golden Age–call me Pollyanna, but I don’t think so. I mean, TV is cyclical, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see an ebb. But we got Mad Men and Breaking Bad within a few months of each other, then 2008 was largely a bust from the strike. Some of this stuff is just a roll of the dice; e.g., I think if David Milch had executed John from Cincinnati better, we’d have it on the same list; and I would put Big Love and maybe Dexter on the same list. (And the cancer-curing episode of Dollhouse airs tonight!) The meta-issue in TV is the decline of the networks, but most of the examples Chaddogg cites are from cable. Which is to say, the conditions that created them are still in place.
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I dunno, do I sound like John McCain? “The fundamentals of our television are strong!” But I don’t see the meta-picture of TV militating against strong serial shows (except on the big networks, where let’s be honest, even the last decade was mainly dominated by CSI et al.).
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It’s funny, I’m actually writing a piece for next week on the state of broadcast TV, etc. and one point I make is that, whatever happens to FNL, a decade ago it would not have lasted a season; and ended up getting a third because of DirecTV, one of the entities that is “killing” broadcast.

@Chaddog – I’m still mourning the loss of Veronica Mars, and so are plenty of folks I know. I’d definitely put it on the same level of awesome and importance that you do.
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I haven’t watched last week’s BSG episode, I saved it so that I could watch all 3 together on hulu or iTunes tomorrow morning. All I want – literally, all I want – from this show is some answers about Starbuck. I don’t care what else happens, I want to know what the frak happened with her dead body and resurrection on Earth. I’m hoping for some closure on what the Opera House that is the subject of all the shared visions, which could very well be a part of the Kara Story, but if not I’d settle for just some Kara closure.

@ James, damnit, you posted while I was writing my comment. Anyways, sorry for a repeat of what you’re saying.
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@ Chaddog and Kemper, while I feel your pain having been a huge fan of almost all of the mentioned shows, I think your melancholy is premature. While I think we will never again see a quality series of the likes of a Cheers, MASH, Seinfeld, ER – and by that, I mean, a nation unifying drama or comedy with huge ratings and something for everyone – I do think that the TV landscape isn’t as bleak as it appears. I think while the golden age of network TV is over (for now), good scripts and good series have just moved to more niche channels. The pay channels will take up some of the slack (HBO with True Blood, In Treatment, Big Love, etc.) and the other specialty channels will fill in the rest (i.e. Mad Men, BSG, Breaking Bad, etc.).
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Good TV can’t really ever die, mainly because there will always be people out there that appreciate, nay DEMAND, a substantive, well written drama or comedy with deep characters. I think like anything, its cyclical with nadirs and peaks of quality. The artform is constantly changing. Have faith guys, it may be slim pickings for a bit, but its series like BSG that make one hopeful for what is to come (Come on….CAPRICA).

Re: golden age
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I really have no idea. I find myself not watching as much tv now as I did say a year or two ago. I’m also watching shows like dollhouse that isn’t that great, but still better than most tv. So, maybe?
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Above all though, ever since the wire ended, I have a sinking feeling that I’ll never actually see another show of that caliber and that makes me a little sad.

@ James, re: JFC – I can’t say I understood John from Cincinnati and I would be hard pressed to make any kind of sense from the ~10 episodes we saw, but there is something oddly compelling about it. After all this time I still think about it and how it was strangely addicting. I think I would have grown tired of it after a while, but it was a great run while it lasted. There was just something about the show… Anybody else feel the same way?

I should perhaps clarify something — I don’t think for a minute that the television landscape will be bleak or barren after 2010. I just think that this recent age of TV was SO groundbreaking and SO revolutionary that we will be hard-pressed to see its equivalent.
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So my argument isn’t “television is dying” or even “broadcast television is dying” (although the latter is, perhaps, correct, but irrelevant to the quality of television in general, for reasons that James has made clear in columns). What my argument is, I guess, is a tinge of regret and apprehension that while we still may see excellent shows, we won’t again live through such a REVOLUTIONARY period of television as the last, oh, 15 years.
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I mean, Sopranos basically established the rated-R television drama and gave HBO (and later Showtime) their place for doing what cannot be done on network or even cable TV, all the while encouraging other cable networks (such as FX, with the Shield, Nip/Tuck, and Rescue Me) to up the ante on original programming. Lost re-imagined the scope of serialized television, and melded sci-fi with character drama with adventure/survival tale in a way that was, largely, unprecedented. 24 showed television could do an action movie, characters are expendable (in highly entertaining and shocking ways), within the constructs of a unique story-telling device. The Wire is, unquestionably, the grittiest, most authentic, and maybe most human drama ever depicted on television. Battlestar took the “messages” of Star Trek regarding sci-fi commenting on our modern society, but stoked it into overdrive by being uncompromisingly gritty, real, and infusing it with deep pathos. Friday Night Lights is one of the only dramas I’ve ever seen that accurately portrays small town life without “talking down” to its characters, has the best portrayal of a real marriage on television, and treats its teenagers as real people, unlike many other shows. Veronica Mars brought noir to the teen drama. Deadwood roughed up the traditional Western.
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I could go on and on. But the point is that while television was continue to be good, it might not be as groundbreaking as what we just saw.

