SUNDAY
MARCH 24
2019

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

Various Networks, 12:00 p.m. ET

In these second-round March Madness games, it’s always fun to seek out the surviving double-digit seeds. They’ve already defied the odds, and their higher-ranked opponents, by winning their first game – and now, emboldened by that success, have the opportunity to score another bracket-bending upset. Today, that possibility exists with the first televised game of the afternoon, when CBS begins coverage with its noon ET broadcast of No. 2 Tennessee vs. No. 10 Iowa. Other games continue all day, with TNT joining the action at 6 p.m. ET, TBS at 7 p.m. ET, and truTV at 7:30 p.m. ET. The other contests with double-digit underdogs? In the opening TBS game at 7, No. 4 Virginia Tech plays No. 12 Liberty. In TNT’s second game at 8:40, No. 3 Houston faces No. 11 Ohio State. And at 9:40 on TBS, it’s the battle of the double-digits: No. 12 Oregon against No. 13 UC Irvine.

 
  
 
 

Fox, 8:00 p.m. ET

My all-time favorite episode of The Simpsons – and by “all time,” I’m going back 30 years now, to its 1989 Christmas special – is its “Itchy & Scratchy & Marge” installment from 1990, when Marge organizes a protest against the violence in the cartoons watched by her impressionable children. (Itchy and Scratchy, the perennial and bloody rivals, are rewritten to placate the protesters, resulting in boring cartoons that drive the kids outside to play.) Tonight’s new episode might be considered an homage, even a sequel: It’s called “Bart vs. Itchy & Scratchy,” and has Bart reacting to an all-female reboot of “The Itchy & Scratchy Show”…

 
  
 
 

Starz!, 8:00 p.m. ET

Last week, Shadow Moon’s dead wife came to the rescue, jumping aboard a train where he was held captive by some of the new gods, and preparing to free him. This week, the new gods prepare to retaliate, and enlist a compatriot who has yet to be seen this season. Last season, the relatively new god of Media was portrayed by Gillian Anderson, who adopted such high-wattage pop-culture guises as Marilyn Monroe, Lucille Ball, and David Bowie. (And was terrific as all three.) Anderson left the show between seasons, but Media the character returns tonight – fittingly, as a persona called New Media, and played by Kahyun Kim, with more of a nod to fashion and manga (pictured).

 
  
 
 

AMC, 9:00 p.m. ET

Tonight is the penultimate episode of the new season, with yet another showdown between the whisperers and the townspeople. And the hour is titled “The Calm Before,” so expect even more action in next week’s stormy season finale.
 
  
 
 

CNN, 9:00 p.m. ET

Episode 2 of this well-made new CNN biography of Richard M. Nixon is titled “Nixon’s the One,” which was one of his presidential campaign slogans. And the closer Tricky Dick gets to Watergate, the more amazingly relevant it is.

 
  
 
 

HBO, 9:00 p.m. ET

This is Part 3 of this re-examination of the case involving the 1999 disappearance and murder of 18-year-old high school student Hae Min Yee, and the subsequent murder conviction of her former boyfriend, Adnan Syed. Or, more accurately, this is a re-re-examination, since this cold case already was re-examined, famously, in the influential podcast Serial.

 
  
 
 

Showtime, 9:00 p.m. ET

Billions is stronger than ever this season, which really is saying something. Its ensemble cast is one of TV’s best right now, and the conflicts between characters are becoming ratcheted to even higher levels of intensity. And new characters – bold, exciting ones – keep getting introduced. Watch, tonight for Nina Arianda, from CBS All Access’ The Good Fight and Broadway’s Venus In Fur, as a new Wall Street power player who establishes her alpha-female dominance in her very first scene. She’s great – and so is Damian Lewis opposite her as Bobby Axelrod, and so is all of Billions. For my review of the new season of Billions on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross, visit the Fresh Air website.
 
  
 
 

HBO, 11:20 p.m. ET

The Mueller report was released late Friday afternoon, and the reactions and ramifications continue. Good luck dealing with the latest, and the subtleties, at the literal last minute, John…

 
  
 
 
 
 
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David Bianculli

Founder / Editor

David Bianculli has been a TV critic since 1975, including a 14-year stint at the New York Daily News, and sees no reason to stop now. Currently, he's TV critic for NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross, and is an occasional substitute host for that show. He's also an author and teaches TV and film history at New Jersey's Rowan University. His 2009 Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of 'The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour', has been purchased for film rights. His latest, The Platinum Age of Television: From I Love Lucy to the Walking Dead, How TV Became Terrific, is an effusive guidebook that plots the path from the 1950s’ Golden Age to today’s era of quality TV.