At long last we've reached D-List's final episode. Phew, ladies. Kathy Griffin did her best to appear guileless and truthful during her sixth season, but Movieline debunked the crap out of her. One last time, let's pick the most real and fake moments from last night's finale.
REAL: Maggie is touched by the concert Kathy puts together.
Kathy sensed from the get-go that moving her mother into a living community was a chance to stage something grand -- and last episode, she arranged a small concert with appearances from Broadway stars, Cloris Leachman, Rip Taylor, and a cast of Ancient American Idol contestants plucked right from the rest home. Decadent! While Kathy's celebrity-wrangling was as new-school D-List (and annoying) as ever, Maggie Griffin's appreciation remained the joyous evergreen it has always been. Her little monologue during the closing credits? Perfect.
Maggie is both the reason D-List works and doesn't: She's perfectly sincere, but she's also a one-note bit that Kathy uses to add an Everybody Loves Raymond family dynamic to her show. But anyway, back to compliments: Cute speech, Maggie!
FAKE: Cloris Leachman needs more time to prepare her act.
Eighty-four-year-old loose cannon Cloris Leachman showed up late for her performance of "I Love a Piano" at Maggie Griffin's Retirement Benefit Semi-Spectacular. That was believable. What didn't fly was Cloris's insistence that she didn't know the melody of the song. She left Mrs. Kathy in a bind and forced her to improvise in front of a fast-tiring audience. Eventually Cloris came out, gave us a sweet rendition of the old standard, and pleased even the nonagenarians.
But Cloris is an old pro. She was giving us razzle-dazzle the minute she showed up on screen, and for her to pretend she didn't know the melody to a golden oldie was infeasible. Phyllis Lindstrom doesn't forget! Well, she probably does. But not like this! Rhoda Morganstern sniffs in disapproval, and Mary Richards looks at the sky -- harried as all get out -- and weeps.