March Madness, Kennedys in Conflict, A Chill in ‘The Pitt,’ Home Hospice on ‘Grey’s’

March Madness

The brackets have been set, and college basketball pools are poised for upsets as fans anticipate the first tipoff in Greenville, South Carolina, between No. 9 seed TCU and No. 8 seed Ohio State. It’s the first of 16 matches broadcast on the opening day and night of the tournament, with coverage starting at 12:40 pm/ET on truTV from Oklahoma City, at 1:30 pm/ET on TNT in Buffalo, and at 1:50 pm/ET on TBS from Portland, Oregon. Games continue into the evening, with another 16 games scheduled Friday from St. Louis (CBS), Tampa (truTV), San Diego (TNT), and Philadelphia (TBS). The women’s first round begins Friday after the First Four play-in concludes tonight at 7 pm/ET with No. 16 Samford playing No. 16 Southern U., followed by No. 10 Arizona State vs. No. 10 Virginia. Let the March Madness begin.

Love Story

With one more episode to go, and their own tragic ending preordained, the golden couple of JFK Jr. (Paul Anthony Kelly) and his bride, Carolyn (Sarah Pidgeon) struggle to keep it together when news breaks of another highly public fairy tale gone wrong. “They killed her,” Carolyn says, transfixed by coverage of Princess Diana‘s untimely death. A lot of smoking takes place in an episode that’s basically a two-hander as the couple, feeling more trapped than ever by intrusive paparazzi and the tabloid media, assess their strained union. “I imagine it’s tough seeing how unhappy you make me,” Carolyn declares. It’s not easy for us to watch, either.

The Pitt

Just what the doctors didn’t order on a busy 4th of July: the sudden and unwelcome arrival of ICE officers, escorting a woman who was injured during one of their sweeps. Nervous patients begin eyeing the exit, and some of the staff also don’t feel safe with these masked men in their midst. Meanwhile, the vigil continues for Roxie (Brittany Allen), the mom dying of cancer, and Mel (Taylor Dearden) tries to process the news about her sister Becca’s (Tal Anderson) unexpectedly active sex life.

Grey’s Anatomy

Cancer also figures into a poignant ongoing storyline on the long-running medical drama, when Lucas (Niko Terho) and Simone (Alexis Floyd) open their home — actually Meredith’s old home — to Katie (Samantha Marie Ware), the gastric cancer patient whose successful clinical trial lost its funding, sealing her doom. While the young doctors take shifts providing hospice care, back at Grey Sloan, cancer survivor Richard (James Pickens Jr.) hosts an event for prostate screening.

Meal Ticket

Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Patrick Ewing, Candace Parker, Flau’jae Johnson, A’ja Wilson, Blake Griffin, Grant Hill, the list goes on. Before they were NBA and WNBA all-stars, they earned some of their first moments in the spotlight playing in the McDonald’s All American Games, a launching pad since 1977 for high-school standouts to show what they’ve got. A feature-length documentary recalls the history of the games, with interviews of many past participants, and includes coverage of the 2022 and 2023 games as future superstars are discovered.

INSIDE THURSDAY TV:

• CNBC Cures: Defying Rare Disease (7 pm/ET, CNBC): Anchor Becky Quick shares her personal story of her family’s battle with her daughter’s rare disease, part of a report on how patients are often caught between scientific breakthroughs and gaps in funding and access.
• 9-1-1 (8/7c, ABC): Buck (Oliver Stark) tries to bounce back from the trauma of his kidnapping, while May (Corinne Massiah) hopes to land a law internship without her mother Athena’s (Angela Bassett) intervention. Followed by 9-1-1: Nashville (9/8), where Dixie (LeAnn Rimes) steps in after a performer cancels at Blythe’s (Jessica Capshaw) gala.
• Next Level Chef (8/7c, Fox): Gordon Ramsay‘s 6-year-old son Oscar drops by the cooking competition when the chefs are challenged to reimagine classic kids’ dishes.
• Uncensored (8/7c, TV One): Shaunie Henderson opens up in a revealing interview, discussing her divorce from Shaquille O’Neal, the creation of Basketball Wives, and becoming the first lady of Houston’s Lighthouse Church and Ministries.
• Animal Control (9/8c, Fox): Rob Gronkowski returns to the sitcom with a zebra in tow, while Emily (Vella Lovell) and Shred’s (Michael Rowland) first date is spoiled when they encounter Daisy (Kyla Pratt) and Patel (Ravi Patel). Followed by Going Dutch (9:30/8:30c), where the Colonel’s (Denis Leary) breakup with Katja (Catherine Tate) creates conflict between the base and the town.

 ON THE STREAM:

• Tyler Perry’s Beauty in Black (streaming on Netflix): The second season of the melodrama set within a ruthless beauty dynasty finds former sex worker Kimmie (Taylor Polidore-Williams) now in charge after inheriting sole ownership of the business.
• Double Stakes (streaming on Viaplay): A gritty crime drama from Ukraine depicts the crusade of a soldier who joins the police after being discharged from the front, taking on organized crime and crooked cops in the capital city of Kyiv.