Monday TV: ‘The Daily Show’ starts final week
MONDAY'S MUST-SEE: “The Daily Show,” 11 p.m., Comedy Central.
One of TV’s greatest runs is ending this week. For 16 seasons, Jon Stewart has anchored “The Daily Show.” He’s brought wit, passion, intelligence and even a knack for funny voices. The results have been brilliant, at one point winning 10 straight Emmys for best variety show.
Now Stewart starts his final week, which ends Thursday. Reruns will follow, before Trevor Noah – a clever young South African – takes over Sept. 28. First are four more nights of a comedy master.
MONDAY'S MUST-SEE II: “The Odd Couple” return, 8:30 p.m., CBS.
From the beginning, this show has drawn shrugs. Critics grumbled; CBS proclaimed that it has the best ratings of any new comedy (a “Big Bang” lead-in helped), renewed it, but kept it off the fall line-up.
That’s odd, because there’s much to recommend “Odd Couple” — a time-tested premise, solid stars (Mathew Perry and Thomas Lennon) and scripts filled with slick, sharp dialog. Monday, Oscar is dating Felix’s doctor (Erinn Hayes), just as Felix’s hypochondria hits overdrive.
MONDAY'S ALTERATIVE: Season finales, 10 p.m., cable.
Alert your video-recorder, because three finales start simultaneously. One is a half-hour; “Odd Mom Out” (Bravo) has Jill deciding between going to a birthday bash or to a gala with a prime theme.
The other two are an hour each. “Unreal” (Lifetime) finds a disruptive force visiting the set of the “Bachelor”-type show; Rachel frets about her future. “Making of the Mob: New York” (AMC) finds Vito Genovese and Carlo Gambino making their move; Lucky Luciano must choose a successor.
Other choices include:
•“Chasing Shadows” conclusion, any time, www.acorn.tv. Last week’s opener introduced a cop with strong skills in detecting and weak ones with people. Now he’s working with a missing-person pro (Alex Kingston), scrambling to find a link to several disappearances. It’s a dandy story with sharp twists; there’s one more two-Monday story and then all four parts will be on this streaming service.
•“So You Think You Can Dance,” 8-10 p.m., Fox. Last week, Moises Parra and Burim “B1” Jusuf were eliminated. As the 16 remaining people dance Monday, we’ll learn which ones are in the bottom six from viewer votes; viewers will save two via Twitter, with judges then saving two and ousting two.
•“Bachelor in Paradise,” 8-10 p.m., ABC. Here’s the second half of the season-opener that started Sunday, plunking 16 former “Bachelor” and “Bachelorette” contestants into a Mexican resort.
•“2 Broke Girls,” 8 p.m., CBS. A rerun sees Max and Caroline get a surprise, when a handsome businessman returns their missing cat.
•“Scorpion,” 9 p.m., CBS. This rerun finds the team protecting Cabe’s ex-wife (Jessica Tuck), after she finds signs of foul play.
•“Chasing Life,” 9 p.m., ABC Family. As her wedding nears, April faces some “lasts” -- last week of being single, last week of living in her family home ... maybe last chance to throw a wild party.
•“Whispers,” 10:01 p.m., ABC. Claire still assumes that Dril – who talks kids into deadly deals – is a new force. Now she meets someone who says he met Dril 30 years ago.
•“Running Wild With Bear Grylls,” 10:01 p.m., NBC. In theaters now, Ed Helms is the floundering “Vacation” dad. Here’s a different side: Afraid of heights, he climbs in the Colorado Mountains.