Hawai’i’ Finales, ‘Voice’ Goes Live, an Otter-Ly Irresistible Love Story

They’ve come a long way from their hospital meet-cute, when compression sock kingpin Bob (Billy Gardell) first met and fell for Nigerian cardiac nurse Abishola (Fọlákẹ́ Olówófôyekù). With plenty of time to prepare for the series finale after five seasons, the endearing series jumps ahead seven years to reveal how things turned out for the couple, their family and friends.

And then there are series whose cancellation comes as a surprise. After only three seasons, a short duration for a spinoff from a hit franchise, Hawai’i says “aloha” for good when the NCIS team, led by Jane Tennant (Vanessa Lachey, the first NCIS female lead) pursues a terrorist group responsible for a deadly ambush with a bioweapon.

There’s no end in sight yet for the franchise mothership, renewed for a 22nd season. This season’s finale puts Parker (Gary Cole) and Knight (Katrina Law) in jeopardy while investigating the discovery of three bodies aboard an old Navy ship that’s scheduled to be sunk and turned into an artificial reef. Not the best place to be suddenly locked inside by parties unknown.

Season 25’s playoffs are over, which means it’s time for the singing competition’s live shows, with the Top 12 singers performing for their coaches Reba McEntire, John Legend, Dan + Shay and Chance the Rapper while America votes for their favorites. The results will be announced Tuesday, with the Top 9 moving on to the live semi-final.

With All Creatures Great and Small between seasons, here’s a lovely reminder that bonding with nature’s most vulnerable animals can change lives and rekindle love. That’s what happened when Billy Mail, broodingly retired by the sea in Scotland’s scenic Shetland Islands, encounters a wee “bag of bones” otter he names Molly, nurturing her back to health. “It’s like she showed me how to be a kid again: that fascination, that joy that we somehow seem to allow ourselves to lose as we get older,” Billy reflects, taking delight in Molly’s antics. Their poignant relationship, captured in director Charlie Hamilton James’ glorious photography, is matched only by wife Susan’s affection for her revitalized husband. As she says: “Give me a man who loves and cares any day over one who doesn’t notice.”

INSIDE MONDAY TV:

• The Neighborhood (8/7c, CBS): Season 6 ends with a classic sitcom stunt, when Courtney’s (Skye Townsend) water breaks while the families are all attending a Toni Braxton concert.
• Next Baking Master: Paris (9/8c, Food Network): In France, hosts Stephanie Boswell and Ludo Lefebvre say bonjour to 10 U.S. bakers, whose competition begins with a dessert challenge and a cookoff to create the creamiest, dreamiest cake.
• So You Think You Can Dance (9/8c, Fox): The Top 5 dancers get a taste of what it’s like to dance on tour, when they tackle two performances for T-Pain choreographed by Fullout Cortland and Kyle Hanagami.
• OMG Fashun (9:30/8:30c, E!): There’s no playing it safe in this unconventional fashion competition, hosted by actress/style influencer Julia Fox and celebrity stylist and “image architect” Law Roach. In each episode, three fashion disruptors are asked to create wild new looks with unconventional materials. The back-to-back two-episode premiere features green looks from Mother Earth and runway designs fashioned from plastics.
• Space: The Longest Goodbye (10/9c, PBS): An Independent Lens documentary confronts the emotional and psychological dilemma facing astronauts contemplating a future manned voyage to Mars, which would mean separation from home and family during the three-year mission when real-time communications become impossible over the vast distance.