For those who keep emailing about the networks' new fall schedules and current shows that didn't make the cut, it's going to take a few days to round things up.
The upfront presentations are ongoing and the TV Column's deadline is several days in advance of publication. So, although NBC and Fox had their big announcements Monday, we won't be commenting on them or the others until next week. Watch this space.
Meanwhile, the 2014-2015 season is rapidly coming to a close with a number of finales looming the next couple of days. Note the penultimate episode of American Idol XIV airs tonight with the finale on Wednesday.
Here's the finale list.
Today:
ABC -- Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., 8 p.m.
CBS -- NCIS, 7 p.m.; NCIS: New Orleans, 8 p.m.
NBC -- Undateable, 8 and 8:30 p.m.; Chicago Fire, 9 p.m.
Note: The final two contestants duke it out on American Idol at 8 p.m. on Fox.
Wednesday:
ABC -- The Middle, 7 p.m.; The Goldbergs, 7:30 p.m.; Nashville, 9 p.m.
CBS -- CSI: Cyber, 8 p.m.
Fox -- American Idol, 7-9:06 p.m. (If you're recording, set your DVR to record long.)
• Viola Davis. In case you missed the memo, How to Get Away With Murder star Viola Davis has been signed to portray legendary abolitionist Harriet Tubman in a HBO movie.
The film will be based on the biography Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman by historian Kate Clifford Larson. No air date or other cast members have been announced.
Born Araminta Ross circa 1820-1822 in Maryland, Tubman escaped slavery in 1849 and was instrumental in leading countless slaves to freedom along the Underground Railroad.
In the post-war years, Tubman fought for women's suffrage. She died in Auburn, N.Y., in 1913 at the age of 91.
• It's a date. The romantic drama Last Tango in Halifax, starring Derek Jacobi and Anne Reid as widowed septuagenarians who get back together after 60 years, will return for Season 3 on PBS June 28.
• Matt Passmore. Fans of the Australian actor wept, wailed and gnashed their teeth when his series, The Glades, was unceremoniously axed by A&E in 2013 after four seasons. Passmore's Jim Longworth was shot twice in the chest and left bleeding on the floor.
In a post mortem interview, series creator Clifton Campbell said the cancellation came as a surprise and a fifth season would have addressed who shot Longworth, indicating the character survived.
Fans rejoiced when Passmore returned to the tube in USA Network's Satisfaction last year. USA has renewed Satisfaction for a 10-episode second season. Look for it this summer.
Satisfaction averaged a cable-modest 2.2 million viewers its first season, but many of those showed up in the "live-plus-7 " ratings, indicating they went hunting for the show up to a week after it had aired or watched it on their DVRs. Cable networks count that as a big incentive for renewal.
• MDA Telethon. Remember when the annual Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Association Telethon was the biggest thing on Labor Day? Millions tuned in to see big stars perform and, at the end, watch an exhausted Lewis struggle through "You'll Never Walk Alone" as the tote board rang up the final tally.
Kids, there was a time when Hollywood's biggest and brightest clamored to be on the telethon. Over the years, the roster included Frank Sinatra, a post-Beatles John Lennon, Michael Jackson, Liberace, Johnny Cash, Ray Charles and Celine Dion.
Former Tonight Show sidekick Ed McMahon appeared with Lewis on Labor Day for many years.
A couple of weeks ago the MDA announced that it had finally decided to pull the plug. The telethon has slowly disappeared from view ever since the MDA dumped Lewis as host a month before the 2011 telethon. The reason for that never has been fully explained.
Lewis was involved in the early years, but actually began hosting the telethon in 1966. From 21 1/2 hours for Lewis' last appearance, to a 2-hour "entertainment special" the last couple of years on ABC, the telethon was obviously a relic of bygone days.
Steve Ford, MDA executive vice president, told The Associated Press that fundraising efforts will now move primarily online. The MDA says the telethon had been responsible for more than $2 billion in donations over the years. The Labor Day tote board hit a record $65 million in 2008.
About the MDA's decision, the 89-year-old Lewis told Fox News, "They do what they have to do and I respect that. I feel pretty good ... about the years of constantly trying to make children better."
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:
mstorey@arkansasonline.com
Style on 05/12/2015