(S04E23) This was kind of a confusing episode to me. Not that the story was hard to follow, just that it seemed poorly conceived. I thought the case of the week was well done, but kind of out of place. With it being the end of the season, and the plan already in place to make this a two parter, I would have rather seen something that focused in on the big stories.

It almost felt like flipping the channels between two episodes that were running at the same time. The brief phone conversations between Gibbs and Shepard kind of tied the two stories together, but more than anything, they just pointed out that the story of the week was taking up time that could have been spent on La Grenouille. Maybe I'm just a little impatient, having caught a bit of the finale fever, but it just didn't all fit together for me.

Well, I didn't get my "Snowcrash" mini-series for Festivus, but there are now a trio of projects that make for a damn fine substitute. Kevin mentioned the other day that George Clooney and Sci Fi are adapting Neil Stephenson's "The Diamond Age" for the small screen. Now comes word from Variety that George R. R. Martin's epic "Song of Ice and Fire" series has found a home at HBO.

Martin is currently at work on book five of the seven book series with the network planning to adapt each book into one season of the show. The stories take place in the seven kingdoms of Westeros and chronicle the violent history of the politics of the land. It's often very dark and, if given the same kind of scope as HBO's Rome, has the potential to be an amazing series. The project will be executive produced by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. The plan is for Benioff and Weiss to write all the episodes each season, except one, which will be written by George R. R. Martin himself.

Ah Festivus, it's a magical time of the year. Hurricanes, week long power outages, how can you not be in the mood to celebrate? While my real world desires would lean more toward the practical, like a generator, so the next time 5000 trees get thrown on the power lines I don't have to miss Las Vegas, Dr. Who and South of Nowhere, these are some of my TV universe wishes for the coming year.

TV on DVD - Every week I read Bob's list of the new DVD releases, and every week I have the same reaction. How can THAT be coming out on DVD but none of my top 5 most wanted are? Seriously, there is more of a market for the Stacked DVD than any of these? I'm not greedy. I'll settle for just one of these shows to finally get the DVD set it deserves. Cupid, Beggars and Choosers, Going To California, Maximum Bob, or Mr & Mrs Smith.