1)”Black-ish” finale, 9 p.m. Tuesday, ABC. One of TV’s most important comedies wraps its eight-year run. “Black-ish” has offered fresh insights about a Black family in upper-income suburbia. It’s had 25 Emmy nominations (including four for best comedy series), a Peabody, a Television Critics Association win for best comedy and a Golden Globe for Tracee Ellis Ross. Now, with his parents leaving and his kids eyeing colleges, Dre (Anthony Anderson, shown here with RossO considers a big change – and gets advice from gymnast Simone Biles.
2) ”Masterpiece: Sanditon” season-finale, 9 p.m. Sunday, PBS. The sisters are heading home with their love lives in tatters. Charlotte is still sorting out two angry guys; her giddy sister was crushed by a lying soldier. Also, Miss Lambe (the heiress) is falling for an artist … Esther is being drugged by her evil step-brother … and the soldiers are leaving without paying their bills. Remarkably, most of this gets settled in as slickly emotional hour; then there’s a final jolt to hold us until next season.
3) Earth Day films. Some of these have an early start. Today, Paramount+ opens an “Earth Through Different Lenses” carousel; on Wednesday, PBS has “Changing Planet” and “Earth Emergency” at 8 and 10 p.m. But the big push is Friday, the actual Earth Day. In past years, Disney debuted gorgeous movies that week in theaters; now the same people made “Polar Bear” for streaming. Also, National Geographic made two films for Disney+ — “Explorer: The Last Tepui” and “The Biggest Little Farm: The Return.”
4) “NCIS,” 9 p.m. today, CBS. In its 19 years, this ratings-leader has rarely been pre-empted. That happened last week, when it was bumped by country music. Now the show is back: An arms dealer is released from prison and some murders follow; Torres (Wilmer Valderrama) faces repercussions for his past actions undercover. At 10, “NCIS: Hawaii” (also pre-empted last week) has a shipwreck spilling exoticnimals that could endanger the island’s natural ones; also, Jane’s son has a cruel injury.
5) “Better Things,” 10 p.m. today, FX, rerunning at 11 and midnight. This final season faced a dilemma: Celia Imrie, who plays the mother of Sam (Pamela Adlon), couldn’t leave England during Covid. Instead, Adlon flew there to tape several earlier scenes, pretending they were in California; then the entire cast arrived for this engaging hour. Amid lots of pleasant sightseeing in Liverpool and London, we get some humor and some life-changing moments … setting up next week’s series finale.
6) “New Amsterdam” return, 10 p.m. Tuesday, NBC. After stepping aside for the six-week “Thing About Pam,” the show returns with an hour that’s alternately fascinating and frustrating. It starts with a wild karaoke night, then pulls back to see the same night from other people’s perspective. Soon, odd results begin to pile up … and then leave us hanging; the story continues next week. “New Amsterdam” has created some involving characters; now it leaves several of them in limbo.
7) “Mayans M.C.” season-openers, 10 and 11 p.m. Tuesday, FX, rerunning at midnight. Last season, EZ had a rare shot at happiness – a radiant young woman wanted him to leave with her. Instead, his dad talked to her and she fled; EZ promptly returned to his motorcycle club, with trouble looming. Now it’s under attack from other biker clubs; the result is fierce, almost like an old-time cowboy movie. It leads to a new phase of a show that offers drama depth alongside jolts of violence.
8) “Freddie Mercury: The Final Act,” 8-10 p.m. Wednesday, CW. Many people savored “Bohemian Rhapsody,” with Rami Malek’s Oscar-winning performance as Freddie Mercury, the Queen singer. Now we see what followed Mercury’s death: On April 20, 1992, a tribute concert challenged prejudices about AIDS. On the 30th anniversary, this documentary has performances by Elton John, George Michael, David Bowie, Annie Lennox and more, plus interviews, including Brian May and Roger Taylor of Queen.
9) AND MORE: “Young Sheldon” (8 p.m. Thursday, CBS) reaches the unavoidable: Georgie, 17, must tell his parents he lied about his age when dating an older woman; now she’s pregnant. On Saturday, Lifetime continues its “Seven Deadly Sins” movies; it repeats “Wrath” at 6 p.m. and debuts “Greed” at 8. And at 10 p.m. Sunday, Niecy Nash (“Claws”) begins a two-week role on ABC’s “The Rookie.” She plays an FBI agent, in what doubles as a pilot for a possible series.
10) STILL MORE: The Sunday after Easter is a key day for new and retuning shows. “Gaslit” — with Julia Roberts as Watergate figure Marha Mitchell — is at 8 and 10:10 p.m. on Starz, surrounding the “Outlander” season-finale at 9. “The Man Who Fell to Earth” – with Chiwetel Ejiofor terrific as a perplexed alien – is 10 p.m. on Showtime. Also at 10, Epix debuts “Billy the Kid” and HBO has Bill Hader’s “Barry” (after a three-year pause), followed at 10:33 by “The Baby,” termed a “horror comedy.”