Daily Best Bets

Best bets for March 28: Reruns fill virus-caused gaps

1) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m., NBC. For the first time, the coronavirus has forced “SNL” to switch to a rerun. Other latenight shows had adjusted, but “SNL” – with reruns already scheduled – wasn’t affected. But it had planned a new episode tonight, with John Krasinski hosting and Dua Lipa as music guest. Instead, this rerun has Scarlett Johansson (shown here) hosting and mocking her fiance, anchor and head writer Colin Jost; Niall Horan is music guest. Read more…

Best-bets for March 27: Old Hollywood and new dramas

1) “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” (2019), 8 p.m. Starz. This movie is sprawling and ambitious, eccentric and inconsistent. In short, it’s a QuentinTarantino film. There are whole scenes you could take out, without affecting the plot; many of those scenes, however, are wonderful. In the 1960s, we see (shown here) a fading star (Leonard DiCaprio, right) and his stunt double (Brad Pitt, who won a supporting-actor Oscar). They meet Bruce Lee, Charles Manson and others, in ways that slyly rewrite history. Read more…

Best-bets for March 26: Season ends for “Deputy,” “Million”

1) “Deputy” season-finale, 9 p.m., Fox. The first season ends the way it started – with fierce waves of emotion. We’ve grumbled about some overwrought episodes in-between, but this one makes the passions feel justified. Sheriff Hollister rage at the outing of his informants,but also savors the joy of his daughter (Latina on her mom’s side) at her quinceanera (shown here). Things are wrapped up potently. Read more…

Best-bets for March 25: Kelsea and Kenny and more

1) “CMT Crossroads” (shown here), 10 p.m., CMT. Here are gifted stars with opposite roots: Kelsea Ballerini grew up on a farm near Knoxville and sang in church. Halsey is a city kid from New Jersey; she had some rough years and homelessness in Manhattan. But they’re similar in age (26 and 25 respectively) and in the ability to propel emotion. A sampling of this concert hour shows great duets on Halsey’s “Graveyard” and on Ballerini’s “Homecoming Queen.” Read more…

Best-bets for March 24: A double shot of warmth

1) “This Is Us” season-finale, 9 p.m., NBC. This richly layered drama manages to end each season with jolts of emotion. We’ll expect that tonight, much of it coming from the two brothers. As last week’s fascinating episode ended, their mom reluctantly agreed to go away for a clinical trial, trying to head off Alzheimer’s disease. That soothed Randall (Sterling K. Brown, show here), but may enrage Kevin. They collide tonight, at the first birthday party for Jack, the blind son of their sister Kate and her husband Toby. Read more…

Best-bets for March 23: Nat Geo gives us China and the universe

1) “The Hidden Kingdoms of China” debut, 8-11 p.m. ET, Nat Geo Wild; reruns at 11 ET, then concludes March 30. China is known for its cities and its 1.4 billion people. Still, this is a sprawling place – almost 20 percent bigger than the U.S., minus Alaska – with lots of wilderness. That’s captured here with stunning beauty. The first hour sees the mountain creatures; the second has the South Hunan jungles. The third is a delight, with giant pandas (shown here)P, golden pheasants, bamboo bats and moustache toads. Read more…

Best-bets for March 22: Masterful “Women,” musical fun

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…

Best-bets for March 21: A world without sports

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…

Best-bets for March 20: “Blacklist” is back … doubly

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…

Best-bets for March 19: With no basketball, more laughs

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…