1) “Hollywood Squares” return, 10:30 p.m., CBS. After a four-week break, “Squares” returns … but is trimmed to a half-hour slot. Drew Barrymore (shown here with Thomas Lennon, a frequent panelist) lives in the center square. Tonight, she’s with reality-show veterans Rob Mariano, Niecy Nash Betts and Ms. Pat, plus singer Ariana DeBose and comedians Ron Funches, Tiffany Haddish, Pete Holmes and Jo Koy. Read more…
1) “Best Medicine,” 8 p.m., Fox. With this show’s format, anything is possible. Things can be goofy — sometimes too goofy — one moment, serious the next. This time. that leans mostly to the serious side. The story starts with a spinster who loves great birds and bad poetry, then (shown here) has a disaster. From therem it spins in many interesting directions. Read more…
When the Academy Award ceremony arrives Sunday, (March 15), it might actually entertain us.
It will have a clever host (Conan O’Brien), a few funny presenters and a couple of live songs. And it will have movies people have actually seen.
Gone are the days of hostless, songless, joyless Oscarcasts. And gone, for now, is the domination of obscure films. This year has “Sinners”(shown here), “One Battle After Another,” “Marty Supreme” and more. Here’s an overview: Read more…
1) “The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins,” 8:30 p.m., NBC. Reggie’s ex-wife (played by Erika Alexander, 56, shown here) reluctantly re-enters the dating world … which, alas, has changed in the smart-phone era. Add another plot (a frantic search for a cat) and you have a sharp, funny episode. Read more…
1) “Marshals,” 8 p.m., CBS. For a furious stretch, this is in full military mode — rifles, grenade, trucks, horses and explosions. Surrounding that is lots of macho dialog, some of it sharp and some just repetitive. There’s also a cliche boss, some family warmth (shown here) and a country song. This sort of fits together, but it’s not clear if it can work from week to week. Read more…
For fans of PBS mysteries, this will be a double-farewell year.
“Miss Scarlet” has announced that it will have one final season, its seventh. That will apparently air a few months after “Grantchester” has its 11th and final seasons. Read more…
1) Academy Awards, 7 p.m. ET Sunday, ABC. Conan O’Brien hosts a night led by “Sinners” and (shown here) “One Battle After Another.” They have 16 and 13 nominations; for best-picture, they face “Marty Supreme,” “Frankenstein” and “Sentimental Value” (9 apiece), “Hamnet” (8) and “F1,” “Train Dreams,” “Secret Agent” and “Bugonia” (4 each). Read more…
1) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m., NBC. Ryan Gosling is a great guest anywhere, including the Oscars and (shown here) “SNL.” Now he’s the host, three weeks before his “Project Hail Mary” movie opens. It’s his fourth time as host and the first for Gorillaz as the music guest. A week later, Harry Styles will have his second turn in both jobs. Read more…
1) “Outlander” (shown here in a previous season) opener, 8 p.m. Starz, rerunning at 9:05 and 10:08. A huge journey — eight seasons, sprawled over 12 years, telling a 225-year time-travel tale — starts its final round. Previous episodes rerun at 6 and 6:59, with Claire guiding Denzell through surgery. Then Jamie finds a disturbing truth and returns Claire to the Ridge, for a surprise. Read more…
NBC’s post-Olympic push hits a peak Wednesday (March 4).
That’s when all three Chicago shows mold into one high-stakes, high-octane night (shown here). The result — even with some scattered flaws — is compelling.
Fresh from high ratings for the Winter Olympics, the network wanted to keep the momentum. The first week, that meant launching “The Voice” on a Monday, with a quick rerun on Wednesday. The Chicago shows would have to wait a week. Read more…
Best-bets for March 11: “Squares” and “Cup” lead a reality overload 
Best-bets for March 10: cops, crime, Count, etc. 
Best-bets for March 9: the joys (?) of mid-life dating 
