Given this season's plot line (corruption and deceit in the Oval Office), I'm thinking next season will revolve around a small group of Americans (numbering in the millions, maybe) plotting to drop a bomb on Congress on one of those rare days when it's actually in session. Chloe will get wind of the plot from some obscure blog and mention it casually to Jack. Jack will spend the entire day making half-hearted attempts to warn Congress but they're so busy trying to figure out how to give the oil companies a few more tax breaks that they won't listen. Jack decides he's hungry and heads for a nearby restaurant for a bite to eat and a much-needed potty break. BOOM. Fade to black.

President Logan's weaseliness has made him one of my favorite characters on "24", and I'll hate to see him gone.

That's why I'd like to see next season of "24" pick up where this one ends. Logan resigns as President, but immediately puts into place his back-up plan: a military coup. Jack Bauer can only fight terrorists so many times before it gets boring, but a coup sounds like a fun season.

I completely agree, Heather, with your assessment of The Sopranos. With so much blind loyalty from fans of the show, it was good to hear someone point out that the show has really worn itself out. After 5 seasons of the same conflicts, I no longer have the patience for all of the side-plots and attempts at high art. I just want to know what happens!! If the show is going to be coming to an end, I keep expecting the beginning of a real torrent of action as we head towards some sort of resolution, but after 7 weeks I fear that it is never going to come. I really thing the long hiatus between seasons is to blame, also. After 7 or so years of this, I can't care about the characters as much in the past, and the retread of all of their conflicts comes across as stalling. Here's hoping week 8 brings the real beginning of the end.

Poor liberals. They have become so powerless, innefective and useless, they can only find meaning and a voice through TV fiction. Whether it's "The West Wing" or the latest plot twist on "24," I'm glad you found a place where your "ideals" and anti-American paranoia have found a place to call home - even if it's not in the real world.

I collect soundalike typos, and there's a great one in this article -- "eminent" where the meaning is clearly "immanent." I've never seen that one before -- kudos!

Consider this ... perhaps "The Sopranos" is simply applying a real life reality to this season: people basically don't change. They must change in the arts. Short story form demands a change on the part of the main character. The Hollywood formula film script has the all is lost moment somewhere near the end and then the clouds part, the sun shines and everyone is saved. Often, the hero or heroine has some epiphony, and then changes. My observation of people thus far (58 years) is that they don't change all that much. They only change in the world of make believe. So let's watch Tony, who is trapped in his life of recurring patterns and recurring treacheries that must be dealt with in the manner of the mob. Is there a Hollywood ending to "The Sopranos"? I hope not.

Is this really the last season of the Sopranos? On the News section of the HBO site for the show there's a statement from 8/23/2005 that says that this season (season 6) will have 12 episodes, and will be followed by a final season of 8 episodes, which will start airing in 2007.

I loved the article! The opening part of the article rang so true with my current frustrations with men who have the pretty package and end up repeating the same stories from 20 years ago. Obviously, I need to find better story tellers, or become a better one myself.

The rest of the article speaks straight to armchair liberals (like me) to get off the couch and be alive. Both romatic and political relationships call for active confrontation; (somewhere in there is love and loving action.... buy 'bitch-slapping also fits in there!).

I love how tv/movies/stories can encourage me to fight/dream on in life.

Nice job!

- SF man in Paris

I cannot tolerate any criticism of The Sopranos. As for "24," it's so typical of the superficial trash one sees (or choose not to, in my case) on Fox.

I'm perfectly satisfied with the course The Sopranos has taken in this new season, and consider the developments we've seen so far as the unhinging of Tony's grip on his crime empire. Being shot by Jr. obviously gave Tony something to consider and obviously gave him a desire to smell the roses long before he passes on, but the writers are smart enough to know that life moves on it's own brutally way no matter what color glasses characters might individually wear; the required brutality and ruthlessness of his job are going to conflict badly with Tony's new appreciation for being alive. "Each day is a gift" he says, and yet each day is proving to be an endless series of self-made dramas by those around him, situations that he is required to resolve. This is all going to end badly , tragically, comically, the whole shot, but in the meantime I like slow-boil the writer have used to provide us with the nuance of characters

gradually destroying themselves with their ceaseless self-seeking.

I've been a loyal Sopranos fan from the beginning. Unfortunately the show has become so predictable in it's rehashing of the old story lines that I only watch in hopes that some how, some way we can see Meadow end up dancing at the Bada Bing club.

Q

I'm hardly surprised to hear Havrilesky's takes on The Sopranos. Personally, I think she's just trying to be contrarian. Her number one criticism of The Sopranos is that it repeats itself. Come on, Harilevsky. If repetition is your number one beef of the show then maybe you should apply this criteria elsewhere. Perhaps Six Feet Under? They repeated nearly all of their storylines. Billy off the meds? Check. Brendra screwing up? Check. Nate going off the rails? Check. And from what I remember you said that Six Feet Under was still going strong in its last season. Hmmmm. You can't deny Six Feet Under never repeated itself.

We get it, you don't like Sopranos. Your loss.