BEST BETS FOR APRIL 05, 2008

	NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT CBS, 6 p.m. ET For the first time in history, the four #1 seeds all compete in the Final Four, and it ought to make for a thrilling doubleheader of college basketball. UCLA and Memphis do battle first, followed by Kansas (the team that almost lost to Davidson in Sunday’s down-to-the-buzzer thriller) vs. North Carolina. Who’s going to win, and go on to take the championship Monday night? A #1 seed, that’s who.
	ALL ABOUT EVE TCM, 8 p.m. ET Bette Davis stars in this classic 1950 movie, playing a star who is befriended, and ultimately usurped, by a conniving young actress (Anne Baxter). George Sanders co-stars, and look who else is featured: a young actress who may have a future herself very soon after this film is released. Her name? Marilyn Monroe.
	CASINO ROYALE Showtime, 9 p.m. ET Why was this the last Ian Fleming novel to be made into a James Bond movie? Because before Sean Connery starred in the first 007 on film, rights to Fleming’s Casino Royale were sold to a CBS anthology series called Climax, which mounted a (terrible) live version in 1954. Peter Lorre played Le Chiffre, Linda Christian was the first-ever “Bond girl,” and Barry Nelson, in an Americanized version of the suave superspy, played Bond – Jimmy Bond. No kidding. So after all that, believe me, Daniel Craig in 2006’s Casino Royale is a pleasure.
	THE NIGHT JAMES BROWN SAVED BOSTON VH1, 9 p.m. ET No, it’s not a sci-fi fantasy. Both the title and the documentary are quite serious. The day after Martin Luther King was assassinated, and riots were erupting in several cities nationwide, the mayor of Boston showed up at the start of a scheduled James Brown concert, on April 5, 1968, to plead for love, peace and understanding. Brown – billed, by a local station broadcasting the event, as “Negro singer Jimmy Brown and his group” – both transfixed and calmed the crowd, and, according to all observers, didn’t start a riot, but stopped one. This one-hour special is part documentary, part concert, and 100 percent fascinating. And to echo 007 one more time, it’s Brown. James Brown.
	MONTY PYTHON'S THE MEANING OF LIFE Sundance Channel, 10 p.m. ET This 1983 Python film, now celebrating its golden anniversary (I know; how is that possible?), sticks with people for different reasons. For me, it’s Terry Jones as Mr. Creosote, the horribly obnoxious and vomitous diner who pays the price for accepting “just one thin mint” as an after-dinner treat. Watch, and I promise you’ll never forget it. No matter how much you might try.
	SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE NBC, 11:30 p.m. ET Can’t wait: Christopher Walken is back! And this all-new episode also features musical guest Panic at the Disco, as well as, probably, Amy Poehler as Hillary under sniper fire. Or Fred Armisen bowling. Or maybe both…