Mike Hughes on TV

TONIGHT'S MUST-SEE: “Phil Spector,”
9-10:30 p.m., HBO.

Any film about Phil Spector – a
brilliant music producer, a strange person – and his murder trial
would be fascinating. But writer-director David Mamet decided to
create his own reality.

Mamet doesn't claim this is a
docudrama. He invents brilliant bursts of dialog, then gives them to
some of the world's best actors. Al Pacino soars as Spector; Helen
Mirren and Jeffrey Tambor are perfect as his wary lawyers. The result
– whether truth or fiction – is compelling.

TONIGHT'S MUST-SEE II: “The Good
Wife,” 9 p.m. (or later, with basketball overrun), CBS.

In a neat switch of styles, this
episode covers only a few hours on St. Patrick's Day.

That starts and ends at a black-tie
dance. (Julianna Margulies, as Alicia, looks great in her red gown.)
Soon, police tell of a murder and Alicia's daughter learns her mom
was pregnant when she married.

Several people lie and one lands a
punch. There are fine moments with recurring guest stars – Matthew
Perry, Stockard Channing, Amanda Peet – plus the great John Noble
(“Fringe”) as the slain client.

TONIGHT'S ALTERNATIVE: “The Bible,”
8-10 p.m., History.

Here's the fourth piece of the
five-part miniseries (with reruns of the previous ones starting at
2). It shows off the strength and weakness of the series.

The strength – a big story, told with
rich detail and an appealing cast. Diogo Morgado plays Jesus, with
Roma Downey (who produced this with her husband Mark Burnett) as
Mary.

The weakness: This keeps veering
darkward, almost obsessively. We're now to the gospel (a word derived
from “good news”), but the grim schemes quickly overshadow the
Jesus joy. Also, the casting – sweet faces for the disciples,
fierce ones for the Jewish elders – borders on bias.

Other choices include:

– Basketball, all-day. CBS starts
this with a triple-header at noon ET. It will finish at 7 (or a bit
later), with cable taking over at night. TNT has two games, starting
at 6 p.m.; TBS has two, starting at 7, and TruTV has one at 7:30. At
the end of the night, the college tourney will have its sweet 16.

– “Live at Lincoln Center” and
“Masterpiece Contemporary,” 8 and 9 p.m., PBS. As pledge drives
conclude, some stations (check local listings) have a big
show-business night: Kristin Chenoweth sings a tribute to Broadway's
women; then there's a rerun of “The Song of Lunch,” a neatly odd
little two-person playlet, smartly written and drolly played by Alan
Rickman and Emma Thompson.

– “Married to Medicine” debut, 9
p.m., Bravo. Fresh from the “Real Housewives of Atlanta”
season-finale at 8 p.m., we meet some more Atlanta women. Two are
doctors, four are doctors' wives, all are attractive, many are
overwrought. By talking a lot, they turn harmless comments into a
messy feud.

– “Vikings,”10 p.m., History. The
first western invasion was simple, butchering some helpless monks.
This second one takes strategy and then an all-out battle. And once
he's back, Raynar faces the tribal chief and a murder trial, in
another fairly good episode.

– “Red Widow,” 10:01 p.m., ABC.
Even in a multi-tasking world, Marta's life is overcrowded. Her older
son has sex; her younger son has show-and-tell. She's a widow, a
businesswoman, a police informant and a novice for Schiller, the
crime lord. In an excellent episode, things gets more complicated
when Schiller works with a big-time crook who shares Marta's Russian
roots.

TONIGHT'S MUST-SEE: “Kids Choice
Awards,” 8 p.m., and “Monsters vs.Aliens” debut, 9:30,
Nickelodeon.

First, the awards show, hosted by Josh
Duhamel, promises to have lots of goofy fun, music and (as usual)
slime. Pitbull sings “Feel This Moment,” joined by Christina
Aguilera; Ke$ha sings “C'Mon.”

Then we launch the TV-series version of
an animated gem from 2009. A sampling looks promising, as a former TV
newswoman join Link, B.O.B. and Dr. Cockroach to protect the
president.

TODAY'S MUST-SEE II: Basketball, all
day.

A 68-team field has been quickly
trimmed to 32. By Sunday night, the NCAA will have its sweet-16.

