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Salon's guide to what to watch on Tuesday: Will the season finale of "Damages" offer a shocking spectacle of epic proportions?

Prime Pick

Damages

Photo: FX

Almost every single episode of FX's "Damages" (10 p.m. EDT) has included the kinds of big revelations and unexpected twists that you'd expect to find in the average season finale. That can only mean that tonight's final episode will offer us a shocking spectacle of epic proportions. As the season draws to a close, many of the show's big questions have already been answered: Corrupt CEO Art Frobisher (Ted Danson) is a bad guy -- a very, very bad guy -- and can be blamed for most of the nefarious acts committed over the course of the show's 13 episodes. Young, ambitious lawyer Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) and high-stakes litigator Patty Hewes (Glenn Close) are both manipulative tricksters, but will Patty go down in history as a shrewd and complicated legal mastermind or an evil, egoistic freak? And will we be treated to some hint as to what kind of a case or crime the second season of "Damages" might focus on, if the show does get a second shot despite low ratings? Tonight's episode is sure to be a wild ride regardless. (For those who've missed the many curveballs of this show's first slick and suspenseful season, Matt Roush of TV Guide offers a pretty comprehensive summary.)

Also…

Part 4 of HBO's five-part miniseries "Five Days" (8 p.m. EDT) includes new rifts and unsettling plot twists, and more inconvenient truths await on CNN's "Planet in Peril" (9 p.m. EDT). And on PBS, Frontline's "Showdown With Iran" airs at 9 p.m. EDT (check listings), followed by the Independent Lens documentary "Please Vote for Me" (10 p.m. EDT, check listings), which presents the story of Chinese students learning about democracy in campaigning to become class monitor.

On the talk shows

Regis and Kelly

ABC, 9 a.m. EDT
Anderson Cooper, co-host Jimmy Kimmel

The View

ABC, 11 a.m. EDT
Lance Bass, Mariah Carey

Ellen DeGeneres

Syndicated, check local listings
Reese Witherspoon

Oprah Winfrey

Syndicated, check local listings
Cathie Black

Charlie Rose

PBS, check local listings
Jeffrey Toobin

Larry King

CNN, 9 p.m. EDT
TBA

Jon Stewart

Comedy Central, 11 p.m. EDT
Jake Gyllenhaal

Stephen Colbert

Comedy Central, 11:30 p.m. EDT
Garry Kasparov

David Letterman

CBS, 11:30 p.m. EDT
Jamie Foxx, Jimmy Smits, will.i.am (repeat)

Jay Leno

NBC, 11:35 p.m. EDT
Hugh Laurie, Sherri Shepard, Editors (repeat)

Tavis Smiley

PBS, check local listings
Robert Reich, Dee Dee Bridgewater

Jimmy Kimmel

ABC, 12:05 a.m. EDT
Mira Sorvino, the fifth eliminated celebrity from "Dancing With the Stars," Brad Paisley

Conan O'Brien

NBC, 12:35 a.m. EDT
Jessica Alba, Bear Grylls, Paul F. Tompkins (repeat)

Craig Ferguson

CBS, 12:35 a.m. EDT
Terrence Howard, Jennifer Westfeldt, Zap Mama (repeat)

Contributors: Megan Doll, Heather Havrilesky, Eryn Loeb, Amy Reiter

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