1) “Ruby” (shown here), 8 p.m., Lifetime, rerunning at midnight. Ever since a “Flowers in the Attic” remake drew a big audience, Lifetime has savored V.C. Andrews’ novels. Today, it reruns four of them, at noon and 2, 4, and 6 p.m. (They’re sequels to “Heaven,” which, oddly, reruns at 10:02 p.m. and 2:04 a.m.) Then it starts a new series about Ruby Landry, growing up in the Louisiana bayou with her grandmother (Naomi Judd). That will rerun at 6 p.m. Sunday, leading into its sequel, “Pearl in the Mist.” Two more Ruby movies will air next weekend.
2) Basketball, all day. The NCAA tournament begins for two of the teams seeded No. 1 in their quadrants. It’s Michigan at 3 p.m. ET on CBS, undefeated Gonzaga at 9:20 p.m. on TBS. Both face 16-seeds, so you might try better match-ups elsewhere. TNT has two 8-9 match-ups – Louisiana State and St. Bonaventure at 1:45 p.m. and Oklahoma and Missouri at 7:25. The 7-10 games are Connecticut and Maryland at 7:10 p.m. on CBS and Oregon and Virginia Commonwealth at 9:57 p.m. on TNT.
3) “American Idol,” 9-11 p.m., ABC. “Idol” is jumping into its next phase now – two new rounds (Sundays and Mondays) a week, starting with the “Hollywood week.” First, however, here’s a rerun of last Sunday’s show, with the final batch of auditions.
4) Eddie Murphy films, cable. Next Saturday, Murphy (who turns 60 on April 3) gets a lifetime award from the NAACP Image Awards. He’s already won the annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, plus an Emmy, a Golden Globe, an Oscar nomination and more. Now we can catch three of his most entertaining films: “48 Hrs” (1982) is 6:45 and 11:15 p.m. on IFC; “Beverly Hills Cop” (1984) is 8 p.m. on HBO, with its sequel (1987) at 9:45.
5) More movies, cable. “Anatomy of a Murder” (1959), 5 p.m. ET, Turner Classic Movies, is a black-and-white gem. It’s too long, with a so-so ending, but beautifully done. It drew seven Academy Award nominations (including best picture,) none of them for its most distinctive pieces – Duke Ellington’s score and Joseph Welch (of McCarthy hearings fame) as the judge. Elsewhere, “American Sniper” (2014) is 8 p.m. on A&E, The original Indiana Jones trilogy runs twice on Paramount, starting at 11:45 a.m. and 8 p.m.