Visit Carolyn Ridder Aspenson's blog

to read how she'd do some major surgery on

General Hospital's storyline!

Carolyn is a GH afficianado, and she even knows

some of the stars from working at fan events.

Join me right back here tomorrow for the 

last stop on the blog hop.  I'll be wrapping it up 

with my own rant on Hawaii Five-0!

Zanna Mackenzie chose Smash

as her TV do-over for today.

Head over to her blog to find out how she'd have made it a "smash" hit!

And tomorrow, see what Carolyn Ridder Aspenson

has  to say about General Hospital!

Visit Jami Deise's blog to see how

she would have helped Lost find its way.

Don't miss it!

Join Zanna Mackenzie tomorrow for her do-over post!

Hop to Danielle-Claude Ngontang's blog

for her thoughts on how Revolution might 

have saved itself from getting the axe.

She also tells us what "makes her slapping hand itch"!

Tomorrow, Jami Deise rants on Lost!

Deborah Nam-Krane was nice enough to do another 

post for me, so today we head back over to her blog, 

Written By Deb, for another do-over!

This time, she takes on another of my faves, The X-Files!

I had almost forgotten what a fox Mulder was...did you see what I did there?

AND she also turns her wrath on Once Upon a Time!

Tomorrow, visit Danielle-Claude Ngontang's blog for her TV do-over!

Visit Courtney Giardina's blog today

for her do-over of Hart of Dixie!

Don't miss this one!

And tomorrow, head over to Deborah Nam-Krane's blog for her second rant.

Today I welcome guest blogger Aaron Deckard, president of the Midwest Writers Guild, to the TV Do-Over Blog Hop!

Take it away, Aaron!

Dexter: The Final Season’s Big Bad

Does anyone remember being excited for this?

I often times find it difficult to truly desire change with most of my experiences.  The what-ifs and the could-have-beens tend to fall on the wayside for me.  Same goes with TV shows and movies.  I may not agree with certain events that happen or how characters are suddenly vacant of any sensible logic known to mankind, but I usually defer to the creative forces behind the show and hope that they can see the errors of their way and remedy them soon.  Or I just stop watching and find something else to glue my eyeballs to.  I have Netflix and too much time on my hands, so I'm covered.

I do things outside occasionally as well.

No, not really.

But every so often, there's a show that stomps on your sand castle, waits in the shadows until you rebuild it, and then urinates their initials into it. The recent winner of that category is, arguably, Dexter.  In this case, it's the show's final season that made people question everything that we thought we knew in this world:  Does my spouse really love?  Am I a good person?  Was Dexter ever really that good of a show (I did re-watch the first season recently, and yes, it was amazing.  So thank you memory bank.  You didn't fail me...this time.) 

There is a plethora of acts against humanity the show performed in that last season; Too many for the internet to contain without going crazy and then challenging Matthew Broderick to a game of Tic Tac Toe for the fate of the world.  But I'm just going to focus on only one cardinal sin:  the big bad.

I'm not sure if any source is officially recognized as the origin point of the phrase “The big bad”.  I credit Buffy the Vampire Slayer, because it's Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  And Joss Whedon.

This needs to be here now.

For those without a firm grasp on what “the big bad” means, it's the main antagonistic force of the show for a season or two.  Sometimes longer than that.

Dexter had adapted this format from the beginning, which was usually embodied by one or even two characters.  The best seasons usually centered on a conflict between the big bad and Dexter that contained relevant beats concurrent to Dexter's personal journey. 

The final season's big bad started out as a mystery as well as lead in for Dr. Evelyn Vogel, a neuron-psychiatrist.  Soon after her introduction, she revealed herself as a sort of co-creator to Dexter's way of life, helping his adoptive father Harry develop the code that Dexter follows in order ensure that he's a serial killer that we can all adore despite the murderous aspects (or something like that).  She was receiving “gifts” in the form of bits of cranium matter left by someone she dubbed the brain surgeon and needed help Dexter's to eliminate him/her.  This set Dexter on the trail of her former patients. 

By the way, most of her patients were killers.  There was even a personal trainer who was a cannibal.    He kept body parts in his fridge right next to his Little Caesar's leftovers.  

Seemed appropriate enough.

Anyways, it was the show's attempt at a full circle.  Though I appreciate and do respect a show that can revisit earlier themes with a different lens and maintain echoes of them while pushing forward, things went Chernobyl after episode 2.  Amongst the other failings of the season, “the big bad” was revealed to be Dr. Evelyn Vogel's long considered dead son.  A character the audience didn't know existed for a substantial part of the season.  It was...off-putting, and felt like a missed opportunity.

