Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
PBS to the rescue of those bored with basketball
March madness continues and many viewers will be glued to the 2016 NCAA Basketball Tournament regional finals today.
The South and West regions supplied their contributions to the Final 4 on Saturday. See the Sports section for details. The Midwest and East regions finish out the bracket today on TBS. The pregame show starts at 4 p.m.
The Final 4 tip off in Houston on Saturday, with the championship game airing on TBS at 8 p.m. April 4.
What? TBS? From 1982 to 2015, CBS had the TV rights to the championship game. Starting this year, TBS has the rights in even-numbered years, while CBS has them in odd-numbered.
Let’s say you don’t care about basketball. Is there anything else on that’s worthwhile? You betcha.
PBS alternatives. PBS has the one-two whammy of fresh episodes of Season 2 of Grantchester from Masterpiece Mystery! at 8 p.m., and the fourth (and final) season of Mr. Selfridge on Masterpiece Classic at 9.
And you can start the evening off at 7 with a repeat of the hour special Secrets of Selfridges, which last aired in 2013. It tells little-known tales about Selfridges, the legendary London department store, and its American creator, Harry Gordon Selfridge.
On Grantchester, Sidney Chambers (series star James Norton) is suspected of murder, along with another priest, a photographer and a classmate of the victim.
On Mr. Selfridge, Jimmy Dillon arrives; Harry has a run-in with the Queen of Time; and Mae’s fashion show is marred by the Dolly sisters.
If you haven’t kept up with either series, none of that means anything, but you can always catch up later.
MONDAY OFFERINGS
Dance on. On Monday, Dancing With the Stars continues with its second episode of the season at 7 p.m. on ABC, followed at 8 by an encore presentation of the first episode of The Catch.
Catch, the encore. The Catch, which I highly recommend, debuted Thursday (its regular night) at 9. Here’s your chance to catch The Catch opener in case you missed it.
The cat-and-mouse crime thriller stars Mireille Enos as Alice Vaughan, Los Angeles’ top private investigator. When her fiance, Benjamin Jones (Peter Krause), cons her out of millions and disappears, she goes on a private crusade for payback.
The Voice. Also on Monday, the knockout rounds begin on The Voice at 7 p.m. on NBC with Miley Cyrus on hand to help coaches Christina Aguilera, Adam Levine, Blake Shelton and Pharrell Williams prepare their vocalists.
If there’s one major criticism of The Voice, it’s that these early, pre-voting rounds seem artificially designed to showcase the judges and mold the contestants into a package that’s designed for “good TV” rather than a genuine vocal competition.
At least the elimination process seems more transparent on American Idol.
The Voice’s major claim of difference from Idol is that the coaches initially choose their teams sight unseen. Of course, this is from a pool of contestants assembled by the producers.
Theoretically, the contestants’ voices alone determine whether judges’ buttons are pushed, chairs turn and contestants make a team. They may be old and bald or short and fat, but if they have the pipes, they can make a team during the blind auditions.
But that’s only the first of the five-stage process. The blind auditions are followed by the battle rounds, the knockouts, the live playoffs and, finally, the live performance shows.
There are plenty of opportunities for a coach to cull a short, fat, too old, non-photogenic team member.
During the battle rounds, the coaches pit two of their own against each other in a duet. The coach then decides who advances and who goes home.
Granted, another coach can steal a reject (each coach has two steals) and that adds to the drama.
In the knockout rounds, the coach again pits two of his team against each other. This time they sing different songs of their own choosing.
Once again, the coaches decide who wins and who loses, with the loser available to be stolen by another coach. There is only one steal per coach in this round.
When it’s finally down to the Top 20 (five on each team), the live playoff rounds start and America gets to vote. America saves two singers from each team and the coaches each save one more.
That pares it down to the Top 12 and it’s all finally in America’s hands — no more saves from the coaches.
On the live performance shows, the three singers with the fewest votes each week perform, vying for America’s “instant save” vote via Twitter. The two lowest are sent packing until there’s only one left standing. The winner gets a recording contract and will never be heard from again.
Think I’m kidding? In the nine seasons the ratings juggernaut has been on the air, nobody who’s won or even been on the show has emerged as a star. It’s all about the coaches.