1) College basketball. The 64-team tourney starts its three-week marathon. For CBS, that means tip-offs at 12:15 (Ohio State, shown here, and Texas Christian), 2:50, 7:10 and 9:45 p.m. ET, wiping out soaps, comedies and mysteries. That will be the same time Friday (wiping out cops and firefighters at night). There’s more on TBS, TNT and TruTV … and a new round will be Saturday and Sunday.
2) The games. The best games are usually the ones with teams seeded near each other. On CBS, we’d try the games at 12:15 — OSU, seeded No. 8, and TCU, No.9 — and 9:45, with Georgia (8) and Saint Louis (9); we’d skip 2:50, with Duke (1) and Siena (16). Another good one is 7:35 on TruTV, with St. Mary’s of California (7) and Texas A&M (10).
3) “Animal Control,” 9 p.m., Fox. This rerun has a clever start with (Rob Gronkowski) and a great finish (with Frank defending his nemesis). It’s preceded by “Next Level Chef” (Gordon Ramsay’s 6-year-old son and an emphasis on kids’ food) and followed by a sub-par “Going Dutch” rerun.
4) “The Hunting Party,” 10 p.m., NBC. This oft-repulsive show hits a new low. This time, the escaped villain is a guy who makes shoes out of human skin. That does bring a reunion of two “Manifest” stars — Melissa Roxburgh and Josh Dallas; botg are excellent, but in an hour that merely disgusts.
5) MORE: Fresh from winning six Oscars (including best picture), “One Battle After Another” is at 9:25 p.m. on HBO. Also, ABC has new episodes of the “9-1-1” shows and “Grey’s Anatomy.” And at 9 (rerunning at 10), FX has an emotional hour of “Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette,” setting up next week’s finale.