Topic: Tom's TV Finales marathon

[Tom]

The Office: Season Nine (2012/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia (United States) Length: 0 min. Video: Widescreen Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1 Subtitles: English, Spanish

Plot:
Join the Scranton gang for the ninth and final season of the groundbreaking, Primetime Emmyr Award-winning hit series, The Office. Andy's back in charge as regional manager at Dunder Mifflin, but a journey of self-discovery leads to unexpected consequences. Jim lands the job of his dreams, but he and Pam must now adjust to a long-distance relationship. Meanwhile, Dwight steps up on the family farm; Darrel looks at new career opportunities; and Erin struggles with matters of the heart. And... everyone is excited to finally see the long awaited documentary about their lives in the office, an event nine years in the making.


The Office
Season 9.23 Finale

The final season of The Office was a let down for me. The series has been one of my favorites, but it went on now too long until they didn't have any good ideas anymore. Some of the characters became a joke. Especially Andy this last season.
The finale itself was okay. I enjoyed it. Luckily the last season dealt a little with the airing of the documentary. And this last episode is set one year after the documentary has aired. Maybe it would have been better, if the documentary would have started airing toward the beginning of this season, and we could have seen the cast dealing with impact throughout the season.

[Dragonfire]

I didn't like the last season or so as much either...but I was happy with the last episode.  I liked how they dealt with things and tied things up.

(click to show/hide)

I loved that Micheal came back even though he didn't get to do much.  It was enough.  Even though he was an idiot...I still liked him and like that he was happy...and that they let the audience know that he was happy with Holly.

[Tom]

Wonderfalls
Season 1.13 Caged Bird
Writer: Krista Vernoff (Writer)
Director: Michael Lehmann
Cast: Caroline Dhavernas (Jaye Tyler), Katie Finneran (Sharon Tyler), Tyron Leitso (Eric Gotts), Lee Pace (Aaron Tyler), William Sadler (Darrin Tyler), Diana Scarwid (Karen Tyler), Tracie Thoms (Mahandra), Neil Grayston (Alec), Jeffrey R. Smith (Mall Security Guard), Glenn Fitzgerald (Bank Robber), Jewel Staite (Heidi), Elissa Lansdell (Reporter), Diego Fuentes (Cop #1), Susie Dias (Cop #2), Demetrius Joyette (Shoplift Kid), Bryan Hart (Night Cleaner), Michael Anthony (Costumer #1), Stefanie Drummond (Costumer #2), Scotch Ellis Loring (Muse Voice (voice))

A great show with only great episodes (except one: "Totem Mole" was garbage full of unindented racism). This last episode is just as good as the others. And a good conclusion. I have read how the series would have continued if it had another season or two. Could have been interesting, but could also have been bad. This way we got one great season without a major cliffhanger.

[Tom]

Wings
Season 8.23 Final Approach (Parts 1 & 2)
Writer: David Angell (Created By), Peter Casey (Created By), David Lee (Created By), Michael Sardo (Writer), Ian Gurvitz (Writer)
Director: Leonard R. Garner, Jr., Jeff Melman
Cast: Tim Daly (Joe Hackett), Steven Weber (Brian Hackett), Crystal Bernard (Helen Chappel Hackett), David Schramm (Roy Biggins), Rebecca Schull (Fay Cochran), Tony Shalhoub (Antonio Scarpacci), Amy Yasbeck (Casey)

This was my second attempt at watching the complete series. At first try, I stalled after Season 3. Now I have finally have seen the complete series. I bought it initially, because I am a fan of Cheers and this is created by the same persons. Also there are a few guest appearances by Cheers characters. Norn, Cliff, Frasier, Lillith and Rebecca each appeared once. I had hoped for more appearances. The one from Frasier worked for me. The others felt forced.
Overall I only enjoyed the series a little. I didn't buy the main romance in this series. The got together early on, then broke up a few seasons and seem to have been valid and they didn*t really seem to miss each other really. But then suddenly they are soulmates again. But even when they were back together, they couldn't agree on much.
The finale was okay but I expected more. It was a good conclusion but not a bigger spectacle that I was expecting.

[Tom]

Polizeiinspektion 1
Season 10.13 Der Umzug
Writer: )
Director:
Cast: Walter Sedlmayr (Franz Schöninger), Elmar Wepper (Helmut Heinl), Max Griesser (Moosgruber)

I enjoyed revisiting this series. In the past I always watched it, when I caught it on TV. This is now the first time, that I watched it all through in order. In my opinion the episodes got stronger as the series went on. There were a lot of well known Bavarian actors in this series. But it was very noticable, that in the later seasons they used the same ones again and again for different guest characters. Even inside single seasons.

