This Monday, Feb. 24, marks the beginning of a big week for prime-time TV — which will awaken from its months-long Olympics slumber.
With the Winter Games in Sochi ending Sunday night, many top shows — which took most of February off in lieu of competing against NBC’s Olympics behemoth — will return with new episodes.
It’s been a while since we’ve seen “The Blacklist,” “Glee,” “Nashville” “Scandal” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” so here’s a handy catch-up guide on where we last left our protagonists and antagonists:
“Grey’s Anatomy” (returns Thursday, Feb. 27 on ABC):
The doctors face the consequences of the events that took place at April’s (Sarah Drew) wedding. Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) feels betrayed when Derek (Patrick Dempsey) goes back on a promise. Alex (Justin Chambers) is furious after returning to the hospital and hearing the news about his father, and Arizona (Jessica Capshaw) and Callie (Sara Ramirez) decide whether or not to move forward together.
Meanwhile, Bailey (Chandra Wilson) realizes she was wrong about the motive behind Ben’s (Jason George) decision to move back to Seattle.
“The Blacklist” (returns Monday, Feb. 24 on NBC):
When we last left turncoat, roguish Raymond “Red” Reddington (James Spader), he’d helped Liz (Megan Boone) bust an illegal adoption agency that was kidnapping pregnant women, drugging them and selling their babies — which, in turn, spurred Liz to tell her sketchy hubby, Tom (Ryan Eggold), that she no longer wanted to adopt a child.
Tom, in turn, then met with Jolene, who’d been flirting with him in a previous episode.
Oh yeah — and Red killed Justice Dept. biggie Diane Fowler (Jane Alexander) after learning she leaked info to Red’s arch-enemy Anslo Garrick that cost the lives of several FBI agents. So it goes.
“Glee” (returns Tuesday, Feb. 25 on Fox):
The Fox dramedy has been off the air since last December, when its annual Christmas episode, which saw the New Directions win Sue’s (Jane Lynch) tree-decorating contest. Santana (Naya Rivera) visited Rachel (Lea Michele) and Kurt (Chris Colfer) in New York, where she got drafted into dressing up as Mrs. Claus and talking to kids when the mall Santa showed up drunk.
The drunk Santa’s replacement then convinced Rachel and Kurt to let him hang at their loft, but turned out to be a con-artist and robbed them.
Meanwhile, the roomies are poised for more drama in next week’s episode when Santana nabs the role of Rachel’s understudy in “Funny Girl.” The drama!
“Nashville” (returns Wednesday, Feb. 26 on ABC):
In its last new episode, Rayna’s (Connie Britton) and Tandy’s (Judith Hoag) father, Lamar (Powers Boothe) got out of jail, and Tandy confessed Lamar was responsible for their mother’s death.
Juliette (Hayden Panetierre), hiding out from the media circus at Avery’s (Jonathan Jackson) apartment, is eventually convinced to venture out for Deacon’s (Charles Esten) recording session at The Bluebird.
Scarlett (Clare Bowen) continued to nurse her budding drug habit. And in a final-minute shocker, Lamar suffered a fatal heart attack while his former son-in-law Teddy (Eric Close) looked on and did nothing.
“Scandal” (returns Thursday, Feb 27 on ABC):
The cray-cray Shonda Rhimes drama takes a break from extreme dentistry to continue the sad and twisted tale of Vice President Sally Langston (Kate Burton). So morally offended was Sally when presented with photos of her husband having same-sex relations that she stabbed him.
This week, the White House deals with a bombshell announcement from Sally, while Olivia (Kerry Washington) finds her role as a crisis manager expanding.