One of TV's smarter shows may be leaving soon. Here's the story I sent to papers:

By MIKE HUGHES

For five years, the “Leverage”
people have been smiting bad guys.

They've scammed the scammers, cheated
the cheaters. They've made life fair again, fictionally.

And now they may be ending. On
Christmas Day, the show airs what it expects to be its final episode.

We're heading into an odd month for TV -- lots of Christmas (which is a good thing), lots of reruns (which isn't) and occasional exceptions.

One of those is coming next Sunday (Dec. 4), when Syfy starts a splendid, two-night "Neverland" miniseries. And one starts now, when several TNT shows return for the second halves of their season.

You might have noticed my total lack of comment on the Emmy nominations or Wednesday's "So You Think You Can Dance."

That's because I'm currently trapped in a world in which the average age is 5.5 (or 6.7 if you count a golden retriever). My outside contacts have been limited.

To compensate, partly, here are a couple stories I sent to papers about exceptional shows airing this Sunday (July 17). Here's one:

By MIKE HUGHES