Episode

"Glee," the occasionally topical high school musical series, aired an episode on Thursday night that could have been ripped from yesterday's headlines. The topic: a school shooting. In the episode, titled, "Shooting Star," one of the students of McKinley High School, a girl with Down syndrome played by Lauren Potter, brings a firearm to the high school where it discharges, putting true fear in the hearts of the students. Though there have been several incidents of school shootings in recent years, the timing of the episode nearly four months after the horrific shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., was too much for the parents of that town.

ABC Family will make history tonight, airing an episode of “Switched at Birth” completely in American Sign Language, with subtitles for hearing viewers. It's something the network says has never been done before on scripted, mainstream television. The show is about two Kansas City teens who were accidentally switched in the hospital as newborns and raised by one another's family. One of them, Daphne (Katie Leclerc), is deaf, and the show is comprised of deaf, hearing and hard-of-hearing actors.

Huell Howser, the host of the public television series "California's Gold," left behind a wealth of material when he donated the entire 18-season run of his state travelogue series to Chapman University in Orange County. And as noted fans of Howser commemorate the host's passing on Sunday at age 67, their memories can now be backed up with video assistance. On KCET's website , the channel that aired "California's Gold," comedian James Adomian, who did a killer Howser impression for Funny or Die and the "Comedy Bang Bang" podcast, recalled his favorite episode as the "Firefall.

"The Price Is Right" has been around in its current run since 1972. When that 40-year run has had just two hosts and very few changes in format, it's time to shake things up. And Thursday's episode attempts to do just that by adding kids. Everybody likes kids, right? The first-ever "Price Is Right" kids episode, led by current host Drew Carey, aims to introduce the time-tested game show format to a new generation of possible "Showcase Showdown" dreamers. That doesn't mean that the adults are completely off the show, of course.

The fourth episode of NBC's serial-killer drama "Hannibal" scheduled to air next week has been pulled because of concerns over violence in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing and other violent incidents. Bryan Fuller, who created the series, asked NBC to pull the episode, which featured guest star Molly Shannon as a woman brainwashing children to kill other kids. The fifth episode of the drama will air in its place. Clips from the fourth episode will appear on the website along with an introduction by Fuller explaining why he felt the content might be too disturbing.

Integrating products into plots of television shows is nothing new, but some series are taking it to levels that aren't always pretty and could alienate viewers. That was the case with last week's "New Girl" on Fox. In the episode, Jess (Zooey Deschanel) agrees to fill in for her model friend Cece (Hannah Simone), who is too hung over to properly ogle a new Ford. Jess, who is more of an earthy girl, gets made up and puts on some sky-high heels to prance around in.  She struggles with that, of course, and hilarity is supposed to ensue.

For four seasons, Walter White has climbed to the top of the drug world and for "Breaking Bad's" final season, he's at the top of his game and at the top of the ratings. The fifth season premiere of the AMC series grabbed the show's biggest audience to date, with 2.9 million viewers. That audience was up 14% from the previous season premiere and posted an impressive 34% increase in the coveted 18-49 demo. All told, the season premiere grabbed 3.5 million viewers, factoring in the encore airing later in the night.

[This post has been updated.] "Family Guy" on Fox gave its satirical regards to Broadway on Sunday in a new episode in which Brian and Stewie face off as rival playwrights battling for supremacy in the Griffin household.  Sunday's episode featured several theater-world references, including comedic homages to Peter Shaffer's "Amadeus" -- another play about creative jealousy -- and Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire....

For newly minted Emmy nominee Anna Gunn, “Breaking Bad's” still-evolving fifth season has been a study in contrasts. Her character, Skyler White, has more or less been imprisoned in her home since husband Walter White's shocking triumph over drug kingpin Gus Fring last season. Early episodes found Skyler inert, completely at a loss, terrified by Walt's complete transformation into his Hyde-like alter-ego, Heisenberg. Then, as Gunn puts it, the “lid popped off” and, in an unforgettable meltdown, Skyler couldn't stop telling her sister Marie to “shut up.” (Apparently, Gunn's tirade has already become a popular ring tone.

Amy Sherman-Palladino is trying to get a scene just right. She is directing the season finale of her show "Bunheads," an episode that could determine whether the ABC Family network returns the series for a second season. "Bunheads" is a sweet drama about a Las Vegas chorus girl starting over in a small town by teaching ballet. Sherman-Palladino, a classically trained dancer turned television writer, is trying to start over too. The pivotal scene of this episode, which airs Monday night, is being filmed on location in Hollywood.