Don’t get excited. I enjoy “NCIS” reruns as much as the next guy. The CBS colossus will go on forever, like “Bonanza” or “Dallas.” It’s “Mission: Impossible” for the exhausted. People love it, love it, love it. They’ve already spawned “NCIS: New Orleans” and “Los Angeles.” You know they’re working on Miami, or San Francisco, or Peoria next.

Tonight, “NCIS” classic, so to speak, left us with a cliffhanger. That’s if you believe Mark Harmon’s Gibbs is going to die in an Arab market. A little boy shot him twice. Gibbs is down, and there’s a lot of sand and dust. Don’t worry: Mark Harmon will be making “NCIS” shows well into the next century.

And what about Cote de Pablo? She left and starred in “The Dovekeepers” for CBS, which has now been cancelled. She doesn’t have anything else going right now except for a pretty bad looking thriller called “The 33” coming to theatres this fall. My guess is that Ziva makes a guest appearance or two next fall. Let’s see what happens.

Mad Men’s penultimate episode was actually, I think, the final episode. Don completed a circle, and let a kid that reminded him of himself go free. Pete finally found the pot at the end of the rainbow. Sally came to an understanding of her mother, Betty.

And by doing it this way, I think Matt Weiner signaled us that we saw of Peggy and Joan last week was their ending, too. Joan got her money and married her guy. Peggy came to McCann Erickson swinging for the fences. Roger…well, we know he’s with Megan’s mother, and his life is not about change.

So the shocker is that Betty will die of lung cancer. I don’t think we see her again, either. That Sally read her letter now tells us everything we need to know. And though Betty was an enigma to her kids, the letter left a lump in the throat.

And the other shocker is that Pete, privileged, an asshole, instead of getting a comeuppance, wins. Pete won, kids. Life is very unfair.

If I had to guess, I’d say next week’s finale is a jump forward in time, maybe a reunion in the future. It does seem like Don is going home now. Maybe his story is that he started over and was bigger than ever. But what’s done is done.

Tonight’s episode is a head scratcher. Weiner is not going to wrap the show up with a ribbon, with everyone shaking hands, admitting their failures and finding happiness. Life isn’t like that. There won’t be a big hug a la “Mary Tyler Moore.” The climax of the show– and maybe the true end– was Don taking the kids to see the brothel where he grew up. Everything else has been gravy.

The episode ends with Buddy Holly singing the lightest song of all the episodes: “Everyday.” A signal because of Buddy’s death? Maybe, conspirators. More like a tip of the hat back to the beginning. But I think it could be just a signal that ‘that’s that.’ It’s a simple end to a complicated story.

CBS is cancelling “CSI” after 16 seasons. There are many reports that they’ll come back with a two hour finale in the fall to wrap things up. But “CSI: Cyber,” which no one seems to like, will be back. After all, its star, Patricia Arquette, just won an Oscar. The show can be fixed. We want to see Patty Arquette on TV, no matter what.

CBS also cancelled “Battle Creek” with Josh Duhamel, which I always thought was about cereal. “The Millers” was already cancelled. “The McCarthy’s,” no one knew what that was. CBS will add shows based on the movies “Rush Hour” and “Limitless.”

CBS also has two interesting comedies: Angel from Hell with Jane Lynch, and Life in Pieces starring two time Oscar winner Dianne Wiest, the underrated ColinHanks, and England’s not yet crossed over star Rupert Graves.

On Fox, in addition to “The Mindy Project,” Kevin Bacon in “The Following” is gone. Kevin Bacon had better get back to movies. He has an Oscar in his future. Time’s a-wastin’.

And Poor Katherine Heigl. “State of Affairs” is gone. I like her a lot, and wish she’d get a decent show. She was not treated well in ShondaLand. Maybe now with the Patrick Dempsey thing happening, people will see that. NBC also chopped “About a Boy,” even though last year everyone was so excited about it.

So weird to watch all this network fussin’, when all the good shows are off-network.

Stay tuned for more…

The first death knell of “General Hospital” has wrung: Anthony Geary, who’s played Luke Spencer for 37 years and has won 8 Emmy Awards, is out. He tells TV Guide he’s quitting, but it’s quite obvious that budget slicing finally hit the show’s highest paid actor. The show is bringing back Genie Francis as Laura, Luke’s long time love, to see him off.

And then? “General Hospital” has been on a wild ride since producer Frank Valentini and headwriter Ron Carlivati came from the cancelled “One Life to Live” and saved it. They’ve employed dozens of returned veterans on recurring contracts and balanced a zillion story lines.

But all good things must come to an end. They’ve got two highly paid popular actors– Maura West, who just won the Emmy for Best Actress in that show– and Michael Easton, who are barely seen. They’ve got two more, same situation, Michelle Stafford and Roger Howarth, who cost a lot. Today they’re “killing off” one other legacy character. And so on.

ABC still wants out of soap operas. Pulling the plug on Geary is the best way to destabilize the audience. Geary lives in Holland, is not retiring, and may turn up elsewhere. And I don’t think ABC cares much one way or another. For 10 cents they could have another cooking show and be done with it. We’ll see what happens.