THURSDAY

MAY 10

2012

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

CBS, 8:00 p.m. ET

SEASON FINALE: For once, and earlier this month than usual, the commercial broadcast networks demand most of the evening’s attention, as a lot of series either present or prepare for their season finales – weeks earlier than usual. This sitcom, for example, finally puts Howard (Simon Helberg) on the launch pad, with flashbacks to his hurried marriage to Bernadette (Melissa Rauch). For a new Everybody's a Critic feature from a real-life Penny, who writes about her marriage to a real-lif Sheldon, read Emily Steinway's guest column HERE.

30 ROCK

NBC, 8:30 p.m. ET

This isn’t a season finale, but it’s a sweeps-month stunt-casting episode, featuring the return of Elizabeth Banks as Jack Donaghy’s wife, Avery – who, when last seen, had been kidnapped while filming Hot Blondes in Weird Places in North Korea, and forced to marry the son of Kim Jong-Il. Since then, of course, there’s been a change of leadership in real-life North Korea – and a change in Banks’ real-life fortunes as well, since she’s one of the featured actors in The Hunger Games.

THE OFFICE

NBC, 9:00 p.m. ET

SEASON FINALE: As part of his tireless lobbying efforts, Dwight (Rainn Wilson) offers free family portraits to his office mates – while Jim (John Krasinski) sees an opportunity to victimize Dwight with a career-best prank. Oh, and James Spader makes another appearance as Robert California – but since Spader had a one-year deal as the new head of The Office, this may well be his swan song.

PARKS AND RECREATION

NBC, 9:30 p.m. ET

SEASON FINALE: It’s Election Day in Pawnee, with Leslie (Amy Poehler) squaring off against her wealthy competitor, dimwitted but amiable Bobby Newport (played by Paul Rudd). How dim-witted? At the local precinct voting house, he informs the media that he’ll be voting for Leslie – adding to her, in a confused whisper, that to vote for himself would be illegal, right?

THE MENTALIST

CBS, 10:00 p.m. ET

Every season, near the end of the run of episodes, this series revives the specter of Red John, the killer who murdered Jane’s family nine years ago now. And on the anniversary of their deaths, Red John sends a young emissary to meet Jane (Simon Baker) at a graveyard and extend her hand – not in friendship, but with another iconic reminder of his continued malevolent presence.

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David Bianculli

Founder / Editor

David Bianculli has been a TV critic since 1975, including a 14-year stint at the New York Daily News, and sees no reason to stop now. Currently, he's TV critic for NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross, and is an occasional substitute host for that show. He's also an author and teaches TV and film history at New Jersey's Rowan University. His 2009 Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of 'The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour', has been purchased for film rights. His latest, The Platinum Age of Television: From I Love Lucy to the Walking Dead, How TV Became Terrific, is an effusive guidebook that plots the path from the 1950s’ Golden Age to today’s era of quality TV.

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BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

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