Summer Finale Preview for The 4400, Burn Notice and More

TV's sizzling summer season has saved its best for last. Here is Part 2 of our guide to the season enders you will not want to miss.

Monk, USA Network
Finale airs Friday, Sept. 14, at 9 pm/ET
Donal Logue guest-stars as a grifter, but the big news is Monk's other chance encounter. Says star Tony Shalhoub, "He literally bumps into a woman on the street. She's a total stranger, but he can't get her out of his head. I don't want to give too much away, because it's a poignant ending." Maybe a setup for romance when the show returns in January? "It may be time to open that door," Shalhoub says. "And not a moment too soon."

Psych, USA Network
Finale airs Friday, Sept. 14, at 10 pm
Kevin Sorbo (Hercules) guest-stars as a hotshot bounty hunter once idolized by detectives Shawn (James Roday) and Gus (Dulé Hill). Now he's the competition. The kicker? A Midnight Run-style race to find a suspect. "We've always wanted to do a big, spectacular, high-action episode," says creator Steve Franks, "so we hired John Badham [WarGames] to direct, and we've just gone crazy."

The 4400, USA Network
Finale airs Sunday, Sept. 16, at 9 pm
After an injection of the wonder drug Promicin, one character "becomes a Typhoid Mary," says executive producer Ira Steven Behr. The carrier infects Seattle on a grand scale and leaves corpses everywhere. "And some of the dead we will know," Behr hints ominously. Since there's been no word yet on a series renewal, Behr says that he'll deliver an hour "that could end the series or leave us with great stories for the future."

The Dead Zone, USA Network
Finale airs Sunday, Sept. 16, at 10 pm
Psychic Johnny Smith (Anthony Michael Hall) is in for a shock. Not only does his end-of-days vision suddenly return, but son J.J. starts "seeing" it, too. "We've been playing it that Johnny's abilities are the result of head trauma and/or genetics, and now we'll learn that it's a little bit of both," says executive producer Shawn Piller. Sheriff Walt Bannerman (Chris Bruno), who died in the season premiere, reappears in a vision that brings more wild news — Johnny's father, Herb Smith, was also psychic. In a bit of geek-appeal casting, Herb will be played by Tom Skerritt, who starred as Bannerman in the '80s movie version of The Dead Zone. Also revealed: the fate of vanished Rev. Gene Purdy (David Ogden Stiers).

Saving Grace, TNT
Finale airs Monday, Sept. 17, at 10 pm
Not so much a season finale as a breather. The show goes on hiatus after Sept. 17, with four still-unscheduled episodes to come. "Earl [Leon Rippy] tells Grace [Holly Hunter] something about God's plan for her that's very surprising," says creator Nancy Miller. "The road is going to get bumpy. There's a challenge for Grace in each of the remaining four episodes. The last is the biggest shock of all. I wrote it, and even I don't know what Grace is going to do."

Burn Notice, USA Network
Finale airs Thursday, Sept. 20, at 9 pm
Who burned ex-spy Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan)? We'll find out, but don't expect it to be a face from his past. "There's an expectation set up by other shows that the answer has to be a through-the-looking-glass 'Oh my God, it's that person!'" says creator Matt Nix. That said, The West Wing's Richard Schiff guest-stars. As for Michael's family, says Donovan, "they are in danger in the second season."

The new Fall Preview issue of TV Guide has in-depth coverage of 78 hot new shows, including exclusive photos and interviews, plus an insider's guide to the Emmy Awards! Try four risk-free issues now!

Send your comments on this feature to online_insider@tvguide.com.