Tonight is pretty much about the Final Four of men’s college basketball. You can’t really ask for much more in drama from a few hours in front of the tube than the NCAA Tournament. There have been twenty point comebacks, buzzer beaters and four really good teams that have lasted this far. For me, hear on the west coast it will all be over in time to watch a new Robin Hood on BBC America and then the repeat episode of The Riches on FX. What looks good to you tonight?

Prime Picks

NCAA Tournament (CBS): The Final Four. First (2) Georgetown squares off against (1) Ohio State and then (2) UCLA faces off against (1) Florida in a rematch of last years finals match-up. The first game is scheduled for about 6:07 ET and the second will follow a bit after the first one ends. This looks to be a couple of great match-ups. A two-hour pregarme show is on tap prior to the tip of the first game.

Solid Selections

The Rookie (ABC): Released 2002. Dennis Quaid as a high school baseball coach who gets a shot at the majors in middle age. Based on a true story. Runs three hours.

Cable Choices

Emeril Live (Food Network): Repeat. Emeril has a spring fling, as he cooks with seasonal veggies.

Robin Hood (BBC America): New. It is the Nottingham Fair and of course there is a arrow-shooting contest and Robin has to keep from falling for the temptation to try and participate. Meanwhile the Sheriff is looking to buy some slave labor for one of his mines and Robin wants to put a stop to it. Last week’s episode plays right before.

The Riches (FX): Repeat. Last Monday’s episode, “Operation Education,” replays where Dahlia cooks up a scam to get the kids into a private school. Runs 68 minutes.

Other Options

• Law & Order (NBC): Repeat. Someone dies on a party bus and the person who found him is the likeliest suspect. Yet, after investigating, it turns into an improbable conviction.
• Law & Order: Criminal Intent (NBC): Repeat. Doris Roberts (Everybody Loves Raymond) quests as a well off socialite grandmother. When her granddaughter is murdered, the detectives must traverse through a family full of secrets and betrayal to find who did it.
• Nickelodeon’s 20th Annual Kids’ Choice Awards (Nickelodeon): New. Justin Timberlake hosts the festivities where awards are handed out for favorite movie and more. The broadcast is live on the east coast and scheduled to run just under two hours.
• Trading Spaces (TLC): New. A living room and a guest room get the switcheroo treatment.

Sports Notes

• CBS has the Final Four college basketball games from the Georgia Dome.
• ESPN has an NBA game with Cleveland Cavaliers at the Chicago Bulls that should be over by the time the Final Four games start on CBS. An MLB preseason game follows.
• ESPN2 has third round coverage of the Kraft Nabisco Championship LPGA event.
• FOX has NASCAR racing with the Craftsman Truck Series: Kroger 250.
• NBC has third round coverage of the Shell Houston Open golf tournament.

Late Night

• MADtv (FOX): Repeat. Hockey tips from the Los Angeles Kings.
• Saturday Night Live (NBC): Repeat. Rainn Wilson (The Office) hosts with musical guest Arcade Fire.
• Talkshow With Spike Feresten (FOX): Repeat. Cheryl Hines (Curb Your Enthusiasm) is the guest.

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Standoff on FOX was supposed to return to the Friday night lineup soon, but it has been put on hold until the summer. That doesn’t bode well for it seeing a new season next fall. Raines on NBC, which premiered and played the last two weeks on Thursday night, moves to its new timeslot in the second hour of primetime as of tonight. It is very weird to see four scripted dramas in the second hour slot across the networks on a Friday night, which is what you have with Close to Home on CBS, the aforementioned Raines, Six Degrees on ABC and The Wedding Bells on FOX. Whether you find any of them worth watching or not, is another question? Also, don’t forget about the Heroes marathon on Sci Fi Channel, the episode of Friday Night Lights before primetime on Bravo and if missed it, but wanted to watch, the season finale of Dirt on FX plays late night tonight.

