1) “A Million Little Things” series-finale, 10 p.m., ABC. It isn’t easy building a drama out of regular lives – ones without cops, crooks or courts. “This Is Us” did it brilliantly; “Million” (shown here in an early epiode) has done it fairly well, at a frantic pace. It started with a suicide, then added new crises. One person became paraplegic, two had cancer. There was deceit, despair, Alzheimer’s, more … plus warmth and humor. Now the show ends – as it had planned, it says — after five seasons.
2) “The Goldbergs” series-finale, 8:30 p.m., ABC. Comedies tend to last longer and this one has done an easy, breezy 10 years. We’ve seen the fictional life of Adam, with detours from the real life of writer Adam Goldberg. There were the deaths of the fictional Adam’s father (because actor Jeff Garlin was leaving) and grandfather (because George Segal died at 87). Now Adam takes his mom to her class reunion and meddles in her romance.
3) “Nature,” 8 p.m., PBS. In 1960, David Attenborough lugged a heavy recorder into the Madagascar jungle, for the first recording of lemur songs. Now, just shy of his 97th birthday, he shows that footage and talks about other favorite sounds – whales and five songbirds. The amazing lyrebird copies other birds … and even chainsaws. It’s a splendid hour that also has several modern female scientists who have disproved Darwin theories.
4) “Schmigadoon” season-finale, Apple TV+. Ariana DeBose, the Oscar-winner, opens the finale with a powerhouse ballad, beautifully written (by Cinco Paul) and sung. Then the show has 15 song-less minutes, as the evil Kratt conspires to marry the sweet (and married) Melissa. But things close out with more music, wrapping a season that overflows with wit, charm and originality.
5) MORE: Two more ABC shows have season-finales tonight; neither “The Conners” (8 p.m.) nor “Not Dead Yet” (9:30) has yet been renewed or canceled. NBC’s “Chicago” shows, however, each have four episodes left; that starts tonight with a “Chicago Med” vote on whether the hospital should be for-profit. Also: Apple has a new “Ted Lasso” and Disney+ has the Ed Sheeran documentary series.
— Mike Hughes, TV America