The TV Column

Person of Interest 'drawdown' begins tonight

Person of Interest stars Jim Caviezel and Amy Acker. The fifth and final season debuts at 9 p.m. today on CBS.
Person of Interest stars Jim Caviezel and Amy Acker. The fifth and final season debuts at 9 p.m. today on CBS.

Stand down, all you Person of Interest fans who keep emailing. Your series finally returns for Season 5 at 9 p.m. today on CBS.

That's the good news. The bad news: It's the final season.

In the official CBS synopsis for the episode "B.S.O.D.," Reese and Finch try to save The Machine's source code before it deteriorates; Root struggles to survive an onslaught of Samaritan agents; Fusco faces tough questions following the deaths of Dominic and Elias.

For those out of the loop, BSOD is computer lingo for Blue Screen of Death. It signifies a system crash. It is a bad, bad thing to happen to your computer.

In case you've forgotten (it has been almost exactly a year since the series was on the air), Jim Caviezel plays presumed dead former CIA agent John Reese, and Michael Emerson portrays billionaire software genius Harold Finch.

The duo join forces to become a high-tech vigilante crime-fighting team by using Finch's programming skills to predict who will become involved in violent crimes. This is made possible by Finch's super-duper, mass-surveillance computer system known as "The Machine."

Using Finch's software, The Machine can predict the identity of a person who will be the victim of a crime or the perp.

It's Finch's big bucks and cyber skills plus Reese's covert operations training that make them so effective.

Joining the team is former Army Intelligence operative and assassin Sameen Shaw, played by Sarah Shahi.

Fan favorite Amy Acker (Angel, Alias, Dollhouse) portrays Samantha Groves, known by her hacker name Root. In addition to being a genius hacker and The Machine's "analog interface," Root is also a former contract killer. Samaritan is an artificial super intelligence developed at the same time as The Machine.

Fusco in the above synopsis is New York police homicide detective Lionel Fusco (Kevin Chapman). Dominic and Elias (Winston Duke, Enrico Colantoni) are (were) bad guys.

"B.S.O.D." is rated TV-14 for language and violence.

CBS will begin burning off the remaining 12 episodes on Monday and Tuesday beginning May 9. The series finale will air June. 21.

Why is the network pulling the plug? Ratings have steadily slipped from the Season 2 high of 17.9 million (live plus DVR viewers) to 13.1 million last season. That's still respectable, but headed in the wrong direction and past the point of diminishing returns.

SHORT STUFF

Criminal Minds. The season finale, "The Storm," airs at 8 p.m. Wednesday on CBS. The network synopsis: "Hotch [Thomas Gibson] is arrested by a SWAT team and suspected of conspiracy; when the team members scramble to prove Hotch's innocence, they discover a larger plot may be on the horizon."

The episode is rated TV-14 for dialogue, language and violence.

Live With ? "Our long national nightmare is over," Kelly Ripa joked as she returned to Live With Michael and Kelly last week. Ripa had taken a few days off "to gather my thoughts" after being surprised to learn co-host Michael Strahan was jumping to Good Morning America.

Was Ripa egregiously dissed by ABC? Seriously, who really cares? Strahan's last day on Live will be May 13.

It's all good. Having gotten over his temper tantrum, Donald Trump will sit down with Megyn Kelly for a Fox TV prime-time special May 17. This will be their first one-on-one since Trump threw his infamous hissy fit over Kelly's questions at a GOP debate in August.

Fox News fired back at the time, saying Trump had a "sick obsession" about Kelly and was engaging in conduct "unbecoming a presidential candidate."

Artsy types. Turner Broadcasting and the Criterion Collection are planning FilmStruck, a movie-streaming service aimed at fans of art house, independent, foreign and cult films. No cost or premiere date as of yet.

Major Crimes. Never fear, the TNT series is still only on hiatus. It returns for a fifth season June 13.

Not so easy rider. The Walking Dead fans will surely tune in to see Daryl, um, Norman Reedus and his new reality show, Ride With Norman Reedus. The motorcycle enthusiast hits the open road at 9 p.m. June 12 on AMC to, as the network says, "explore local biker culture and celebrate the best and brightest collectors, mechanics and craftsmen around the country."

Guests will include Peter Fonda (Easy Rider), musician/filmmaker Robert Rodriguez and Balthazar Getty (Brothers & Sisters).

Mr. Robot. Season 2 kicks off at 9 p.m. July 13 on USA.

The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:

mstorey@arkansasonline.com

Style on 05/03/2016

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