They’re back: Bart, Georgie, Elsbeth and more

When TV shows take a break, our reactions vary.
Some shows are gone for a couple years and we barely shrug; others are gone for a couple weeks and we feel cheated.
Now things are getting better: Fox’s “The Simpsons” returns Sunday (March 30), after a six-week break; CBS’ Thursday and Friday shows return April 3-4 (starting with “Georgie & Mandy,” shown here), after a two-week break that seemed approximately forever.
These things can happen, for outside reasons – in CBS’ case, the basketball tournament – or sort of out of kindness: Now that their shows also go to streaming, networks are reluctant to have reruns in the middle of the season. Instead, they’ll insert a temporary replacement.
That hit an extreme this year on ABC: The Thursday shows (led by “Grey’s Anatomy”) rested for 15 weeks.
Fox now has plenty of animated series, so it can keep fresh ones on the air. It benched “Simpsons” for those six weeks, but brings it back now.
Then CBS returns its shows:
— “Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage” has been a delight. At 8 p.m. Thursday (April 3), Georgie (right) tries to help his brother-in-law (left), who has a romantic crush; the rest of the family finds it hard to stay out of the way.
— “Ghosts” (8:30) also has romantic intervention. Pete has promised to help find love for his friend Sasappis. Now he finds a wisecracking 1940s screenwriter who (like Pete) is one of the few ghosts able to travel.
— “Matlock” (9 p.m.) has Olympia in a fight with her ex-husband for the one partnership now available in the law firm. She takes on a tough case and – at the end of the hour – makes a key discovery. That sets up a terrific April 10 episode that reminds us that Kathy Bates is a gifted, Oscar-winning actress. A week later, “Matlock” has its two-part season-finale.
— “Elsbeth” (10 p.m.) has Mary Louise Parker as a de-cluttering guru whose cluttered romance leads to murder. It’s a good episode … followed by an even better one a week later, with David Alan Grief as a funeral director.
— On April 4, the Friday shows return. Two of them will wrap their seasons on April 25 – “NCIS: Sydney” (8 p.m.) with a one-hour episode, “Fire Country” with two hours. “SWAT” will be off that night, then will return to lead up to its May 16 series finale.