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…
The Acorn streamer – specializing in British-type mysteries – has a busy stretch of shows and news.
For now, it has three movie-length episodes of “The Chelsea Detective” (shown here in a previous season). After that are six episodes of the long-running “Brokenwood Mysteries.”
And further away? Acorn has signed Brooke Shields for a series that – in a break from Acorn tradition –will be set in the U.S. 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…
(This is the 14th chapter of the book-in-progress, “Television, and How It Got That Way.” To read at all (so far) in order, click “News and Quick Comments” and scroll to the headline that starts, “The Book.”)
At times, TV people decide that situation comedies are doomed. One such time came seven years before “Seinfeld” (shown here) would start a comedy comeback.
In the 1984-85 season, “Dallas” and “Dynasty” were at the top; two more soaps (“Knots Landing” and “Falcon Crest”) were in the top 10. Viewers watched light action (“A-Team,” “Magnum,” “Riptide”), but not comedies: 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, 8:30 p.m. ET today, CBS. A no-upset year concludes. For the first time in 17 years (and, reportedly, the second in tourney history), each team seeded No. 1 in a quadrant reached the final four. There’s no Cinderella team, no Butler or Bradley or Texas Tech. Instead, Florida, Duke (shown here), Auburn and Houston collided Saturday, with the winners tonight. Read more…
Amid the swirling complications of “Hacks,” there’s a familiar theme.
“Be careful what you wish for,” Jean Smart said.
In the fourth season (starting Thursday, April 10, on Max), Deborah Vance (Smart) has her wish – a latenight talk show. It’s he dream of many comedians, except ….
Joan Rivers – the real-life person sometimes compared to the fictional Deborah – did get her own talk show. It failed and her life sagged.
That might not happen on “Hacks,” but things won’t be easy. “It’s the pressure,” Smart said. It “gets to her.”
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…
Best-bets for March 26: sports surge, plus music 
Best-bets for March 25: End is here for “Fear,” near for “Singer” 
Best-bets fo March 24: Doc, Daredevil & 500th “NCIS” 
