Plus Katey Sagal's "Glee" Debut, Bob Newhart joins "The Big Bang Theory" and Eddie Izzard on "Hannibal"

News

Yesterday was a busy day for renewals. Sundance has ordered a second season of its first original drama Rectify. CNN also ordered more of Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown while HBO gave one more season to Veep.

Downton Abbey has cast its first black character. Gary Carr will play Jack Ross, a jazz singer. Who gets the line about the kids these days and their music?

I suspect Gary Carr will look very good in some of those period suits.

Bob Burgers has finally arrived. Deadline reports that repeats of the animated comedy will be airing on Adult Swim, starting this summer

I guess Nashville just revealed that one of its singers is a closeted gay man? Or at least we got guy-on-guy liplock? Did anyone catch it? What did you think? I guess I really need to get to catching up on Nashville.

Nashville's Sam Paddio and Chris Carmack.

The upcoming season of Major Crimes will delve into Capt. Raydor's past. TV Guide reports that Tom Berenger will show up as the Captain's ex-husband. The bad news for Sharon — Rusty takes a liking to the guy.

Justin Deeley, who played a character 90210 writers defined as having great abs and wearing cowboy hats, will play the new guardian angel on Drop Dead Diva. This angel is described as having a body that "comes straight out of an Abercrombie & Fitch ad, and he has the carefree attitude of a Zen surfer." I'm hoping that means those abs won't go to waste.

Judging from my collection of screencaps, 90210's attempts to get me to overlook the

terrible writing with shirtless hunks have worked.

Listings

Anderson Live (syndicated) Check local listings

Nora O'Donnell co-hosts today show with focuses on food addiction and Stacy London's tips on spotting a counterfeit designer item.

The Talk (CBS) Check local listings

The Talk reminds us of one of the many things that makes it better than The View by bringing Kathy Griffin back as a guest.

The Big Bang Theory (CBS) 8:00 PM ET

On TV, May is the time of special guest-stars and for The Big Bang Theory that means Bob Newhart, who plays a Mr. Wizard-type who Sheldon and Leonard watched faithfully as kids. Now that they're adults, they can afford to hire him for a personal performance — except usually when people hire Professor Proton for a personal appearance, there are children present. As someone who has been the only childless adult not creating performance art at a Lemony Snicket book event, I know how Leonard and Sheldon feel. Well, Leonard... I don't know if it's possible for me to know how Sheldon feels.

Community (NBC) 8:00 PM ET

Sure, ratings are (once again) terrible and this could be the next-to-final episode of Community so why not introduce an "everything you know is wrong" twist and reveal that the study group's lives have crisscrossed many times before they met and that they were drawn together by fate.

I hope everyone contributes to Andy's going away present.

The Office (NBC) 8:30 PM ET

Now we finally know why Andy has become such an insufferable asshat this season, The Office is ending with Andy quitting Dunder-Mifflin for his showbiz dreams. After all that irritation, we can say "Good riddance" and hope his life leads to the kind of terrible disappointment that usually is reserved for Mindy Kaling's scripts.

Glee (Fox) 9:00 PM ET

Not only does this episode feature former Harlette (I love that part of her career is relevant in this case) Katey Sagal, it's also Glee's tribute to Stevie Wonder.

Parks & Recreation (NBC) 9:30 PM ET

Apparently, Leslie can't wait to run for re-election so she's celebrating her first year in office by asking her constituents to consider if they're better off than they were a year ago. Too bad the awful Kathryn Pinewood has decided this is the chance for the Pawnee Restaurant Association to keep Leslie's career from becoming a bigger threat.

The Graham Norton Show (BBC America) 10:00 PM ET

Graham's scheduled to talk with Pedro Almodovar, Lewis Hamilton, Dara O'Briain with musical guest Allison Moyet.

Elementary (CBS) 10:00 PM ET

Did I mention we're in the midst of May sweeps? I think I did. That explains why Sherlock's suddenly got another lead on Moriarity. While the big guest stars are Vinnie Jones and F. Murray Abraham, some of you might notice Laurence Lau (he was a closeted guy who almost married Lucinda, on As the World Turns right? My memory's fading on that storyline.)

Hannibal (NBC) 10:00 PM ET

An FBI colleague (Raul Esparza) turns to Will for help. There's a man in custody (Eddie Izzard) who is suspected of being a serial killer known as The Chesapeake Ripper. There is also someone committing murders very similar to the Chesapeake Ripper, leaving Will to guess if there's a copycat out there or if an innocent men has been arrested.

Scandal (ABC) 10:00 PM ET

Oh. Wow. Scandal has found a way to make its sadfaced, needing-a-hug, torturer-slash-killer even more sympathetic and murderous. Meanwhile, I know some fans think Cyrus has been de-fanged a bit but Mellie's about to reawaken his "fixer" persona.

Tabatha Takes Over (Bravo) 10:00 PM ET

The next stop for Tabatha is a bar that's gone downhill since the founder's sons took over the place and started drinking all the profits. Can Tabatha get them working to save their bar instead of acting like the cast of Workaholics?

Zach Stone is Going to Be Famous (MTV) 10:30 PM ET

MTV's new mockumentary series follows a teen (comedian Bo Burnham) who think celebrity is destiny, hiring a camera crew to follow his pursuit of fame. A parody of reality TV fame seems a bit ironic for the channel of Teen Mom and The Real World: Las Vegas, but the clips that have come out so far look promising.

But what if Zach Stone went to a Doctor Who convention?

What will you be watching tonight? Let's discuss it in the comments!

Tomorrow's Preview

Anderson Live (syndicated) Check local listings

It's an Andy double-feature tomorrow as Anderson is joined by Andy Cohen.

The Wendy Williams Show (syndicated) Check local listings

Judy Gold is visiting Wendy tomorrow.

The View (ABC) Check local listings

Friday's show has Lance Bass guest-hosting, just as he is a part of current events.

Days of Our Lives (NBC) Check local listings

Will's back to plot some more against Nick tomorrow.