NBC, 8:00 p.m. ET
SEASON FINALE: If you watch only one installment of this series each season, this is the one, because this is the one where a winner is crowned. But even then, when the finalists include an animal act and a children’s dance troupe (pictured), it’s kind of like watching a time-warp, jazzed-up episode of The Ed Sullivan Show. Only instead of Ed, you have Howard Stern. Also performing, though not competing: Justin Bieber.
PBS, 9:00 p.m. ET
My ears are still Ring-ing with the compositions of Wagner’s operatic cycle, presented all this week in an ambitious production. Tonight is the penultimate opera in the series, in which the title character, played by Jay Hunter Morris, matures enough to fulfill his destiny and embark on a dangerous quest — which involves both slaying a dragon and rescuing his true love. You know, the standard fairy-tale stuff. Check local listings.
Fox, 9:00 p.m. ET
SEASON PREMIERE: Rachel (Lea Michele) is trying to cut it at NYADA as this new season opens, but she’s having a tough time of it. This new program expects a high level of dance as well as musical ability, and Rachel’s new dance teacher is a tough firebrand. And she’s played by Kate Hudson — a reason to watch, right there, as the Almost Famous star shows off her own snazzy dance moves.
Syfy, 10:00 p.m. ET
The zombie-vampire-literature mashup trend is big right now, and tonight’s new episode of Face Off takes it to a new level: challenging its contestants to imagine zombiefied creatures from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. “Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!,” indeed…
FX, 10:30 p.m. ET
Part 2 of 3. Louie (Louis C.K.) gets shipped out to the West Coast, to be a guest of Jay Leno’s on The Tonight Show. And tonight, Leno himself makes an appearance — as a guest on Louie, playing himself. Just another meta episode from the year’s most inspired, original comedy.