Something you don't expect any NBC show that isn't The Voice to be asking: "Are you better off than a year ago?" Leave it to cockeyed optimist Leslie Knope (the sublime Amy Poehler), the hopeful heart and resilient soul of Parks and Recreation, to set herself up for a smackdown in the too-soon season finale (Thursday, 9:31/8:31c), by posing this question at a public forum that she naively sees as a "victory lap" to celebrate her one-year anniversary in office. While Leslie contends with a Pawnee version of Tea Party-style opposition — in this town, more like "sweet tea," with extra sugar in a 512 oz. cup — Andy (Chris Pratt) adopts his bumbling "Burt Macklin, FBI" persona (always a win) to solve a mystery that could change one of his co-worker's life forever. NBC is certainly better off for sticking with this show as it has improved over the seasons to become the network's most reliably enjoyable comedy — even though this already eventful and possibly pivotal episode would have been better off without the subplot involving Tom's "Rent-a-Swag" business and his contentious relationship with Jean-Ralphio's horror-show sister Mona Lisa (Jenny Slate).
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Bachelor No. 1, come on out! After months of anticipation and impassioned guessing from fans, Law & Order: SVU will finally reveal Det. Benson's mystery man on Wednesday's episode (9/8c on NBC). So who is the lucky guy? Little is known about the man in question other than he and Olivia (Mariska Hargitay) are taking it slow and that he likes spending major holidays in tropical locales. Ahead of the big reveal, we look at seven possible suspects most likely to have stolen Benson's heart.
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Felicity as Mata Hari? The mind reels. And yet there's Keri Russell, once America's sweetheart on The WB, bewigged and brazenly seducing classified secrets out of a Department of Justice stooge in the opening minutes of FX's engrossing spies-among-us drama The Americans (Wednesday, 10/9c).
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For actors, bad guys are always supposed to be the best parts. But after playing criminals on both Law & Order and Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Raul Esparza says he's having just as much fun playing someone on the right side of the law on Law & Order: SVU — if not more.
"I don't think there's anything nice about [ADA Rafael] Barba. He's kind of an a--hole, but I love him," Esparza tells TVGude.com. "And that's OK. He's fundamentally a good person and gets the job done."
Since debuting in the third episode of the season, Esparza has become the SVU squad's new ...
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Showtime's competitive juices aren't limited to the arena of scripted entertainment. Now the pay cable network is challenging HBO's Real Sports franchise by turning to masters of long-form narrative with the launch of 60 Minutes Sports (10/9c). Among the segments in Wednesday's premiere: a closer-up profile by Bob Simon of FC Barcelona soccer star Lionel Messi, whose prowess at 25 was demonstrated in last Sunday's 60 Minutes piece on the Barcelona team.
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