‘Caroline’ Will Leave Tantalizing Loose Ends For Next TV Season
Warning: You’ll be left in the lurch instead of the church when it comes down the wire for Caroline and Del on the season finale of NBC’s “Caroline and the City” at 9:30.
The year’s top-rated new comedy may owe its early-season success to its “Seinfeld” lead-in, but tonight it gets unqualified kudos for the way it handles a plot line that has been quietly simmering in the background.
As Caroline (Lea Thompson) prepares to wed Del (Eric Lutes), Richard (Malcolm Gets) can no longer deny he’s in love with his cartoonist boss. You may have seen it coming when not wondering whether Caroline and Del will wake up to the fact that there’s no real spark in their romance.
Where will it end? You’ll have to wait until next season. But tonight’s half-hour cliff-hanger is full of well-spun surprises.
The night of NBC season finales begins at 8 with “Friends.” Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) is in the unlikely role of bridesmaid at the wedding of her ex-fiance (Mitchell Whitfield) and her one-time best friend Mindy (Jana Marie Hupp). Also, Chandler (Matthew Perry) finds love - so he thinks - on the Internet.
“The Single Guy” wraps up its premiere season at 8:30 as Jonathan (Jonathan Sliverman) thinks about making his temporary live-in arrangement with Charlie (Jensen Daggett) a permanent one.
On “Seinfeld” at 9, the season ends with George (Jason Alexander) trying to weasel out of his wedding and Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld) meeting another perfect woman (billed by NBC as a “surprise” guest star).
On “ER” at 10, Carter (Noah Wyle) elects to stay with an ailing 10-year-old (Gabrielle Boni) instead of attending his commencement exercises. Hathaway (Julianna Margulies) protests cost-cutting measures imposed by insurance companies. And the ER is visited by an elderly “Lady Godiva.”
Highlights
“Grand Ole Opry Musical Salute to Minnie Pearl,” CBS at 8: The country comedienne is honored in a special that features some of country music’s top artists. Pearl (1913-1996) was as much loved backstage as she was by millions of fans.
Those saying “Howwwww-dee!” include Roy Clark, Vince Gill, Barbara Mandrell, Dolly Parton, Wynonna and Trisha Yearwood.
“What’s Love Got to Do with It” (1993), FOX at 8: The long, hard and triumphant life of singer Tina Turner comes to life in this hard-pounding bio that earned Oscar nominations for Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne (as Ike Turner).
“Passenger 57” (1992), ABC at 9: Wesley Snipes attempts to ground an airline hijacking in an explosive thriller. It’s rather conspicuous, isn’t it, how FOX and ABC are counterprogramming NBC’s lineup of white-bread hits with films featuring black stars?
“48 Hours,” CBS at 10: A dramatic hour follows the case of a California baby with a rare disease that neutralizes the body’s natural immune system.
Cable Calls
“Pure Luck” (1991), USA at 8: Martin Short is a bumbling accountant paired with detective Danny Glover in a movie that could be submitted as Exhibit A if you went before the Supreme Court of Comedy to argue that a little bit of Short goes a long way.
“Hearts on Fire” (1992), LIF at 9: This understated drama worked for me when it premiered on network television. Lesley Ann Warren plays a woman with multiple sclerosis who hires an attractive widow (Marg Helgenberger) to “care” for her husband (Tom Skerritt).
This is a sensitive, well-acted love story.
“Escapes from Alactraz: The True Stories,” DISC at 10 p.m. and 2 a.m.: In the 29 years of the island prison’s operation, 34 inmates attempted but failed to break out. This hour traces their efforts with interviews and reenactments.