What To Watch 05.18.06

Welcome to the Thursday edition of What To Watch. Tonight we have the season finales of The OC, CSI and ER along with the series finales of Will & Grace and That 70’s Show.

Will & Grace – 8 pm/ET, NBC

What can be said about this pioneering sitcom that hasn’t been said already? It’s hilariously funny, consistently well-acted, jaw-droppingly risqué and just downright enjoyable. After Ellen DeGeneres boldly paved the way, this comedy proved that gay lead characters on TV do not have to be stereotypical buffoons — they can live and love just like everyone else. In a fitting two-hour send-off, NBC offers an hourlong retrospective in which cast members reflect on the Emmy-winning show’s eight seasons. After that comes the series finale.

That ’70s Show – 8 pm/ET, FOX

Talk about bell-bottom blues. More than 25 years after Tom Wolfe’s Me Decade actually ended, the show that reveled in shag carpets, leisure suits and arena rock calls it quits after eight seasons. The setting for the final half hour is New Year’s Eve 1979, and fans will appreciate plenty of flashbacks, the return of Kelso and the last of the smoking circles.

The O.C. – 9 pm/ET, FOX

If you heard Mischa Barton’s interview on Access Hollywood last night, it looks like there’s no chance of Ryan and Marissa ever getting back together. Still, the gang does graduate in tonight’s season finale, and that troublemaker Kaitlin is back in town. It’s starting to look like Marissa’s sister is in line to be the next Cooper to have Newport over a barrel.

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation – 9 pm/ET, CBS

Will Brass survive after being shot last week? That’s the question fans are asking entering tonight’s sixth-season CSI finale, but it isn’t the question they will be asking after seeing tonight’s final surprising scene. As for tonight’s cases, a man’s headless corpse is found on railroad tracks with a tiny 19-inch waist, and across town a man dies during a wild night of sex, drugs and alcohol.

ER – 9:59 pm/ET, NBC

What would ER be without a shootout? As the 12th season comes to a close, two prisoners (one of whom is familiar to a staffer) are brought in for treatment, but they use a clever ploy to plot an escape. Gunshots ring out; who’s caught in the crossfire? The surprising — and tragic — outcome will be revealed tonight.

Without A Trace – 10 pm/ET, CBS

The former boyfriend (Jason Priestley) of a murder victim suddenly attacks Jack, grabs his gun and flees the building in a hail of bullets.