SUNDAY’S BEST PICKS
8 AM ( ESP2) 2021 Australian Open Tennis For those hardy souls who are up at this hour, there is a champion to be crowned today at Melbourne Park, where the men’s final of the Australian Open puts a coda to two weeks of Grand Slam tennis. Last year, Serbia’s Novak Djokovic won his record eighth title downunder with his hard-fought 6-4, 4-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Dominic Thiem of Austria. 3 PM & NHL Hockey One might not think hockey when they think of Lake Tahoe but that is the setting today as Kevin Hayes and the Philadelphia Flyers face off against Patrice Bergeron and the Boston Bruins in a clash of the top two teams in the East. The rink they’ll be playing on was specially constructed on the 18th hole at Nevada’s Edgewood Tahoe Resort and there will be no fans in attendance. At this writing, the Bruins had won the first two meetings between these teams.
3 PM _ NASCAR Cup Series A week after opening the 2021 season with a bang with the Daytona 500, NASCAR’s Cup series settles into the rest of its schedule with its first road course race of the season, also at Daytona. A field including Joey Logano, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski will do battle on the 14-turn, 3.61-mile course that made its debut in the Cup series last August, a race won by Chase Elliott.
7:30 PM _ Bless the Harts Jenny (voice of Kristen Wiig) lets Louise (voice of guest star Emily Spivey) use Wayne (voice of Ike Barinholtz) as a pretend boyfriend after her husband dies in a tragic cruise ship accident in the new episode “Big Pimpin’.” Elsewhere, while Betty (voice of Maya Rudolph) makes a guest appearance on Violet’s (voice of Jillian Bell) podcast, she blurts out some murder accusations. Oscar Montoya, Grey Griffin, David Herman and Phil LaMarr also guest star in the voice cast.
8 PM G Batwoman Commander Kane (Dougray Scott) and Agent Moore (Meagan Tandy) approach Batwoman (Javicia Leslie) with a request for her to boost an infamous work of art that reveals the way to Coryana and Kate in the new episode “Gore on Canvas.” Luke and Mary (Camrus Johnson, Nicole Kang) persuade a reluctant Ryan to take the assignment, but that decision causes tensions on the Bat-team to escalate. Elsewhere, Alice (Rachel Skarsten) tries to fulfill Safiyah’s (guest star Shivaani Ghai) insidious request.
8 PM ( ESPN) NBA Basketball A preview of the NBA Finals could be on tap tonight at Staples Center, where Paul George and the Los Angeles Clippers will defend home court from James Harden and the Brooklyn Nets. The Nets have thrived since dealing for Harden on
Jan. 14, winning seven of their first nine games after the trade to sit just behind the Philadelphia 76ers in the East. The Clips, meanwhile, are third in the West and led by the performances of George, Kawhi Leonard and Serge Ibaka. 9 PM $ NCIS: Los Angeles Series regular Daniela Ruah, who plays Special Agent Kensi Blye, also directed the new episode “Russia, Russia, Russia,” which finds Callen (Chris O’Donnell) attending the National Counterterrorism Center on the pretext that he is interrogating a Russian asset from a crashed plane case he probed months earlier. As things take an unexpected turn, however, Callen finds himself detained and accused of being a Russian agent himself. Gerald McRaney reprises his recurring guest role as Adm. Hollace Kilbride; Seamus Dever (“Castle”) also guest stars.
9 PM ( HALL) When Calls the Heart
Single mother Elizabeth (Erin Krakow), Hope Valley’s beloved schoolteacher, has some new students in her classroom as this romantic period drama opens Season 8. Newly arrived in the community, the Canfield family is headed by father Joseph (Viv Leacock, “The Hailey Dean Mysteries”), his wife, Minnie (Natasha Burnett, “UnREAL”), and their two children Angela and Cooper (played by Leacock’s real-life daughter and son, Vienna and Elias). Pascale Hutton, Jack Wagner, Kavan Smith, Kevin McGarry, Chris McNally and Paul Greene also return in their familiar roles. 9 PM ( AMC) The Walking Dead Chris Hardwick talks with the cast members and executive producers about what’s to come on the next six episodes of
“The Walking Dead” as the hit series returns next Sunday, Feb. 28. The upcoming episodes include such guest stars as Robert Patrick and Hilarie Burton Morgan, as well as new series co-star Okea Eme-Akwari as Elijah, among other new faces.