Where Did "White Collar" Land on My TV Show Finale Scale?

On Thursday night, as I prepared to watch the White Collar finale, I was a bundle of nerves and excitement. I was hoping for the perfect ending and praying that it would not be another "Dexter" fiasco, or "How I Met Your Mother" for that matter.

I've studied TV shows for a long time. I've studied them for their patterns, their stories, and I truly believe that if a viewer loves a show so much, they should, without a doubt, know how it will end. The truth is, the point of the entire show should come full circle. You should know these characters so well that you can look at the finale and go, "That made perfect sense."

And "White Collar" was exactly that. The perfect finale. Did I see the ending coming? Yes. In fact, an hour before I watched, my mom asked me on the phone what I thought would happen. I told her, "I think Neal and Mozzie may steal the money. I'm not sure if Neal will take it in the end though. But I think he's going to fake his own death and then the show will flash forward a year later, show Peter and Liz with their baby, and then show that Neal is alive and well."

Do I mind that I predicted this finale? Not at all. I gave a lot of thought to the different endings, and truthfully, nothing else made sense. The writers were never into the heavy, heart wrenching drama, so they weren't going to kill Neal or Peter. I didn't see the writers ending it with Neal off his anklet working for the FBI...that seemed too "Beverly Hills, 90210", everything ends with a neat little bow. The ending "White Collar" gave was perfectly bittersweet.

Now, my main point of this blog post is not to just talk about my love for the finale. The point is, before I watched, I texted my parents (who were watching it before me!) and asked them, "Please tell me if this finale is a Dexter, a Chuck, or a Buffy."

Yes. I have a TV show finale scale...and this is it.

BUFFY THE VAMPIRES SLAYER

A Perfect Ten

Tears were shed. Lives were lost. Favorite characters died. But the battle was epic, the writing was top notch, and the characters ended exactly where they were heading. The tone of the show always set the stakes high (no pun intended!) and it was no shock that they would kill off some favorite, main characters. It wouldn't have made sense to kill Buffy because Buffy already died twice and came back. We all know she'd risk her life for the greater good. Buffy, since season one, had always wanted to be a normal girl. She never wanted to be the only chosen one with the weight of the world on her shoulders. And thanks to Willow's spell, she never had to be again.

CHUCK

The Full Circle You Didn't See

It took me a while to accept the ending of Chuck. However, once I accepted it, I realized how perfect it truly was. The show was never going to end with Chuck and Sarah running into the sunset together, quitting the spy life. That's not what the show was about. In "Chuck vs. the Honeymooners", the writers made it clear that Chuck and Sarah were spies at heart. But for five seasons, the other thing the writers made incredibly clear was that they were always there for each other. No matter what, they'd always come back to each other. Since the very first episode, Sarah sat down with Chuck on that beach and asked him to trust her. From that moment on, he trusted her with his life and she helped him become the confident spy and man he was meant to be. Flash forward five years later to Sarah having lost her memories. They're now on that same beach and Sarah is feeling as lost as Chuck was five years earlier. Now, Chuck is asking the same from her. He's asking her to trust him. Now, it's his turn to help her become the amazing woman she's meant to be.

DEXTER

This Is a Joke, Right?

Oh Dexter. As far as TV dramas go, this was the most devastating finale, EVER. For eight seasons, the show was about Dexter trying to rid himself of his dark passenger. It was about him realizing, or trying to convince himself, that he was more than a serial killer. Maybe he could be human after all. The show should've ended with the camera zooming out from his eye and revealing him on the electric chair. He had been caught, or he turned himself in. The viewer has to go with what they believe. But either way, he had spent this time on Death Row, reflecting on his past. Reflecting on what led him to this moment. Then, the moment he dies, he is finally, once and for all, at peace and rid of his Dark Passenger. That would've been perfect. But, oh no. They had to make him a lumberjack. And that was not, and will never be okay.

Those three shows are my basic scale. Of course, going more in depth, I have other shows I like to include too:

BEVERLY HILLS, 90210

Everything is Too Perfect

For a show full of crazy drama, they sure had the least dramatic finale! Donna and David get married, Valerie is no longer evil and all smiles with Kelly, Felice throws her daughter a bachelorette party, Kelly and Dylan are meant to be after all, and the show ends with them all hugging on the dance floor with the theme song playing in the background. This is the perfect example of what happens when you get the "happy ending" finale. It's just not right. Of course, I'd love to analyze how the show could've come full circle but for that, Brandon and Brenda would've still had to have been there. Since the show changed over and over again, I honestly don't have a clear vision on how this one should've ended. Maybe the writers didn't either!

DAWSON'S CREEK

This Breaks My Heart but OMG YAY!

