End Games

Image credit: Kevin Hill: Peter Stranks/Touchstone Television

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Joan of Arcadia (April 22)
Sinking to an average of 8.1 million viewers after a season 1 high of 10.1 million, CBS' God-is-my-co-pilot drama could use a prayer circle. Instead, it's employing a more mortal tactic — opening up a can of whupass. In the finale, Joan (Amber Tamblyn) faces a sinister figure, and ''her mission is to restrain him,'' explains exec producer Stephen Nathan. ''It's Joan meets Buffy.''

Kevin Hill (May 18)
Hunky Taye Diggs attracted 4 million people to the debut of his single-dad legal drama on UPN, but his megawatt smile has lost some of its luster, and now lures only 2.8 million viewers. So Hill producers have reached out to more pretty people: Toni Braxton, Wayne Brady, and Diggs' real-life wife, Idina Menzel, will star in the final two episodes ''to tee off as potential guests for next year,'' says exec producer Samantha Corbin-Miller. ''We're trying to make the show a little more Practice and a little less Ally McBeal,'' she adds.

Smallville (May 18)
After four seasons, The WB's teenage Superman drama, which pulls in an average of 4.4 million viewers (compared with 5.9 million in 2002), is losing Nielsen strength. Exec producer Al Gough's plan: ''Our biggest finale yet. A catastrophe strikes in the middle of high school graduation, propelling everyone into different directions.'' Also propelled is that sluggish kryptonian-crystal story, plus an explanation for Lana's (Kristin Kreuk) tattoo. Hint: It doesn't involve a drunken night in Tijuana.