Week’s top-10 for March 18: best of basketball and skating

1) Tournament time. College basketball gobbles up our TV time. (Shown here is top-ranked Houston.) On Thursday and Friday, that wll be at noon and 2:30, 7 and 9:30 p.m., ET on CBS; 12:30, 3, 7:30 and 10 p.m. on TruTV; 1:30, 4, 6:45 and 9:15 p.m. on TNT; and 2 a.m. and 4:30, 7:15 and 9:45 on TBS. (Many CBS shows – soaps, Thursday comedies and Friday cops – step aside.) Then a new round comes Saturday and Sunday.

2) World Figure Skating Championship. While large people are dunking, tiny ones will spin and swirl. Peacock has the first parts (Wednesday and Thursday), the closing gala (2 a.m. ET Sunday) and more. But most of the the championships are on the USA Network – pairs, 8 p.m. Thursday; women,. 8 p.m. Friday; dance, 3 p.m. Saturday, The men’s finals will be 8 p.m. Saturday on NBC.

3) “Animal Control,” 9 p.m. Thursday, Fox. Lots of comedy styles are mixed skillfully. There’s silliness (a costume party gone bad) and character humor, with Frank (Joel McHale) badgered by his brother (Thomas Lennon), a cop. There are the usual animal sight gags, this time involving a lazy turtle and an ambitious dog. There’s even the start of an ongoing plot involving animal smugglers.

4) “Photographer,,” 8 and 9:21 p.m. today, National Geographic Channel. Fresh from its triumph with “Queens,” Nat Geo again proves it knows great photography. This six-part, three-Monday series starts with Paul Nicklen and Cristina Mittermeier, a married duo whose photos help them as activists for the ocean. That’s followed by Anand Varma and egg embryo photos. Others will range from fashion to war.

5) “Dante,” 8-10 p.m. today and Tuesday, PBS. For his final 20 years, Dante Alighieri was in exile, living in the castles of supporters or neutral parties. In a sort of eternal civil war, he was told he would be burned at the stake if he returned to Florence. But on the move, he wrote epic poems that reshaped literature. It’s an epic big that Ric Burns tells beautifully, but it’s also a long, grim journey.

6) “The Cleaning Lady,” 8 p.m., Tuesday, Fox. The death of one of its stars (Adan Canto., who played Arman) could have doomed this show; instead, new plotlines grew. Partiially protected by Arman in the past, Thony now deals with scheming siblings. Last week, they made her dismember and dissolve bodies; now she’s cleaning cars and then finds a desperate woman who needs help.

7) “Extended Family,” 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, NBC. After 25 years as a TV writer and producer, Mike O’Malley does (two days late) the ultimate St. Patrick’s Day episode. It has the usual cliches – Jim’s dad, after all, has an Iriish bar in Boston – but then snaps into a sharp reality check. The result is a tad contrived, but mostly smart and funny. It’s in a fun night that ends with a fairly good “Password.”

8) Season-finales, 8 and 9 p.m. Wednesday, CW. This mini-network wraps up its best night. First, the delightful “Wild Cards” reflects Max’s past, when she was a scam artist. Then “Family Law” has a woman trying to meet her child, who was switched at birth. She’s played by Elizabeth Bowen, who is also the deputy sheriff in “Resident Alien,” which then has a terrific hour at 10 p.m. on Syfy,

9) “Palm Royale,” Wednesday, Apple TV+; “Road House,” Thursday, Amazon Prime. Streamers hit the extremes in macho and feminine mystique. The “Road House” remake has a buff Jake Gyllenhaal as a bouncer, defending a damsel’s bar. “Palm Royale” has Kristin Wiig desperate to join a ‘60s country club. It has a great cast (Ricky Martin, Carol Burnett, etc.), but few people to root for.

10) “Call the Midwife,” 8 p.m. Sunday, PBS. After last week’s clumsy season-opener, the usually dependable “Midwife” bounces back with an hour that’s warm, sometimes angry (over housing conditions) and well-done. That’s followed by the mid-section of the terrific, three-week “Nolly.” In a true story, a British star (played by Helena Bonham Carter) struggles after being fired from her soap opera.