ESPN, 3:00 p.m. ET
There's one overwhelmingly dominant story line as we begin the first round of the 2013 Masters in Augusta: Tiger Woods. For the first time in years, he's ranked No. 1 — and seems poised, the way he's been playing lately, to win his first major tournament since 2008. Will he rise to these great expectations? Or will he crumble under them, continuing his slide from golfing dominance rather than reclaiming it? The first round will give an early inclination — but amazingly, TV viewers won't be able to watch much of Woods playing live. ESPN's live coverage begins more than four hours after Woods tees off today, so the only way to watch Woods play live today is to tune to Masters.com and wait for Woods to reach a handful of holes on the back nine, where cameras are set up to provide live Internet coverage. After all this media hype about Woods' improved play, not being able to watch him tee off really tees me off.
Fox, 8:00 p.m. ET
Last night’s show all but buried Lazaro Arbos, the last remaining male singer in the Final 6. His performance on “Close to You,” was harsh, and the judges were harsher (even Mariah Carey nailed him for missing a key change). This season, the show’s judges have been pushing to finally anoint another female winner – and after tonight, Idol should guarantee that.
NBC, 9:00 p.m. ET
Here’s a guest-star alert worth mentioning: Portraying a talent agent who sees potential greatness in Ed Helms’ Andy is Roseanne Barr.
FX, 9:30 p.m. ET
Here’s a guest-star alert worth mentioning, on a show that usually isn’t: Charlie Sheen, as a therapist, gets a new patient: Lindsay Lohan, playing an off-kilter version of herself. If that’s not redundant. When Lohan teared up the other day on Late Show with David Letterman, responding to some words of support from her host, that was a good career move. Whether this appearance, which has her hawking some product for a Japanese TV ad, continues that positive momentum, or negates it, soon will be seen – not only by those who watch this sitcom, but by all the TV shows and YouTube clips showing “highlights.”
TCM, 9:45 p.m. ET
Many movies have been made of this classic Victor Hugo novel – and while this is by no means the best of them, it’s fun to watch nonetheless. Michael Rennie stars as Jean Valjean in this 1952 version, made the year after he starred as Klaatu in The Day the Earth Stood Still. Robert Newton plays Inspector Javert, and the leading ladies are portrayed by Debra Paget (as Cosette) and Sylvia Sidney (as Fantine).