Happy "Parenthood" Endings

I was surprised to learn that the TV series "Parenthood" was ending its season three months early. Yet, I was eager to watch the season finale this past Tuesday. And, with so many continuing storylines loaded with drama in this season, I expected an even balance of happy and sad endings - especially given the storyline about Julia and Joel prepared to adopt the baby boy of Zoe, the former barista girl at Julia's law firm, only for Zoe to change her mind at the last nanosecond and keep her baby once it was born.

Not too surprisingly, it all turned out very differently. I haven't seen so many happy endings since "The Wonderful World of Disney."

As everyone already knew, Crosby and Jasmine finally got married. (A black gospel group performing a Bob Dylan song at this interracial wedding was a nice touch.) The only losers were the people they dumped for each other, although Jasmine's boyfriend, Doctor Joe, took it much better than Crosby's girlfriend, the cute cellist working at Crosby and Adam's recording studio. Speaking of which, a persistent recording company representative offered more than two million dollars to buy the studio, with Adam ready to sell but Crosby refusing to. Ultimately, Crosby relented, and the sale was tentatively made pending paperwork and forms to be processed . . . until Adam announced at the wedding reception that he changed his mind - also at the last nanosecond - and decided that working with his brother and having a beautiful wife and three children were more important than money.

Sarah broke up with her boyfriend, a teacher about twenty years her junior, when she realized she didn't want a baby and he did. But they reconciled at the wedding reception, and now they're engaged. They're going to worry about starting a family later, if it ever comes to that. While this was going on, Sarah's daughter Amber returned to work on Berkeley city council candidate Bob Little's campaign after almost having an affair with him, and Sarah's son Drew consummated his relationship with his girlfriend Amy. There might be a poison pill there in the form of an unintended pregnancy; ironically, Sarah could become a grandmother first, then still have a child of her own. That would strengthen the parallel between Sarah and her counterpart in the movie Parenthood, Helen Buckman (played by Dianne Wiest), who went through the same thing.

Incredible. Apart from the prospect of Drew becoming a teenage dad, there wasn't one hint of a sad or shocking ending or plot twist to keep us guessing until September. Certainly, Julia and Joel's unsuccessful adoption efforts had to be the one sad coda in this season finale. (Ironically, a similar storyline on ABC's "Modern Family" - gay couple Mitchell and Cam's unsuccessful efforts to adopt a son - is being played up not for drama but for laughs, as their efforts increasingly resemble those of Charlie Brown trying to kick Lucy's football.)

In fact, the 2011-12 season finale of "Parenthood" ended with Julia and Joel bringing in a foster son older than their own biological daughter.

I don't like this - numerous storylines neatly tied up with little to build up anticipation for the next season. Some of the resolutions were more appropriate for a series finale rather than a season finale, which makes me wonder if "Parenthood" will be back in the fall. It is an NBC series, and that alone is enough reason to doubt its fate. A big shakeup at fourth-place NBC for the 2012-13 season has been promised by its Comcast overlords; it will be a miracle if even only a handful of the shows currently in NBC's lineup survive it.