TV Heartbeat! Grand finales for White Collar and The Colbert Report! Fall Season Health Check Status Report! Binge Suggestions!

Tomorrow night will close the chapter on two very different shows. The Colbert Report will have its final broadcast as Stephen Colbert takes a break and then gets ready to take over The Late Show from David Letterman next year.

Thursday night is also the final con for White Collar. Can Peter pull off this con? What will be the ultimate fate of Neal Caffrey? What will Peter and Elle name the baby? (Neal Mozzie Suit Burke) Time will tell if they can get away with it!

With the holidays coming up, there are slim picking on TV otherwise. Thus Netflix is giving subscribers some new content with the debut of their new series Mozart in the Jungle. Directed by Paul Weitz (About A Boy), this show follows the behind the scenes craziness of a major symphony. Gael Garcia Bernal stars with guest appearances by Malcolm McDowell, Bernadette Peters, Debra Monk, Wallace Shawn (inconceivable!) and Santino Fontana (voice of Hans from Frozen).

Sunday night’s episode of The Librarians is showrunner John Roger’s favorite episode of the season. (You can read about the writer’s room origin story in my interview from New York Comic Con.) Bruce Campbell guest stars as Santa Claus. Enough Said.

And nothing says Christmas like Godzilla movies. Am I right? The programming heads at El Rey seem to think so. They’re going to run 48 hours of classic Godzilla movies for their Kaiju Christmas marathon.

Thursday: The Colbert Report series finale (Comedy), White Collar series finale (USA)
Tuesday: One Direction: The TV Special (NBC), Mozart in the Jungle debut (Netflix)
Wednesday: Kaiju Christmas marathon (El Rey)

Health check

Starz has found The Missing! The series about a father’s search for his abducted child 10 years after he disappeared is getting a second season. The next season will tell the story of another family.

With the fall 2014 season officially in the history books, it’s time to take look back at who’s healthy, who’s sick and who’s dying.

Presidential Physical Fitness Award Winners – guaranteed for next year

A handful of shows already know that they’ll be back next year thanks to some multi-year contracts and/or some early renewals.

• The Amazing Race
• America’s Next Top Model
• The Big Bang Theory
• The Biggest Loser
• Family Guy
• Masterchef Jr.
• The Simpsons
• Whose Line Is It Anyway?

Robust health – practically renewed (but not officially)

While there isn’t an official announcement for these shows, they can extend their leases for another year.

Great ratings are still the best reason for keeping a show around! These veteran shows are feeling the love from TV goers and thus the networks:

• 2 Broke Girls
• Arrow
• The Blacklist
• Bob’s Burgers
• Brooklyn Nine-Nine
• Chicago Fire
• Chicago PD
• Criminal Minds
• The Goldbergs
• Grey’s Anatomy
• Grimm
• The Middle
• Modern Family
• Mom
• NCIS
• NCIS: Los Angeles
• Once Upon A Time
• Person of Interest
• Scandal
• Shark Tank
• Sleepy Hollow
• The Vampire Diaries

This fall we got a few big hits that earned their slot on next year’s schedule. Looks like the key to big ratings is being a spinoff or being based on a known property or having a name-brand producer. Black-ish is the most original of the hits this season.

• Black-ish
• The Flash
• Gotham
• How to Get Away with Murder
• NCIS: New Orleans

Other shows are coming back since they getting close to the minimum number of episodes needed to sell the syndication rates and thus earn mucho dinero. Without that magic number of episodes, these shows with declining ratings would be on the bubble (or worse):

• Elementary
• The Mindy Project
• Nashville
• New Girl

The networks will also likely keep their critical darlings, even if the ratings aren’t spectacular.

• The Good Wife – Besides The Big Bang Theory, this show is CBS’s biggest awards contender so CBS wants to keep this one around as long as they can.
• Jane the Virgin – While the ratings may be a little, well, little, this gem is one of the CW’s best reviewed shows and just earned the network their first Golden Globe nominations — ever. Yep, The CW is highly unlikely to cancel it now.

These long-running shows are still popular with the people, but the creative teams need to figure out if there’s more steam for another season. If they’re up for it, the network will gladly have them back.

• Bones
• Castle
• Law & Order: SVU
• Supernatural

Out of Shape (but alive!) – Decent shot at renewal

Ratings for these shows are slipping so they need a little help from some upcoming, mid-season shows. If those new shows don’t pan out so well, these shows have a better chance of coming back. Note that I don’t expect all of these shows to make it to next year, but these are in the running.

• Blue Bloods
• CSI
• Hawaii Five-0
• Madame Secretary
• Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
• The Originals
• Scorpion
• State of Affairs

Life Support – Slim shot at coming back

There’s some hope left for another season (but not a lot). The fate of these shows rests on rough seasons for the new mid-season shows AND that the pilots for next year don’t sound any better.

• The 100
• About a Boy
• Cristela
• Forever
• Last Man Standing
• Marry Me
• The McCarthys
• The Mysteries of Laura
• Reign
• Resurrection
• Revenge
• Stalker

He’s dead, Jim! – Say good-bye

Alas! There are always casualties each season. Some of these expired shows were less deserving than others, but that doesn’t change the fact that they couldn’t find an audience. Sadness!

• A to Z
• Bad Judge
• Constantine
• Gracepoint
• Manhattan Love Story
• The Millers
• Mulaney
• Red Band Society
• Selfie
• Utopia

A handful of series are taking their final bow this season because, well, it’s time. Farewell!

• Glee
• The Mentalist
• Parenthood
• Parks & Recreation
• Two and a Half Men

Binge watch

Are you out of things to watch until the first week in January (when the networks start to air new stuff again)? Here are a few shows you should binge watch in case you missed them earlier!

Black Sails – The fact that these people are pirates is kind of a side issue. This bloody story is about survival at any cost. Ruthless characters in pursuit of treasure and freedom, you do have pirate battles and such. But it’s an interesting tale of cross and double-cross to survive. (Starz is also marathoning the show next week.)

Fargo – While I liked the Coen brothers film, TV show actually is actually much better. Martin Freeman, Billy Bob Thornton and Allison Tolman are pitch perfect in this darkly comedic tale.

Forever – I’m not a huge fan of procedurals since I find them a bit formulaic and there are about 20 each night. There’s only so much I can take. However, Forever is entertaining since Ioan Gruffudd is just so charming as an accidental immortal.

Jane the Virgin –Funny, sweet and snarky (in a good-natured way), this show deserves a bigger audience. With a strong cast including the lovely Gina Rodriguez and a hilarious narrator (like Pushing Daisies’ Jim Dale), there’s a lot of heart and humor in this show.

Outlander – Yeah, no surprise that I have this on the list! This terrific adaption will whisk you away into Scotland when the clans ruled the Highlands. Action, romance and great characters expertly executed. (Starz is also marathoning the show on Christmas day.)

Vikings – A favorite of many here at Mike the Fanboy, there’s time to catch up on the first 2 seasons before the third starts in February.

Stay tuned!

Comment below or email me at Erica@MikeTheFanboy.com
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