Best-bets for March 17: potent, passionate music

1) “A Grammy Salute to the Sound of Change,” 9-11 p.m., CBS. Starting Sunday, viewers can savor Cynthia Erivo’s awesome vocal skill. In National Geographic’s “Genius: Aretha,” she ranges from gospel to disco. First, catch her here, singing John Lennon’s “Imagine.” There’s much more: John Fogerty does “Fortunate Son” and “Promised Land” … Gladys Knight (shown here) and others do Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On?” Greats songs are done by Andra Day, Billy Porter, Yolanda Adams and more. Read more…

1) “A Grammy Salute to the Sound of Change,” 9-11 p.m., CBS. Starting Sunday, viewers can savor Cynthia Erivo’s awesome vocal skill. In National Geographic’s “Genius: Aretha,” she ranges from gospel to disco. First, catch her here, singing John Lennon’s “Imagine.” There’s much more: John Fogerty does “Fortunate Son” and “Promised Land” … Gladys Knight (shown here) and others do Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On?” Greats songs are done by Andra Day, Billy Porter, Yolanda Adams and more.

2) “Finian’s Rainbow” (1968), 5:30 p.m. ET, Turner Classic Movies. Alongside Francis Coppola’s other triumphs, this is often ignored. Still, it’s a splendid merger of a sprightly musical and a great director (and musician’s son), bringing an outsider’s eye. TCM remembers it each St. Patrick’s Day; here, it’s part of an Irish marathon (11:30 a.m. to 6 a.m. ET), including John Wayne’s “The Quiet Man” (1952) at 8. Also, alas, Syfy has “Leprechaun” horror films from 6 a.m. to the original (1993) at 8 p.m.

3) “The Masked Singter,” 8 p.m., Fox. Last week’s season-opener had the cleverest reveal yet: Emerging (slowly) from the top of a snail costume was Kermit the Frog. He had sung pretty well (presumably voiced by Kermit’s human counterpart, Matt Vogel), but finished last in the five-way voting. No one came close with the guessing, but Jenny McCarthy did say the snail had “a Kermit the Frog vibe.” Now we meet the second batch of five characters.

4) “Resident Alien,” 10 p.m., Syfy. Previous episodes offered spurts of comedy, plus the notion that no Earthling (except a boy, whom no one believes) realizes that “Harry” is an outer-space alien, in human form. Now that changes: Searching for the piece he needs to finish his mission (destroying all humans), Harry faces disaster. There’s a life-and-death crisis and two people learn Harry’s secret … except for the kill-humans part. It’s a terrific episode that ends with some sharp jolts.

5) “Snowfall,” 10 p.m., FX. Friends since childhood, Franklin and Leon had drifted to opposite corners of the 1980s drug war. Now Leon – trying to shoot an enemy – has accidentally killed the 5-year-old niece of a rival gang leader. Everyone, including police, is after him. Franklin’s safest route would be to kill his former friend. It’s a strong hour, with some surprisingly quiet and moving moments.

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