Prime Picks

House (FOX): Repeat. A homeless woman comes in and Foreman thinks she is faking her seizures to get a stay in the hospital. Soon her symptoms start to get worse and the mystery of what is happening to her turns out to be quite complex for House and his team to figure out.

Raines (NBC): New. Laurie Metcalf (Roseanne) plays the victim this week. Raines investigates and is led down a trail of deception and fraud. This is this show’s new timeslot.

Numb3rs (CBS): New. Charlie helps in the investigation of a small plane that crashed, so they can figure out what brought it down and why.

Solid Selections

Grey’s Anatomy (ABC): Repeat. The episode where Cristina gets stuck taking care of Dr. Bailey’s baby replays.

The Wedding Bells (FOX): New. A young bride wants to dress as her late father’s favorite character and Sammy tries to get her to reconsider. Another couple can’t get married until the woman gets permission from her husband and Annie tries to help them.

Law & Order (NBC): New. The detectives are following a string of church fires and believe it to be arson until a body is found in one of them and then they change tracks to investigate it as a homicide.

Cable Choices

Wild Weddings (TLC): Repeat. Get a look at some truly nightmarish weddings, such as one where the groom can’t stop laughing throughout the entire ceremony. Could make a nice doubleheader with The Wedding Bells on FOX. Plays again later.

What Not to Wear (TLC): New. A woman who has recently lost over 30 pounds gets a new wardrobe courtesy of Clinton and Stacy. Plays again later.

Paula’s Party (Food Network): New. Paula will be cooking up some tasty cheese dishes. Plays again later.

Other Options

• Giada’s Weekend Getaways (Food Network): New. The food of Chicago is enjoyed over a weekend. Plays again later.
• Six Degrees (ABC): New. Whitney and Carlos are looking for new places to live. Laura meets an interesting fellow on the Internet.

Sports Notes

• ESPN has an NBA doubleheader with the Indiana Pacers at the Orlando Magic followed by the Houston Rockets at the Los Angeles Lakers.
• ESPN2 has Friday Night Fights.

TV Show Marathons

Oxygen has 15 episodes of Roseanne today.
Sci Fi Channel has a five-episode Heroes marathon that includes, “Six Months Ago,” “Fallout,” “Godsend,” “The Fix” and “Company Man.”

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The latest on Men in Trees is that it has not been cancelled and in fact has been picked up for a second season. It was supposed to return on April 12th, but FOX and American Idol threw a wrench in the works. FOX has decided to extend the results shows to an hour sooner than they normally do. ABC was set to launch the new comedy Notes from the Underbelly on Wednesday, April 11th, which wouldn’t have had competition from Idol. Now it will, so ABC is going to move the launch of Notes to the 12th after Grey’s Anatomy instead of bringing back Men as previously planned. As of now, it looks like Men in Trees will not return to finish out its first season until May. Will you be able to wait that long? Well, unfortunately, you are going to have to. I guess we should just be happy that Marin and the rest of the Elmo gang are going to be hanging around for another season. Want to keep up to date with your favorite shows like Men in Trees, then subscribe and get Tonight on the Tube in your inbox or grab the RSS feed and ad it to your favorite reader.

Prime Picks

The Office (NBC): Repeat. It is “Diversity Day” once again. NBC will be playing five episodes of The Office tonight.
The Office (NBC): Repeat. Dwight gets to pick the new health plan for the office and the power goes to his head.

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS): New. Sarah is haunted by the eyes of one of the dead showgirls at a crime scene she is working.

Shark (CBS): New. Sebastian goes after a black cop and his white partner after the shooting of a black teen under controversial circumstances.