It was crushing that Jen died. It was not something you saw coming. However, in the end, it led to Joey finally choosing Pacey...and seriously, what was more perfect that Joey choosing Pacey? The show from day one wasn't about Joey and Dawson falling in love. It was about can their friendship survive their hormones and the ups and downs of adulthood? It was also about Dawson's obsession with Spielberg. It was only fitting in the end that Dawson got the meet Spielberg and also could finally be happy for his best friend. Truthfully though, the show changed direction in Season 3 and became about Joey and Pacey. Dawson became the side character... Look, I'm going to come up with any reasoning I want for this ending because seriously, Joey and Pacey got back together and that is, and always will be, the only thing that matters.

VERONICA MARS

This Can't Be a Series Finale

The writers of Veronica Mars knew the show was most likely not being renewed, which is why this finale was so upsetting. The writers knew but they still wrote this episode as a season finale. It didn't wrap things up and everyone was left in a state of despair. Veronica thought she ruined her dad's career and Logan and Veronica were kaput. This ending made me hate the CW for the longest time and fear watching shows that didn't get proper wrap ups. Luckily, the movie wrapped the show up and I can now watch the series finale as the season finale it was written to be.

ANGEL

This Is the Main Purpose

I know a lot of people weren't satisfied with the Angel finale. But in my head, there were only two ways it could've gone. The way it did or with Angel shanshuing (becoming human). However, from the first episode, Angel's point was that he wanted to help people and he would always fight for the greater good, no matter what. In the end, it didn't matter if he lost or won the final battle. If he lost, that was it. The show was over. If he won, maybe he'd shanshu, or maybe he'd just fight the next battle that came his way. Either way, the final words, "Let's get to work", made perfect sense. There is nothing else he would've done.

Now...where did "White Collar" fall on this scale?

For me, when my parents told me the finale for "White Collar" was bittersweet, I'm not sure why, but I immediately expected a Chuck. Maybe it was because I was praying it wouldn't be a Dexter but at the same time, I didn't want to be devastated if it wasn't a Buffy.

I am pleased to say that the White Collar finale was most definitely a Buffy. Neal wanted his freedom from day one but he's also always cared about protecting the people he loves. Of course, the ironic part of this finale is that I don't agree with the creator's view on what happened. The creator believes that Neal went off to Paris to rob the Louvre because he couldn't change in the end. The creator also believes that Peter smiled because he's excited about the chase beginning again. Luckily, the show ended in a way where I can believe that Neal is helping the Louvre improve their security measures because he truly has changed. I can also believe that Peter smiled because his best friend isn't dead. That to me is how the show ended. And to me, that was perfect.

Life Lessons I Learned from "Beverly Hills, 90210"

First of all, if you've never watched "Beverly Hills, 90210", you have missed out big time and you need to fix that right away. For the record though, and to quote my silly dad who once said to me when trying to get me to try food, "I didn't say it was good, I said you should try it."

There is no better way to describe "Beverly Hills, 90210". Frankly, the show sucks. There is absolutely nothing redeemable about it and I understand why people laugh at the idea of watching it. And yet, it's one of my favorite guilty pleasures. Why? Because it's absolutely that ludicrous. It's an experience you won't get from any other show (as far as I know) and you're likely to laugh for years over the ridiculous moments of it.

We are all used to shows from back in the day trying to teach us life lessons. Don't have unprotected sex, don't go out with abusive people, don't do drugs, etc. However, no show did it better than 90210. Sorry, did I say better? I meant worse.

The point is, there is no show that can teach you Valuable Life Lessons more than BH, 90210!

Click through the slide show to learn some things that your parents never told you.

Why "Hostages" is like "Gilligan's Island" in a Very Bad Way

There comes a time in everyone's TV show schedule that you ask yourself "Why am I still watching this show?" This TV season, I have a few shows that are like that. The one at the top of my list, however, is Hostages.

Hostages is like Gilligan's Island stuck in the world of 24. Why Gilligan's Island you might ask? Because nothing makes sense and the more you ask questions, the more ridiculous the entire show becomes.

Gilligan's Island had the nonsensical questions like "Why would the Howell's bring so much money on a three hour tour?", "Why did Ginger bring her entire wardrobe?", "If so many random people were able to find this island and get back home, why couldn't anyone else? Or why didn't the castaways just leave and hope to be saved like the rest of their visitors?" The beauty to Gilligan's Island though was that questions like that were okay. The show was ridiculous but that's what made it lovable.

Hostages, however, lacks the charm and goofiness that Gilligan's Island had. And it's an action drama, so I'm not saying that it should have those things. It really shouldn't. Unfortunately, the ludicrous situations just keep on happening.

