ISN'T IT A LITTLE EARLY FOR A FINALE? Wanted to talk a little about two shows which wrapped up their third seasons last night in fine form. On NBC, we had a solid finale for Parenthood, which managed to service pretty much all of the large cast well. Sure, some of the plot points were annoying (hopefully, this is finally the end of the Crosby/Jasmine merry-go-round) or seemed out of character (Adam's decision about the Luncheonette seemed entirely out of place), but there were plenty of solid moments, including the resolution of the season-long Julia/Joel plot and the brief father/daughter dance between Adam and Haddie, and, as one would expect from a Jason Katims show, plenty of handheld camera montages with a song playing in the background designed to make you emotional. A solid season of a solid show, and I hope we see it back--it's not a ratings bonanza, but it's the closest thing to a critical darling NBC has on the drama side right now, which would seem to help it, along with a finale that makes it easy to cut cast for next season, or at least reduce the number of episodes certain cast members appear in.
Over on USA, there was a finale for White Collar, a show which may be making the leap from "solid fun buddy cop show" to something a bit deeper as it explores questions of redemption and the difference between what is legal and what is moral (while still remaining a fun buddy cop show). It's an interesting hit of the reset button they managed, and I'm intrigued to see where they go from here--there are several directions I could see them going, but many of those marginalize part or all of the current supporting cast.