Dexter:
I don't really know what exactly to say with regards to Sunday's episode of Dexter. It should have been a gripping and exciting episode that left me worrying about what's going to happen to our dear protagonist. But the knowledge that there is another two confirmed seasons in the bank after this one means that the threat against Dexter just doesn't feel real.

Now the twist that's brought us here is great, it's tied things up very nicely, but having Dexter being the target of the Skinner's abduction just doesn't raise the tension for me at all. Intellectually I know it should be a worrying and tense moment, but emotionally I already know he's going to get out of it fine. Compare this to season one (Deb) and season two (Doakes) and it's just not as gripping, they are both characters who could be lost to the show (in fact one of them was) so any threats to them are quite real. Dexter on the other hand is going to escape this.

Now if it was the final season of the show, all bets would be off and I'd be worrying here. But instead I'm confident Dexter will get away, kill the Skinner, kill or neutralise Prado (most likely kill considering the ends of the previous seasons) and get married.

Boston Legal:
Oh wow, just wow. Last weeks antepenultimate episode was an interesting and fun mix up of the format but this weeks penultimate episode was a tour de force for everyone involved. Yes, some people may have found Carl Sack's case attacking the networks for failing to provide programming for the over 50s a little self indulgent and preachy. But I for one enjoyed and appreciated his speech, it raised some wonderful points while skating along the edge of the fourth wall

"The only show on TV with starring roles over 50 is Bo--."
Carl points at the camera.
"Well, I can't say the rest...it'll break that wall."

Denny's Alzheimer's is advancing and this provides the thrust of the story for Alan and Denny, they attempt to get Denny access to an experimental non-FDA approved drug and after several set backs it ends up with the pair realising that they're going to be heading to the Supreme Court for, as they put it, their Grand Finale.

Finally Jerry and Katie work together on the case of a young girl who used Ritalin to enhance her score so she could get into Harvard. Once she admitted to doing this in a paper her admission was rescinded. It's a case with personal echoes for Jerry as he both went to Harvard himself and is on medication to help him function. While it's fun, it's not Jerry's best storyline this season, but. That said it does have a wonderful moment where Katie asks Jerry out for a drink and when he assumes they'll be doing it as "just colleagues" she corrects him. Jerry running out of the office after her was a great moment to watch.

Honestly Boston Legal has had it's ups and downs over time, it's been to preachy and pretentious at times, it's suffered far too much cast attrition and this hurt the chemistry of the show. But this final season has paired things back to the cast members that matter, it's given them all things to do, stories, cases, fun moments, touching ones. It's just a shame that it's taken five seasons and the impending end of the show to get it to happen. Next week is the two hour finale for the show and honestly, I'm going to miss it when it's gone.

2008 has seen the end of some giants in television, I think Boston Legal can be called one of them.

House:
I caught up with House this week by watching last week's episode as well, I was pretty pleased to see Željko Ivanek (Damages, Homicide) as he's a great actor. Sure enough he didn't disappoint, and the episode was pretty decent. But it was slightly marred by still running off and teaching "Thirteen" another lesson about herself. Hopefully she'll stop being such a whingy moo-cow now and we can get on with interesting patients plus unusual and horrible diseases.

This week's episode on the other hand was better on the staff story front but had a weak patient who was exceptionally uninteresting. The most entertaining part of the show right now is the awkward and amusing interactions between Cuddy and House. They're interested in each other (which has been obvious since the start of the show) but House is a jerk and Cuddy is concerned about that. Add into this mix House alternating between being sweet (in his way) and being House and you can't be exactly sure where this is leading. Which makes it fun to watch (and a lot more entertaining than that insipid House/Cam Club thread on tv.com is - but, sadly there's now a "Huddy" thread as well...) still one shouldn't judge a show on the merits of it's fan base.

30 Rock:
Reunion was a great episode with two story lines; the first involved Liz's reunion and the discovery that she wasn't the school nerd, in fact her defensive sniping at people hurt them all very badly. At the same time Jack pretends to be someone he isn't at the reunion and begins to wonder if his life is all it's cracked up to be. Back at 30 Rockerfeller Plaza Tracy and Jenna become insecure about Kenneth's popular elevator jokes and feel he's threatening their status as actors and the focus of attention. Good stuff, no heavy use of guest stars and the only thing I missed was the presence of the other characters, I do enjoy any scenes involving Pete and Frank especially.

The Office:
The Office is my comedy highlight of the week, every single episode this year has had me laughing, nodding and even occasionally squirming at the antics that go on in the Dunder-Mifflin Scranton branch. This week was no exception, Oscar comes into Michael's office and explains that there's a budget surplus that needs to be spent before the end of the day. The Office divides between a new photocopier and new chairs (most notably Jim is pro-copier while Pam is pro-chair), and Michael is unable to make a decision. Meanwhile Dwight shows Andy and Angela the site for their marriage ceremony and almost manages to turn Angela around on the subject, before he pulls another Dwight special and drives her right back.

Also, this episode had one of the best editing cuts it's ever had right near the end of the episode. Oh and it was hilarious that Michael was pouring sugar into a diet coke.

My Name is Earl:
"Reading is a A Fundamental Case" was rather average for an episode of My Name is Earl. The episode ran as a parallel to the story of Tarzan, or at least the knock off copy of the book anyway. The idea of knock off classic books is a pretty funny one in itself. I'm not sure if it's a parody of the poor quality DVDs or titles of adult films, but regardless it's a good joke. On the other hand the rest of the episode just wasn't, most of the story was pretty lackluster for me, I think my favourite moment involved Darnell, and he just had a single line joke himself. I'd like to see this season do something, even if it's just a few two-part episodes.

Other Stuff:
I've still not watched this week's Heroes, it's no longer high on my priority list to see, maybe Fuller will be able to fix the mess that Kring has made, maybe not. But right now the show is a steaming pile. In the DVD front I watched Harvey Birdman again, it's incredibly easy to sit and watch through that entire show thanks to the ten minute episodes and the exceptionally fast plots plus high joke content.

I'm gearing up to watch Sons of Anarchy next week, I'll have the verdict on the show once I've watched the entire first season. I'm also planning to catch back up with Life over Christmas, it may have improved now they know they have a full run to play with.