Jared Padalecki’s Walker rides off into the sunset in the series finale. Hulu makes FX’s third season of The Bear available a few hours earlier than originally scheduled. The Apple TV+ fantasy Dark Matter and nostalgic comedy Acapulco end their runs while Eva Longoria heads to Spain in the comedic caper Land of Women. A true-crime series features the forensic detectives who scour crime scenes in the Miami region.
Rebecca Brenneman / The CW
Walker
Another one bites the dust as The CW sheds one of the last vestiges of the previous programming regime. Jared Padalecki, who’s been there from the start with Supernatural (which migrated from the WB), hangs up his hat as Texas Ranger Cordell Walker, but not before cementing his relationship with Geri (Odette Annable). Other events in the series finale include Cassie (Ashley Reyes) and Trey (Jeff Pierre) interviewing for the lieutenant position, and Walker’s son August’s (Kale Culley) graduation celebration, the perfect occasion to leave this extended family on an upbeat note.
FX
The Bear
FX’s masterful dramedy about the staff of a Chicago restaurant, a front-runner to repeat a Best Comedy win at the Emmys (regardless of its intensely dramatic content), launches its third season a few hours ahead of its original schedule. You’ll probably want to space out your binge, anyway, because this is one grueling though rewarding series. And it’s even more so now that master chef Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) has opened his high-end restaurant, with his never-satisfied perfectionism and constant need for change keeping everyone on edge, testing the economics of this perilous business. Carmy’s determined to get a Michelin star for The Bear, no matter the cost to his psyche or those whose lives and reputations are also on the line.
Apple TV+
Dark Matter
So many Jasons, so little time to resolve this mind-teasing, multidimensional sci-fi thriller in the finale. In the previous episode, we learned that Original Jason’s (Joel Edgerton) travels through other parallel worlds, trying to find his way back to the one from which he was kidnapped by Jason 2 (also Edgerton), only generated exponentially more versions of himself. And all of these Jasons are at each other’s throats, each wishing to be with Daniela (Jennifer Connolly)—and who can blame them? Also ending: Season 3 of the charming comedy Acapulco, where the Maximo of the 1980s (Enrique Arrizon) and of the present day (Eugenio Derbez) have big decisions to make.
Apple TV+
Land of Women
Eva Longoria returns to TV as another desperate housewife of privilege: Gala Scott, whose pampered existence crumbles when her shady husband (James Purefoy) splits after incurring a fearsome debt, putting their family in danger. With cash strapped to her body, and wearing most inappropriate heels for an impulsive “girls’ trip” back to her family’s native rural Spain, Gala packs up her sullen teen daughter Kate (Victoria Bazúa) and dotty mother Julia (the glorious Carmen Maura) to take refuge in Julia’s rustic home in Catalania. With elements of romcom—Gala has a meet-cute smashing her car into the trailer of a vintner (Santiago Cabrera), who’s now occupying Julia’s old home—and mild suspense, this caper provides good-natured if occasionally silly escapism. Launches with two episodes.
CBS
The Real CSI: Miami
The fictional CSI: Miami left CBS back in 2012, but the appetite for true crime compels the network to showcase the real-life forensic investigators who scour crime scenes to find and analyze evidence to bring killers to justice. The series opener stems from a double murder that’s connected to the discovery of $500,000 worth of cocaine off the shore of a Florida Keys island.
INSIDE THURSDAY TV:
- 2024 NBA Draft (8/7c, ABC and ESPN): The Celtics’ near-sweep of the NBA Finals was just a little over a week ago, and now teams are looking to the future, bidding on rookie talent in the 78th NBA Draft, which expands to two days. Round 1 takes place at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, with the second round continuing Thursday afternoon from ESPN’s Manhattan studios.
- MasterChef: Generations (8/7c, Fox): The four generations finally go head-to-head as the Top 20 face their first mystery-box challenge, involving comfort foods from their youth. Whoever scores with the top dish earns their generation’s team immunity.
- Hope in the Water (9/8c, PBS): Martha Stewart guests in the second episode of the docuseries about aquatic innovations for a more sustainable planet. She visits a scallop farm off the Maine coast, said to be the fastest-warming body of water on the planet.
- Reginald the Vampire (10/9c, Syfy): Where better to await the vampire apocalypse than the Slushy Shack?