Entertainment

Drama Mama

Your weekly guide to TV’s best and worst one-hour shows

And so we bid adieu to the summer shows. Finales to watch this week:

“Burn Notice” (Thursday, 9 p.m., USA)

Yes, there’s the usual high-speed chases, pricey action-movie explosions and spy-vs.-spy intrigue that you’ve come to expect from this series, but the highlight of this sixth season summer finale are the scenes between Sharon Gless’ bereaved mama and guest star John C. McGinley, who has been fantastic as Michael’s (Jeffrey Donovan) sadistically funny mentor from his CIA days.

“True Blood” (Sunday, 9 p.m., HBO)

All the talk has been about the return of Denis O’Hare’s devilish Russell, which admittedly has been the highlight of this season. But Mama would argue the biggest surprise was that Bill (Stephen Moyer) only needed to dump his controlling girlfriend to lose his mopy and boring veneer (similar to another handsome vamp, Angel, who had to ditch “Buffy” to get interesting). Apparently, all Bill needed was a buddy-cop adventure to get the blood flowing in this character.

“The Newsroom” (Sunday, 10 p.m., HBO)

If none of the other Aaron Sorkin shows had ever aired . . . nah, they’d still be a sanctimonious bunch of uppity nerds. We’re probably not supposed to be rooting for dirt-digger Nina (Hope Davis), but Mama likes her more than the anyone on the “News Night” staff.

“Suits” (Thursday, 10 p.m., USA)

Meth-cooking Gale from “Breaking Bad” — which is how Mama will always remember David Costabile — has wreaked havoc all season at Person Hardman, lulling everyone with that soothing voice while staging his coup. But the finale falls flat as they try to make this takeover sound sooo important, when it’s still just a bunch of lawyers fighting for control of a law firm. If you want to see law-partner scheming done well, wait until September for the next season of “The Good Wife.”

“Pretty Little Liars” (Tuesday, 8 p.m., ABC Family)

Forget about seeing your teenage girls on Tuesday. Prior to the midseason finale, which promises to reveal the big betrayer — and who got their hands on the snake that attacked Spencer (Troian Bellisario) last week in the scariest scene this season — there’s an all-day “Liars” marathon to tie them up starting at 11 a.m. And if the kids still haven’t gotten their fill of Aria (Lucy Hale) and Emily (Shay Mitchell), there’s also an eight-episode Web series, “Pretty Dirty Secrets,” which launches the same night on ABC Family’s Web site.