What’s ahead for “Providence” (7 p.m., NBC)? Last fall, NBC announced that tonight’s two-hour episode would be the last. Fans of the family-friendly drama-fantasy were miffed and some media watchers were puzzled. “Providence” had a loyal following. While its audience was not as young as advertisers like, it frequently came in at No. 1 in its time slot. Last month NBC entertainment president Jeff Zucker stated that he was having second thoughts about pulling the plug. “I’m not afraid to admit I may have made a mistake, and we’ll see,” he said. The network will make a final decision on the series next year.

While cases where a network changes its mind are almost as rare as original sitcom plots, when they happen, they can be memorable. In 1968, NBC decided to pull another Friday-night drama from its schedule. But fans of “Star Trek,” then in its second season, were so outraged that they organized a letter-writing campaign and saved the show. Zucker may also be mindful of “JAG,” a series that NBC canceled after two seasons in 1996. “JAG” moved to CBS in 1997, where it has performed well for five seasons.

So, with its fate undecided, NBC is calling tonight’s show a “season finale.” Look for Syd’s wedding to go anything but smoothly as her groom mulls a job offer far from Rhode Island, and an irate father takes an ER hostage to ensure his son’s medical care.

• Fox has no second thoughts about its recent decision to cancel “Firefly” (7 p.m., Fox), creator Josh Whedon’s (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) ambitious space western. The network effectively closes the books on the ratings-challenged fantasy with tonight’s repeat of the series’ two-hour pilot episode. While three episodes of “Firefly” never have been shown, Fox has no immediate plans to air them. Fans of “Firefly” can vent, find consolation or speculate about the show’s chances for syndication or network pickup at www.fireflyfans.net.
• Singers Faith Hill, Melissa Etheridge, Creed, Vanessa Carlton and Steven Curtis Chapman perform on “A Home for the Holidays” (7 p.m., CBS), a holiday special promoting child adoption, now in its fourth year. Martin Sheen, Sela Ward and Ellen DeGeneres also appear.
• Fans of Faith Hill also can catch her one-hour biography on “Inside Fame” (7 p.m., CMT), followed by a repeat of her 2002 concert “Faith Hill: When the Lights Go Down” (8 p.m., CMT), which will be repeated yet again at 8 p.m. Sunday on NBC.

Tonight’s other highlights

• William Shatner stars in the 1989 sequel “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier” (7 p.m., UPN).
• The director of “Gangs of New York” shares his ideas about the history of American cinema on the three-part, four-hour 1995 documentary series “A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese” (7 p.m., Turner Classic Movies).
• Marcellus doubts a beautiful woman’s story about a stalker on “Hack” (8 p.m., CBS).
• A child dies at a family restaurant on “CSI: Miami” (9 p.m., CBS)
• Piper Laurie guest-stars as the foster grandmother of a murdered girl on “Law & Order: SVU” (9 p.m., NBC).
• Scheduled on “20/20” (9 p.m., ABC): an interview with Charlton Heston; Air Force tactics that may have contributed to “friendly fire” fatalities in Afghanistan.

Cult choice

What happens when John Boy Walton terrorizes “Suddenly Susan”? You get the fact-based 1993 drama “Stalking Laura” (8 p.m., Lifetime), about a woman professional (Brooke Shields) harassed by her colleague (Richard Thomas).

Series notes

Tom Bergeron plays host to “America’s Funniest Home Videos” (7 p.m., ABC) … A childhood toy provokes conflict on “What I Like About You” (7 p.m., WB).