You meant to DVR “Scandal” last week and when the March Madness games ran late, you were too tired to stay up for “The Good Wife,” so now you’re stuck in a TV Siberia. Before you miss out on anything else, check out these must-see shows:
“How I Met Your Mother” (Monday, 8 p.m., CBS)
Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) and Robin (Cobie Smulders) are married and Marshall (Jason Segel) and Lily (Alyson Hannigan) have reconciled, so there’s only one thing left for this series to resolve: the title question. Settle in for the hour-long series finale.
“Hannibal” (Friday, 10 p.m., NBC)
The second season for this maddening, stomach-turning serial killer has been even better than the first — although it is time for Will (Hugh Dancy) to break out of that jail cell destined for Dr. Hannibal (Mads Mikkelsen). Our hero may discover help from an odd source when Eddie Izzard returns as Dr. Able Gideon, who, last season, claimed to be the Chesapeake Ripper.
“The Americans” (Wednesday, 10 p.m., FX)
In the sophomore season of this excellent ’80s spy drama, everything you thought you knew has come into question. And although the non-stop disguises add a little levity in this heavy drama — how long until Philip (Matthew Rhys) sports a Flock of Seagulls coif? — the tension is almost unbearable as we watch this fake family try to hold itself together with so many threats from without and within.
“Dallas” (Monday, 9 p.m., TNT)
Mama can hardly believe it herself, but this prime-time soap is better without J.R. The wonderful Larry Hagman never missed a beat in his return as the wily oil man, but it seemed as if the series spent the first two seasons writing around the bigger-than-life Texan — Hagman was battling cancer — without eliminating him entirely because his villainy drove so much of the story. But now that the portrayer and character have died, the show has grown beyond its 1980s roots — expanding the roles of fantastic new baddies.
“Jeopardy” (Weekdays, 7 p.m., Ch. 7)
Starting Monday, the 2000s round of the Battle of the Decades begins, featuring the show’s most famous contestant, Ken Jennings.