After a slow start to the week, the action picks up, so keep the DVR on standby. In addition to season and series finales, Bravo clones “Project Runway” and HBO rivals PBS for classy fare. Watch them or avoid them, here are seven shows to be aware of this week:
‘Scrubs’ finale
7 p.m. Wednesday on ABC
The series finale finds J.D. (Zach Braff) saying goodbye to all his friends at Sacred Heart Hospital. But wait — IS this the series finale? It was shot as one, but buzz last week had ABC contemplating ordering another season, without Braff and likely minus other original regulars as well. Would you watch if this season’s new interns took center stage? Or would you scrub out?
‘Michael J. Fox: Adventures of an Incurable Optimist’
9 p.m. Thursday on ABC
The “Family Ties”/”Spin City” star, who’s been living with Parkinson’s disease for a decade, plugs his new book and travels to Bhutan in a special that may answer the question: How can Michael J. Fox stay so darn plucky?
‘The Fashion Show’
9 p.m. Thursday on Bravo
Even before Bravo officially lost “Project Runway,” the cable network was busy at work ripping off its biggest hit. The result, beating “Runway” (which moves to Lifetime in August) back onto the air by three months, is “The Fashion Show,” with designer Isaac Mizrahi and singer/fashionista Kelly Rowland as hosts. The first episode, which Bravo sent out for preview, introduces 15-odd contestants — and I do mean odd, but their peculiarities feel contrived. Still, there’s nothing really wrong with this “Project Runway” wannabe other than the fact that it’s not “Project Runway.”
‘Dollhouse’ season finale
8 p.m. Friday on Fox
Joss Whedon wraps up the “Dollhouse” season with an episode intended to provide some closure while also leaving ends dangling in case the series pulls off a hail-Mary and gets picked up for a second season. Also ending its season Friday, with less than a prayer of surviving, is “Everybody Hates Chris” (7 p.m. on the CW). The charming, widely ignored comedy isn’t expected to win renewal.
‘The Alzheimer’s Project’
8 p.m. Sunday on HBO
Four documentaries with four different themes look at all aspects of Alzheimer’s disease, with the goal of finding hope. Sunday night’s “The Memory Loss Tapes” promises “an up-close and personal look at seven individuals living with Alzheimer’s, across the full spectrum of the progression of the disease.” The eries continues Monday and Tuesday.
‘The Amazing Race’ season finale
7 p.m. Sunday on CBS
An exciting season even by “Amazing Race” standards ends with three pairs racing for the finish line and $1 million. (No shoving, Luke.) Also ending its season Sunday is “The Celebrity Apprentice,” which wraps up with a bloated, three-hour finale (7-10 p.m. on NBC). Both “The Amazing Race” and “Celebrity Apprentice” have already been renewed for next season.
‘Masterpiece Theatre:Wallander’
8 p.m. Sunday on PBS
Kenneth Branagh plays Swedish detective Kurt Wallander in three 90-minute adaptations of the wildly popular mystery novels of Henning Mankell. I’ve previewed the first, which is gorgeous (shot on location in southern Sweden) and classy and beautifully acted. The pacing probably will not seem slow, just thoughtful and nuanced, to fans of other PBS mysteries. But although Branagh is excellent, I found the Wallander character — a sensitive fellow with a failed marriage, struggling with depression and family angst, including an aging parent — somehow overly familiar.
See a clip of Kenneth Branagh as “Wallander.”