Well, for us, the season is over. We've seen the season finales of our favorite shows and this season was the season of the fizzling finales. The episodes started out promising and offered excitement, suspense, adventure, however, in the final minutes the delivery was off or not there at all. Therefore, without further ado, I'll offer my ratings of some of the season finales. The rating system will be 1 antenna for a truly horrible finale to 10 antennae for a superbly fascinating finale.

Lost: The episode started with a bang, literally, as one character blew himself up in mid-sentence. The castaways on the raft faced a mysterious crew on a boat who asked for little boy Walt, and took him as his father looked on helplessly. Their boat, meanwhile, got blown up and all three of the men ended up in the water. We got a glimpse of the "big monster." The glimpse was a dust of smoke and it really sounded like some sort of machine as it attacked one of the characters. The hatch was finally opened up, however, instead of getting a look at something good, we were treated to a long tunnel leading downward. And this was the big payoff we've been waiting for? Lame-o 4 antennae

CSI: Quentin Tarantino, who directed this episode, is out of touch with reality and took arty for his own good. All of the characters in this episode were not written true to form. Catherine, Warwick, Nick, all of them were written as if they had been invaded by body snatchers. Nick, especially, was not himself. Yes, he was buried alive, however, his crying fit early on was not typical Nick. The best part of the episode was the last 20mins when the crew found Nick. Grissom showed more emotion than he's shown in five seasons, which was nice. A really nice touch is when Grissom referred to Nick as Poncho. Poncho is what Nick was called by his father. The ending, with Nick going to visit the woman in prison, was really weak. It should have ended with Grissom saying, "I want my guys back." 6 antennae

Third Watch: The very last episode ever was actually pretty good. I never watched this show every week, however, when I did watch I found it good. One of the high points was tough cop Cruz blowing herself up and taking the bad guys with her. The ending also featured a look into the future of the characters. This was a nice ending to a thrilling show. A bonus for including Doc in the episode. 8 antennae

Medium: A typical episode, even a bit ho-hum. Nothing too exciting happens and the show ends with a character in the hospital pulling out his IV. Not even a major character and no explanation as to why he's apparently killing himself. A lame 'to be continued' then appears on screen. Oh goody, looking forward to that continuation. 3 antennae

Grey's Anatomy: Not a bad episode. Filled with funny moments and poor George, one of the residents, really gets busted on and humiliated to no end. It's revealed what has happened to the main character's mother, who was once a brilliant surgeon and the ending has a bit of a twist as it's revealed that Patrick Dempsey's character is married. A twist, yes. Lame, definitely. 4 antennae

Desperate Housewives: Another example of a last episode starting off with a running start. The main mystery of the season is in fact cleared up and a revealing scene as to who really killed the "poor" girlfriend of plumber Mike. Alfre Woodard's charcter will be involved in the mystery of season 2. Her character already seems deliciously cool (and she's not white....yea!). The ending, meanwhile, lame and not a hint of suspense. 4.5 antennae

Alias: This episode featured Lena Olin, probably her last episode for a while from the looks of it. It's part Night Of The Living Dead and part 28 Days Later as the characters defuse a nuclear weapon. One character, although minor, did get iced, however, I was really hoping either Arvin Sloane or Nadia would get killed off. It was looking like Nadia might die, however, at the end it was obvious she was going to be alright. The last few minutes looked promising as Vaughn and Sydney were racing off to Santa Barbara to elope. He started to tell her that it was no accident he took her case when she first entered the CIA and he implied that he has a very shadowy past. She was starting to get scared and then BOOM they were blindsided by another car. What a cheap and lame ending. This show offered a very clever and exciting ending two years ago as Sydney awoke after a fight with an enemy. However, come to find out, she's been "gone" for two years. 3.5 antennae

Jaw dropper of the day: Ok kids let's play a game. A substitute teacher in Terre Haute, IN, has been fired. Some of the first graders in the class would not stop talking so substitute teacher Sheryl Smith taped their mouths shut. She put the tape on vertically and did not leave it on very long, however, it was long enough for some parents to complain and Smith end up fired. She alleges it was "just a little piece of Scotch tape" and that she "was just joking with them." I've no doubt these kids were laughing under their Scotch tape.

Enjoy your day,

paul