Here’s what’s up in the world of television for Monday, May 19. All times are Eastern.
TOP PICK
RuPaul’s Drag Race (Logo, 10 p.m.): The final three have been chosen. The glitter has been cast. And from far away, in the deep, a voice cries: “Cover girl: Put your face in that walk / Head to toe: Let your whole body talk.” Tonight Adore Delano, Bianca del Rio, and Courtney Act finally spar for the title of RuPaul’s sixth drag queen superstar. This season has been, in What’s On Tonight’s humble opinion, one of the best seasons of Drag Race, and at least two of the three final competitors are some of our favorite contestants of all time. Oliver Sava will be on hand, as always, to cover this monumental finale for us. And we devoutly hope there is crying of some sort or another—doesn’t matter who cries, really.
ALSO NOTED
Warehouse 13 (Syfy, 9 p.m.): Series finale. The team contributes to a time capsule after learning that the headquarters for Warehouse 13 will be moving to a different country. This sounds like an excellent blueprint for every series finale in history.
The Bachelorette (ABC, 9:30 p.m.): The 10th season of this show begins in what we now call “the post-Juan Pablo era.” Contestants will try to get a woman to sleep with them by pretending they love her, in a sad, too-close imitation of life.
The Maya Rudolph Show (NBC, 10 p.m.): And over on NBC, the backdoor pilot for Maya Rudolph’s variety show. There will be skits; there will be music performances; there will be Andy Samberg, Kristen Bell, Fred Armisen, Chris Parnell, and some other people, like Janelle Monae. Will it be good? We really have no idea. But here’s a promo.
REGULAR COVERAGE
24: Live Another Day (Fox, 9 p.m.)
Louie (FX, 10 p.m.)
The Boondocks (Adult Swim, 10:30 p.m.)
ELSEWHERE IN TV CLUB
Genevieve Valentine takes a look at the season-long Decoy: Police Woman for One-Season Wonders, Weirdos, and Wannabes, observing:
Decoy’s 39-episode season, which began on October 14, 1957, quietly broke ground on almost every television front, one half-hour at a time. It was the first television show ever to feature a woman cop (the first to be built around a female protagonist at all); it was the first show to film on location in New York City. Its too-brief run contained a delightful mishmash of dry procedural sensibility and startling psychological drama that directly influenced later shows like the similarly titled Angie Dickinson vehicle Police Woman, remaining a prescient precedent of shows that came decades later.
Plus, David Brusie has a look at the importance of MTV’s Unplugged, which is mostly about music but is, from what we hear, a show that is also on the teevee.
And if you’re feeling less musically inclined and more about that newfangled technology, we have an inventory of six fictional apps from television, some of which might actually be cool to download, maybe, only if they were free.
TV CLUB CLASSIC
Justice League Unlimited (noon): Oliver Sava can confirm that he is still interested in both justice and unlimited leagues. Though he has a soft spot for limited leagues, too.
WHAT ELSE IS ON?
Antiques Road Show (PBS, 8 p.m.): Part two in Richmond. Features a 1765 Thomas Pitts silver epergne (a real thing, apparently, as we just looked it up); a Leveille-Rousseau perfume bottle, circa 1890; and a Tiffany & Co. brooch, circa 1937. Somebody get us an epergne or two, stat, for our gilded fruit centerpieces.
Rewrapped (Food Network, 8 p.m.): “Entenmann’s chocolate-chip cookies are the featured ingredient.”
Sex Sent Me To The ER (TLC, 9 p.m.): “An inebriated husband tries to seduce his wife.” Prayer circle for America’s marriages.
Independent Lens: God Loves Uganda (PBS, 10 p.m.): A documentary examining the effect of American evangelicals on Uganda—where missionaries have both funded social services and encouraged a virulent anti-gay atmosphere.
Thor (FX, 7:30 p.m.): You know, this movie could have been a lot worse. Norse god does some stuff, also gets into fight with half-brother other Norse god, or something. Also Natalie Portman is a geologist or something.
Final Destination 5 (FXM, 8 p.m.): They made a Final Destination 5?!
NBA playoffs: Western conference finals, game one: Oklahoma City at San Antonio (TNT, 9 p.m.): Basketball in the West starts the process of declaring its popularly elected victor tonight, as the Oklahoma City Thunder take on the San Antonio Spurs in the first of seven scheduled debates/altercations.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Mad Men: We’ve been saying “Bob, put that away” for like an hour, because it’s the best encapsulation of the entire Bob Benson experience. Todd VanDerWerff and Sonia Saraiya exhort Bob Benson to put that away, and other concerns.