American Idol
7 p.m., Fox
That picture up there just might be the silliest thing ever associated with “American Idol,” trumping the ponyhawk, anything Paula has said and the collective existnce of Messrs. Aiken and Hicks. Last night was all about the DUEL between David Archuelta and David Cook, with all the boxing metaphors and Jim Lampley one could handle. So what’s tonight about, other than an over-bloated results show where only the last five minutes could possibly hold any interest? Well, we’ve got a performance from season four winner Carrie Underwood, and also one from…George Michael. Well, that’s an odd choice. My gut says Cook is your winner, but my brain says it probably doesn’t really matter.

Law & Order
9 p.m., NBC
This season finale of “Law & Order” is lucky number 18. Thanks to Wikipedia, here are some other shows that were part of NBC’s lineup when “L&O” debuted in 1990: the short-lived “Ferris Bueller” sitcom co-starring Jennifer Aniston, “Matlock,” “In the Heat of the Night,” “Dear John,” “Empty Nest.” Other shows starting that same season: “Wings” and “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.” Would live be better if we had gotten 18 seasons of “Wings” instead of “Law & Order”? Imagine all the schemes Roy could have concocted!

Boston Legal
9 p.m., ABC
It’s the fourth season finale of “Boston Legal,” and the latest improbably zany case involves Concord, Massachusetts wanting to secede from the union. That’s not the major thrust of the drama, though, it’s just the vehicle to get Alan (James Spader) and Denny (William Shatner) on OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE COURTROOM! Well, maybe not literally, that’s not really how courtrooms are designed, but opposing counsel.

CSI: NY
9 p.m., CBS
Elias Koteas guest stars in the fourth season finale. He’s been in a lot of things over the years, but I’ll always remember him most fondly as Casey Jones in the first and third “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” movies. Well, I don’t remember the third one so fondly. That one sucked bad. But the first one for sure!

ALSO ON: The third season finale of “Criminal Minds” (8 p.m., CBS), another “Price is Right Million Dollar Spectacular” (7 p.m., CBS), the fourth season premiere of “Mind of Mencia” and not a lot else. “Idol” finale and all that, you know.

America’s Next Top Model
7 p.m., The CW
It’s the 10th season finale of “ANTM.” Yes, 10. And yes, the only “America’s Next Top Model” winner that anyone who doesn’t watch the show has ever heard of is the one that is mostly famous for marrying Peter Brady. But that doesn’t stop the show from rolling on, and it’s coming back for an 11th “Cycle” (and has already been renewed for a 12th) in the fall. The three potential top models in the running are Anya, Fatima and Whitney (pictured, apparently engaging in “Xena: Warrior Princess” cosplay). Without knowing anything about the contestants this year, I’ll pick Anya, who is apparently from Hawaii, because Hawaii is cool. Though Fatima at least has a fun name. I wonder if her nickname is “Fat,” so then all the blog headlines can be “Fat model wins”! Which would be ironic, since Whitney is the plus-sized one. Sam has much more to say about this.

Back to You
7:30 p.m., Fox
“Back to You” had gotten good buzz lately, from sources as varied and credible as Entertainment Weekly and this very blog. So, of course, Fox canceled it this week. That makes this the de facto series finale, even though it reportedly ends on a cliffhanger of some sort. And I had just realized that the weather lady was the same actress as the “Studio 60″ cast member that flirted with Matt Albie a lot, so who knows what other revelations might have been in store.

‘Til Death
7 p.m., Fox
“‘Til Death,” though, has been renewed, which clearly makes Brad Garrett the winner in the former “Everybody Loves Raymond” supporting character career sweepstakes. Patricia Heaton - show canceled. Doris Roberts - in “Grandma’s Boy.” Peter Boyle - dead. I was always hard on this show until I found out that J.B. Smoove, Leon on “Curb,” played a recurring role this season. I still don’t watch it, but that definitely made it seem better. Second season finale.

