Final Numbers

[Kevin M.]

My valentine to a terrific series that is most likely leaving the
airwaves after six seasons.

http://www.tvornottv.net/2010/03/11/final-numbers/

--
Kevin M. (RPCV)

[PGage]

On Thu, Mar 11, 2010 at 10:55 AM, Kevin M. <drunkba...@gmail.com> wrote:

My valentine to a terrific series that is most likely leaving the
airwaves after six seasons.

http://www.tvornottv.net/2010/03/11/final-numbers/

I wasn't sure if there would be spoilers, so I avoided reading it until I saw the last two episodes on my TiVo. I am less annoyed than Kevin be the "3" (and there are clever puns, but they are not the obvious ones made by newspaper columnists and TV news anchors - see Andy Zaltzman at The Bugle), but he may have written the truest sentence ever conceived about a television show: "Amita Ramanujan (played skillfully by Navi Rawat) is the most appealing female character in the history of television." It was not predictable that a drama about using math to fight crime would spawn such a great female character - but one of the nice legacies of this show is of a beautiful, confident, socially masterful female math genius.

Kevin is also right that the show avoided simplistic dichotomies - while one theme was the difference between the two brothers, they didn't make one a genius and the other an idiot, or one strong and the other weak. Don is not a genius, but he is clearly intelligent, and plausibly comes from the same gene pool that produced his genius brother. I don't think that Judd Hirsch's character in Independence Day with borderline racist or anti-Semitic (it was stereotypical - but then that whole movie was just about stereotypes), but I do think that Hirsch really put a nice cherry on top of his career with this role. His character provided a nice glue to the show, Hirsch brought a lot of added value.

The weakness of this show was in its other female leads - aside from Amita I don't think they really connected with any of them. For me one of the unanswered mysteries of this show is why Lloyd left at the end of season 1 - she may have developed into a more interesting character.

[Kevin M.]

On Sat, Mar 13, 2010 at 1:54 PM, PGage <pga...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Mar 11, 2010 at 10:55 AM, Kevin M. <drunkba...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> My valentine to a terrific series that is most likely leaving the
>> airwaves after six seasons.
>>
>> http://www.tvornottv.net/2010/03/11/final-numbers/
>
>
> I wasn't sure if there would be spoilers, so I avoided reading it until I
> saw the last two episodes on my TiVo. I am less annoyed than Kevin be the
> "3" (and there are clever puns, but they are not the obvious ones made by
> newspaper columnists and TV news anchors - see Andy Zaltzman at The Bugle),

I side with John Oliver's moans of pain during Andy's puns.

> Kevin is also right that the show avoided simplistic dichotomies - while one
> theme was the difference between the two brothers, they didn't make one a
> genius and the other an idiot, or one strong and the other weak. Don is not
> a genius, but he is clearly intelligent, and plausibly comes from the same
> gene pool that produced his genius brother. I don't think that Judd Hirsch's
> character in Independence Day with borderline racist or anti-Semitic (it was
> stereotypical - but then that whole movie was just about stereotypes)

Fair enough. I was just starting out in the world of TV at the time
the film was released and I found myself surrounded by a greater
percentage of the Jewish population than at any other point in my
life. I distinctly recall conversations about that character, and how
he was not liked by my Jewish coworkers. That said, I like Judd and
hope he gets one or more good roles before winding up his career.

> The weakness of this show was in its other female leads - aside from Amita I
> don't think they really connected with any of them. For me one of the
> unanswered mysteries of this show is why Lloyd left at the end of season 1 -
> she may have developed into a more interesting character.

I concur wholeheartedly. At times, I had trouble telling the other
female leads apart.

I just watched the final episode (thanks to CBS for promptly posting
it on its website). I liked everything except the high five between
the FBI agents towards the end. I thought it was nice that they opened
the episode with what was the opening song in the pilot episode. I
also liked that they didn't save the wedding until the end, which
would have been the traditional thing to do. Instead, they opened with
it, then got into the story. Nice that they could still turn
convention on its ear, even in the last episode.
--
Kevin M. (RPCV)

[Kevin M.]

On Sat, Mar 13, 2010 at 2:54 PM, PGage <pga...@gmail.com> wrote:

> I wasn't sure if there would be spoilers, so I avoided reading it until I
> saw the last two episodes on my TiVo. I am less annoyed than Kevin be the
> "3" (and there are clever puns, but they are not the obvious ones made by
> newspaper columnists and TV news anchors - see Andy Zaltzman at The Bugle),

If you haven't already discovered it, "7 Day Sunday" is a BBC produced
radio show/podcast featuring Andy Zaltzman. Much like "The Bugle," but
it features a panel commenting and riffing on the week's news. It has
become a new favorite of mine.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/7daysunday
--
Kevin M. (RPCV)