Alessandra Stanley, chief television critic

The finale of “Mad Men” is on Sunday. So the choice is either go big or go off the grid. You could climb into the bunker with “Witnesses,” a French crime series on Netflix and other streaming platforms, or “American Odyssey,” an NBC thriller that is excellent but hasn’t yet found an audience. You won’t be missing out on the conversation — that one hasn’t started yet. (See Neil Genzlinger’s review of “Witnesses.”)

Charles Isherwood, theater critic

Now that the Tony nominations have arrived, and the burden of constant theatergoing has eased, I’m going to take a break and celebrate the great mystery novelist Ruth Rendell, who wrote more than 60 books before herdeath on May 2. I recently picked up one she wrote under the name Barbara Vine, “The House of Stairs.” Just a few pages in, and I was hooked. (See this Times profile of Ms. Rendell or find “The House of Stairs” at a library.)