Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

Dave on Demand | If odd stars appear on shows, then it must be May sweeps

It's fitting that the TV season echoes the school calendar. Each fall, a new batch of hopefuls comes marching in, and every spring, a group of graduates, many of whom we've come to love, leaves for good.

Doug and Carrie (Kevin James and Leah Remini) wrapped up their union on the series finale of "The King of Queens."
Doug and Carrie (Kevin James and Leah Remini) wrapped up their union on the series finale of "The King of Queens."Read more

It's fitting that the TV season echoes the school calendar. Each fall, a new batch of hopefuls comes marching in, and every spring, a group of graduates, many of whom we've come to love, leaves for good.

And around commencement time (May sweeps), all kinds of unexpected people show up on campus. I'm still trying to figure out what the king of Texas stomp, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, was doing giving away a bride on the season finale of Bones. But at least he dressed for the occasion in a tux with buckles, sunglasses and his trademark Esther Williams bathing cap.

Tell me, how are we supposed to live without the Gilmore Girls? That surprise graduation party for Rory under the tent reminded me of the scene at the end of The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy wakes up back in Kansas. The world is a poorer place without those raucous Stars Hollow town meetings to look forward to.

And I'm going to miss those big lugs on The King of Queens, especially Jerry Stiller's Arthur. No one ever has looked sillier in costumes than this guy. With him off the air, who is Regis Philbin going to steal his act from?

Confused cameos. Tough week for TV viewers, unless you have a TiVo in every room. So I thought it was nice of American Idol, on consecutive nights, to pay homage to its direct competition.

On Tuesday, there was Scott Patterson (luncheonette owner Luke on Gilmore Girls) crouched in the dressing room, helping Melinda Doolittle prepare for her final song. On Wednesday, they brought on the ageless and mysterious Richard (Nestor Carbonell) from Lost to sing a song.

What's that? You say that was respectively an unshaven stagehand in a backward baseball cap and Adam Levine of Maroon 5? Guess I'm seeing things.

The anti-Cupid. When your weekly plots involve hunting serial killers, what do you do for a big finale? If you're Criminal Minds, you bring back Frank (Keith Carradine), "the most prolific serial killer in history," and send him off on a new spree.

Adding insult to injury, Frank kicked off his rampage by taking out the only date that Gideon (Mandy Patinkin) has had in the last 40 years. Now that was uncalled for.

Share the wealth. It seems to me that if Tony Soprano should bust the bank at that Vegas casino while stoned out of his gourd on peyote by betting on 24 over and over at the roulette wheel, shouldn't Jack Bauer get a piece of his winnings?

Published