Plus, he looked like someone cosplaying as Ryan Gosling.

So here's how I would've done it.

The season would have started off the exact same.  However, as the season progressed, the audience, and eventually Dexter, would have learned that the “brain surgeon” is a fabrication of Dr. Evelyn Vogel.  Dr. Vogel feels guilty over her involvement in not only co-creating Dexter, but also being partially responsible for most of patients turning into cannibals or murderers.  But why get your own hands duty when you can employ a serial killer of killers!  Her plan eventually culminates in her trying to kill Dexter after he has taken care of the rest. 

I felt that this turn would have enabled the show to again revisit an old but important thread: That Harry felt like he created a monster.  And so in the end of the show we have a good ole fashioned Frankenstein vs. Frankenstein's monster showdown, which would have bolstered the big bad as a more relevant antagonist for Dexter's final season with intrinsic ties to the show's core.

Hop on over to Courtney Giardina's blog tomorrow for her TV Do-Over Blog Hop post!

For my first of two rants, I’m going to start with a longtime favorite of mine, Warehouse 13. 

I absolutely adore all of the characters, and even the “persona” of the Warehouse itself, but I have to admit, I stopped watching midway through Season 4.  Why, you ask, if I was such a fan and was emotionally invested in the characters?  It’s because I was so invested in the characters! 

I couldn’t handle it when Artie killed Leena.  Couldn’t.  Handle.  It.  Artie is the rock, the “father figure” to all of the Warehouse 13 agents.  I know, I know, he had been whammied by an artifact when he did the dastardly deed, so he wasn’t technically to blame.  Even so, I would have liked to think that Artie, of all of them, could have found it in himself to fight off the astrolabe’s downside effects. 

Don’t do it, Artie!

At least, if Leena had to die, couldn’t someone else have done it?  Not one of the other main characters of course, but how about one of the many villains who frequented the show?  I mean, bring in a baddie and make Artie have to choose between the fate of the Warehouse and Leena’s life! 

I realize this crazy plot twist gave the characters, especially Artie, a lot to work through, and we got to witness some great acting because of it.  Here comes the however…  However, I still feel like Artie got off scot-free.  Not that I would want Artie to suffer, because he did at the hands of his own conscience.  I just think there should have been more consequences for him, like even losing his job, at least for a while.  I guess my beef was really with the regents, more than anything.  The regents were so matter-of-fact about Leena’s passing, it made me angry.  I never liked the regents, anyway.

Jerks.

That said, when I found out that Warehouse 13 was to come to an end this year, I got all nostalgic and decided to fan up and watch again.  Luckily, there were a few rerun marathons on Syfy to catch me up to speed so that I could enjoy the final episodes.  And I did.  Immensely. 

Savage Seduction.  Best.  Episode.  Ever.  ¡Caramba!

I had missed the zany cast of Warehouse 13, plus I had to know whether they’d go for the HEA and finally let Pete and Myka fall in love.  Of course, they did, but I have to say I was a little disappointed that they crammed their profession of love into the last episode.  I wanted a little more “Pyka” time!

The Kiss.

All in all, Warehouse 13 is a great show, and aside from the little hiccup there, it had a nearly perfect run.  And unless I read something into it, they actually apologized during the final episode for killing off Leena.  In one of Mrs. Frederic’s memories, she and Leena are meeting for the first time.  Leena has a revelation that she will someday die in the Warehouse, telling Mrs. Frederic that her death will not be able to be prevented, “but it’s all right”.

If that wasn’t an apology, I don’t know what is.

Stop back by my blog again tomorrow, where Midwest Writers Guild prez Aaron Deckard will take his turn at the TV Do-Over Blog Hop! 

Today we head to

Lilian Roberts' blog.

Lilian will discuss what she'd change about

The Originals, a spinoff of The Vampire Diaries.

Don't miss her post!

And tomorrow, come right back here to my blog for my do-over of Warehouse 13!

I'm so excited to have my old college friend

Kerrie Fassett Olzak

blogging today for the TV Do-Over Blog Hop!

Kerrie is taking us back a decade to do-over an episode of Scrubs.

Don't miss her hilarious post!

And don't miss tomorrow's TV Do-Over post by Lilian Roberts!