Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Tuesday, May 5. All times are Eastern.
Top pick
Person Of Interest (CBS, 10 p.m.): It’s time to retire the people’s top pick for the summer, as Person Of Interest reaches its finale and takes the top slot outright. Tonight, Samaritan has found the Machine, putting Finch and Root in a race against time, while Reese has to contend with Elias and Dominic. Oh, also, the word is that this episode is going to be a bloodbath. Alexa Planje is ready, people.
Also noted
The Flash (8 p.m.): Never mind the Reverse Flash, because the real Flash supervillain makes his full-on debut tonight, as the super-intelligent, telepathic Gorilla Grodd opens up a can of whoop-ass on Central City. Scott Von Doviak is duly excited, but he’s not at all clear why Powers Boothe isn’t back to voice Grodd.
New Girl (Fox, 9 p.m.): Another big season finale tonight sees Coach move out of the loft—and, by extension, Damon Wayans Jr. move out of the show. We’re going to assume the TV Guide capsule writers aren’t trying to be dicks about that with the rest of the episode description: “Schmidt gets rid of nonessentials and comes to realize what is really important to him.” Erik Adams doesn’t want to hear it Damon Wayans Jr. is a national treasure, dammit!
iZombie (The CW, 9 p.m.): Judging by some of the comments, a few of you took our razzing of iZombie for its ridiculousness as evidence of actual animus toward the show, or maybe some kind of personal vendetta between us and show creator Rob Thomas. (Not even the likeliest Rob Thomas we’d have a vendetta against, just for the record.) But nah, we kid because we … well, we haven’t watched the show yet, so “love” is too strong, but … are just kind of amused and charmed by the wackiness of it all, we guess? We mean: “Liv and Clive investigate the murder of a morning radio talk show host who specialized in relationship straight talk. After Liv consumes the victim’s brains, she gains insight but gets very personal with Clive, which makes him uneasy.” And the episode is called “Dead Air”! The world is richer for this show’s existence, in just the best way. Carrie Raisler agrees.
Regular coverage
Community (Yahoo!, 3:01 a.m.)
Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC, 9 p.m.)
Finding Carter (MTV, 10 p.m.)
Younger (TV Land, 10 p.m.)
Inside Amy Schumer (Comedy Central, 10:30 p.m.)
Elsewhere in TV Club
This is technically outside the TV Club remit, but go read the interview that Marah Eakin’s dad conducted with rocker Todd Rundgren. If this is not the moment where we as a civilization reach Peak Dad, then we’re at most 30 seconds to midnight.
What else is on?
Undateable (NBC, 9 p.m.): If we cared even a little bit more about Undateable—the dean of NBC sitcoms, if not for Welcome To Sweden!—we might actually be pretty pumped for tonight’s entry, which is going to be a live episode. A music festival and Victoria Justice—an actress whose name we can’t believe isn’t the name of a mid-00s detective show—are also involved.
Weird Loners (Fox, 9:30 p.m.): And one more sitcom wraps up its season, as the titular weird loners go to a lesbian bar, and Zachary Knighton’s Stosh competes for the affections of one of the ladies there, which doesn’t sound like it’s going to end well. Also, Zachary Knighton’s character is called Stosh? Even as the part of the What’s On Tonight gestalt whose name is “Alasdair,” we find that deeply silly.
How It’s Made (Science, 10 p.m.): Royal baby edition! Specifically, “The birth of Princess Kate and Prince William’s second child is celebrated with a look at how essential products for young parents are made.” Of all the shows to do a quickie royal baby tie-in, we honestly weren’t expecting the Science Channel’s How It’s Made, but sure.
The Willis Family (TLC, 10 p.m.): Another reality show family makes its debut, and since there are no height puns in the title, you can feel fairly confident that this is one about a clan with a whole lot of kids—“12 children who are involved in music, dance and wrestling in Tennessee,” to be exact. The premiere features a family performance at the Grand Ole Opry, which we really hope is going to spotlight the wrestling part as opposed to the music part.
National Lampoon’s Animal House (IFC, 8 p.m.): This is one of those movies that we loved as a kid, watched a bunch, got a little bored with it, came back to as a young adult only to realize we hadn’t gotten about half the joke, and fell in love with it all over again. Also very high up there on the “There’s just no way they’d be able to make this today” rankings, though it at best runs a distant second to…
Blazing Saddles (Esquire TV, 8 p.m.): Yeah, this really could only ever have been made in the mid-70s, and thank goodness it was. Though does airing on Esquire TV mean we’re getting the bowdlerized version? Oof.
NBA Playoffs: Wizards at Hawks/Grizzlies at Warriors (TNT, 8 p.m./10:30 p.m.): With the Cleveland Cavaliers’ loss last night, only two undefeated teams remain in this year’s playoffs. One is the Golden State Warriors, led by newly crowned MVP Stephen Curry and looking every bit the juggernaut their 67-15 record suggests. The other is the Washington Wizards, a deeply confusing 46-36 team with one transcendent talent in point guard John Wall, one crusty but lovable old bastard in Paul Pierce, and a coach who completely overhauled his much-criticized strategy the second the playoffs began and has reeled off five straight wins. Both teams are looking to make the conference finals for the first time since the 1970s, and they’ve got a chance to take commanding leads against the possibly reeling Atlanta Hawks—who, for the record, last made the conference finals when they were in St. Louis and John F. Kennedy was president—and the injured but indomitable Memphis Grizzlies.
In case you missed it
Gotham: A … let’s say “troubled”… first season comes to an end, and Kyle Fowle had some positive takeaways from the experience. If that doesn’t entice you, maybe all those “F” community grades will…