Boston Legal
9 p.m., ABC
Will an appearance from George Segal, asking Denny Crane (William Shatner) to run for president equal wacky hilarity? Magic 8-Ball says: It is certain. It’s a shame this show is ending next season, think of the potential inherent with another TV veteran, say, Michael Gross, asking Denny Crane to run for Congress in the midterm elections of 2010! PS, go here for extra Shatner-fun.

ALSO ON: Someone (hopefully one of the two Davids; if Syesha gets cut we riot) goes home on “American Idol” (8 p.m., Fox), “The Price is Right” gets a million dollar SPECTACULAR prime time special (7 p.m., CBS), and the first season of “The Big 4-0″ (10 p.m., TV Land) ends, whatever that is.

Today was NBC’s upfront, but since they already announced their schedule a month ago, there’s not a ton of news, other than the first official announcement of what everyone’s known for months - that Jimmy Fallon is taking over “Late Night” when Conan O’Brien moves up an hour (and swaps coasts) in his 2009 “Tonight Show” takeover. More on that later. There’s also a new Ryan Seacrest-produced reality show about momma’s boys, but the last said about that the better, probably.

ABC’s “Boston Legal,” which was considered a bubble show, is coming back for a fifth season, though Watch with Kristin says it’ll have a “significantly scaled down cast.” Considering the show has radical cast changes every season - last year they lost Rene Auberjonis, Mark Valley and Julie Bowen - it remains to be seen exactly what impact this might have. As long as there’s James Spader and William Shatner (and to a lesser extent, Candice Bergen, and I’d be bummed if John Larroquette left), the show should be fine.

Jennie Garth will be back playing Kelly Taylor on the “90210″ spinoff/revival/sequel/whathaveyou, playing, you guessed it, a guidance counselor at West Beverly. Tori Spelling might join the cast, too. They can’t both be guidance counselors, can they?

“The Unit” will be back on CBS in the fall, and, as noted here earlier, so will “How I Met Your Mother.”

“Moonlight,” which is truly awful, is currently the Schrodinger’s Cat of crappy vampire dramas - it’s not on the fall CBS schedule, but it hasn’t been officially canceled yet, either. There’s a chance it could be “Jericho”-ed but I wouldn’t count on it (plus, is being “Jericho”-ed such a good thing? Getting your show saved to get a truncated second season that many fans saw as a disappointment?).

In heartening news, ABC renewed “Eli Stone,” a series that had a good run this spring and a lot of potential for the future.

I guess one good thing about the writer’s strike is that it lets current events stockpile so there’s a whole bunch to choose from for the staff of “Boston Legal” (and, one supposes the “Law & Order” franchises) in which to construct brand new thinly veiled roman a clefs.

At least in “Boston Legal” they make clear reference to it, like on tonight’s Larry Craig -inspired episode. From a dramatic standpoint, it does make it kind of weir that the exact same thing that was such big news can happen to Denny Crane, but whatevs. Once you realize that the plot of every episode of this show is “how is Denny going to get out of this one?” you can enjoy it a lot more. Seriously, I think since 2004 there’s been more instances of someone warning Denny Crane that he might get fired than of Dr. Gregory House making a miraculous diagnosis when all hope seems lost. And that’s saying something.

The big story of the episode were the myriad of great returns we were treated to - Rene Aubjeronis, Bethany and Bree’s dead husband from the first season of “Desperate Houswives” as the opposing attorney o’ th’ week (Steven Culp - when Googling him I stumbled upon this strikingly creepy fansite). Not quite as cool as an ABC network callback in that role as the dad from “Boy Meets World” has been on his couple appearances this season, but not bad at all. And oh yeah, Arli$$.

Solid episode, even if the “anonymous supporting characters must find out the secret of the sexy somewhat less anonymous supporting character!” sub-plot isn’t exactly what one would call “interesting in the slightest.”