1) Basketball. The college tournament gobbles up CBS’ line-up. Today and Friday, that wipes out three soap operas (including the new “Beyond the Gates”) plus, at night, comedies, mysteries and cops. The soaps will be back next week, but the Thursday/Friday primetime shows are off for two weeks.
2) Those games. There are lots of mismatches, so the best games should involve teams seeded closely in their quadrants. Try Creighton (seeded No. 9) at Louisville (No. 8), at 12:15 p.m. ET on CBS … Georgia (9) and Gonzaga (8), 4:35, TBS … Arkansas (10) and Kansas (7), 7:10, CBS … and Utah State (10) and UCLA (7, shown here), 9:25, TNT.
3) “Doctor Odyssey,” 9 p.m., ABC. The last time Athena Grant (Angela Bassett) took a cruise, there were robbers plus an explosion and a sinking ship. That was on “9-1-1”; now she dares to try another one. It’s Casino Week and she suspects that two passengers are scheming to grab the money.
4) “Farmer Wants a Wife” opener, 9 p.m., Fox. Four farmers each meet eight women. Some are in serious professions; there are four nurses, a radiology tech and a criminal defense paralegal. Others? There are three hairstylists and an eyelash tech, plus a model, a musician, a barista and at least six women in sales or marketing,
5) ALSO: While Athena visits “Doctor Odyssey,” her husband Bobby has the focus on “9-1-1” (8 p.m., ABC), confronting his estranged mother. And Annaleigh Ashford (“B Positive”) stars in “Happy Face” on Paramount+, as someone who learned her dad is a serial killer. It’s a true, eight-part story, as is Ellen Pompeo’s “Good American Family,” on Hulu.
— Mike Hughes, TV America