Entertainment

Drama mama

The don’t-miss final acts for dramas before the holidays are invading your TV:

* “The Bold & the Beautiful” (Mon.-Wed., 1:30 p.m., CBS) Buy an extra box of tissues and settle in for the three-day death scene, beginning Monday, of beloved matriarch Stephanie Forrester, played by even more beloved soap matriarch Susan Flannery. After 25 years on the show, her character finally succumbs to her lung cancer, but not before a couple decades’ worth of clips roll out, further proving that this daytime drama has managed to hold onto its main cast of actors longer than any of its competition. Stephanie’s last day is Nov. 26.

* “Treme” (Sunday, 10 p.m., HBO) Not sure what Khandi Alexander ever did to the writers, but they relish torturing her character. After being brutally raped last season, she spent most of year looking scared and hiding around corners. And when she finally finds a little happiness through her friendship with Clarke Peters’ Big Chief (best relationship of the year, btw), the thugs threaten her about testifying at the trial, burning down her bar down last week. Don’t expect a happy ending for this character, although Alexander looks so darn good doing it, you just want her to pop up in every scene. The dark, slow-moving story of New Orleans post-Katrina is such a different show than the much more successful and mainstream “Nashville,” but they share a love of music that a show like Auto-Tuned “Glee” or any reality “singing” competition could never duplicate.

* “The Walking Dead” (Sunday, Dec. 2, 9 p.m., AMC) A tale of two camps comes to an end with the third-season finale, which promises a showdown between widower Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and the Governor (David Morrissey). As the cast continues to get picked off, you have to wonder how long this zombie-ocalypse can last.

* “Revolution” (Monday, 10 p.m., NBC) What I like most about the first season of “Revolution,” in comparison to “Lost”: Stuff happens every week. It’s a gun fight. It’s a torture session. It’s a cliff dive into a river. “Lost” would spend a week focusing on one character’s plight and multilayered backstory, and you’d think at the end, “What just happened in that hour of my life?” But here’s the thing I liked most about “Lost,” which is lacking in “Revolution”: Any reason for me to care about these characters. Even the flashbacks in the powerless world drama annoy me, mainly because they’re all filled with manipulative trite sentimentality. If I’m supposed to be rooting for the ragtag group led by that watery-eyed kid Charlie (Tracy Spiridakos must buy Visine by the case to look on the verge of tears All. The. Time.), they’re going to have to give us more character development.

* “Boardwalk Empire” (Sunday, Dec. 2, 9 p.m., HBO) Although there were some complaints about the lack of action in the early episodes, Mama has to admit this has been her favorite season yet of the Atlantic City drama. Bobby Cannavale’s Gyp has been the foil that Michael Pitt’s Jimmy never was for Nucky, forcing Steve Buscemi to up his game to hold off scene-swallower Cannavale. This week, Nucky is forced to make a deal with Rothstein (Michael Stuhlbarg) to stay in the fight against Gyp, who’s partnered with Masseria (Ivo Nandi). Masseria has his own problems to deal with on another front as Chalky (the wonderful but underutilized Michael Kenneth Williams) and Capone (Stephen Graham) decide to team up against him.

* “Sons of Anarchy” (Tuesday, Dec. 4, 10 p.m., FX) There comes a point in a season-long killing spree when you just have to consider turning the gun on yourself. Just sayin’, Jax (Charlie Hunnam).