Schedule Watch: May 12

Fans of The Big Bang Theory get a huge bang for their buck this week with Wednesday’s episode (TVNZ 2, 8.00), Friday’s double-episode series finale (TVNZ 2, 7.30) and a cast takeover of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert later the same night (Prime, 11.30).

A trailer for the final hour includes clips from the first episode that you can see in HD whereas TVNZ 2 persists in re-running the first three seasons in SD.

And the season two finale of TBBT spin-off Young Sheldon, which TVNZ will air in a later slot of 8.30 on May 22, will introduce younger versions of Leonard, Penny, Howard, Raj, Amy and Bernadette as a homage to the parent show.

Other than declining ratings, here’s one of the best analyses yet of why TBBT is ending just in time.

The full Late Show line-up includes:

• Monday: Keanu Reeves, Santino Fontana.
• Tuesday: Bill Hader, James Bay.
• Wednesday: Gayle King, Anthony Mason, Tony Dokoupil, Pete Holmes, the National.
• Thursday: Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, Tommy Vietor, BTS.
• Friday: Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar, Mayim Bialik, Melissa Rauch.
• May 20: Olivia Wilde, Scott Pelley.

And booked for TVNZ 1’s The Ellen DeGeneres Show are:

• Monday: Jason Momoa.
• Tuesday: George Clooney, Willa Amai.
• Wednesday: Kris Jenner.
• Thursday: Sterling K. Brown, Christopher Abbott.
• Friday: Octavia Spencer.
• May 20: Jose Andres.
• May 21: James Corden, Beth Stern.
• May 22: Keanu Reeves, OneRepublic.

Here are the guests for this week’s Real Time With Bill Maher (SoHo2, 9.30 Sunday):

During his New Rules segment, Maher makes a plea to the First Lady:

Melania Trump must do what dozens of buildings around the world have done and take the Trump name off.  President Hellboy has proved to be impervious to facts, reason, shame and the law, but maybe if you left him for another man he would implode on his own.

On tonight’s Sunday (TVNZ 1, 7.30), Jehan Casinader interviews teens who lost their loved ones in the Christchurch terror attack who are determined to become better leaders as a result. And catches up with “Octomom”.

Tonight’s 60 Minutes (Prime, 9.30) investigates possible attacks against U.S. diplomats abroad, interviews the capitalist investing in Middle America, and explores the playgrounds of the rich.

Monday’s Fair Go (TVNZ 1, 7.30) asks if the regifting of Mother’s Day presents is okay.