Today, CBS has half the games. It
starts at noon ET and has four straight, finishing in time for “48
Hours” at about 10 p.m.

The other four games are on cable – 6
and about 8:30 p.m. on TNT, 7 and about 9:30 on TBS.

TONIGHT'S ALTERNATIVE: :”Saturday
Night Live,” 10 and 11:29 p.m., NBC.

Two days before Adam Levine starts a
new round of “The Voice,” he shows up on both reruns.

First is the episode in which Jeremy
Renner hosted, doing everything from playing the piano to acting in
most of the sketches, ranging from Gen. David Petraeus to a clueless
guy trying to identify his brother's body. Maroon 5, with Levine,
sang “One More Night” and “Daylight.”

Then is the episode with Levine hosting
and Kenrick Lamar as music guest. The best moment mocks “Carrie
Diaries” (the teen version of “Sex and the City”) by doing a
teen “Sopranos.”

Other choices include:

– “Splash,” 8 p.m., ABC. Here's a
rerun of the opener. Combine it with next Tuesday's episode and
you'll see all 10 contestants, from gifted athletes (Kareem Jabbar,
Ndamakong Suh) and bikini beauties (Katherine Webb) to … well,
Louie Anderson and Chuy Bravo.

– “Shadow on the Mesa,” 8 and 10
p.m., Hallmark Movie Channel. This western – which reruns at the
same time, plus noon and 2 p.m., Sunday – offers familiar faces,
including Kevin Sorbo Greg Evigan, Gail O'Grady and Meredith Baxter.
Still, the focus is on Wes Brown, as an avenging bounty hunter.

– “Doctor Who,” 8-11 p.m., BBC
America. A week before the new season of this terrific show, we step
back to this epic, which the British ran as a two-parter in Christmas
week of 2009. The Master is returning and could bring the end of
time. The Doctor (David Tennant) needs all-star help, with
appearances by Billie Piper, Freema Agyeman, Catherine Tait, John
Barrowman and Timothy Dalton.

– “The Following,” 9 p.m., Fox.
In a run of Monday's episode, Ryan and Parker try to get around their
new FBI boss. Also, the fugitive Joe Carroll demands to meet with his
wife, who's in hiding.

– “Chicago Fire,” 9 p.m., CBS. In
a rerun from December, the firefighters are accused of stealing a
$50,000 necklace in an upscale townhouse. Also, Cruz's brother is
immersed in gang violence.

– “Chupacabra vs. the Alamo,”
9-11 p.m., Syfy. Let's give credit for the idea and the Latino
flavor, as a cop (Erik Estrada) links with his gang-member son to
fight legendary beasts at the Alamo. Alas, the performances are weak
and the creatures are so quick that they provide little visual
interest.

TONIGHT'S MUST-SEE: “Last Man
Standing,” 8 p.m., ABC.

This show's second season brought good
ratings and fairly good quality. Now it concludes with an
exceptionally solid episode, as Mike (Tim Allen) sees changes in all
three daughters.

Kristin was studious, but pregnancy
intervened; now she's a waitress, dating her son's dad. Mandy is
frilly, but she's been admitted to two colleges. Their younger sister
Eve trains for the ROTC.

There are some funny scenes here –
especially with Jonathan Taylor Thomas (Allen's son on “Home
Improvement”) as Kristin's former colleague.

TONIGHT'S MUST-SEE II: Basketball, all
day.

The second day of the college
tournament again has four networks with four games apiece.

CBS starts it, with one doubleheader at
noon ET, a 5 p.m. break, and another at 7. Tru TV has its first two
games at 12:30 p.m., a 5:30 break, and two more at 7:15.

The others have their four without a
break. TBS starts at 1:30 p.m., TNT at 2.

TONIGHT'S ALTERNATIVE: “Flowers of
St. Francis” (1950), 9 p.m. ET, Turner Classic Movies.

In a bit of scheduling luck, TCM
already had this slated before the new pope chose the name Francis I.
“Flowers” has unconnected vignettes in the life of his namesake,
St. Francis of Assisi.

It's a light film, made by men who
would go on to be heavyweights of modern cinema. Roberto Rossellini
directed and wrote the script with four others, including his friend,
Federico Fellini.

TONIGHT'S ALTERNATIVE II: “Spartacus,”
9 p.m., repeats at 10, Starz.

