TV will have more singing and dancing than you can probably stand over the next couple of days -- plus a flurry of season finales.
Try to pace yourself. Drink plenty of water and take short naps.
• American Idol. The Top 3 finalists perform for the last time from 7 to 9 p.m. today on ABC. The live two-hour Grand Finale is set for 8 p.m. Monday.
Host Ryan Seacrest will milk Monday's final revelation of the winner to the last drop. Full disclosure: Last season I just tuned in for the final five minutes to catch who won.
The Season 2 finale on May 31, 2003, was the most-watched Idol episode ever with 38.1 million viewers. Those days of obscene ratings are long over and ABC would be happy with a third of that tonight. Why? Only 5.6 million tuned in for Season 14's final performances.
Note: ABC has renewed American Idol for another season. Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie will return as judges. Seacrest will return as host.
• Idol summer tour. Attention, Kris Allen fans. The Conway native and Season 8 winner will join the "American Idol Live!" summer tour as a special guest when it kicks off July 11 in Redding, Calif. The summer wraps after 47 concerts on Sept. 16 in Washington. The closest the tour gets to Arkansas is Aug. 8 in Tulsa's Brady Theater.
In addition to Allen, the cast will feature this season's final seven contestants, including the winner -- Gabby Barrett, Cade Foehner, Caleb Lee Hutchinson, Maddie Poppe, Michael J. Woodard, Catie Turner and Jurnee.
• The Voice. The "Live Finale, Part 1" airs at 7 p.m. Monday on NBC. Each of the final four artists performs a solo cover, a duet with their coach and an original song. That'll take two hours and overlaps the first hour of the season finale of American Idol.
Most assuredly, The Voice will come out on top in the ratings.
If you're planning ahead, NBC is filling all of the Tuesday night schedule with Voice-related programming.
First up at 7 will be a recap of the live finale performances. If you watch the show Monday, there's no need to sit through this again.
Then, from 8 to 10 p.m. Tuesday, NBC will drag out the "Live Finale, Part 2" until host Carson Daly finally reveals this season's winner as "chosen by America."
The winner will then proceed to never be heard from again.
Note: When The Voice Season 15 debuts in the fall, American Idol Season 1 winner Kelly Clarkson and Idol Season 3 finalist Jennifer Hudson will be coaches alongside regulars Adam Levine and Blake Shelton.
• Dancing With the Stars: Athletes concludes its brief four-episode run at 7 p.m. Monday on ABC. Note that the competition is the first hour of The Voice finale. Four weeks is the shortest Dancing season ever and was most likely scheduled in an attempt to siphon viewers from The Voice.
• Billboard Music Awards air live from 7 to 10 p.m. today on NBC. How does this music awards show differ from the 27 other music awards shows on TV? OK, so there aren't 27 other shows. It just seems like it.
Billboard is an entertainment magazine known for its music charts. The Billboard Music Awards "honor the artists, albums and songs that dominated the charts over the past year across music's most popular genres."
As with all the other music award shows, this one has celebrity presenters, and live performances. This year's top artist nominees are Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift. The complete list of the nominees in the 57 categories can be found at BillboardMusic-Awards.com.
• Iron Chef America debuts Season 13 at 9 p.m. today on Food Network. It'll be schnitzel queen Chef Brittanny Anderson taking on Iron Chef Alex Guarnaschelli. Antonia Lofaso and Simon Majumdar serve as judges.
• Little Women on Masterpiece. Here's your reminder that the two-hour finale airs at 7 p.m. today on AETN and PBS. If you missed last week's opening hour, catch up later. This is well worth your time and you'll figure things out in short order.
SEASON FINALES
• NCIS: Los Angeles, 7 p.m. today on CBS.
• Madam Secretary, 9 p.m. today on CBS.
• Fox lineup, beginning at 7 p.m. today, these shows are finishing their seasons: The Simpsons, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Family Guy, Bob's Burgers.
• Man With a Plan, Season 2 wraps at 7:30 p.m. Monday on CBS.
• The Terror ends its long ice-bound epic journey at 8 p.m. Monday on AMC as the intrepid explorers find themselves in a final confrontation with the savage Inuit mythology they've trespassed into.
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:
mstorey@arkansasonline.com
Style on 05/20/2018