‘Good Place’ Cliffhanger, ‘Big Bang’ and ‘Grey’s’ Weddings, ‘Dead Lucky’ with Rachel Griffiths
A critical checklist of notable Thursday TV:
The Good Place (8/7c, NBC): Consider this night the calm before the storm of Premiere Week. It’s a great chance to catch up with the season finales of your favorite Thursday shows—and none is more purely enjoyable than this comic fantasy, airing back-to-back episodes that put Michael (Ted Danson) and his human test subjects (Kristen Bell, William Jackson Harper, Jameela Jamil, Manny Jacinto) on the spot. How far have they come in their quest to become good enough people to merit a coveted spot in the real Good Place? Will Michael have to pay for empathizing with these flawed creatures? How it resolves sets up what promises to be another delightfully original Season 3.
Grey’s Anatomy (8/7c, ABC): Weddings are a popular way to wrap a season, and the frenetic but upbeat nuptials of Alex (Justin Chambers) and Jo (Camilla Luddington) also provide a final bow for Arizona (Jessica Capshaw) and April (Sarah Drew), who each somewhat unexpectedly get happy endings of their own. (Followed by the season finales of more Shondaland shows: Grey’s spinoff Station 19 at 9/8c and How to Get Away With Murder at 10/9c)
The Big Bang Theory (8/7c, CBS): Even before they knew this upcoming season would be its last, the hit comedy pulled out the stops for Sheldon’s (Jim Parsons) and Amy’s (Mayim Bialik) big day. Star Wars icon Mark Hamill makes a memorable appearance (comically upstaging Star Trek veteran Wil Wheaton), Kathy Bates and Teller appear as Amy’s parents, while Laurie Metcalf and Jerry O’Connell represent Sheldon’s side of the family. Good times.
Dead Lucky (streaming on Sundance Now): Rachel Griffiths (Six Feet Under, Brothers & Sisters) returns to her Australian roots to star in this four-part thriller told from multiple perspectives. She plays Detective Grace Gibbs, hunting for the robber who killed her junior officer, a death for which her new trainee (Yoson An) holds her responsible. Intertwining stories involve a desperate fugitive, a house shared by international students, and greedy convenience store owners whose paths converge over the course of a fateful week.
Inside Thursday TV: Turner Classic Movies’ month-long spotlight on “The Black Experience in Film” celebrates “Strong Black Women” in a lineup including 1974’s working-class adult romantic comedy Claudine (8/7c), starring an Oscar-nominated Diahann Carroll and James Earl Jones… FX’s crack-epidemic drama Snowfall (10/9c) concludes its second season with Franklin (Damson Idris), Teddy (Carter Hudson) and Lucia (Emily Rios) all in desperate situations. What did you expect, a happy ending?