Now for the opposite of the
soft-hearted St. Francis: After three seasons of stabbing, slicing
and beheading, this show nears its finale with both sides divided.

Spartacus wants to go over the
mountains and into anonymous freedom. His men want to attack Rome.

On the other side, Crassus is obsessed
with his former lover, a slave who fled to join Spartacus. Julius
Caesar knows she ran because Crassus' son raped her.

Like some “Spartacus” episodes,
this has abundant sex and nudity; like all of them, it has extreme
violence and brutality. And unlike the others, we're reminded that
both sides can be killed.

Other choices include:

– “Fashion Star,” 8 p.m., NBC.
Here's a big challenge: Create something that's stylish, but works
for any size or body type.

– “Malibu Country,” 8:31 p.m.,
ABC. Forgive the early part, which is (as usual) very jokey without
being very funny. As soon as Reba starts a blind date, this
season-finale has fun moments. There's strong guest work from Stacy
Keach, Eddie McClintock (“Warehouse 13”) and Beth Lacke.

– “Grimm,” 9 p.m., NBC. The
latest victim blinds people. Meanwhile, Juliette keeps working with
Rosalee to patch up the holes in his memory.

– “True Justice,” 9 p.m., Reelz.
Last week brought a jolt, when we learned that the CIA contact was
one of the bad guys. Kane (Steven Seagal) killed him; he does that a
lot. Now – with lots of nasty fights along the way – he eludes
CIA suspicion and chases the lead villain, setting up nest week's
finale.

– “Hot in Cleveland,” 10 and
10:30 p.m., TV Land. After a “Golden Girls” marathon (7-10 p.m.),
here are reruns that see Elka (Betty White) near marriage. The first
starts the night after a wild bachelorette party; the second has her
pondering three beaus (Buck Henry, Carl Reiner and Don Rickles).

TONIGHT'S MUST-SEE: Basketball, all
day.

The college tournament is about to
consume our TV sets and our lives. Today, all 16 games will be live,
with four apiece on CBS and three cable channels.

CBS has one double-header at noon ET,
pauses at about 5 p.m. for news and such, and starts another at 7;
TruTV has double-headers at 12:30 p.m. and 7:15 p.m., with a pause
at about 5:30.

The others each have four games
straight through; TBS starts at 1:30 p.m., TNT at 2.

TONIGHT'S MIGHT-SEE:”1600 Penn,”
8:30 and 9:31 p.m., NBC.

Basketball wipes out “The Big Bang
Theory” tonight, leaving comedy fans to scan other networks. This
broad (and, sometimes, quite funny) White House comedy should be fun.

One focus is on Skip, the president's
slacker (but well-meaning) son. In the first episode, his step-mom
nudges him to get the final credit for college graduation; in the
second, he watches his siblings while their parents have a date
night. Meanwhile, Marshall (the presidential spokesman) forms an
unllikely bond with D.B., who impregnated Becca, the president's
daughtr … and Marshall's true love.

TONIGHT'S ALTERNATIVE: “American
Idol,” 8 p.m., Fox.

Throughout last season, Jessica Sanchez
displayed an impressive voice and a modest persona. The tiny teen
(5-foot-1) kept doing big ballads, finishing as runner-up.

Sanchez – Mexican on one side,
Filipina on the other – has been singing since she was 2 and
reached national TV at 10 (“Showtime at the Apollo”), 11
(“America's Got Talent”) and 16 (“Idol”). At 17, she's
adjusting her image slightly. Ne-Yo is producing and writing several
songs on her upcoming album. Tonight, prior to the ouster of a
contestant, they'll link for “Give Me Everything (Tonight).”

Other choices include:

– “Warehouse 13,” 6 p.m. to 5
a.m., Syfy. The second half of this clever show's season isn't
scheduled until April 29. While you're waiting, the first half reruns
at 7 p.m., plus one extra rerun at 6.

– “Community,” 8 p.m., NBC. Dean
Pelton wants people to help recruit a rich student – a goal that
upsets the wealthy Pierce. Also, Abed has a new fraternity and
Shirley thrives in gym class.

– “Apocalypse Now” (1979),
8-11:15 p.m., IFC. Francis Coppola's Vietnam epic is a classic, with
strong work from Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall, Marlon Brando and more.