Solid Selections

Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (FOX): New. This basically gets a spot here by being new and not much else is in the first hour of primetime tonight and so I could write the following: FOX is telling you in its ads that you should watch because this show had the highest debut audience in eight years. It doesn’t matter that the audience is nowhere near that now. That is just dumb. But, not as dumb as the other reason they want you to watch. That being, because some guy is going to make show history, this will be the fifth week the show will have aired. Pretty much everything that happens will make show history at this point. This isn’t having three contestants tying at the end of Jeopardy, which had never happened before on a show that has been on the air almost nonstop since it debuted in March of 1964. That is show history. This type of advertising is just dumb. Have you been watching the show? Will you be watching tonight? Does this type of advertising get you interested in watching? If so, why?

The Office (NBC): Repeat. The “Sexual Harassment” episode replays and runs 31 minutes.
Andy Barker, P.I. (NBC): New. Andy and Simon stand up against Wally serving bad chicken at the restaurant.

The Office (NBC): Repeat. “The Injury” episode replays where Michael has an accident with a grill.
The Office (NBC): Repeat. Michael outs Oscar by mistake in the “Gay Witch Hunt” episode.

Cable Choices

Emeril Live (Food Network): Repeat. Emeril cooks up some delectable meats from the Chelsea Market.

American Chopper (TLC): New. The guys start work on a computer themed bike for HP.

Throwdown With Bobby Flay (Food Network): New. A fish & chips battle is waged.
Ace of Cakes (Food Network): New. They can really make some spectacular theme cakes. See what they come up with this week.

Other Options

• Grey’s Anatomy (ABC): Repeat. The episode where Cristina finally can’t take it anymore and runs to the chief about what she and Burke have been doing.
• October Road (ABC): New. Will the third episode be the charm, or will it continue to suck like the first two. Things I would rather listen to than the dialogue on this show: fingernails on a chalkboard, jackhammer on pavement, Fran Drescher talking on a 24 hour loop or just about anything else.

Sports Notes

• EPSN has the NIT championship game tonight.
• TNT has an NBA doubleheader with the Detroit Pistons at the Chicago Bulls followed by the Phoenix Suns at the Golden State Warriors.

That is correct, Sanjaya “The Hair” Malakar has lasted another week. There is not much else to say. He wasn’t even in the bottom three. That consisted of Phil Stacey, Haley Scarnato and the departing Chris Sligh.

I had thought that Chris Richardson might be the one on the way out with two of either Sanjaya, Haley or Chris S. being down there with him in the bottom three. So, I was way off this week, although, I thought that Chris S. had a chance of heading home, which he did.

How long do you think Sanjaya can last? I think he could easily last past Phil or Haley before finally being ejected from the proceedings. That would give him as many as three more weeks to sing before I can write the following headline: The Hair Finally Gets Cut on American Idol Season 6. His demise will come in the next three weeks. He won’t make the Top 6.

How would you rank the remaining nine Idol hopefuls and their chances of winning the whole thing?

American Idol Season 6 – Top 9 Rankings:

1. Melinda Doolittle – Easily the best singer in the competition, but that person doesn’t always win.
2. Jordin Sparks – Has the youth appeal. Will definitely benefit when Sanjaya finally gets sent home. The people that have been voting for him that actually like him, not the Vote for the Worst people or the Howard Stern fans, will probably switch their allegiance to the next young participant in the competition.
3. LaKisha Jones – Needs to put forth a performance like she did the first week of the Top 24 competition.
4. Blake Lewis – Definitely agree with the judges that he is the strongest male in the competition, which is completely the case now that Chris Sligh has been sent home.
5. Gina Glocksen – With more performances like this week she could definitely stick around. If she reverts back to previous more screechy or lack of enunciation type performances, she won’t.
6. Chris Richardson – Turns out he did have a bit more support than was shown last week. He was in the bottom two last week and didn’t even make the bottom three this week.
7. Haley Scarnato – Needs to go back to the shake your assets routine from the previous week.
8. Phil Stacey – Similar to Chris R. last week. Gave his best performance of the competition so far and got a spot in the bottom three anyway.
9. Sanjaya Malakar – Where is some Nair when you need it?