Daily Best Bets

1) “Little Women” (shown here), 8-11 p.m., PBS. Yes, the 2019 movie was masterful. Still, this 2018 mini-series is also first-rate. Given more time (but not more money), it has Louisa May Alcott’s special blend of unapologetic warmth and sentiment, alongside sibling rage and worldly ambition. Newcomer Maya Hawke (daughter of Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman) is a superb Jo, in a tradition from Katharine Hepburn in 1933 to Saoirse Ronan in 2019. Emily Watson and Angela Lansbury offer fine support. Read more…

1) Sports override, everywhere. This was supposed to be an all-sports night – pro basketball on ABC, college basketball on CBS (and cable), figure-skating on NBC. Now all three are gone, replaced by reruns and newsmagazines. ABC has “Shark Tank” and “American Idol” (Hollywood Week begins) … NBC has “Ellen’s Game of Games” and “Dateline” … CBS has “FBI” (Sasha Alexander, shown here, as an endangered presidential candidate), “NCIS: New Orleans” (a theater explosion) and “48 Hours.” Read more…

1) “The Blacklist” return, 8 and 9 p.m., NBC. After a three-month rest, this clever show is back with two episodes that are smart and twisty … but, in some ways, total opposites. Yes, both involve a valuable gold box; both link Red with an imposing blonde – Gillian Alexy in the first hour, Joely Richardson (shown here) in the the second. But the first hour is a smart art-theft tale; the second throws logic aside, for a fun throwback tale: People are in a mansion on a dark and stormy night, with no escape and much death. Read more…

1) “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” 8:30 p.m., NBC. This was supposed to be when NBC’s overlooked comedies finally got noticed. CBS was turning to basketball, benching its own comedies for two weeks; NBC could shine … except, alas, basketball was canceled and the CBS comedies (via rerun) are back. Still, try NBC – “Superstore” at 8 p.m., the sometimes-hilarious “Will & Grace” at 9 and this dandy one (shown here). Jake meets his criminal friend (Craig Robinson), in a wild plot that zooms to Miami amid schemes. Read more…

1) “Motherland: Fort Salem” debut, 9 p.m., Freeform. They forgot to tell us this in history class: Ever since the Revolutionary War, it seems, witches have been a key part of the American army. Now we meet three young ones (two are shown here) in basic training. There’s the privileged daughter of an officer … an angry youth mourning her mom … and an idealist who just wants to do good. Their arguments feel contrived, but other scenes work well – especially the opening and closing ones, showing how potent the enemy is. Read more…

1) “Finian’s Rainbow” (1968), 10:30 p.m. ET, Turner Classic Movies. With many St. Patrick’s Day events canceled, people can settle for TCM’s full day of Irish films. Logically, there are two that John Ford filmed in his parents’ homeland – “Rising of the Moon” (1965) at 4:30 p.m. ET and John Wayne’s “The Quiet Man” (1952) ar 8. But no, you don’t have to be Irish: Before directing “Godfather” films, Francis Coppola made “Finian’s Rainbo,”(shown here with Fred Astaire and Tommy Steele), a gem of a musical with zesty visuals and bursts of satire. Read more…

1) “Roswell, New Mexico” season-opener, 9 p.m., CW. We’re used to death having a certain permanence, but not here. A decade ago, Liz’s sister died – apparently as a drunken driver, also responsible for the deaths of two friends. Later, we learned that Noah was responsible; Max (Nathan Parsons, shown here with Jeanine Mason as Liz) found Rosa’s well-preserved body and resurrected her. (Outer-space aliens can do that, apparently.) Tonight, we find Rosa alive, Max and Noah dead (for now) and Isobel – Max’s sister, Noah’s widow – bitter. Read more…

1) “Westworld” season-opener, 9 p.m., HBO. This show takes its time. It was 16 months between the end of the first season and the start of the second … and another 20 months after the second. “Westworld” has drawn praise– 41 Emmy nominations, with seven wins – and confusion. Now the sentient androids have escaped. Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood, shown here in a previous season) is in futuristic Los Angeles with a guy (Aaron Paul); Maeve (Emmy-winner Thandie Newton) is in a different park, based on Fascist Italy. Read more…

1) “Fast and Furious” films (shown here) everywhere. How many roaring engines and screeching tires do we need in one day? Today brings eight of the nine “F&F” movies; the missing one shows up Sunday. WGN America has the first four at 9 and 11 a.m. and 1:30 and 3:30 p.m.; it reruns the first two at 5:30 and 7:30, skips the third and reruns the fourth at 10. The fifth? That’s at 5:45 p.m. on HBO. Others are at 8 p.m. – the seventh on FX, the eighth on NBC, the ninth on HBO. That leaves the sixth, at 10 p.m. Sunday on FX. Read more…

1) “Flack” season-opener, 10 p.m., Pop. Anna Paquin (shown here) produces this smart, saucy show and stars as Robyn, a public-relations whiz who shields London’s celebrities … while ducking her own pill addiction. As the second, six-week season starts, she adds a new personal problem … and more people need help. One is caught in a brothel raid; another (Daniel Dae Kim) is brought by Robyn’s boss’ ex-husband … played by Sam Neill, Paquin’s “The Piano” co-star. Read more…