Where do I start? Here are my list of questions:

• Why are the writers determined to make Agent Duncan Carlisle seem like he's doing this for a good reason? In my book, if you take an innocent family hostage, you are in no way a good person.
• Why are the writers determined to make any of these kidnappers seem like good people? What is with all of the "He's a good guy" discussions??
• If they aren't watching Dr. Ellen Sanders because, in their words, "they're not worried she'll try to run," then wouldn't that be a good reason for her to run? If she disappears, they no longer have a reason to hold her family hostage. If they can't contact her, what can they do?
• Why would Hilarie Burton's Samantha ever be attracted to Tate Donovan's Brian Sanders? I'm sorry but after her previous attractive TV boyfriends, Chad Michael Murray and Matt Bomer, it is literally torture on the eyes to see her with someone who looks far too old and not the slightest bit attractive.
• Who takes someone hostage and then brings them out and about to have an affair? And on top of that, send false text messages from the man to the woman saying he loves her? If they want things to not seem suspicious, wouldn't it be best to not have the guy sit there confused?
• Is there a reason the kidnappers want Jake to be in danger of being killed by his drug dealer friends? Wouldn't him getting killed make them lose some of their edge?
• Why did Duncan help cover up Morgan's pregnancy? Why would he care?
• Why didn't Ellen just kidnap Duncan's daughter and hold her until her family was released?
• Why hasn't Ellen gone searching at the hospital for his wife yet? I don't think she's thinking about leverage.

The ultimate questions I have about the show, though, are these: Why did the creators think this was a sustainable plot for an entire series? Wouldn't it have just worked better as a movie?

And my final question for all of those watching it: The show has awful ratings so what do you think will run out first? The show or the plot?

Watch Hostages on CBS tonight if you are easily entertained by ridiculous plots like I am.

Halloween is Most Definitely the Best Time of Year

For those of you who know me, you know I love to decorate for the holidays. I decorate for Valentine's Day, Halloween, Chanukah, Christmas, and any other chance I get: For example, my mom's birthday is St. Patrick's Day so I get to do double decorations for that and for Father's Day this year, we threw a Hawaiian luau in the backyard, complete with our own "tiki bar".

As much as I love decorating for all of these different holidays though, nothing will ever compare to the rush I feel decorating for Halloween. Every year, I wander the Halloween stores looking for the perfect decorations. Over the years, my family has collected everything from a headless woman, a giant skeleton bird, and a creepy scare crow. There are still so many things I would love to get and I'm sure one day, I will. Halloween is my yearly challenge. I'm always determined to outdo myself. My largest challenge is how far we can stretch the cobweb. Although, I'm pretty sure nothing will ever compare to 2011 when we stretched cobwebs from the tree, over the footpath, onto the house. Before the cobweb challenge though, we focused on entertainment. For our 2008 Halloween, my sister cackled from the bedroom window with the strobe light running and we blasted scary music onto the street. My favorite memory from that year though has to be when my mom abruptly opened the door before a group of middle school boys had the chance to ring it. They nearly fell backwards they were so scared. Last year, was mine and my husband's first Halloween at our house in California. Our decorations looked fantastic, although, they were somewhat destroyed by the Santa Ana winds. Being from Colorado, I'm still surprised by this. These decorations held up through countless snowstorms and yet could not survive the wind out here. The other disappointing part of last years Halloween was the amount of kids we didn't get. Although, my husband was quite pleased to have so much leftover candy!

Here are our decorations from 2011:

Here's our decorations from last year:

This year, I'm eager to start some new traditions. Here's my list:

• Interactive Murder Mystery Party: I'm been wanting to do this for at least the last four years and we are finally doing it this year! I am incredibly grateful that my sister's boyfriend writes Murder Mystery Theaters!
• Carving a pumpkin: Yes. I've never actually done this and I've found an amazing website where I can get patterns of Spike, Buffy, and Dexter - as I said earlier, I like challenges. Which means my first carving ever will be of someone's face. Yikes.
• Halloween Festival: I've never gone on a hayride before or walked through a corn maze or picked a pumpkin from the patch. All of these things must happen and we've decided to go next week.
• Make/Bake Tasty Treats: I love to bake and therefore plan to try making Carmel Apple Cupcakes and Pumpkin Cupcakes. I also bought a candy making kit. I've never made candy before but it sounds like fun!

