The show must go on, but not everybody has to show up. Red makes Liz a fateful offer on the eighth-season finale of “The Blacklist” (10 p.m., NBC, TV-14). “Blacklist” has been renewed for a ninth season. It has been reported that Megan Boone, who plays Liz on this long-running head-scratcher, will not appear in the next season.
While fans of “The Blacklist” can follow Red’s new assignments, viewers in search of resolution of the mysteries of “Manifest” are not so lucky. NBC canceled any further takeoffs for this “Lost”-like tale of airline passengers sharing a cosmic connection.
Also yanked from NBC’s future plans is “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist,” a musical-fantasy series about a woman beset with strangers bursting into songs that seem to offer commentary on her emotional travails.
“Zoey” had passionate fans. But apparently not enough of them. In many ways, it suffers the same fate as “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” a brilliant series that showcased unhinged originality but attracted a small audience. Apparently, there are quite a few folks allergic to musical theater. Despite much ballyhoo, last week’s debut of “In the Heights” in theaters and on HBO Max did not exactly break any records; another example that musicals have passionate and devoted fans but lack the broad appeal required for television.
Later this summer, the love it or hate it aspects of the genre will get a comedic touch in “Schmigadoon!,” starring Cecily Strong and Keegan-Michael Key as a couple trapped inside a musical they cannot escape. “Schmigadoon!” debuts on Apple TV+ on July 16.
“Zoey” and “Manifest” offer further proof that NBC has become the Wolf Channel. Come fall, Dick Wolf-produced “Chicago” shows fill up three hours of Wednesday nights. Thursdays belong to “Law & Order” franchises, including a “new” one, “Law & Order: For the Defense.”
The notion that NBC relies a tad too heavily on “Law & Order” is hardly new. Way back in 2000, NBC introduced a comedy called “M.Y.O.B.,” about an unhappy teen (Katharine Towne) searching for her birth mother. Unpleasant when it should have been sassy, it lasted only a few weeks — in June! Back then, only critics watched new summer shows, so NBC really must have thought it was terrible. I only bring that up because its caustic character spoke directly to the audience and complained that people should watch the series because at least it wasn’t “another ‘Law & Order.’”
I remember “M.Y.O.B.” because it co-starred Lauren Graham, who later starred on “Gilmore Girls” (and later appeared on “Zoey”). In some ways, “Gilmore Girls” and later “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” both created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, established a template for a kind of comedy that leaned on the sensibilities of Broadway musicals, but without the music. The antics on “Mrs. Maisel” are certainly choreographed, but songs don’t drive the narrative. And apparently, people like it that way.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— Violinists perform on the season finale of “Kids Say the Darndest Things” (8 p.m., CBS, TV-PG).
— The voice of Alec Baldwin animates the 2017 comedy “The Boss Baby” (8 p.m., NBC).
— The four-hour series “Mysteries of Mental Illness” (PBS, TV-14, check local listings) concludes with a look at the rise and fall of asylums (9 p.m.), new treatments (10 p.m.).
— CULT CHOICE
A deranged fan (Kathy Bates) makes a novelist (James Caan) her prisoner in the 1990 adaptation of Stephen King’s “Misery” (9:55 p.m., Cinemax). This theme returns in the miniseries adaptation of King’s “Lisey’s Story,” now streaming on Apple TV+, about a novelist (Clive Owen) shot by one avid reader, and his widow (Julianne Moore) stalked by another.
SERIES NOTES
“MasterChef” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-14) … “Press Your Luck” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) … Time to hit the road on “Kung Fu” (8 p.m., CW, TV-PG) … On two helpings of “S.W.A.T.” (CBS, r, TV-14): a crime lord in hiding (9 p.m.); an incarcerated contact needs help with the parole board (10 p.m.) … “Crime Scene Kitchen” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-PG) … “The $100,000 Pyramid” (9 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) … A really big case on “In the Dark” (9 p.m., CW, TV-14) … “Card Sharks” (10 p.m., ABC, TV-PG).
LATE NIGHT
Dana Carvey appears on the second-to-last episode of “Conan” (11 p.m., TBS) … Christine Baranski and Joy Oladokun are booked on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” (11:35 p.m., CBS) … Bill Clinton, James Patterson, Titus Welliver and Weezer visit “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC) … Josh Gad and Chloe Moriondo appear on “The Late Late Show With James Corden” (12:35 a.m., CBS).
