This Writer Wrote

I have a pet peeve: cliffhangers at the end of season finales. Not only do I find them completely unnecessary, I find them very annoying. How many people start watching a show they don’t like just because it has a great cliffhanger? I suspect the last time that happened was with Who Shot JR? And that was most likely because of the novelty of killing a main character at a time when American shows didn’t, especially when they had already announced the actor was signed for the next season.

If I watch a show all the way to the end of the season, I don’t need a cliffhanger to propel me to watching the show the next season — I’ll watch the new season because I like the show enough to watch every week. And chances are, I won’t remember what happened in the last act anyway over the months without a refresher. The only time I can think of being consumed by a cliffhanger was when Pacey and Joey sailed into the sunset on Dawson’s Creek (the sunset that mysterious appeared off the coast of New England). And that was mainly because I had a friend who constantly pondered over the summer about whether the two friends were having sex or not. Still, I would have watched the next season even without that consuming question.

On the opposite side, if I don’t like the show, I’m not going to tune into it just because they have a good cliffhanger. I didn’t care who killed JR and I never had a problem hearing it was all a dream without seeing it.

So this brings me to what Boston Legal does right. Boston Legal didn’t end last night on a cliffhanger, any more than it did in its last two season finales. Instead, it ended on the balcony with its two main stars reconfirming the love, caring, and loyalty they have for each other with a toast of hope to the next season and what it might bring them. That ending makes me smile, warms me, and stays with me far more than any cliffhanger ending I’ve seen on TV.

Yes, Boston Legal does season enders right. Of course, it also does every episode right, for one of the biggest attractions to the series is the weekly episode endings with Alan and Denny on the balcony sharing their unabashed, unapologetic, unafraid, honest and just wonderful friendship. I can even forgive Denny for being a Republican flag-waver.

That unwavering friendship and loyalty between two so divergent friends that permeates almost every scene of the show is the best part of the series. It’s such an attraction that while I might not be able to see it always as it is aired, I never go to bed without seeing it on its airdate, no matter how late I come home or how tired I am.

And this isn’t the only thing Boston Legal does right. It can have the weirdest cases — ones that make my eyes roll… in the beginning. But there is always solid legal reasons behind them… solid social or ethical questions that end up leaving me thinking. Can’t say that happens all the time with the more traditional caseloads of other legal shows. And it can also deal with some of the most important issues of our times, which David Kelley excels in making both sides legit, even if they have quirky turns.

And finally the show has a remarkable cast of fine actors. Not only are James Spader as Alan Shore and William Shatner as Denny Crane outstanding but so are Candice Bergen as Shirley Schmidt, Rene Auberjonois as Paul Lewiston, Christian Clemenson as Jerry Espenson, and newcomer Gary Anthony Williams as Clarence/Clarisse.

No, Boston Legal doesn’t have to have a phony cliffhanger that will be resolved in the first five minutes of the new season. It doesn’t have to shoot somebody or put somebody in dire straits. It has me coming back by just being the wonderful show it is every week, from start to finish.