This month, television networks are pulling out all the stops in order to attract the season's audience, and the excitement starts this month. Shows to watch while beating the heat include reality contests, tense dramas, animated comedies and talk shows. Plot twists and great finales are sure to please fans and captivate viewers on lazy summer nights.
"Animation Domination" (tonight on Fox): Fox's Sunday night cartoon block will air its final episodes of the season, starting with "King of the Hill" at 7:30 p.m. "The Simpsons" will wrap up its twentieth season with Homer organizing a border patrol group after a neighboring city's economy fails and its citizens rush toward Springfield. Mid-season replacement "Sit Down, Shut Up" will follow, with a Stephen King reimagining of "Family Guy" next. The night will end with "American Dad!" as Stan goes out for a guy's night and finds himself in some questionable situations. Overall, it should be an evening full of laughs before the traditionally dull summer programming begins.
"24" (May 18 on Fox): Jack Bauer's (Kiefer Sutherland) seventh day from Hell will wrap up with a two-hour finale, which is rumored to feature the death of at least one character. This season, the action shifted from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., which provided some exciting action and face-to-face interactions between Jack and President Allison Taylor (Cherry Jones). It also saw the introduction of some new characters, including Agent Renee Walker (Annie Wershing), who will be back next season, and the return of Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard), suspected dead but revealed to be a major villain, as well as Jack's daughter, Kim (Elisha Cuthbert). In the finale, Jack must deal with Tony's betrayal and his own crippling disease that he received in the line of duty. If past years' finales are any indication, this should be another explosive and exciting two hours of television.
"American Idol" (May 19/20 on Fox): At the time of publication, there were only three contestants left, and only one can win. This season has seen the introduction of Kara DioGuardi, joining Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul at the judges' table, and for the first time, the judges can use one "save" to keep a contestant from being voted off the contest. That save was used on April 15 to keep Matt Giraud around, so now it is up to America. The competition now has Kris Allen, Danny Gokey and Adam Lambert vying for the season eight crown, but Cowell predicts a showdown between Lambert and Gokey, calling them "the best two singers." Whatever happens, the finale will surely draw tens of millions of viewers, further solidifying "A.I." as television's most popular program.
"The Mentalist" (May 19 on CBS): This freshman crime procedural comes to a close with another case revolving around the elusive serial killer Red John. As two previous episodes have revealed, Red John killed Patrick Jane's (Simon Baker) wife and daughter, prompting Jane to drop his faux-psychic routine and start working with the California Bureau of Investigation. Although most cases are self-contained, this finale will see the CBI team investigating the murder of a young girl and the abduction of her sister. Executive Producer Chris Long told Entertainment Weekly that "something happens at the end that will change the way you look at Patrick." Whatever it is, it should prove interesting to see Jane, who is always on top of his game, to break character in the search for this killer.
"The Tonight Show" (May 29 on NBC): Leno has hosted "The Tonight Show" since 1992, but after seventeen years, he will be handing over the reins to Conan O'Brien, former host of NBC's "Late Night." His new show, tentatively titled "The Jay Leno Show," will be broadcast at 10 p.m. Although Leno has his critics -- everyone has an opinion on the Leno/Letterman debate -- he has held the top spot in the ratings for over a decade, so it will be interesting to see how O'Brien handles the new post and if David Letterman can reclaim the ratings crown. Either way, Leno is by no means out of the late-night game; next year he will host a Monday through Friday primetime talk show on NBC, which obviously didn't want to lose one of its most valuable properties. No matter one's thoughts about Leno, his final show should be a charming retrospective for a late-night legend.
