Relationships, however, are a lot more complicated than TV series (and have less to do with, say, Charlie Sheen).

And sometimes the best time to end a TV show is when it is at its best.

The Sopranos (HBO) will strive to remain so until its finale June 10, and I fully expect The Shield (FX) to do the same in its final season next year.

Unfortunately, Gilmore Girls, a seventh-year dramedy on the CW, has already missed that opportunity.

This up-and-down season -- which saw a dysfunctional meltdown between Lorelai and new husband Christopher, and a directionless Rory and an unpleasant Logan -- is hardly the best.

Still, this should be the series' last.

The decision rests with stars Lauren Graham (Lorelai) and Alexis Bledel (Rory), who welcomed a new executive producer this year after creator Amy Sherman-Palladino left.

Gilmore Girls hasn't been the same without her. And I would hate to see the cheery residents of Stars Hollow veer further off course next year.

There is the chance, with the mucky Christopher stuff presumably out of the way, that the show could right itself. (And, to be fair, that direction was the fault of Sherman-Palladino, who was still around for the 2005-06 season finale, which saw Lorelai wake up in Christopher's arms.)

Working in the series' favor are 6 million votes cast on E! Online to save the show. The campaign, behind various offerings, has been successful five of the past six years.

And, while the May 15 finale sounds like a goody (with guest star Christiane Amanpour of CNN), it isn't supposed to be the end. Sherman-Palladino has often said she has had the final four episodes in mind for years, and, because the show was her baby for six years, I'd like to know what those are.

But she isn't around anymore, and there's no guaranteeing she'll have input.

In which case there's no point in drawing out Gilmore Girls any longer, especially given that Melissa McCarthy -- the bubbly actress who plays Lorelai's best friend, Sookie -- has taken a job on a new ABC sitcom.

It's time to break up, Girls. But we can still be friends.

• Speaking of TV women I love, the renewal of the Anne Heche romantic drama, Men in Trees, was good news. But fans are going to have to wait to see their favorite love coach. After gifting the series with an early renewal, ABC mystifyingly decided not to bring it back until fall.

The five episodes left in the first season don't have airdates, a rep said.

Why renew a new series, then give fans time to forget all about it? Sounds like a good way to get dumped.

• And, on the subject of breakups, I promised Lost die-hards I'd acknowledge if the show became good again, so here it is: Last week's episode, with Jack returning from "the Others," was probably the season's best.

Despite the flaw this year of introducing another set of characters, I really enjoyed the episode about newcomers Nikki and Paulo. (Paralyzing spiders? Awesome.)

Although learning that Claire wasn't imagining her injections gave me hope that the writers had a plan all along, I deduct points for tying up loose ends two years later.

The writers, however, might have gotten the message. Last week, Jack told Juliet: "They're good people; they're willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. But they're going to want some answers."

He could have just as easily been speaking about fans of the series.

Molly Willow writes about television for The Dispatch.

mwillow@dispatch.com