There’s a lot of good news and bad news in this week’s drama offerings. Here’s a peek at what’s happening:
* “Breaking Bad”
(Sunday, 10 p.m., AMC)
Walter White’s every day is a mixture of good and bad news, and Mama has the feeling that there will be plenty of both before this season wraps next week. The chief question: Will Jesse’s many transgressions come back to haunt him, and if they do, will Walt take his side?
* “Lie to Me”
(Monday, 8 p.m., Fox)
This steadily improving Tim Roth vehicle returns for a summer run, beginning with tonight’s installment guest-starring crusty Howard Hesseman. Good news: “Lie to Me” has been picked up for another season by Fox. Bad: It’ll be without show runner Shawn Ryan, who was largely responsible for its creative renaissance. Here’s hoping Roth & Co. can keep up the entertaining momentum.
* “The Good Guys”
(Monday, 9 p.m., Fox)
Hey — remember a while back when Fox debuted a show starring Colin Hanks, Bradley Whitford and a mustache? It turns out that was a series, and they finally decided to get around to showing us the second episode. The good news: Most shows remake the pilot for the first few episodes anyway, so new viewers can still catch up. The bad: That mustache. Mama used to dream of kissing Josh Lyman when he was one of the White House hotties on NBC’s “The West Wing” — now Whitford better keep away from her with that soup-strainer.
* “Nurse Jackie”
(Monday, 10 p.m., Showtime)
Bad news, people: Another season has come to an end quickly! More bad news: Mama is falling for Tara, the mom with many, many personalities played by Emmy winner Toni Collette on “The United States of Tara.” It’s not your fault, Jackie — you’ve been swell. It’s just that the “Tara” plots aren’t as cliché-ridden. Watching a drug addict finesse her way out of a tight spot every week is not the most creative premise for a series. Are addicts really that interesting? Would Jackie really have two men mesmerized by her? Sorry. Mama promises to check back in next year to see how you are.
* “Persons Unknown” (Monday, 10 p.m., NBC)
This abduction/amnesia story sounds like NBC picked through ABC’s castoffs of “Lost” wannabes when searching for programming to fill its schedule. A bunch of strangers wake up in a deserted town and discover they’re being filmed. The good news: A couple of nice pedigrees in creator Christopher McQuarrie, who won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for “The Usual Suspects,” and star Alan Ruck. The bad news: It’s scheduled on NBC in the summer. How good could it possibly be?
* “Pretty Little Liars” (Tuesday, 8 p.m., ABC Family)
You know a show is geared toward the next generation when the press release dramatically states that “the truth may be only one text away.” Good: OMG; Bad: ROFL. This show is “Mean Girls” for the ABC Family set. The plot, such as it is, goes something like this: Four annoyingly pretty girls hide their secrets and lies beneath pristine exteriors. Alison, one of the girls in their set, has disappered and they won’t spill the beans. The intrigue begins when the quartet — Aria, Spencer, Hanna and Emily — starts to receive veiled messages from “A” that contain things only Alison would know.
* “Justified”
(Tuesday, 10 p.m., FX)
The good news: Walton Goggins, for years so dynamic on “The Shield,” is signed on as a regular for next season on this hit Elmore Leonard/Timothy Olyphant drama as white supremacist-turned-Jesus-freak Boyd Crowder. The bad news: Now this finale is a little less suspenseful because you know he’s not going to die.
