Finale Fever, Pope Interviewed on ’60 Minutes,’ Back to the ‘Ciao House,’ Spielberg’s Double Feature
In the last official weekend of the traditional (and this year shortened) broadcast network season, there’s a flurry of finales including American Idol, Fox’s animation lineup, Saturday Night Live (with Jake Gyllenhaal), and the last-ever episode of CSI: Vegas. Norah O’Donnell interviews Pope Francis in Vatican City for 60 Minutes’ season finale. Food Network opens up its Ciao House in Puglia, Italy for a master class in Italian cuisine. Steven Spielberg is the guest on TCM’s weekly Two for One double-feature, introducing the unusual pairing of Jailhouse Rock and the cult Western Forty Guns.
American Idol
SUNDAY: All season, the contestants have been living on a prayer that America will vote to keep them in the competition and possibly crown them this year’s American Idol. As viewers vote for the final three—Jack Blocker, Abi Carter and Will Moseley—in the Season 22 finale (the seventh on ABC), Jon Bon Jovi appears as guest mentor and performer, leading a roster of guest talent including New Kids on the Block, Hootie & The Blowfish, Jason Mraz, Wynonna Judd, CeCe Winans, Seal, Season 14 champ Nick Fradiani and more. Expect a salute to Katy Perry as she departs the judging panel.
60 Minutes
SUNDAY: As newsmakers go, landing Pope Francis for an interview is a strong way to end the 56th season of the venerable newsmagazine. Norah O’Donnell speaks with the 87-year-old pontiff in his Vatican City home, where topics include the wars in Ukraine, Israel and Gaza, plus global migration crises, the Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandals and backlash against his statements on inclusivity within the church. Other reports include Cecilia Vega’s investigation into Cuba spies in the U.S. and Anderson Cooper on the discovery of a Nazi officer’s private photo-album scrapbook, the inspiration for the off-Broadway play Here There Are Blueberries.
The Simpsons
SUNDAY: All we know about the Season 35 finale of the enduring animated hit (with no end in sight) is that Kerry Washington and Megan Mullally are back as guest voices (Ms. Peyton and Sarah Wiggum, respectively) and that bratty Bart (Nancy Cartwright) makes a new friend. Followed by the Season 1 finale of the ancient Greece spoof Krapopolis (8:30/7:30c), where Shlub (Matt Berry) takes Deliria (Hannah Waddingham) to a monster wedding; the Season 4 finale of The Great North (9/8c), in which Beef (Nick Offerman) tries to up his romantic game; and the Season 14 finale of Bob’s Burgers (9:30/8:30c), with Tina (Dan Mintz) in farce mode when her skirt gets caught in the dryer when she tries to clear up her butt sweat.
CSI: Vegas
SUNDAY: In another of the network’s surprising cancellations, the spinoff of the show that helped launch the current procedural craze wraps after just three seasons. The series ends on an explosive note, with a blast in a bio lab leaving one of the team unconscious and exposed to a mysterious nerve agent while another is kidnapped, leading to a search in a spooky underground tunnel. Earlier, in the Season 4 finale of The Equalizer (8/7c), Mel (Liza Lapira) is kidnapped by someone in her veteran support group, and on the Season 1 finale of Tracker (9/8c), House’s Jennifer Morrison guests as a family friend of Colter’s (Justin Hartley), who asks for his help in finding her daughter, one of two amateur storm chasers who vanished in a cloud of mystery.
A Gentleman in Moscow
SUNDAY: The poignant period drama based on Amor Towles’ bestseller ends with suspense and deep emotion when Count Rostov (a charming-to-the-end Ewan McGregor) sends his lovely and talented protégée Sofia (Beau Gadsdon) from Moscow to Paris for a piano recital from which he vows she’ll never return. As Rostov reckons with his decades in captivity, he toasts to “a life lived without regret” while looking ahead to an uncertain future.
Ciao House
SUNDAY: Mangia mangia your way through the Southern Italy coastal town of Puglia, where hosts Gabriele Bertaccini and Alex Guarnaschelli preside over a second season of the competition series. A new group of 12 chefs show their skills with Italian cuisine while living in a 16th-century villa, with the ultimate winner earning a master class in training with culinary masters across the Mediterranean country. The two-hour opener features a team challenge involving Puglia’s specialties of fresh fish and seafood.
INSIDE WEEKEND TV:
- Jailhouse Rock (Saturday, 8/7c, Turner Classic Movies): The 1957 Elvis Presley classic, one of the King’s best and grittiest movie showcases, is legendary director Steven Spielberg’s first pick as guest on the weekly “Two for One” double feature. He pairs it with another 1957 cult item: Samuel Fuller’s Forty Guns (10/9c), starring Barbara Stanwyck as a ruthless Arizona rancher.
- The Bad Guardian (Saturday, 8/7c, Lifetime): Inspired by tales of court-appointed guardianships gone wrong (“Free Britney,” anyone?), a cautionary movie stars Melissa Joan Hart as a daughter going to war against the guardian (La La Anthony) she feels is working against her father’s (Eric Pierpoint) best interests.
- Everything Puppies (Saturday, 8/7c, Hallmark Channel): Contender for most inviting title of the week tells the story of Scarlett (Pascal Lamothe-Kipnes), an entrepreneur whose puppy treat is a hit with a local grocer (Stephen Huszar), who helps her fend off a competitor and bring her goodies to market.
- Saturday Night Live (Saturday, 11:30/10:30c, 8:30/PT, NBC): Jake Gyllenhaal, who makes his TV series debut next month in the Apple TV+ drama Presumed Innocent, closes out the 49th season of the late-night comedy institution with his third stint as guest host. Sabrina Carpenter is the first-time musical guest.
- CBS News Sunday Morning (Sunday, 9 am/ET, check local listings, CBS): In honor of the newsmagazine’s annual “By Design” episode, designer/architect David Rockwell digitally reimagines the show’s set in a one-time makeover.
- The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper (Sunday, 8/7c, CNN): Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta explores the latest medical research in the fight to slow down and possibly prevent or reverse Alzheimer’s disease. (On Saturday at 9/8c, Gupta hosts the channel’s eighth annual Champions for Change special, with inspiring stories of innovative entrepreneurs.)
- The Sympathizer (Sunday, 9/8c, HBO): In the penultimate episode of the spy dramedy, the Captain (Hoa Xuande) tries to expose the General’s (Toan Le) quixotic plans to storm their home country of Vietnam, which he sees as a “circus of collective psychosis.” But the General is insisting that he will return: “I lost everything to this country, America. They eat your heart out and then complain about indigestion.”
- Interview with the Vampire (Sunday, 9/8c, AMC: streaming on AMC+): Louis (Jacob Anderson) and Claudia (Delainey Hayles) arrive in post-WWII Paris, where they are swept up in the flamboyant intrigue of the Theatre des Vampires, the macabre setting for Louis’s fateful meeting with Armand (Assad Zaman).