What's On This Week

SUNDAY, JUNE 10

THE SOPRANOS
9 P.M. | HBO
In the end, what sort of happiness is possible for Tony Soprano? What sort of life? Or should we ask, what sort of death? HBO's landmark series about a New Jersey mobster finally reaches its conclusion tonight as viewers wonder who will, or should, get whacked. There might be a kind of brutal ironic justice—a Freudian vendetta—if Tony felt compelled to murder Dr. Melfi, his therapist. But the show, for all its blood, was never that blunt. See ya, Ton'.

MONDAY, JUNE 11

KYLE XY
8 P.M. | ABC FAMILY
Season 2 for the mystery drama about a strange boy (the intriguing Matt Dallas) with no belly button. ABC will also be broadcasting the series on Fridays, 8 p.m. ET.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13

TOP CHEF
10 P.M. | BRAVO
The entertaining cookoff heads to Miami Beach for Season 3. Ooh, do they cook with sand? New judge: Ted Allen (Queer Eye for the Straight Guy).

LAST COMIC STANDING
9 P.M. | NBC
A new season, with the search for jokers expanded abroad to London, Montreal and all the way down to Sydney.

THURSDAY, JUNE 14

STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP
10 P.M. | NBC
Last chance to catch episodes of Aaron Sorkin's high-class drama about TV comedy. It won't be here come fall.

SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE
9 P.M. | FOX
After Wednesday's two-hour special showcasing the final 20, the first two losers are handed their shoes and dismissed.

FRIDAY, JUNE 15

DAYTIME ENTERTAINMENT EMMYS
9 P.M. | CBS
Presenter-nominees include Rachael Ray. Will The View's hosts, coming off a wild year, finally win?

Big Love
HBO, Mondays, 9 p.m. ET | [3.5 stars]

DRAMA

In its second season, HBO's series about prosperous Utah polygamist Bill Henrickson (Bill Paxton) remains a nervily ambiguous concept: A satiric drama about a dark fringe of fundamentalist culture, it also plays like a faith-based Stepford Wives. Bill, still waging business war with a filthy rich and just plain filthy old polygamist named Roman (Harry Dean Stanton), starts hankering for pie—and the waitress who routinely serves it to him at the diner. Is Bill just another middle-aged man toying with adultery, or is he seeking out a fourth wife to add to the others (Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloë Sevigny and Ginnifer Goodwin)? Either scenario makes for powerfully unhappy prospects.

Rescue Me
FX, Wednesdays, 10 p.m. ET | [3.5 stars]

DRAMA

It's not as if you thought Denis Leary wouldn't be back, even if last season ended with his character, firefighter Tommy Gavin, drugged and unconscious in an exploding house. Tommy survived—carried out, to his embarrassment, by a woman volunteer (Jennifer Esposito) who now wants to date. The firehouse-set show's strength continues to be its ensemble cast. All of them, like Leary, know how to mine rueful comedy from the dramatic rubble, leaving really big moments to come in with a jolt. There are some doozies in the third episode involving the Chief (Jack McGee) and innocent dum-dum Mike (Michael Lombardi).

More From This Article

Traveler's On-the-lam Man Matthew Bomer
The 29-year-old actor stars on ABC's summer series about two road-tripping college friends framed for a bombing and chased by the law.

DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE ROAD TRIP? Right after I graduated college I drove from Los Angeles up to San Francisco and then across the country to New York with my best friends. We were packed into a Volvo station wagon. And I was born in St. Louis, so we went back to the place where I was born to hang. It was a very coming-of-age experience.

COULD YOU SURVIVE ON THE RUN? The guy I play is a lot smarter on his feet than I am. I would have been a lot more of a mess in the situation he's faced with. But I think we are both optimistic people—we think anything can be fixed.

Manners Lessons from ... Mo'nique
The comic, 39, teaches etiquette on VH1's Flavor of Love Girls: Charm School, and she'll host the BET Awards June 26. She shared some of her principles.

MODESTY Don't get caught up in your own hype—never look in the mirror and say, "I'm the greatest." Because you're not.

PATIENCE The hardest lesson for me to learn was patience. I lost it on one episode. I was upset with myself when I got home.

CIVILITY We live in a society that says, "Let me see the worst of the worst." Everything is reality TV—bring me back to fantasy!

TABLE MANNERS They're insane to me. That salad fork is the meat fork and the dessert fork, dammit! I'm not going to be switching off all night. I'll use the fork that will pick it all up!

Behind the Wheel at ... Fast Cars & Superstars
Celebs, including Serena Williams and Jewel, learn to race stock cars from the pros on ABC's new reality show. What did the stars discover at speeds up to 165 mph?

WILLIAM SHATNER, ACTOR "I learned I could feel fear. I've been in celebrity Grand Prix, but nothing approached what I thought was the jeopardy factor here. It verged on, um, let me choose the right word—foolhardy."

LAIRD HAMILTON, SURFER "The first time we went into the turn I was amazed the cars could stick to the road at that speed. I thought they would spin out. Once I came into the pits and skidded through the box. The car was going sideways, but I'm used to going sideways. That was cool."

GABRIELLE REECE, VOLLEYBALL STAR/MODEL "I didn't worry about Laird [her husband since 1997]. I have so much confidence in his overall judgment and abilities. But believe me, if it came down to Laird versus me, Laird would have done anything not to lose."