1) “American Masters: Dr. Tony Fauci,” 8-10 p.m., PBS. For most of its 280 episodes, “Masters” has focused on arts and entertainment, not immunologists. But here is a slowly engaging look at Fauci (shown here), 82, who was the U.S. infectious-disease chief for 38 years. We see a gentle guy who laughs often – despite verbal assaults – and listens to his critics. In a great segment, he chats with the AIDS activists – now his friends – who fervently fought him 30 years ago.
2) “Accused,” 9 p.m., Fox. This anthology has varied widely, including several episodes that were mostly painful to watch. This one, however, is terrific. Jason Ritter plays a teacher, a good guy tugged into a no-win situation. Unlike many shows, this takes a balanced view of religious people and of those on both sides of a thorny issue. There’s great work from Ritter and from Wrenn Schmidt and Emma Nelson, as his fiancee and his student.
3) “Gotham Knights,” 9 p.m., CW. Last week’s opener offered a high-octane introduction to this mismatched crew – Batman’s son, Joker’s daughter, a new Robin and a runaway brother and sister. Framed for Batman’s murder, they escaped and went on the lam. Now they take a daring crack at retrieving clues. Like the debut, it is slick and smart, sharp visually and emotionally.
4) “Night Court” and “American Auto,” 8 and 8:30 p.m., NBC. Both comedies pause for a week of reruns. “Night Court” has some fairly good moments pairing comedy pros — John Larroquette and Wendy Malick; a second story, however, falls flat. “American Auto” gets solid laughs from a flailing effort to have Andy Richter be the company’s new spokesman.
5) Baseball: The World Baseball Classic happens only every four years … and was delayed another two years by the pandemic. Tonight’s game – 7 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1 – will give us the first champion in six years. Then attention shifts back to Major League Baseball, which starts its season March 30.
— Mike Hughes, TV America