The casting is excellent and while the principal roles of the cast resemble those on the original series (Captain Kirk, Spock, and McCoy), it's even more fun that Chekov, Scotty, Sulu, and Uhura are played by actors who resemble the originals very little. Not too long after we meet "Bones" McCoy we get a parody of Karl Urban rapidly arching his right eyebrow. I thought this was pretty funny and obviously a wink to the audience. It was a brilliant move by JJ Abrams to make a prequel to the original series because it allows the new actors playing very familiar characters to grow on the audience and make the 21st century telling of Star Trek their own. This is a very good summer movie standing on it's own even without the luxury of having a built in audience champing at the bit to see it.
As far as finale's, "Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles" on Fox had it's season ending episode in April. I found out today that it was the series ender also, as Fox has canceled it. So Fox cancels a good series with a great cast and renews the execrable "Dollhouse". "Dollhouse" is a mess of a show and unwatchable save for the Eliza Dushku eye candy. I'd love to know what goes on behind the scenes that makes TV execs do the inexplicable things they do.
Other finale's:
Lost A+ Wow! Just wow
Desperate Housewives C -- this show is becoming stale and way too predictable.
The Office A -- Pam is preggers? The producers of the British "Office" admit that this American version is better than the original.
Chuck B -- I thought about giving this show up a time or two but it's generally a fun hour. Not too sure they can keep dragging out the same plots for a successful third season.
Supernatural A -- One of the best shows on TV period. Consistently puts out a solid hour week after week. If you aren't watching or DVRing this, you really should be.
The Mentalist A+ The best new show of the season and it ended the way it began with a "Red John" episode. "The Mentalist" takes on a totally different tone with the "Red John" episodes. The majority of the episodes are lighter and with lots of humor. It's like "Monk" without all the obsessive compulsive behavior and phobias. This last episode of the season was wrought with tension and Simon Baker's portrayal of the man who is hell bent (with good reason I might add) on catching Red John gives a stellar performance. "Red John" won't be overplayed and the producers have said that we won't find out who he is until the last episode of the series. Let's hope that won't be for a while yet.
