ZariusTwo said:

I know it's fashionable right now to deride Moffat and co, but I have greatly enjoyed this half-season and was bowled over by the sheer audacity and ambition of the finale....new idea and a great hook for the anniversary

Fashionable? I couldn't care much less about what is fashionable, but I do care when I find something enjoyable and entertaining or not. These new episodes have all felt dull and flat to me, not just in comparison to the last couple of seasons, but in comparison to all the new Who since 2005 (which is all I've seen). Sure, it is all "utterly naff", I realized that after watching my very first episode, but I found it enjoyable to watch, which is far more than I can say about the second half of this latest season.

I watched The Name of the Doctor and didn't feel it was ambitious at all. Compare it to season finales like The Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang, which I thought was an exceptionally fun set of episodes, and it just didn't have much going on in it. It was more of a setup for the 50th anniversary episode than anything else.

I have never liked River Song that much, but found her appearance my absolutely favorite aspect of the episode, simply because her presence reminded me of when I did find the show enjoyable.