On "Thursday," two big finales -- a season for "American Idol," a lifetime for "The Office" -- collide. Here's the "Office" story I sent to papers. Previous blogs look at "Idol" and the new Fox line-up. 

By MIKE HUGHES

“The Office” departs Thursday,
after a long and odd lifetime.

It has drawn raves and awards. It has
followed the Super Bowl. And it has surprised its own pople.

If any network desperately needed a revolution, it's NBC.

The network did fine during football season, then collapsed. Last week, it averaged 3.8 million viewers ... less than half of what CBS had and barely more than one-third of what zombies and Jesus got on cable-TV. It finished fourth among the big-four networks (nowhere near third) and almost fell behind Univision.

Fortunately, this is the week it had scheduled the start of its spring revival -- "The Voice" on Mondays and Tuesdays, followed by the return of "Revolution" on Tuesdays.

OK, the Super Bowl is over now. It was a good one, despite the black-out. (Beyonce has a spectacular light-and-sound extravaganza and then the electricity goes out. I'm not saying there's a connection, but next year's halftime show will have James Taylor with a flashlight and bongo drums.)

Anyway, now we get back to the rest of the TV world. The previous blogs dealt with two key shows Monday; now let's turn to the return (Tuesday) and makeover of "Smash." Here's the story I sent to papers:

Life has gone well for Josh Gan -- two hit Broadway musicals and (despite the huge mistake of turning down "Modern Family") a vibrant TV career. His new show, "1600 Penn," is no "Modern Familly," but it's big, broad and funny. You can catch the story on Thursday or Friday (Jan. 10-11). Here's the story I sent to papers:

By MIKE HUGHES

PASADENA, Cal. – There's great
pleasure, Josh Gad said, in sitting at the presidential ddesk. “It's
an absolute ego boost.”

Here's the story I sent to papers this morning, on NBC and its post-Olympic world:

By MIKE HUGHES

LOS ANGELES – This is not a statement
you would have heard from NBC a while back:

“We're really happy to be No. 3,”
Robert Greenblatt, the programing chief, told reporters Tuesday.

In the “must-see TV” days, NBC
topped the Nielsen ratings. In the current, needn't-see times, it
spent about seven years in fourth place.

No, all reality shows -- even all dating shows -- weren't created equal. Some have been awful, but "Love in the Wild" -- which starts its second season tonight (Tuesday, June 5) -- was quite good last summer. It's even better, now that Jenny McCarthy is the host; here's the story I sent to papers:

By MIKE HUGHES

Sure, dating looks like fun when you
see it on soap operas and hair-product commercials.

Next season, NBC will have twice as
much of what's working (“The Voice”) … and more then twice as
much of what's not working (comedies).

“The Voice” will have two editions,
instead of one, and will be on two nights (Mondays and Tuesdays)
throughout the season. That dumps one reality show (“The Sing-Off”)
and keeps another (“The Biggest Loser”) off at last temporarily..

It may soon be clear that I think "Smash" is one of the best shows in TV history. It has it all -- passion, pain, characters worth caring about, splendid visuals and great music. Here's the story I sent to papers:

By MIKE HUGHES

For NBC – often ignored, sometimes
mocked – this is new: Suddenly, it has our attention.

A lot of things have been passed off lately as TV "news magazines." They've told old crime stories or new celebrity stories; the "magazine" part is right, the "news" part is iffy.

That's why tonight's arrival of "Rock Center" -- 10 p.m. Mondays on NBC -- seems important. By all accounts, this will be an actual, serious news magazine.

I'll try to have a review of it afterward. For now, here's the story I sent to papers:

By MIKE HUGHES

So NBC has officially cancelled "The Playboy Club." This is good news (twice) and bad:

-- Good, because it was a bad show, monotonely dark in emotion and in visuals, with characters who were hard to be interested in.

-- Good, because NBC is replacing it with a serious news program. On Oct. 31 (oddly), it will start a magazine show anchored by Brian Williams -- a real, "60 Minutes" kind of show, not just a "Dateline" collection of true-crime tales.