1) The Ten Commandments” (1956), 7-11:44 p.m., ABC. It’s the annual showing of an epic (shown here) that won an Oscar for special effects and was nominated for six more, including best picture. The next morning (10:30 a.m. ET), it moves to UPtv and starts a Palm Sunday marathon. Read more…
1) “Now Hear This” season-opener, 9 p.m., PBS. Tony Bennett didn’t really leave his heart in San Francisco, but Frederic Chopin literally left his in Warsaw. (After his death, his sister smuggled it back to a cathedral.) That’s one of many stories about a man who loved his homeland, but was away from it for half his lifetime. Host Scott Yee visits elegant settings in Poland and Paris (shown here), hearing great music. Read more…
1) “Matlock,” 9 p.m., CBS. Last week ended with a jolt: Olympia learned Matty has been lying to her. Now she demands the truth; that brings a tense hour, reminding us that Kathy Bates (shown here) is a gifted, Oscar-winning actress. Can Matty salvage the friendship? Can she find who buried the vital study? That will be settled (partly) in next week’s season-finale. Read more…
1) “Good Cop/Bad Cop” season-finale, 9 p.m., CW. This first season has been way too short (eight episodes), but sharp and fun. Far from her role as Blair Waldorf in “Gossip Girl,” Leighton Meester plays a savvy cop, working with her smart-but-loopy brother (Luke Cook, shown here with Meester) for their dad, the police chief. Now an old case could rip the small town apart. Read more…
1) “We Want the Funk,” 9-10:30 p.m., PBS. “Music was our freedom,” Questlove says in this vibrant documentary. And most free of all was the funk sound. Rippling with great clips, this spans generations. It focuses heavily on James Brown, but also has music masters (from George Clinton, shown here, to Kirk Franklin) still around to vividly tell their story. Read more…
1) Basketball, 8:30 p.m. ET, CBS, with preview at 8. A no-upset tournament concludes. For the first time in 17 years, each team seeded No. 1 in a quadrant reached the final four. There’s no Cinderella team, no Butler or Bradley or Texas Tech or beyond. Instead, Duke, Florida, Auburn and Houston collided Saturday, with the winners tonight. Other networks will be quiet tonight — except for ABC, with “Idol” and (shown here) “Paradise.” Read more…
1) “An Evening With Elton John and Brandi Carlile0” (shown here), 8 p.m. CBS. After hearing John’s music, Carlile taught herself to play the piano. Now the two have shared an Oscar nomination (for the song “Never Too Late”) and an album. In this hour, at London’s Palladium Theatre, they do songs from the album, plus his hits; they also pause for a conversation. Read more…
1) Basketball, 6:09 and about 8:39 p.m. ET, CBS. It’s a no-underdog year. For only the second time in NCAA tournament history, the No. 1 seed in each region reached the final four. Now it’s Florida (shown here) and Auburn first, then Houston and Duke. The winners collide Monday. Read more…
1) “Austin City Limits Celebrates 50 Years,” 9-11 p.m., PBS. Willie Nelson did the first show on Oct. 17, 1974, then returned (at 91) 50 years later. We get clips of both, plus new music, ranging from country (Chris Stapleton) to bluegrass (Billy Strings), blues (Gary Clark Jr., shown here in a previous concert, with a rousing finale) and more, including Rufus Wainwright’s soaring “Hallelujah.” Read more…
1) “Elsbeth” return, 10 p.m., CBS. After a two-week basketball break, one of TV’s most entertaining shows is back. Mary-Louise Parker (right, with Elsbeth) plays a de-cluttering guru with a three-way romance. She unclutters it via some robotic murder. It’s a good episode … with an even better one next week. Read more…
