1) “The Front Page” (1974), 9:45 p.m. ET, Turner Classic Movies. A great, three-day stretch begins for TCM. Natalie Wood and Cary Grant marathons are Friday and Saturday, but first is Jack Lemmon. He links with Walter Matthau (shown here, left) for two terrific comedies, thi one and “The Fortune Cookie”) at 3:30. The tender “The Apartment” is 5:45, with “Some Like It Hot” at 11:45.
2) “Boston Blue,” 9 and 10 p.m., CBS. After wasting the 8 p.m. hour on a mixed-martial-arts preview, CBS partly redeems itself with reruns of this well-made series. First, Danny and Lena are protecting a basketball star. Then all of the key people come together when a threat strikes close to home.
3) “MasterChef” and “Nation’s Dumbest,” 8 and 9 p.m., Fox. Here are quick reruns of Wednesday’s shows. The chefs, working tag-team style, try to re-create favorite dishes from the judges’ past. Then it’s “mid-terms” time in the classroom: Four people have won exits and one (Carmen Electra) was expelled; after this hour, only half the original 12 will remain.
4) “The Departed” (2006), 8 p.m., AMC. Martin Scorsese has had 10 best-director nominations, but only one win. That was for this smart, multi-level crime story, with Leonard DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg and more. It also won the best-picture Oscar, plus ones for its script and editing.
5) More movies. Matt Damon competes with himself, starring in “The Martian,” at 7 p.m. on FX, and in support in “Departed.” Also at 7, TNT has the epic finale of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy; beautifully crafted, it won 11 Oscars, including best picture. On the light side, Freeform has “Monsters, Inc.” and “Monsters University,” at 6:25 and 8:30 p.m.