LITTLE ROCK — Tears are bound to flow at 8 p.m. today when the seniors on Fox’s Glee graduate.
Season 3 ends with the senior send-off of Rachel, Finn, Kurt, Mercedes, Puck, Quinn, Santana and Mike Chang.
They’re played by, in order, Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, Chris Colfer, Amber Riley, Mark Salling, Dianna Agron, Naya Rivera and Harry Shum.
Fans will get to hear eight songs, including Beyonce’s “I Was Here,” Madonna’s “I’ll Remember,” Bruce Springsteen’s “Glory Days,” and Green Day’s “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life).”
Look for Gloria Estefan guest starring as Santana’s mother.
Since the kids finally won Nationals last week and the seniors are graduating this week, does that mean that’s the last we’ll see of the cast?
Nope. Next season Glee will have a sort of show within-a-show as we follow Rachel and Kurt to New York as they try to break into showbiz.
Other exciting news is that creator Ryan Murphy has added guest stars Kate Hudson and Sarah Jessica Parker (playing themselves) to the cast as mentors for Kurt and Rachel. No word on how many episodes they’ll be in.
All this excitement will take place on a new night. Fox is moving Glee to Thursdays in the fall.
Idol time.
Don’t get left behind with the change of schedule. The final American Idol performance round airs at 7 p.m. today live from the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles.
The hour showdown pits the last two standing.
The Season 11 crown will go to either Phillip Phillips or Jessica Sanchez.
The winner will be crowned in a live extravaganza beginning at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
If you’re recording the show for posterity, Idol finales always tend to run long. I remember the outcry when local viewers who were recording missed Kris Allen’s crowning moment in Season 8. Set your timer to at least 9:30.
To jazz things up, Idol will showcase “global superstar” Rihanna in the finale. She’ll perform her latest song, “Where Have You Been.”
Expect other musical surprises, including a reunion of the top 12 from this season.
Seacrest re-ups.
In case you missed the memo, Idol host Ryan Seacrest has signed on to continue in the role he has held for a decade.
Why not? The gig, which has no heavy lifting, has made him wealthy, gotten him a hot, trophy girlfriend in Julianne Hough (he’s 37, she’s 23), opened many doors for his production company and allowed him to be a special correspondent for NBC during the forthcoming summer Olympics.
For car lovers.
The History Channel has begun production of Season 3 of Top Gear. The series is hosted by comedian Adam Ferrara and features race car driver Tanner Foust and racing analyst Rutledge Wood.
Next season, the trio will be “testing the limits of the world’s most prestigious and infamous automobiles from the swamps of Louisiana to Utah’s Monument Valley and the Alaskan wilderness.”
There will be racing against speedboats, snowmobiles and jets and a test of the most modern police cars.
Southland renewed.
TNT has given the green light for Season 5 of Southland. Expect the 10 new episodes in February.
The drama stars Ben McKenzie, Michael Cudlitz and Regina King as Los Angeles police officers.
Lohan and Liz.
Has Hollywood’s bad girl cleaned up her act? Glee fans saw Lindsay Lohan playing a judge in this season’s penultimate episode. Now Lohan has signed on to play Elizabeth Taylor in a Lifetime bio-pic.
Liz & Dick will be based on Taylor’s romance with Richard Burton, whom she married twice. And divorced twice.
The TV movie is the latest positive step in the 25-year-old former party girl’s road to recovery from being infamously immature.
Series renewed.
ABC Family has picked up a second season of the original drama series The Lying Game. Look for a winter premiere.
The Lying Game follows identical twins Emma Becker and Sutton Mercer (both played by 25-year-old Alexandra Chando) who were separated at birth and led very different lives - foster care for Emma and a privileged life for Sutton.
Then circumstances bring them together and Emma takes Sutton’s place while Sutton goes in search of their birth parents.
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Style, Pages 28 on 05/22/2012