This last episode was good, but not really a series finale kind of deal. It was mainly about one of the main character and his family and how they move to another apartment. The second time in this series. I also noticed, that one of the three main characters wasn't even present in this episode. And even wasn't there in the last few episodes.

[Tom]

Undeclared: The Complete Series (2001/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia Shout! Factory, Sony BMG Music Entertainment (United States) Length: 403 min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, Commentary: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles:

Plot:
College life as seen through the eyes of Steven Karp, a freshman determined to reinvent himself at a new school. Faced with dilemmas as miserable as being "sexiled" to the rec room while roommates use the bedroom and as dire as confronting a girlfriend's jealous stalker-ex-boyfriend, Steven and his new friends tackle the challenges of higher education. Named one of Time magazine's top ten television shows of 2001 and praised for its "pitch perfect" casting, Undeclared is "one of the cum laude comedies of the new season . . . a sneaky funny hoot with endearingly offbeat characters." (Los Angeles Times)




Undeclared
Season 1.18 Eric's POV
Writer: Judd Apatow (Original Characters By), Judd Apatow (Writer), Nicholas Stoller (Writer)
Director: Jon Favreau
Cast: Jay Baruchel (Steven Karp), Carla Gallo (Lizzie Exley), Charlie Hunnam (Lloyd Haythe), Monica Keena (Rachel Lindquist), Christina Payano (Tina Ellroy), Seth Rogen (Ron Garner), Timm Sharp (Marshall Nesbitt), Loudon Wainwright (Hal Karp), Ben Stiller (Rex), Jason Segel (Eric), David Krumholtz (Greg), Kyle Gass (Eugene), Jarrett Grode (Perry), Sarah Ann Morris (Janice), Kim Fifield (Alice), Leroy Adams (Adam), P. B. Smiley (P.B.), Alex Breckenridge (Celeste)

A nice little series. The last episode was fun, but nothing special. Jason Segel plays a derailed ex-boyfriend really well. You saw hints of this with his character in Freaks & Geeks. But here it is a completely different level.

[Tom]

Meister Eder und sein Pumuckl: Staffel 2 (1988/Germany) IMDb | Wikipedia (Germany) Length: 630 min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: German: Dolby Digital 1 Subtitles:

Meister Eder und sein Pumuckl
Season 2.26 Pumuckl und die Musik
Writer: )
Director:
Cast: Gustl Bayrhammer (Meister Eder), Hans Clarin (Pumuckl (voice))

It was a real joy revisiting this series. I enjoyed every minute of it.
This last episode features Meister Eder's Stammtisch (his friends from the pub) visiting him. They often featured and all were played by famous older Bavarian actors from the 80s. All of them I often see in different episodes of "Weißblaue Geschichten", which I also currently revisit.
Pumuckl had a chance given by Meister Eder, to make himself noticed by these friends. But Pumuckl chose not to (except to one of the friends).

[Tom]

Weißblaue Geschichten II (1990/Germany) IMDb | Wikipedia EuroVideo (Germany) Length: 1152 min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: German: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles:

Weißblaue Geschichten
Season 1.42 Ein Haus zum Verlieben / Einladung mit Hindernissen

I greatly enjoyed this Bavarian anthology series. Even though it is still ongoing (every few years an episode or so), it is very unlikely that a further DVD set comes. Also the new era of the show is not a must-see for me. See below for my reasons.

The series started out as a "Gustl Bayrhammer" vehicle. He as a well known and very likable Bavarian actor. He also starred as Meister Eder in Pumuckl which I recently reviewed. The first ten episodes or so, he starred in every single story of each episode. My favorite part of the series. The next ten episodes or so, he cut back (maybe because of health reasons) and usually only starred in one of 3-4 stories of each episodes. But appeared as a narrator in-between stories.

Then sadly Gustl Bayrhammer passed away. The series continued without him. Without a main figure head. Though for the next 15 episodes or so it seemed that Willy Harlander (another known Bavarian actor, who for example played Meister Eder's best fried in a few Pumuckl episodes) appeared at least in one story of each episodes. Though sometimes only in a very minor part.
Then he also sadly passed away. The next few episodes had still a few well known actor famous for their roles in Bavarian productions (e.g. Hans Clarin (voice of Pumuckl) appeared in quite a few.

The last few episodes I watched seemd to be under changing production companies. For a while it seems to be more of an Austrian production. The quality of the stories got a little worse, but I still enjoyed most of them. But without any recognizable faces for me, it is not that much of interest to me anymore. Though if there should be a third boxset with further episodes, I will probably buy it, if it is not too expensive.

This last episode I watched consisted of two stories. Both of which I quite enjoyed.