Series finale

Yet as delightfully appalling as TV was when I first began this column over a year ago, it has only gotten shoddier. Bo Bice was robbed, Britney Spears has a reality show and somehow, The Apprentice is coming back for a fourth season. The fun of how bad TV was has slowly lost some humor. As I watch younger generations assume the position of couch potato, I wonder how the role models have gone from the happier days of Joni and Chachi to reality whores Boston Rob and Amber?

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Inevitably, some good programming will rise from the ashes next fall. Martha Stewart will be whipping up a reality souffle and Will and Grace will finally hang up their shtick.

The return of cliff hanging favorites like 24 and Lost will bring families together to sweat and worry in front of the telly, just like the good old days. I hope I have taught you all to look beyond the main channels and delve into cable every now and again. Bravo and A&E will not disappoint and will continue with enlightening takes on reality TV next fall. Don't fall into sitcoms on Fox that will only be canceled two episodes in. Please, spend your summer watching the episodes of Lost that you may have missed - that is a water cooler conversation you'll want to be in on next October. Give new reality shows a shot - especially on MTV. If nothing else, they are a good lesson in what the world is coming to.

Thanks to all who read each week and actually stopped me on the street for autographs, photos with their babies and suggesting the Daily Journal put out a best of issue for the column (one can embellish). I never thought I would get such readership! Thanks to my editor, Jon Mays, for acknowledging from the beginning that he knows nothing of these TV shows, but let me write about them anyway. And finally, since the dramatics of television are seeping into this portion, thanks to my friends and family for working around my one-day weekend. Good-bye guilty pleasures, hello Sunday afternoons.