Roswell, NM Ends Its First Season of Alien Romance

When the original Roswell television series ended its first season — on May 15, 2000 — the world was a different place. Bill Clinton was riding out his last year as President. Eventual Best Picture winner Gladiator was enjoying its second straight week atop the box office. And we were smack in the middle of the 10-week run of Santana’s “Maria Maria” atop the Billboard charts. Chandler was mere days away from proposing marriage to Monica on Friends. Future So You Think You Can Dance champion Jeanine Mason was nine years old. And over on a TV network that no longer exists — the dubba dubba dubba dubba WB — a trio of teen aliens were preparing to receive a message from home in the finale of their debut season

Roswell lasted three seasons in total (the last of which was on UPN, another dead network), mostly in the shadow of shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Dawson’s Creek. With its revival series, Roswell, NM, ending its first season tonight, the TV landscape is very different. It’s less about being in the shadow of bigger, more popular shows than it is about carving out your own niche, and the new Roswell has done that very well.

SEASON FINALE: The fact that the season finale of Roswell, NM is an episode titled “Recovering the Satellites” inspires a lot of confidence. Who wouldn’t be bullish on a show that uses old Counting Crows albums as title inspirations? It’s also hard not to be bullish on a series that stars the wonderful and charismatic Jeanine Mason and Nathan Parsons as a Liz and Max for 2019. 9:00 PM ET on The CW

SERIES PREMIERE: ABC’s docu-series 1969 should have no shortage of subjects to cover: Woodstock, Charles Manson, Vietnam, Chapaquiddick, Stonewall — it’s a year that has attained mythic status in American history for a reason. In this first episode, titled “Moon Shot,” starts off on a high note, landing a man on the moon. 10:00 PM ET on ABC

SERIES FINALE: The series finale of BET’s Being Mary Jane comes almost two years after the last new episode aired. The two-hour movie will pick up after the fallout from Justin’s proposal to Mary Jane and will also deal with the questions of what she’s going to do about those frozen embryos of hers. With Gabrielle Union in the lead role, we at least know the ending is a must-see. 8:00 PM ET on BET

PREMIERE: Former Saturday Night Live performer and current Detroiters standout Tim Robinson is at the center of the new Netflix sketch comedy series, I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson. The previews look suitably insane, but the guest-star power includes Cecily Strong and Vanessa Bayer, and trust that you have not lived until you’ve seen Bayer say “pig dicks” in context. Streaming on Netflix

ALSO TONIGHT

• This week’s Fosse/Verdon episode flashes back to the beginnings of Gwen Verdon’s career, which means plenty more of Michelle Williams giving what might be the best performance currently on TV. 10:00 PM ET on FX
• BET’s newest prime-time drama Games People Play premieres right after the Being Mary Jane finale and featuring basketball wives, disgraced journalists, sex, and murder. 10:00 PM ET on BET
• The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills continues to wade through the swamp of the ladies’ feud with Lisa Vanderpump. This week, Denise Richards steps up to the plate to mediate. 9:00 PM ET on Bravo
• Black-ish sees the return of Dre’s sister Rhonda (Raven-Symoné), as she takes young Jack and Diane to hang out in the old black neighborhood. Meanwhile, Bow becomes an office mom! 9:00 PM ET on ABC

Joe Reid is the senior writer at Primetimer and co-host of the This Had Oscar Buzz podcast. His work has appeared in Decider, NPR, HuffPost, The Atlantic, Slate, Polygon, Vanity Fair, Vulture, The A.V. Club and more.