Today and tomorrow mark the midpoint of 2010 -- and thus the midpoint of our year in movies and TV. Join Movieline in both taking stock and looking ahead.
A beloved series shuffled off for good, while a kinda-beloved icon did too; a group of new kids sang to the rafters and forced a smile to your face; a tired soap found new ways to wrap up its tired formula; and the other best drama on AMC continued down the rabbit hole. Join Movieline as we remember the five best season finales from the past half-year.
· American Idol
A finale of excess embodied: Multiple nights, entirely too many hours, the return of Paula Abdul and her mumbling, space cadet-y ramblings and the usual Safe White Guy emerging as victorious. Oh yeah, plus the last time you'll see Simon Cowell on television until X-Factor premieres in 2011.
· Breaking Bad
Here's a dark show that just keeps getting darker. That it airs on AMC certainly gives hope for new series Rubicon and Walking Dead. If they can go to the places that Breaking Bad (not to mention Mad Men) has trail-blazed over the past three seasons, then expect to be adding a couple of more shows to your DVR lineup.
· Glee
OK, so the second half of the first season wasn't as good as the first half. But! The finale -- with it's over-the-top performances (the "Bohemian Rhapsody"/birth scene), great songs ("Faithfully" 4eva) and touching moments (class sing-along of "To Sir With Love") salvaged what could have been a show heading off the rails. Perhaps that will be enough to keep Glee from self-destruction in season two. Maybe.
· Grey's Anatomy
The finale that proved the fastest way to cure a show's ills is to shoot everyone! Grey's Anatomy has certainly lost whatever zeitgeist-y edge it had during its initial seasons, but the finale was something different: a show that everyone seemed to watch -- at least everyone on my Twitter feed -- and, even more surprisingly, like. Dare I say that I'm looking forward to next season? (Ducks.)
· Lost
Putting aside for a moment whether you got the answers you thought you so richly deserved -- and putting aside the obvious auto-hate that so many were going to feel for the finale no matter how successful it was -- the series capper to Lost was simply a great episode of television. From the acting to the script to the production values to the pacing, everything about "The End" was a sight to behold. Yes, they didn't stick the landing completely, but many, many, many series would be so lucky as to go out with such a bang. If the finale has a legacy, hopefully it will be that more showrunners decide to take risks. Lest you forget: There's nothing worse than a fanboy scorned.