– “The Office,” 9 p.m., NBC. This
reruns the first half of a two-parter in which Andy learns his world
changed – and Erin started dating someone else – during his
three-month voyage. Also, Pam applies for a job that would be near
Jim in Philadelphia … and meets a boss a lot like Michael Scott.

– “Grey's Anatomy,” 9 p.m., ABC.
The doctors find running a hospital is difficult. Also, Meredith
worries about the well-being of her baby-to-be; Callie and Arizona
try to spark their romance.

– “Law & Order: Special Victims
Unit,” 10 p.m., NBC. In a rerun, Oscar-winner Marcia Gay Harden
plays an FBI agent, convinced that a string of rapes is connected to
an unsolved one from 25 years ago. She has a prime suspect (Harold
Perrineau of “Lost”), but Benson and Amaro have doubts.

– “Archer,” 10 p.m., FX. Told to
extract an agent from Morocco, Archer and Lana find a surprise.

– “Scandal,” 10:02 p.m., ABC.
This time, Olivia is at odds with the White House. She's representing
a powerful CEO (Lisa Edelstein of “House”) who had a torrid
affair with the Supreme Court nominee.

TONIGHT'S MUST-SEE: “American Idol,”
8-10 p.n., Fox.

After seeing five straight guys win,
“Idol” may be heading the other way. Last week, women were the
top three vote-getters; men were the bottom four, with Curtis Finch
going home.

Now the nine survivors are back to
perform Lennon-McCartney songs. Also, we'll learn which person –
Charlie Askew or Aubrey Cleland – was chosen by viewers for the
11^th spot on tour.

TONIGHT'S MUST-SEE II: “The
Neighbors,” 8:31 p.m., ABC.

A week before its season finale, this
smartly offbeat show has another fun effort.

Bethenny Frankel – who's big on Bravo
reality shows – guests as an arrogant and fast-talking
entrepreneur. Debbie tries to sell her a purse and soon learns that
her neighbor (an alien from another planet) has mastered two Earthly
customs – driving a hard bargain and running a sweat shop.

TONIGHT'S ALTERNATIVE: “Law &
Order: Special Victims Unit,” 9 p.m., NBC.

By now, some viewers expect comedy from
Dean Winters. He's been Mayhem in commercials and he was Dennis
Duffy, New York's last remaining beeper salesman, in “30 Rock.”

But he's also been intensely serious,
from a convict in “Oz” to a cop (and Tommy's brother) in “Rescue
Me. He was a police detective in the first season of “SVU”;
tonight, he faces a rape charge.

Other choices include:

– Basketball, 6:30 p.m., TruTV. On
Thursday, the college basketball tournament will start to consume CBS
and three cable networks. First, here's an appetizer – a
doubleheader with the two winners getting the final spots in the
64-team field. That gives them the “honor” of facing powerhouses
on Friday.

– “Duck Dynasty,” 7-11 p.m. and
midnight to 3 a.m., A&E. Here's a seven-hour marathon (pausing
briefly to rerun the “Bates Motel” pilot) of bayou reality.

– “Survivor,” 8 p.m., CBS. After
losing (and dumping Francesca Hogi) the first week, the “favorites”
dominated, with four straight “fans” eliminated. That ended last
week, with the favorites losing and dropping Brandon Hantz; things
change again tonight, with a shake-up in the two tribes.

– “The Middle,” 8 p.m., ABC. Dave
Foley has some fine moments in this rerun, as Brick's guidance
counselor. The surprise, however, is his big brother Axl – slacker,
athlete, popular kid. When he and Sue accidentally end up on a
project together, we see how well that can work for him.

– “Modern Famiy,” 9 p.m., ABC. In
a rerun, Gloria's mom (Elizabeth Pena) and sister arrive from
Colombia, bringing baby name, family traditions and emotional
baggage.

– “Suburgatory,” 9:31 p.m., ABC.
Everyone needs reassurance tonight. Dallas feels she'll never match
George's ex-wife, teen Tessa feels she's lost her vigor and Noah has
a discovery about his psychiatrist.

– “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,”
10 p.m., CBS. At his high school reunion, David Phillipd finds that
the prom queen has been killed. Soon, the team is working the case.

– “Dukes of Melrose”debut, 10:30
p.m., Bravo. This reality show focuses on two guys who specialize in
finding used fashions and selling them to upscale customers.