Tuesday night saw the series finale of The Shield.  It’s place among my top five television shows is secure for a very long time.

The pilot episode of The Shield was magnificent.  Following that mighty start, the conclusion of just about ever season (number six being the exception, due to interruption from the writers’ strike) had me enthralled.  The creatives built a complex, compelling, charismatic anti-hero for us to root for/against.  They populated his world with characters we cared about, each occupying a shade of grey.  Then they threw one intense conflict after another at those characters.  Good things happened to bad people, bad things happened to good people, and everything in between.

Through it all, I wondered how it would ever be possible for this show to end.  No conclusion would satisfy if there wasn’t collateral damage.  The man we wanted to see come out on top didn’t deserve to.  And yet, they pulled it off.

Bravo.

Samantha Who? becomes appointment television. Until recently, my opinion has been that Samantha Who? functions primarily off of the charm of Christina Applegate.  I’m only up to the third episode in the second season, but that third episode, “The Pill” was fantastic television.   Finally the show included some real chemistry between Samantha and her supposed leading man, complete with a back story that made us care.  If there are more episodes like this coming, I’ll stay tuned in

Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles gets dropped completely. I liked last year’s half-season.  Summer Glau’s character was a fun exploration of non-humanity, therefore of course being an exploration of humanity.  This year, however, we have robots and running from robots and not a lot of intrigue.  Normally I’ll lower the bar to get my sci-fi fix, but this show can’t seem to hold my interest.

Fringe gets dropped completely. Speaking of sci-fi that isn’t working for me, I can’t find a foothold in Fringe.  It ought to X-files told Alias-style, but those expectations are not met.  Jennifer Garner was key to the success of Alias, and I don’t get that charisma from Anna Torv.  While the world feels unique, the intrigue of each week’s government secret having a distinct bioterror feel, the tone is somehow not right.  I’m guessing J.J. Abrams has his attention focused on Star Trek.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia moves from appointment TV to homework TV. I caught up with this show via hulu.com recently, and loved just about every minute of the first three seasons.  Here was a fresh offering to comedy, featuring a group of players with fantastic chemistry and timing.  Something is missing in season four, however.  (The plotting and counter-plotting, I suspect.)  I thought things hit bottom in episode 7, “Who Pooped the Bed?”  I had hopes that the season finale would reinspire, especially since the “Night Man” song was getting turned into a musical, but in the end one of the better episodes of the season nonetheless fell flat.

So I just gained two hours of life back each week.  Maybe that means I’ll blog more.

So currently in limited release is Repo! The Genetic Opera.

I can’t tell whether I should see this movie.  I mean, some reviews imply that it’s one of the more original artworks to come along in years.  Meanwhile, the presence of Anthony Stewart Head, especially if he’ll be singing, makes this Buffy fan immediately vow to see the movie.

However, this clashes with my directive to never, ever, ever contribute in any way to Paris Hilton’s right to appear in any non-porn.  Plus… Sarah Brightman?  That’s just weird.  And, it’s from the people behind Saw, officially the most successful franchise I will never see.

What do do?

Here are my guesses for today’s results, light colors being the places where the candidate carries the state by 3% or less.  I sure hope I’m right.

Meanwhile, today finally sees Obama go off the charts at RealClearPolitics.com, according to their aggregate tally of national polls: