1) “Up Here” debut, Hulu. Robert Lopez has already triumphed as a composer for Broadway (“Avenue Q,” “Book of Mormon”) and — with his wife, lyricist Kristen Anderson Lopez — for movies (“Frozen,” “Coco”). Now they link with director Tommy Kail (“Hamilton”) for a gem. We see young lovers (Mae Whitman and Carlos Valdez, shown here) and hear the lingering voices in their heads. It’s a delightful musical in eight parts, all available at once.
2) “My Kind of Country” (Apple TV+) and “American Masters” (9 p.m., PBS). Nashville ripples with talent, but also with sameness. Blacks (Mickey Guyton, Jimmie Allen) are finally getting a shot; female stars have dwindled. Now two shows offer a counterbalance: Apple has Allen, Guyton and Orville Peck present 12 singers, many from overseas. The second half of “Masters” follows Rissie Palmer as she boosts her own career and that of other Black country singers.
3) More on “American Masters,” 9 p.m., PBS. J’nai Bridges had entered the upper reaches of opera. Fresh from epic roles as Carmen and Delilah, she was making her Metropolitan Opera debut … when Covid shut it down after three performances. “I got hugely depressed,” she says here; she descended deeper after the death of George Floyd. This film follows her life, including a potent portion of an oratorio based on the Floyd story.
4) Basketball: For the second straight day, only one of the four tournament games has the match-up that was expected. That’s 9:45 p.m. ET on CBS, with UCLA and Gonzaga, seeded No. 2 and 3 in their region. Two games have a No. 1 and a No. 5 – Alabama and San Diego State (6:30, TBS) and Houston and Miami (7:15, CBS). At 9 on TBS, Creighton, No. 6, faces Princeton, No. 15.
5) ALSO: With no CBS cop shows tonight, we’ll have to look around. NBC has comedies – “Lopez vs. Lopez” and “The Grand Crew” – at 8 and 8:30 … Amazon Prime has a Reggie Jackson documentary … Netflix on Thursday introduced “The Night Agent,” a 10-part action-adventure … And movies range from lite (“80 For Brady” and the fun “Lost City,” at 8 and 9:40 p.m. on MGM+ … to “Dr. Strangelove” (1964), at 8 p.m ET on Turner Classic Movies.
— Mike Hughes, TV America