‘Nobody Wants This,’ ‘Tony & Ziva’ Finale, ‘Matlock’ Springs a Leak, ‘9-1-1’ Crises

Nobody Wants This

“Are we doomed?” wonders hot rabbi Noah (Adam Brody) early on in the second season of the charming romcom about a most unlikely couple. God forbid! Complications pile up as earnest Noah and the snarky agnostic Joanne (Kristen Bell) experience a number of firsts, including throwing an awkward dinner party for their friends and a Valentine’s Day that they approach from extremely different angles. While Noah understands Joanne’s reluctance to convert speedily to Judaism, it creates hurdles in his professional life, not to mention with his judgy mother, Bina (Tovah Feldshuh). Providing essential support as Noah’s uneasily married brother, Sasha, and Joanne’s fabulously flighty sister, Morgan, Timothy Simons, and Justine Lupe deserve Emmy nominations matching the ones that Brody, Bell, and the series earned for the show’s sparkling first season. The 10 episodes of Season 2 are fast, funny, and over way too soon.

NCIS: Tony & Ziva

If we all live long enough, don’t be surprised to see an NCIS: Tali spinoff someday. “Spunky little thing you raised,” supervillain Jonah Markham (Julian Ovenden) says with wry admiration to Tali’s parents, the heroic Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) and Ziva David (Cote de Pablo), as their hectic adventure reaches its climax on a private Spanish island. Jonah once again has taken 12-year-old Tali (Isla Gie) prisoner as leverage in his plot to gain access to a vault that controls a mighty arsenal of mass-destruction armament. But there’s no keeping Tali, Tony, and Ziva and their colleagues down in a finale that has no shortage of action — and, fans will be happy to note, romance.

Matlock

Matty (Kathy Bates) and Olympia (Skye P. Marshall) are still at odds over how to proceed in exposing the cover-up at Jacobson Moore, but they’re forced to work together to figure out the next move when the firm convenes a meeting of the executive committee after discovering there’s a mole in their midst. (Maybe Matty shouldn’t have reached out to The New York Times so hastily.) The always welcome Justina Machado (One Day at a Time) makes a strong first impression as Eva, a board member who’s also one of Senior’s (Beau Bridges) more outspoken ex-wives and isn’t afraid to share her suspicions. Community‘s Yvette Nicole Brown is this week’s client, going to court to block a relative whose food truck is encroaching on the success of her family’s chicken restaurant.

9-1-1

“It’s raining fire here,” dispatcher Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) warns as dangerous debris from the geostorm continues to fall upon Los Angeles, keeping the first responders of the 118 busy. It’s not much better up in space, where Hen (Aisha Hinds) and Athena (Angela Bassett) are running out of oxygen in their endangered capsule. Let’s hope the show comes down to earth soon after this cheesy predicament. (Next week’s episode title, “Reentry,” is a positive sign.)

9-1-1: Nashville

As my significant other pointed out last week, when series lead Chris O’Donnell (as fire chief Don Hart) was struck by lightning and stopped breathing, it’s only the second episode, for crying out loud, so it’s not like they’re going to pull another Bobby Nash-style death twist this soon. But with Don in the hospital, and the storm still raging, his lieutenant son Ryan (Michael Provost) steps up to lead Station 113 through the next series of crises.

INSIDE THURSDAY TV:

• Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage (8/7c, CBS): Mandy’s (Emily Osment) newfound popularity as the “hot weekend weather girl” has Georgie (Montana Jordan) steaming. Followed by Ghosts (8:30/7:30c), where Sam (Rose McIver) and Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar) hope once again to impress their city friends, which typically backfires.
• Law & Order (8/7c, NBC): DA Baxter (Tony Goldwyn) plays politics in the case of a murdered law partner with government connections. Followed by Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (9/8c), where a doula could shed light on the abduction of a woman in active labor, and Law & Order: Organized Crime (10/9c).
• The Sunshine Murders (8/7c, UPtv): Kiwi farmer Shirley (Emily Corcoran) heads to Cyprus, following a clue that she hopes will lead her to her and detective sister Helen’s (Dora Chrysikou) father.
• Elkhorn (9/8c, INSP): The imprisoned Marquis (Jeff DuJardin), blaming Theodore Roosevelt (Mason Beals) for his ordeal, challenges the future president to a duel.
• Elsbeth (10/9c, CBS): Carra Patterson returns as Kaya, Elsbeth’s (Carrie Preston) former partner who’s now an undercover officer, and whose mission could be in jeopardy after their surprise reunion. Julia Fox guest-stars as a grief influencer who’s aggrieved when her thought-dead spouse miraculously emerges.
• Grey’s Anatomy (10/9c, ABC): Scott Speedman returns as Nick to oversee a risky lung transplant.
• The Graham Norton Show (11/10c, BBC America): Bruce Springsteen and his movie portrayer, The Bear‘s Jeremy Allen White, are guests alongside Jennifer Lawrence and Tessa Thompson, with a performance by Florence + The Machine.

ON THE STREAM:

• Allen Iv3rson (streaming on Prime Video): A three-part docuseries profiles the influential former NBA and MVP superstar Allen Iverson.
• The Kardashians (streaming on Hulu): Reality TV’s first family returns for a new season, with mama bear Kris hosting one last dinner party before selling the longtime family home.
• Married at First Sight (streaming on Peacock): The “social experiment” launches its 19th season with four episodes, introducing 10 singles in Austin, Texas, who take the matrimonial plunge with total strangers.
• Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake (streaming on HBO Max): The animated fantasy spinoff returns for a second season.