Arts in ReviewHow to survive the summer without your favourite shows

How to survive the summer without your favourite shows

This article was published on June 5, 2013 and may be out of date. To maintain our historical record, The Cascade does not update or remove outdated articles.
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By Amy Van Veen (The Cascade) – Email

The beginning of summer marks the end of something else.

No, I’m not talking about school (because who really cares about that nonsense?), I’m talking about the season and series finales of our favourite shows.

Yeah okay, the summer may be that chance for recluses to actually step outside into the blazing sunlight and load up on socialization and vitamin D, but the shows! The finales! The goodbyes! What’s a shut-in to do?

Go outside and talk to real people? Please. Let’s not be drastic.

Some shows have just ended their season, either on a high note or on a cliffhanger, while others have tied up all the loose ends in a final farewell – like that of The Office.

For those who gave up on that show when Steve Carell bid his humble ado, I entreat you to pick it up again. It was a show I put aside after the great Michael Scott moved to Colorado, but I’m so glad I rewatched the last two seasons – they’ve been, in some ways, better without the singular focus on the world’s best boss. It was a little while ago now when the doors of Dunder Mifflin Scranton closed on us forever and while the finale was brilliant with the perfect mix of heart-wrenching and hilarious, it’s a show that begs the question – what now?

There are a few options for getting over your finale blues.

First, take some time to bask in the last season. Let the memories wash over you with endless gif-sets and YouTube fan videos set to agonizingly clichéd music. If it was a bad season, maybe you can nerdrage on fan site forums. If it was a good season, maybe you can also nerd out on fan site forums and get into heated discussions with the haters before eventually closing your laptop and shamefully asking what you’re doing with your life.

Second, get excited for the fall by watching the trailers of networks’ newest shows. SNL alum and Lonely Island member Andy Samberg has a new comedy coming out on Fox, Brooklyn Nine-Nine. How many cop shows are out there right now? About a million. What about cop comedy shows? I would venture to say not enough. Produced by Samberg and co-created by the brilliant Michael Schur—writing genius behind such living classics as The Office and Parks & Rec—means I may be watching the trailer on repeat. It just looks too good.

After a while, though, these first two options will get really old and tedious and you’ll begin to introspectively wonder where you went wrong in life, which brings us to option three: find a summer show. I’m not talking about some week-to-week borefest that airs over the summer. I’m talking about picking up a show that you’ve been meaning to and finally committing. Wonder about the hoopla of Doctor Who? You have endless seasons to understand Abed’s fascination with its fictional counterpart. Want to finally get in on the Game of Thrones and Walking Dead talk to avoid nodding like an ignorant idiot at parties? This summer is your chance. Feel like joining the Mad Men train too late? Good news, it’s never too late.

With so many options, it’s hard to wonder if there really is a fourth option to the post-season blues.

But there’s just one more thing you can do – go outside. If it’s bright with chance of clouds, go for a walk. If it’s rainy, re-enact a moisturizer commercial and enjoy the gentle, summer rain. If it’s sunny, thank your stars and invite people over for some barbecue (or crash your neighbour’s yard hang-out).

And then, when the tedium of social life begins to wear on you, return to options one, two or three.

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