Ace's Take on Some 2012 Season Finalies

Not necessarily in order of importance:

Criminal Minds - Emily's leaving. Again.

The Mentalist - Red John rears his ugly head. Again.

Bones - Tempe's on the lamb because, due to a frame job, she's the main suspect in a murder case.

Castle - Castle and Beckett are hooking up, finally.

Person of Interest - A plotting diabolical broad became very interesting, as always.

Awake - Finally some closure for Detective Michael Britten when he emerges into a third reality as the series ends. Seriously, though, I'd like to see actor Jason Isaacs in something else - he rocks.

CSI - I'm sure I'm not the only one to suspect that something bad was going to happen to D.B. Russell's family when the show opened up with D.B. (played by Sam Malone, played by... I forgot his name) at home with wife and daughter and cute little granddaughter. Well, in the end, it did. The bad guys snatched his granddaughter. Leaving a note that read, simply, "Karma," which referenced something said during an interview to a mobster who's son had just been killed. What did you expect D.B.?

American Idol - The fix was in. The crew had given a standing ovation to Phil-Phil on the final night of competition. Despite the fact that he had absolutely murdered a Billy Joel song earlier in the night, they had been told that the shows producers, their bosses, wanted Phil to win. Knowing that, I threw all 50 votes I could muster to Jessica Sanchez, but it was to no avail - don't underestimate the power of the standing O. If Idol wanted to maintain the vaguest illusion of integrity, they could suspend the judge's criticism for the final show. I mean, these are the finalists - let the people decide. Of course, the highlight of the show was a performance by J-Lo live on the Idol stage - she was there, live, but as always, because of her own vocal shortcomings, she lip-synched. This is the woman who tells contestants they were "pitchy." She would know, the Queen of Pitchiness.

The Story Continues… Unfortunately

I watched Blood Bloods once. The new CBS cop series featuring Tom Selleck revealed a continuing story line dealing with who and why one of his sons was killed. Boring. Not interested. Show me a crime, solve it in one episode or you’re going to lose me.

Even the Red John bullshit involving Patrick Jane of The Mentalist is starting to turn me off to what was once my favorite show. I mean, I can accept some continuing nuances like Temperance Brennan’s relationship with Booth in my current favorite series Bones. Or, in a new favorite like The Defenders, starring Jim Belushi and Jerry O’Connell, I can live with the fact that Belushi’s character Nick Morelli is going to mix it up with the wife he is enjoying a separation from. Well, he’s not really enjoying it, but it looks like he better get used to it.

Anyway, Back to Bones, the series keeps getting better and better. The frank, literal and always honest Temperance is one of the funniest characters on TV, even though the show is not, strictly speaking, a comedy. I tried to read a couple of the Kathy Reich novels upon which the series is very loosely based and found them completely boring. The Temperance Brennan of the novels bears very little resemblance to the unique and brash Temperance of the Fox series. Thank goodness.

The Listener - Mental - Medium

It's summer. There's not much to watch on TV as regards dramas. So, I'm trying to like The Listener.

Granted, I've only seen two episodes, but here's my problem. It's hard to think "drama" when the show's main character, Toby Logan played by Craig Olejnik, bears a striking resemblence to Dana Carvey, one of my favorite funnymen. Just to be sure, I ran this notion past my wife, and she too had observed the similarities.

Still, aside from that, I'm liking the show so far. I like what's going on between Toby and his ex-girlfriend Dr. Olivia Fawcett, and Detective Charlene Marks portrayed by ex-model Lisa Marcos. And there's something likeable about his partner/buddy/regular guy Oz Bey.

Admittedly, the EMT thing doesn't thrill me, but, for now, during these stark days of summer TV viewing, I'll put up with it.

While we're talking about shows meant to rival The Mentalist, we should talk about the FOX offering Mental. This show might be of interest to students of Psych 101, but probably not to the rest of us who have learned long ago that psychotic people are not very much fun. Personally, I've had my fill of them.

Then there's Medium starring Patricia Arquette. A favorite of my wife and me, it was dumped by NBC and immediately picked up by CBS for the fall season. Thank God. I thought this last season had some of the best episodes of the entire 5 year run. Reportedly, NBC thought the show was "aging, as we were getting younger." Yeah, sure, as can be verified by the torturous Law and Order trilogy. There's a good reason why NBC is last in the ratings - it's being run by a bunch of idiots. And here I am holding 700 shares of parent company GE. Talk about idiots.

Some Listless TV

We caught one episode of The Ex-List and we won’t be lamenting CBS’s decision to cancel it. However, we love the network’s other List show, The Mentalist, starring Simon Baker. Baker, you may remember, also starred as Nick Falin in The Guardian which we enjoyed until the writers in an attempt to spice it up ultimately destroyed it. The show’s plot took too many left turns and eventually crashed into itself. I still wake up in the middle of the night and wonder what happened to Baker’s love interest, Lulu.

Sticking with CBS, Criminal Minds, CSI New York, the original CSI and Cold Case are still among our favorites. CSI Miami, as I’ve mentioned before, has become expendable. I’ll be interested in seeing how Laurence Fishburne fits into CSI when he joins the cast in December. When it comes to my TV shows, I generally don’t like changes.

Since I have no other forum in which to voice my disdain for the commissioner of the Yahoo! Fantasy Basketball League Philly Basketball (ID# 93185) allow me here to proclaim that he’s an asshole. After a trade between the owner of Philly Phorce and I was vetoed, we voiced our outrage and were unceremoniously expelled from the league. It’s not like we were trading Kobe Bryant for Jessica Simpson – the trade involved two lesser players, Quentin Richardson for Linas Kleiza. The commissioner, a third-class wuss, tried to throw the blame on other owners when it was actually him who put the kibosh to our trade. Like many weaklings, they can be quite bold when they think they’re protected by a degree of anonymity. I, however, am busily trying to ID him. He’s got my Italian blood boiling and I’m not about to cool off.