Show: Everwood (WB)
Episode: Foreverwood (1), Foreverwood (2) – Two-Hour Series Finale (Season 4)
Originally Aired: Monday, June 5th 2006
Rating: 4 out of 4 stars

Quick Synopsis: Everyone gets a little happiness.

Long Synopsis: In the first part Delia has her bat mitzvah. At this function Amy finally comes to the realization she is still in love with Ephram and that Ephram wants to be with Amy. Jake finally ends things with Nina knowing that he will never occupy her heart completely leaving her to stay in Everwood. Bright and Hannah have become friendly again. In the second part Andy finally gets to pop the question to Nina and she accepts. Bright does the right thing and tells Hannah she should go to Notre Dame and they will always be friends. Hannah decides on Colorado A&M which is where Amy and Bright will be attending. Amy brings a Ferris Wheel to the front of Ephram’s apartment building to proclaim her love for him with a big jester. He tells her he loves her too. All this and the Abbots end up with a new baby and a live in Grandma. They each get a little well deserved happiness in the end.

Review: For whatever reason, I never watched the first season of Everwood when it debuted. I started my journey with these fine characters in season two and have enjoyed every episode since all the way up and including the series finale. This was one of my Prime 7 shows on the bubble that I wanted to see back for another season. Yet The CW decided it was time for things to come to an end. Everwood had a nice run of 89 episodes though, which is more than a lot of other deserving shows got over its four year run.

Unfortunate it maybe that the show was not picked up for another season, it was however that they were able to produce a nice conclusion. They put everybody that should be together, together and left it at that. They did it in a very Everwood way though. The show still had great drama at least for the first hour. The second hour you knew pretty much what was going to happen. They left the ability to continue telling the story of these characters but put them in a place where you can believe everything will be OK and they all live happily ever after.

Some nice touches in the show were Andy’s proposal standing in the place where he and Nina first met in front of her house; Amy with the Ferris wheel harkening back to early in her and Ephram’s relationship; seeing that Hannah chose A&M by showing her mailing in her acceptance since mailing, not mailing and mailing things for others has been a big part of this show.

For family drama you couldn’t do much better than Everwood on network TV. It is sad to see it go but what an outstanding four years it has been.

What did you think of the series finale of Everwood?

Show: The West Wing (NBC)
Episode: Tomorrow – Series Finale (Season 7)
Originally Aired: Sunday, May 14th 2006
Rating: 3 out of 4 stars

Quick Synopsis: Bartlett administration out, Santos in, show done.

Long Synopsis: Santos and his staff is preparing for Inauguration Day while the Bartlett people are preparing to leave. Along the way we find out that C.J. is heading back to LA with Danny waiting for her there. Charlie is off to law school. Will is off to run for office in Oregon. Toby gets pardoned. Santos takes office. Bartlett leaves and opens a gift from Leo’s daughter on the plane ride home. It is the framed napkin Leo wrote on that started the whole thing. Bartlett sets and looks out the plane window and when asked what he is thinking about he replies, “Tomorrow.”

Review: This was a solid send off for the once great show. Yet this season of The West Wing I thought it had a resurgence of sorts. Not as good as seven years ago but good in its own right. The main difference was the pacing. After watching the first episode and the last episode back to back last night that was the main difference.

Granted this was the last show and was to be more solemn and referential but that was the difference with the last few seasons. It was the pacing of an episode. The first episode and the ones that followed with Aaron Sorkin at the helm really moved. One conversation blended in with the next as the characters seemed to be constantly moving.

There were some nice moments that paralleled the first episode. President Bartlett getting around with a cane, then because of riding a bike into a tree and now because of MS. Leo’s daughter visiting the White House. The scene with Josh now Santos’s chief of staff, Sam and new staff members standing in the Oval Office with new President Santos put against the scene in the first episode, where Josh almost gets fired, of Josh with Sam and the rest of the President Bartlett’s staff. The scene in the fist episode where Donna is working from a small cubicle to her being shown her beautiful big office now as the First Lady’s chief of staff. These and others scenes were done very well. Showing the growth and change these characters have gone through over the last seven seasons.

It is kind of sad to see this show go but it may be fun watching Sorkin’s new show Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip which will have some The West Wing alumni in its cast, namely Bradley Whitford and Timothy Busfield.

What did you think of the series finale of The West Wing?