Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Wednesday, May 18. All times are Eastern.
Top picks
Heartbeat (NBC, 8 p.m.): “I will remember you / Will you remember me?”
Empire (Fox, 9 p.m.): Empire ends its second season—yes, it’s still only in its second season—with absolute nonsense. “After a life-changing experience, Jamal refuses to make music until his family ends its seemingly endless cycle of violence and fighting.” Guess that solves that cliffhanger. “Meanwhile, the Feds are tailing Anika because they want to force her to testify against Lucious.” That seems like the wrong way to go about anything, but you do you, Feds. Joshua Alston is still trying to wrap his head around Jamal’s absolute nonsense. Anyway, here’s “Drip Drop”:
The Last Panthers (Sundance, 10 p.m.): The Last Panthers’ first season ends with “The Last Panther,” singular. “Naomi desperately tries to protect Milan, who is hell-bent on revenge, but she soon experiences a betrayal of her own. Mokhtar tries to convince his brother that they have incited a gang war, and when his loose-cannon sibling goes rogue, Khalil is forced to admit that despite his own best intentions, they are in deep, deep trouble.” (Not to be confused with trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble, though.) Brandon Nowalk gave the penultimate episode of the season a shiny “A” grade, so “The Last Panther” has to deliver.
Premieres and finales
The Middle/The Goldbergs (ABC, 8/8:30 p.m.): The Middle ends its seventh season with the episode “The Show Must Go On”: “After almost forgetting that Brick’s middle school graduation is only days away, Frankie goes on a mission to right a wrong when Brick discovers that the song he was supposed to sing at the ceremony has been cut.” Let Brick sing his song, you middle school monsters! There’s no way that could possibly go wrong! Then, in The Goldbergs season-three finale, “Have A Summer”: “Adam and his friends are stressing out about Hell Week, where the incoming freshmen are hazed by the seniors. Adam gains the respect of the old kids at school when he body slams Barry. Meanwhile, Erica and her friends discuss what they are going to put in their school’s time capsule.” Yes, we’ve got ourselves a time-capsule plot. We love the ’80s, don’t we, Will Harris?
Survivor (CBS, 8 p.m.): The two-hour, 32nd (32nd!) season finale of Survivor is titled “Not Going Down Without A Fight,” so we’re guessing this all ends in a bloodbath? Finally, Survivor gets interesting, 32 seasons in. There’s a reunion special at 10 p.m., but considering the aforementioned bloodbath, we’re pretty sure that will just be an hour of Jeff Probst introducing clips with, “Remember how lively so-and-so was before the bloodbath? Let’s go back and take a look.” That pretty much guarantees another Emmy, right, Carrie Raisler?