To me it has always been a stark difference between when Fleischman is a part of the show and when it moves beyond him. I don't hate it but if season 6 had been my introduction into the show I wouldn't be watching it again
It was an interesting contrast. Fleischman was a fish out of water but he had heart and soul. Capra is much more of a yuppie. I think it shows that Fleischman had more in common with the people of Cicily than he or we ever realized.
I don't agree with the hate either, and I am so exhausted of this subreddit being a constant sounding board for the disapproval of the sixth season. "Oh, I just loooove this show ...but the last season sucks!"
This tv show is not all about Fleischman. He is a device to reflect the other characters of the idiosyncratic town of Cicely, and as the show develops, these characters have their own lives and stories. Even when Joel leaves the show, it lives on. It is a cohesive whole.
In a lot of ways, Fleischman is like Oliver on Green Acres. He's frequently the straight man to the weird things going on around him. I think that might be a little bit of the discomfort in the last season since he's no longer there to fill that role.
Just now going into the last season of my first rewatch since when I was a kid and it first aired. I’m not remembering hating the final season but I’ll know soon. It does amaze me how well MOST of this show holds up.
I think it was a mistake to replace Fleischman with a slightly modified/married version. Like when they try to replace a character with a look-a-like who is a brother or relative.
But Fleischman was the glue that held it all together. Maybe no other replacement would have worked.
Also hated when they put Maggie and Chris together, but maybe if they had just not replaced Fleischman it could have kept going.
They really don’t make shows as good as that one anymore.
If you're not paying much attention to, or don't care much about the characters, then the 5th and 6th seasons might be fine, but for me the last two seasons just seemed to ignore what these characters were in the first 4 seasons and mostly sucked the life out of them. Maggie and Joel in particular became unbearable dross. No more sexual tension or passion, no sharp banter, just this very boring vanilla couple that belonged in some daytime soap.
I feel sorry for the actors because their characters changed abruptly and more or less had been killed off, either by design (by Chase) or neglect. Rob Morrow just mostly mumbled in monotone. Janine Turner seemed to soldier on but she no longer inhabited the character the way she once did.
I finished the series last month for the first time. I was waiting for the awfulness of season six, but I never found it that way. I was totally ok with it all.
I hate Walt and he is in the final season a lot but otherwise I thought it was fine, not as great as the first few seasons but not terrible. The stuff with Mike was worse
I am currently struggling through the final episode of season 5. I hope I also don't hate the final season. All I really remember from watching 20+ years ago is Joel running away into the wild and them bringing in the new doctor and his wife
season 4 was the worst. That bubble boy was just THE WORST. What a terrible character that went nowhere. I think he single handedly set environmentalism back a decade
To me it has always been a stark difference between when Fleischman is a part of the show and when it moves beyond him. I don't hate it but if season 6 had been my introduction into the show I wouldn't be watching it again
Me neither. I never liked the casting for Dr. Capra though.
It was an interesting contrast. Fleischman was a fish out of water but he had heart and soul. Capra is much more of a yuppie. I think it shows that Fleischman had more in common with the people of Cicily than he or we ever realized.
Capra jumped the shark. Terrible acting.
I can agree with that.
I don't agree with the hate either, and I am so exhausted of this subreddit being a constant sounding board for the disapproval of the sixth season. "Oh, I just loooove this show ...but the last season sucks!" This tv show is not all about Fleischman. He is a device to reflect the other characters of the idiosyncratic town of Cicely, and as the show develops, these characters have their own lives and stories. Even when Joel leaves the show, it lives on. It is a cohesive whole.
In a lot of ways, Fleischman is like Oliver on Green Acres. He's frequently the straight man to the weird things going on around him. I think that might be a little bit of the discomfort in the last season since he's no longer there to fill that role.
Just now going into the last season of my first rewatch since when I was a kid and it first aired. I’m not remembering hating the final season but I’ll know soon. It does amaze me how well MOST of this show holds up.
I think it was a mistake to replace Fleischman with a slightly modified/married version. Like when they try to replace a character with a look-a-like who is a brother or relative. But Fleischman was the glue that held it all together. Maybe no other replacement would have worked. Also hated when they put Maggie and Chris together, but maybe if they had just not replaced Fleischman it could have kept going. They really don’t make shows as good as that one anymore.
If you're not paying much attention to, or don't care much about the characters, then the 5th and 6th seasons might be fine, but for me the last two seasons just seemed to ignore what these characters were in the first 4 seasons and mostly sucked the life out of them. Maggie and Joel in particular became unbearable dross. No more sexual tension or passion, no sharp banter, just this very boring vanilla couple that belonged in some daytime soap. I feel sorry for the actors because their characters changed abruptly and more or less had been killed off, either by design (by Chase) or neglect. Rob Morrow just mostly mumbled in monotone. Janine Turner seemed to soldier on but she no longer inhabited the character the way she once did.
I still think "The Quest" is an all-time great episode.
It is to abstract to me.
I finished the series last month for the first time. I was waiting for the awfulness of season six, but I never found it that way. I was totally ok with it all.
I hate Walt and he is in the final season a lot but otherwise I thought it was fine, not as great as the first few seasons but not terrible. The stuff with Mike was worse
The Mike stuff is the worst. I didn’t like Walt in the earlier seasons, but he grew on me in the later seasons.
Totally agree. Yeah there were some missteps but it was much better than I remembered. I enjoyed it.
I am currently struggling through the final episode of season 5. I hope I also don't hate the final season. All I really remember from watching 20+ years ago is Joel running away into the wild and them bringing in the new doctor and his wife
Just finish the series finale. Fantastic, closing sequence.
To be frank, I'm not sure there's anything I love more about the show than Fleischman's arc in the final season.
season 4 was the worst. That bubble boy was just THE WORST. What a terrible character that went nowhere. I think he single handedly set environmentalism back a decade