Goodbye, Greek

Cappie, Rusty, Casey, Ashleigh and the rest of the gang say Goodbye

Tonight, after four seasons and countless near cancellations, Greek is ending.  On paper, the show shouldn't work. Set on Greek Row of Cyprus-Rhodes University, the show amped up the cattiness and tomfoolery expected on ABC Family and combined it with heartfelt story lines and real-world consequences. Treating frats and sororities as slightly less deadly
mini-mafia families, Greek has taken a lot of chances in its run. In its first season alone, Greek tackled issues of infidelity, family infighting, betrayal, homophobia in the Greek system, love, jealousy, etcetera, etcetera.  And serious issues weren't shrugged off and forgotten.  They were dealt with in a timely manner and things took seasons to fully resolve. At CRU, people had to earn back the trust of their house and classmates - it wasn't a given.  And characters changed and matured over time.  Cappie started seriously considering his future.  Casey went from being a bitch in heels, Franny clone to a young woman looking towards her future and building strong relationships with her friends and her brother. Dale went from being a racist, homophobic frat-hater to a person who stopped judging things at face value and started really exploring issues. And the show treated these issues with real depth, letting characters maintain their integrity and hold on to their beliefs even when said beliefs weren't necessarily cool (Dale's continued strength of faith being a clear example).

At the core of the show are Casey and Rusty Cartwright, two siblings dissimilar in every way but linked by the frat and sorority they are members of. Their relationship over the course of four seasons has been a great thing to watch, with the actors playing them developing an easy chemistry early on.  They provide a solid base on top of which the show is built.

Of course, the show is also hilarious. Sometimes extremely meta, always goofy, the show is a delightfully mixed cocktail of guffaw and gravitas. Cappie and Ashleigh are truly two of the funniest characters on television, and the rest of the cast is always surprisingly game. Painfully on the pulse of pop-culture, the show revels in stunt casting like Jesse McCartney, LonelyGirl15 (whatever her real name is), and even an appearance by Lauren Conrad.  It's fun, because the creators of Greek were always in on the joke. The ridiculousness is part of the fun.

I could go on in much more detail about why the show is amazing, but in 15 minutes or so Greek comes to an end. It's been a great ride, and it will be difficult to see it go (and people should really watch the seasons on Netflix instant watch if they haven't seen them already).

Goodbye, Greek