1) Academy Awards, 7-10:30 p.m. ET Sunday ABC. It won’t be easy to keep us entertained. With a few exceptions (“Wicked,” shown here, for instance), the nominees are obscure; there will be music, but not the best-song nominees. We’ll hope for fun from the host (Conan O’Brien), announcer (Nick Offerman) and presenters, including Ben Stiller, Amy Poehler and Bowen Yang.
2) Oscar previews. The E network starts previews at 2 p.m. ET Sunday; it’s on the red carpet at 4, with ABC taking over at 6:30. Before that, the Turner Classic Movies marathon has Hitchcock today (8 and 10 p.m. ET), “Gandhi” at 8 p.m. Thursday and a big Sunday – “Citizen Kane,” 11:45 a.m.; “Gone With the Wind,” 2 p,m.; “An American in Paris,” 6 p.m.
3) “Survivor” opener, 8-10 p.m. Wednesday, CBS. One of the show’s best contestants was a firefighter. Older than most of the others, Tom Westman, 40, prevailed after winning five of seven challenges. Now the show has two firefighters, a captain, 45, and a lieutenant, 55. Others on a Fiji island range from a doctoral student, 24, to a surgeon, 46.
4) “The Voice” and “The Bachelor,” 8-10 p.m. today. NBC, ABC. The original reality-show giants are here. Today, “Voice” has its fourth round of auditions and “Bachelor” takes seven women to Edinburgh, for a Scottish fair and more. There’s “Survivor” on Wednesday and a half-hour “American Idol” sample after the Oscars; “Amazing Race” arrives March 5.
5) “American Experience,” 9-11 p.m. Tuesday, PBS. At 13, Walter White saw an Atlanta mob beat and kill Blacks. He was so fair-skinned that no one noticed him, but the day hardened his resolve. In daring moments, he went undercover, passing as white. Then he led the NAACP for 25 years, in an era of steep change. Here’s a strong profile of a complicated man..
6) “Nova,” 9 p.m. Wednesday, PBS. Almost a year ago, a Baltimore bridge collapsed, after a ship struck one of its piers. Six people were killed and shipping stopped for 11 weeks. This terrific film views the problems (ship size has quadrupled since the bridge was built) and solutions. It also has a vivid look at the workers in a four-year rebuilding project.
7) “Ghosts,” 8:30 p.m. Thursday, CBS. Isaac fumed when he learned of life’s twist: He’s unknown; his old nemesis Alexander Hamilton has a hit musical. Now flashbacks show how their rivalry began. Hamilton is played by Nat Faxon, who plays Jackie’s husband in “The Conners” and won an Academy Award for co-writing the movie “The Descendants.”
8) “I Am Luke Perry,” 8-10 p.m. Saturday, CW. Perry’s biggest stretch was the role that made him famous – Dylan, a rich teen in “Beverly Hills, 90210.” He was really Dylan’s opposite, a steelworker’s son who grew up in an Ohio town of 2,600. A logical role was the one he had before his death at 52 — on “Riverdale,” as a decent dad who did construction work.
9) “The Americas,” 8 p.m. Sunday, NBC. Here is the American West, with dizzying extremes. Temperatures, we’re told, range from 120 degrees above to 60 below. We see individual skill (a fox dives head-first into the snow to nab moles), family projects (by woodpeckers and by otters), masses of buffaloes and a spectacular convergence of sandhill cranes.
10) “Mayfair Witches” season-finale, 9 p.m. Sunday, AMC. Lasher tried to shed his demonic roots, but he’s been brainwashed and thrust into a wedding and a conjugal bed. Now Rowan (his mom) may be helpless, as demon-seed offspring loom. Also, Cortland’s evil dad secretly inhabits his son’s body. It’s always something, in a potent end to a well-crafted season.