My other tradition is watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I watch each of the Halloween episodes: Halloween, Fear, Itself, All the Way, and I throw in the episode Hush. If I'm still awake and ready to continue watching something, I switch for something light and watch the Halloween episode of Friends, "The One with the Halloween Party". Because I'm eager to expand my traditions, I've got some other shows and episodes to choose from too:

• Chuck: Chuck vs. the Sandworm and Chuck vs. the Aisle of Terror
• Castle: Vampire Weekend and Demons
• Psych: This Episode Sucks
• Beverly Hills, 90210: Halloween and Things That Go Bang in the Night
• Dawson's Creek: Friday the 13th and Living Dead Girl
• Party of Five: Personal Demons
• Veronica Mars: President Evil
• The Big Bang Theory: The Middle Earth Paradigm, The Good Guy Fluctuation, and The Holographic Excitation

The only thing I will never do for Halloween is go to a Haunted House. I know this is a big tradition for a lot of people but I absolutely can't stand them. If I set it up, that would be another story. I love spooking other people but I hate being spooked. Having people or objects jump out at me is not my idea of a good time.

What are your October/Halloween traditions? Do you watch any shows or movies every year for the holiday? What do you normally carve on a pumpkin?

TV Shows That Should Be Turned Into Movies

It figures. The day after I create a blog, I get sick. So now I'm trying to write this with a fuzzy head! What a *fantastic* way to start out. I warn you all in advance: there is a chance this whole post could turn into gibberish.

On my last blog, I got two comments, both which I'm very excited about! Shel - I'm a secret Vercan shipper too! I love Logan and Veronica but I don't know...I always wanted her with Duncan! Nancy, a Buffy movie would be AMAZING! Your comment by the way, has inspired this very blog post.

TV Shows that I Want Made into Movies.

1) Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel
Lets face it, a combo movie would be EPIC! This takes place without taking into account Season 8: After a group of slayers turn rouge, Buffy (who retired from her slayer duties) comes back to save the day and teams up with Angel Investigations/Wolfram and Hart. In my mind, Buffy and Spike will obviously end up together by the end of this movie.

2) Chuck
In all honesty, a Chuck movie would be awesome, but primarily because I just want to see that Sarah got all of her memories back and is living happily ever after as Mrs. Bartowski.

3) Tru Calling
I know this show wasn't very popular but I loved it and I feel like us fans got the short end of the stick. If I could restart the day this show was canceled all over again, I would. I want to know what would've happened!

4) Roswell
Talk about depressing endings. I know Max and Liz ended up together and all but couldn't it all have happened in a way where they didn't all leave their families behind and get run out of town? I would love to see this group back and where they are all now!

And here is a show that should NEVER have a movie. In fact, I might pay money towards a campaign that keeps this from ever happening!

Beverly Hills, 90210
Love it or hate it, this show is a classic. That said, once they introduced Noah in season 8, the entire show (not just because of him) went down into a deep dark hole and never crawled out. It was clear the writers lost interest, the actors were all tired of their roles, and the corny script that we all love to hate had lost it's amusement. Even though I still love re-watching this show for a laugh, it ended after 10 crazy years and there is really no reason to ever see what happened next.

Now onto the show that is being given a movie: Veronica Mars. Another cast announcement was made today! Krysten Ritter (who I loved on "Don't Trust the B--", hmm maybe that should have a movie?), has been announced to reprise her role as Gia! So here's the list of actors they have so far:

Kristen Bell
Enrico Colantoni
Jason Dohring
Percy Daggs III
Chris Lowell
Tina Majoriini
Francis Capra
Christine Lakin
Amanda Noret
Sam Huntington
Brandon Hillock
Kevin Sheridan
Jonathan Chesner
Krysten Ritter

That leaves TEDDY DUNN, RYAN HANSEN, MAX GREENFIELD, KEN MARINO, and AARON ASHMORE left on my list of people that I am hoping to see back. And let me just say this: I will be disappointed if Ryan Hansen doesn't return as Dick Casablancas. He was in the Kickstarter video for goodness sakes! I think we all expect him to return!

I should also mention that the locations for the first week of filming has been announced! And here they are:

Location 1: 405 Mateo St., Los Angeles, CA, 90013

Location 2: 530 Molino St, Los Angeles, CA, 90013

These scenes are filming throughout the week from 6/18 to 6/21. On the 18th, they'll be shooting from 8pm to 2am, the 19th from 10am to 2am, the 20th from 3pm to 4am, and the 21st from 3pm to 6am.

So, what TV shows do you want turned into movies? Which ones would you pay NOT to have made into a movie? And finally, will you be angry and shocked if Ryan Hansen isn't announced in these next few days?

Here's my picture of the day. My husband Gwith and I ended up in Long Beach two days ago and got a glimpse of the new season of Dexter. Granted, we got there after they finished shooting for the afternoon, but we did get a lovely look at the props. Really bad spoiler alert: Someone died. There were crime scene vehicles, a stretcher, a dummy body, and a smashed up bicycle. As I said, really bad spoiler. It's pretty much just your average crime scene that you see in every episode of Dexter. Still, it was awesome to see the props!!

***UPDATE: RYAN HANSEN has been announced!! YAY!***