TVSquad

(S01E06) Two words: very satisfying. This episode gave you everything you would want from a season finale. There was enough left to keep you hanging, but plenty was tied up in case Thief doesn't return for a full-order second season. I haven't seen any ratings, but I don't think we'll be seeing a return as I got the impression that this show grabbed a small audience. Regardless, this was a fantastic filler to tide F/X fans over as they transitioned from The Shield to Rescue Me (which returns on Tuesday, May 30).

All hell has broken loose. No one in Nick's crew can agree on anything and that fact that the Feds (led by an over-zealous agent named Patterson) are hot on their trail isn't helping either. But as I assumed last week, Nick had to make a choice between the score and Tammi. The reason he had to make such a choice was the real surprise.

Ah, spring! Warm days and cool nights, the sounds of children playing. Short pants and short dresses as the first wisps of summer arrive. It is a time of renewal; except, of course, for the television networks. For them, spring, and particularly the month of May, represents one thing only: season and series finales.

Yep, after a long, hard year it's time to say good-bye to some of your favorite characters and shows as they leave for the summer, or perhaps for good if they are not renewed or are ending their series runs. In place of them will be endless reruns, summer replacements, and Big Brother. May the Lord help us all!

Being the networks, who want to maximize the most viewership and advertising dollars, these finales are not just during one week in May, but are staggered throughout the whole month. Some even leak into the first week of June. This can be very confusing to keep track of and may cause your DVR to have a meltdown. However, fear not true TV Squad readers, because we are here to list the finales of the shows you watch the most. I mean, gosh, we would be remiss if we didn't provide information on the last episode of Lost for the year (May 24th) or the series finale of Alias (May 22nd). It would be just scandalous.

Oh, one more thing before you make the jump . . . if you don't see your favorite show on this list, or want to see when some of the famous May special events are being broadcast (such as The 41st Annual Academy of Country Music Awards) click on this link for a full listing from AOL Television. Okay, all ready? Then, let's get this show on the road.

(S01E05) Oh snap! The heist is on and stuff is not going the way it was planned. However, with all the set-backs, Nick handled things surprisingly well. He even let Jack pray for the team before they took off for the airport. That seemed like a pretty big deal, because after what happened to Wanda, Nick does not seem like the religious type.

Random side note. I didn't realize Jack's nick-name was Bump. This episode, more than others, Nick kept calling him Bump and for a while I had no idea who he was talking about. I had to check out the Thief website in the middle of the show to figure that one out. Guess I need to start paying attention more and it's a good thing I did, because this episode was jam-packed.

• Tim Goodman ("The Bastard Machine") gives his list for the Best Shows You're Not Watching." We've done lists like this before, but I don't think we've done one in a while. His list includes Hustle, Footballers Wive$, and Thief.
• Comedian Patton Oswalt has a blog too.
• Television writer Ken Levine gives his Summer Movie Preview. On Mission: Impossible 3: "They can spend $300 million to make this stunt fest and the best thing will still be the theme song."
• Lots of spoilers over at the Television Without Pity West Wing boards. Let me repeat: lots of spoilers, so click at your own risk.
• EW's PopWatch blog has a new HeadScratcher: what (specifically) do Nicholas Cage, Sean Connery, Kevin Costner, Clint Eastwood and Diane Lane have in common?

(S01E04) The first three episodes of this show were spectacular. This episode was even better - it brought the show to a whole new level. Talk about a tense hour. I fell asleep early last night and woke up around five this morning to watch this before I headed off to work. I didn't need to make a pot of coffee. This jolted my eyes open just fine. Everything is coming together for the big heist but at the same time, all the things that are going to get in the way have now been made perfectly clear. The real tension for Nick doesn't seem to be the heist (at least not yet) - it's dealing with Wanda's house, his business, and the step-daughter who doesn't trust him. The dichotomies this show presents are great. Nick is ruthless, but he's a nice guy. He's a professional thief, but he's just like you and me. He's good and evil. Even skin color creates a gap between Nick and Tammi in the incredible last scene of the episode.

(S01E03) Nick Atwater sees dead people. Not exactly the thing you want in your head when you're planning to rob the US Government of $40 million. Keeping up the pace of the last two episodes, the heist is still a go. Nick seems less confident about it though. After all, the crew has only been planning for a week and it all goes down in only eleven more days.

This episode was essentially an obstacle course for Nick and his boys. Everything that's going to get in their way presented itself (or themselves). Let's just say, for this heist to go off smoothly and without a hitch, a lot of things need to fall into place.

Nick Atwater is having a bad day. You would be too if you happened to be a professional thief in the middle of a multi-million dollar heist who gets a call from his wife to let him know that his step-daughter has been arrested. I can't imagine talking to a cop while standing in a giant safe that you just cracked is a very comforting feeling. But as I said, Nick Atwater (played by Andre Braugher) is a professional and he handles the situation as such. Of course, matters aren't helped when your crew is a bunch of greedy hotheads who don't seem to mind stealing more than you came for. Did I mention that one of them has a raging coke habit that almost gets them caught? Didn't have to, because what else did I say? Nick Atwater is having a bad day.

• On the cover: the Without A Trace cast talks about a new storyline involving drug addiction. Plus, a photo gallery.
• Matt Roush finds Thief relentlessly glum, and hopes that Everwood is renewed.
• The evil female cyborg from Terminator 3 has a new show on The Sci-Fi Channel.
• Who played James Garner's brother on Maverick?
• In the print edition only: a Q and A with Lost star Terry O'Quinn, a look at the four top Survivor stars, a preview of the Clark/Lex confrontation on Smallville, the women of Big Love, and a guest column from...Liza Minnelli!

• Teachers, Tuesdays @ 9:30 pm on NBC (premieres March 28)
• A comedy about a rule-breaking teacher at a New Jersey middle school.

As we await next week's series premiere of Thief on FX we take a look back at some shows that Andre Braugher starred in between his award-winning stint on Homicide: Life on the Street and now.

The first show we will look at is Gideon's Crossing, which premiered on ABC in the fall of 2000 and lasted all of one season. In this medical drama, Braugher was Ben Gideon, a very skilled doctor who wielded his unorthodox skills in the experimental oncology department of a fictional New England hospital. In actuality, Braugher's role was inspired by real-life doctor Jerome Groupman.

Gideon entrusted himself to save the lives of critically ill patients who had reached a dead end with their treatments. While searching for answers and cures he tried to inspire the next generation of doctors who came to the teaching hospital.

I'm pretty excited about this. Thus far F/X has not disappointed me with any of its programming choices and I'm liking this sudden explosion of con-artist TV shows. First Hustle and now this. Dane Cook definitely has it right: if given the choice between having sex with a beautiful supermodel or being part of a heist... I totally choose the heist.