Cue the happy endings!

Seems like a week for TV taunting. First there was that "Sopranos" finale, where the writers kept teasing viewers with the idea that something huge was about to happen, then made damn sure that it didn't. And then last night, the WB peppered the "Everwood" series finale with commercials for the CW -- a network where "Everwood" will be the only notable WB show that's absent. Ya think those ads are going to suddenly convince the "Everwood" fans that it's okay you killed their show? More after the jump...

As I said last week, I've never been a week-in, week-out "Everwood" obsessive, but I always enjoyed the show when I saw it, and Rhina Mimoun and company did right by both the fans and the casual viewers like me with the finale. While arguments could have been made for keeping any of Hannah/Bright, Nina/Andy and Amy/Ephram apart in a character-consistent way, there's something to be said for giving the people what they want. Yes, Jake has turned out to be a good guy, and yes, Steph was a much more normal, drama-free girlfriend than Amy, but the fans have invested four years in waiting for these people to get together. The only change I would have made was Hannah's college decision; much better if Hannah had decided to go to Notre Dame anyway and Bright found a way to attend a school not far from South Bend. (If Rudy could go to Holy Cross, why not Bright?) I know sometimes in life you make compromises to be with the one you love, but since we were going with the wish-fulfillment ending anyway, why not find a way for Hannah to have it all?

(Then again, wasn't the Amy/Ephram ending with the carousel the only thing specifically made with the end of the series in mind? If they had planned to go another season, they couldn't do it with Hannah and Bright in Indiana. While they could have done a second insert shot with a Notre Dame envelope, they would have also needed to shoot an alternate scene where Bright offers to go with her, and I don't know how much money they had to film extra material.)

Debra Mooney is always so damn good, and while the abandoned baby was melodramatic, it wasn't any more than most of the series (Marian hadn't watched since season one, so throughout the finale I had to explain things like Madison's baby to her, and out of context a lot of this sounds really soapy), and it provided Edna a reason to stick around and a purpose in life without Irv.

It's been four years, so I don't remember how definitive Brenda Strong's last appearance was (did Julia's ghost specifically say she was never coming back?), because it would have been nice to have her back to give Andy the seal of approval. I know he's not crazy anymore, but still. Plus, having known a number of widows and widowers who remarried, Andy's vow to never again visit Julia's grave rang very false; I think if Nina heard him say that she would have smacked him upside the head.

I'd say more, but I'm already running late, so let's take the rest to the comments. What did everybody else think?