@chaddogg: very good point. We’re probably basically agreed. And there is probably a pig-passing-through-the-python effect here, where a lot of good shows are ending in close succession, and TV has to reload.
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On the other hand–looking at a BSG and Big Love finale to write up, and NINE episodes of Rescue Me on my desk, I selfishly won’t mind a breather!

As season four dwindled down for me (on Sunday and Monday), I was having serious thoughts similar to others posted: there is a LOT of information for them to resolve. I’m not saying they need to tie up every loose end by any means. Like how shara’s interested in Starbuck, I’m probably most curious about, of all things, the song. As for resolution, I’d really like to know more about the history. As great as the characters are, I love the mythology the show has built up.
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Re: TV Golden Age – I’ve had thoughts myself about the state of TV and what I’m going to watch after Lost, because this is the first time I’ve ever really gotten into any TV show. I want to watch more premieres so I can get into shows, but I’m such a cynic, I just assume they’re going to suck :)

Chaddog keeps beating me to the punch so I’m ending up as a parrot on this topic, but I also think there’s a lot of good/great tv out there for the watching. I didn’t mean for my post to come across as an obituary for quality television. I’m just not seeing anything on the horizon that has the potential to follow in the footsteps of some of the serialized dramas that have ended recently as far as breaking genre conventions or capturing the public imagination for being so original. Sorry for the premature wailing and gnashing of teeth….

@Dave – “I want to watch more premieres so I can get into shows, but I’m such a cynic, I just assume they’re going to suck”
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I’m often reluctant to get started on a new show – though its just as often for time-management reasons as it is suspicion of low-quality. A few recommendations:
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I’ve probably said this before, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised with Leverage (episodes available on TNT to watch online, last I checked), the early episodes were slightly uneven but it really picked up steam throughout the short season, and its supposed to return with more episodes this summer. Its got a solid supporting cast, although Mr. Shara Says and myself aren’t totally sold on Timothy Hutton as the lead, he sometimes seems slightly miscast/unbelievable in the role. I thought that the last 2 episodes of the season were absolutely fantastic (whenever Mark Sheppard guest stars in an episode, those episodes are automatically raised to a higher plane just by virtue of his awesomeness – I’d have much rather seen him cast as the lead, and Timothy Hutton cast as Jim Sterling).
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I’m also unexpectedly charmed by Castle – I was expecting it to be horrible based on the promos. I thought that the first 2 episodes were kinda uneven, but Nathan Fillion is – as always – awesome and I see a lot of potential in the show. The scenes with Castle and his mother and daughter really add a lot to my appreciation for the show, and for the character of Rick Castle – without that dynamic, I probably wouldn’t have gotten hooked – but it adds layers of depth to a character that would have been intolerable if written more flatly. I don’t know if that makes any sense. I’ve actually watched the first 2 episodes about 3 times each, and I’ve liked them better each time. The 2 cases haven’t been all that interesting, but the dynamic and chemistry between the lead characters is strong.
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I don’t know if you’ve caught any Sons of Anarchy, but I liked it quite a bit this last season, and as far as I know its coming back for a Season 2 eventually. I think it was on FX. Its another one that really picked up as the season went on.
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If you have any fondness for supernatural stuff, I heartily recommend getting caught up on Supernatural, which is well into its 4th season and is probably my very favorite show after Lost. It has a nice balance of ongoing mythology with stories-of-the-week, excellent and steady character development, strong supporting actors, great balance of humor and drama and action, good writing, and 2 great-looking dudes (which is probably more of a draw for me than you, though. . . they sometimes have pretty ladies. . .). Its been approved for a 5th season (CW), so it’ll be around for at least another year. There are a few uneven episodes sprinkled throughout, but even a less-than-stellar Supernatural episode is better than most other things on TV.
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I wouldn’t put ANY of those shows up there in the Lost bracket, though, in terms of story, mythology, character development, writing, infinite discussability, production value, etc, I can’t really think of anything else that I would consider to be in the same league. So I guess if you’re gonna be all into 1 show, this is the right show…