IMHO "Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List" (5.10) FIFTH SEASON FINALE

It was a bittersweet time on Bravo last night, as we said goodbye to Kathy Griffin's stellar fifth season of My Life on the D-List. Thankfully she goes out on a high note, as she seeks the help of Suzanne Somers when she gets her star on ... a Walk of Fame.

Kathy finds out that she's getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which seems to excite mama Maggie more than anyone else.

Unfortunately, their joy is short-lived when it turns out that the Walk of Fame "committee" actually turned down her application. Everyone is livid, until they found out that she will be getting a star ... on the Palm Springs Walk of Fame. Then their anger turns to horror.

Hoping to make the most of a D-List situation, Kathy decides to enlist the aid of the "Empress" of Palm Springs, Suzanne Somers, whose compound must be seen to be believed. It was like something out of The Island of Dr. Moreau (I kept expecting to see Marlon Brando in a muumuu), with acres of overgrown vegetation and some kind of boulder performing stage where kidnapped pop stars would be brought and forced to sing.

Kathy tries to convince Suzanne to be at the dedication ceremony, but when she says she's "busy", offers to have a dinner party the night before in Kathy's honor. Desperate for an A-List star to give the dedication, she has Suzanne call her best friend Barry Manilow, who alas ... is also "busy".

Heartbroken, Kathy and Team Griffin board a Palm Springs celebrity tour bus, anxious to find one star who can be at the ceremony. After driving past the homes of dead celebrity after dead celebrity, Kathy is stunned when she hears the name Carol Channing.

After first debating whether Ms. Channing is alive or deceased, Team Griffin disembarks and rushes Carol's house. Unfortunately, she's not home, but Kathy leaves a note describing the situation, and tacks it up next to Carol's house with a wad of chewing gum.

Suzanne holds a very elegant dinner party (if you can call something with organic food "elegant") which is marred only by Kathy's insistence on bringing a FORBIDDEN DIET SODA onto the premises.

The final segment of the show is one of the sweetest of the season, and left me with a big, goofy grin on my face. The dedication ceremony gets underway, and after Maggie makes a wonderfully emotional speech about her daughter, the Walk of Fame director announces a few "surprises".

The first surprise is announced, and it's ... Carol Channing! Carol is still just as sharp and colorful as she's always been, and Kathy and Maggie are overwhelmed.

But that's nothing compared with the next "surprise", as both Suzanne and Barry are announced, and come out of the shadows. Kathy does a perfect fake collapse (onto her star!), but it's clear that she's actually very touched.

At the after-party (featuring a terrifying Charlie Chaplin impersonator) the final scene has Team Griffin discussing Kathy's exit off the D-List, followed by a montage of the season's highlights, capping off with a peek at Kathy's neighbor on the Walk of Fame ... Cheetah The Chimp.

End of episode and end of season.

Like I said, the dedication ceremony was definitely grin-inducing, and I'm glad the show went out on such a high point.

The question now is ... will Kathy come back for a sixth season? The ratings have been great, and she's never had a higher profile. Do you think she can still mine this territory effectively, or should she move on? What do you think?