Week’s top-10 for March 27: Joni, country and a drama surge

1) “CMT Music Awards,” 8-11 p.m. Sunday, CBS. Once confined to cable, this is now a big-network event, stuffed with stars. Performers include the hosts – Kelsea Ballerini (shown here) and Kane Brown – plus Lainey Wilson (who leads with four nominations), Blake Shelton, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, Carly Pierce, Cody Johnson, Katelyn Brown (Kane’s wife) and many more. The CMT network, which created the awards, will have a red-carpet at 7.

2) Gershwin Prize, 9 p.m. Friday, PBS. Joni Mitchell has remarkable talent as a painter (her work provides the backdrop for this stage), a singer and, especially, a songwriter. Now she gets the annual popular-music prize. There are great moments here from Annie Lennox with “Both Sides Now,” Herbie Hancock and Ledisi with “River,” seven singers with “Big Yellow Taxi” and more. And since this is a Gershwin prize, Mitchell sings “Summertime.”

3) Baseball/basketball confluence. Just as the college basketball season ends, Major League baseball begins. The final four basketball teams have two games Saturday, starting at 6:09 p.m. ET on CBS; two days later, the winners collide. First, however, it’s baseball’s opening day. All 30 teams play Thursday and Saturday, with only 10 playing Friday. Most of this is on regional TV, but the champion Astros host the White Sox at 7:05 p.m. ET Thursday on ESPN.

4) “The Bachelor” finale, 8 p.m. today, ABC, with follow-up at 10. It’s time for Zach Shallcross to make his decision. Shallcross, 26, a 6-foot-4 sales guy from California, started with 30 women, including four nurses, a nursing student, a therapist (Charity Lawson, who will be the “Bachelorette” star) and a rodeo racer. Now he’s down to two — Kaity Biggar, 27, a Canadian travel nurse, and Gabi Elnicki, 25, a marketer from Vermont.

5) “The Watchful Eye” season-finale, 10 p.m. today, Freeform. This seemed simple: Elena, a minor crook, was pressured by a corrupt cop to fake her resume, work as a nanny for Matthew’s son and find a gem. Then the mysteries piled up: Who killed Matthew’s wife? Who framed him? What about the lies told by everyone, from teens to old Mrs. Ivey? In a fairly good episode, most of those are answered, with a few things left in case there’s a second season.

6) “American Experience,” 9-10:30 p.m. Tuesday, PBS. A half-million anti-war protesters massed in Washington in 1969; then the Vietnam War continued as usual. Activists felt they had failed … or had they? Insiders say Richard Nixon was planning a massive escalation, then scuttled it when he saw the opposition. They also say he described a “madman strategy” – making the enemy feel he was mad enough to go nuclear. This film skillfully tells an epic story.

7) “Accused,” 9 p.m. Tuesday, Fox. This anthology again delivers an hour that is beautifully crafted … and deeply depressing. Aisha Dee (“The Bold Type”) and Abigail Breslin (the former child star of “Little Miss Sunshine”) are perfect as young lovers who witness an atrocity in Brooklyn, then become obsessed with vengeance. There are a couple lapses in believability, but this story is compelling, emotional … and devastating.

8) “Riverdale” season-opener, 9 p.m. Wednesday, CW. The Archie comic books flowed with sweet Americana – a cheery chap and his pals at the soda shop. This series, however, has rippled with murder and despair. Now a comet has transported everyone to 1955; only Jughead remembers anything. It’s a clever idea that wobbles a bit in the opener, but works well. We see ‘50s sunniness juxtaposed with a world that seemed to ignore racism and more.

9) “CSI: Vegas” and more, CBS. For two weeks, some of the network’s most popular dramas were benched by basketball. Now they’re back. Thursday has “So Help Me Todd” at 9 p.m. and a deeply moving “CSI: Vegas” at 10 .There are superb performances from Paula Newsome as the CSI chief and from guest star Regina Taylor, as a vicitm who has retained anger (and a bullet) for decades. Friday adds “SWAT,” “Fire Country” and “Blue Bloods.”

10) Comedies. Even on this trauma-filled week, there are laughs. “Young Sheldon” and “Ghosts: return from their basketball break, at 8 and 8:30 p.m. Thursday on CBS … “The Great American Joke Off” debuts at 9:30 p.m. Friday on CW … Quinta Brunson (the “Abbott Elementary” writer-producer-star) hosts “Saturday Night Live,” at 11:29 p.m. Saturday on NBC … And the clever “Housebroken” has returned to Fox’s animation line-up, at 9:30 p.m. Sunday.