Daily Best Bets

1) Oscar eve shows, On the night before the Academy Awards, cable offers past gems. Turner Classic Movies’ Oscar marathon is topped by “From Here to Eternity” (1953, shown here with Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr) – winner of eight Oscars, including best picture and (in support) Frank Sinatra and Donna Reed – at 5:45 p.m. ET.. FX has back-to-back best-picture nominees – the great “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” (2017) at 5:30, had seven nominations, winning for Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell; “Hidden Figures” (2016), at 8 p.m., had three nominations. Read more…

1) “MacGyver” season-opener, 8 p.m., CBS. There’s an action surplus on CBS; “MacGyver” finally returns, nine months after its last new episode. Now the team can again tackle an impossible mission: At an elegant party (shown here), it team must slip off, find crucial information and transmit a copy without being noticed. There’s no Phoenix Foundation to help; our heroes are working with a quirky British ex-spy, played, by Henry Ian Cusick of “Lost.” Read more…

1) “Tommy” debut, 10 p.m., CBS. TV loves to show an outsider, tackling new turf. Here’s a prime example: “Tommy” Thomas, the new Los Angeles police chief, is female … and gay … and from New York. She’s an instant anomaly. In the wrong hands, this could have been riddled with cliches. “Tommy,” however, is written by Paul Attanasio, who drew Oscar nominations for “Donnie Brasco” and “Quiz Show” and then created “House.” It stars Edie Falco (shown here), a four-time Enmy-winner. Resisting cliches, they give us deeply layered characters. Read more…

1) “Chicago P.D.,” 10 p.m., NBC. A tough hour starts quietly. Earlier this season, we learned that Kim Burgess (Marina Squercian, shown here in a previous episode) is pregnant via Adam Ruzek, a fellow cop who is her ex-fiance. Assigned to light duty, she’s working the 9-1-1 calls. That’s when a plaintive call grabs her emotionally. What follows is a terrific hour – sharply and subtly written and played – that takes Burgess (and viewers) on an emotional roller-coaster. Read more…

1) State of the Union address and response, 9-11 p.m. ET, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS and news channels. This is a unique time in history – a president preparing his speech while he’s been facing impeachment and planning a re-election push. People will probably be interested in Donald Trump’s comments and in the Democratic response by Michigan Gov.Gretchen Whitmer. If not? We’ll list some 9 p.m. alternatives, including (shown here) some CW time-travel. Read more…

1) “Some Like It Hot” (1959), 9:45 p.m. ET, Turner Classic Movies. We’re in Oscar Week, leading into Sunday’s Academy Award ceremony. And TCM’s “31 Days of Oscar” has barely started. “Hot” (shown here in a color poster for the black-and-white film) won one Oscar (for costumes), but was nominated for five more, including Jack Lemmon in support; the American Film Institute named it the funniest American movie of all time. Lemmon stars with Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe … whose “Bus Stop” (1956) is at 8. Read more…

1) Super Bowl, 6:30 p.m. ET, Fox. After three straight years of rooting for or against the New England Patriots, we now have new teams. The Pats have been in five of the past eight Super Bowls, winning three of them, but here are two others: The Kansas City Chiefs haven’t been to the game in 50 years; the San Francisco 49ers were there in 2013, their only Super Bowl loss after five wins. To get here, Jimmy Garoppolo (shown here) and the 49ers bounced back from a 4-14 season … and the Chiefs overcome a 24-0 deficit in a play-off game. Read more…

1) “Doctor Zhivago” (1965) and “Funny Girl” (1968), 8 and 11:30 p.m. ET, Turner Classic Movies. The 25th year of “31 Days of Oscar,” starts splendidly. It will be stuffed with Oscar-winners, each with a connection to the film that follows, In this case, the link is Omar Sharif (. He stars in the large and lush “Zhivago,” then co-stars in the musical “Funny Girl.” Both were nominated for best picture, but didn’t win. “Zhivago” won five other Oscars; “Funny Girl” won for Barbra Streisand’s great performance, mixing humor, heartbreak and superb music. Read more…

1) “Magnum P.I.” mid-season finale, 9 p.m., CBS. Faced with a drama overload, CBS keeps shuffling. Next week, “Tommy” (an excellent Edie Falco cop show) takes over the “Evil” slot on Thursday and “MacGyver” (on the shelf for four-plus months) returns to Fridays. .“Magnum” steps aside for a while, after tonight’s episode (shown here): Jin, the pickpocket, learns that an innocent woman is the target of a hit; he asks Magnum and Higgins to protect her. Read more…

1) “The Good Place” series-finale, 8:30-10 p.m., NBC. One of the TV’s best and brightest shows is leaving – voluntarily and way too soon. “Good Place” (shown here in a previous episode) has won the best-comedy award from the Television Critics Association and been nominated by the Emmys and the Golden Globes. It’s won Peabody and American Film Institute awards, while taking a smart and offbeat look at the afterlife. Last week, our characters finally got to the real “good place” and Michael (Ted Danson) was put in charge. Read more…