TV Best Bets

Tuesday, Feb. 20: 2018 Winter Olympics: Lindsey Vonn Looks for Gold in the Downhill

Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images

All Times Eastern.

Tuesday, Feb. 20

2018 Winter Olympics
NBC, 8pm Live

Tonight in primetime on NBC, U.S. skiing superstar Lindsey Vonn seeks a second downhill gold medal eight years after her Vancouver triumph. Also, figure skating continues with the ladies’ short program. Team USA is represented by upstart Bradie Tennell, fresh off a victory at the 2018 U.S. Championships; 2010 Olympian Mirai Nagasu; and 18-year-old Karen Chen, who placed fourth at last year’s World Championships. Yevgenia Medvedeva, competing as an Olympic Athlete from Russia, is the gold-medal favorite. NBC also features women’s bobsled medal runs and the beginning of the men’s snowboard big air competition.

We’ll Meet Again: “Freedom Summer”
PBS, 8pm
Join Ann Curry for the dramatic reunions of people who lost touch after the civil rights movement. Fatima hopes to thank Thelma for her courage in the face of racism, and Sherie searches for the friend who inspired her commitment to social justice.

Kevin (Probably) Saves the World: “Old Friends”
ABC, 10pm
Desperate to repair his friendship with Tyler (Dustin Ybarra), Kevin (Jason Ritter) enlists Kristin’s (India de Beaufort) help to pull off a grand gesture to win him back. In the process, Kevin and Kristin’s relationship deepens, plus they meet a strange and mysterious duo (guest stars Bret Harrison and Tyler Labine, reprising their Reaper roles). At the same time, Kevin tries to help Marc (Rhenzy Feliz, Teen Wolf), a young man who left home in search of adventure, and Yvette (Kimberly Hebert Gregory) and Dave (Will Sasso) continue to struggle with human tendencies.

Drunk History: “Civil Rights”
Comedy Central, 10pm

In the new episode “Civil Rights,” guest stars Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black), Kat Dennings (2 Broke Girls) and Ali Stroker (Ten Days in the Valley) reenact historical vignettes from tipsy narrators concerning such topics as the Suffragettes, who apparently employed martial arts in their crusade to earn the right to vote. Also: Youngsters join the 1963 Birmingham Children’s March to end segregation and disability rights activists organize America’s longest sit-in at a federal building.

Hunting Hitler: “Hitler’s Last Will”
History, 10pm
Series Finale!
Tim and Gerrard discover a mysterious militarized Nazi compound deep in the jungle of Paraguay. Mike and Lenny explore a Nazi concentration camp in Chile before an anonymous source leads them to Hitler’s last will and testament.

Wednesday, Feb. 21

College Basketball
ESPN, ESPN2 & FS1, beginning at 7pm Live

Some of the nation’s top college hoops teams are on display tonight, with games including Georgia Tech at Virginia (ESPN2), North Carolina at Syracuse (ESPN), DePaul at Villanova (FS1), Louisville at Duke (ESPN) and Florida at Tennessee (ESPN2).

Lincoln
History, 8pm
Based on the bestselling book Team of Rivals, Lincoln follows the 16th president as he grapples with a war with no end in sight and fights with his own cabinet about his decision to pass an amendment that would end slavery once and for all. Lincoln was nominated for 12 Oscars, winning two. The Steven Spielberg-directed film, making its cable debut, stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones and David Strathairn.

Nature: “The Last Rhino”
PBS, 8pm
Meet Sudan, the last male of his kind, the northern white rhino, living in a Kenyan sanctuary under 24-hour armed guard. Trace his harrowing journey as scientists and animal experts race to save the species before it dies out forever.

The Magicians: “Poached Eggs”
Syfy, 9pm
Margo (Summer Bishil) makes a bold stand against the Fairy Queen (Candis Cayne); Quentin (Jason Ralph) and Penny (Arjun Gupta) try to retrieve a lost item.

Homicide City
Investigation Discovery, 10pm
New Series!
In each episode of this series, Philadelphia’s finest members of law enforcement come out of retirement to tell the inside story of a headline-making case that they will never forget. In the series premiere, “A Manager’s Murder,” the Montgomery County P.D. calls upon Chief Oscar Vance to resurface valuable clues when a Philly restaurant manager is murdered at work five months before he is to be married, and seemingly few concrete details leading to a suspect are found at the scene or from potential witnesses.

Channel Zero: Butcher’s Block: “All You Ghost Mice”
Syfy, 10pm
Alice (Olivia Luccardi) has a terrifying encounter in an abandoned hospital; Luke (Brandon Scott), Louise (Krisha Fairchild) and Nathan (Aaron Merke) play cat-and-mouse with Robert Peach (Andreas Aspergis).

Thursday, Feb. 22

NBA Basketball
TNT, beginning at 8pm Live
TNT’s Thursday NBA doubleheader has the Washington Wizards at the Cleveland Cavaliers, followed by the L.A. Clippers at the Golden State Warriors.

The Bachelor Winter Games: “World Tells All”
ABC, 10pm
Following The Bachelor Winter Games finale, this hourlong special reunites the participants from around the world for a revealing tell-all.

Portlandia: “You Do You”
IFC, 10pm

In the new episode “You Do You,” Kath (Carrie Brownstein) and Dave (Fred Armisen) learn the art of taking photo-booth pictures.

Friday, Feb. 23

The Tick
Amazon
New Episodes!
The second part of Season 1, featuring six new episodes, drops today. Starring Peter Serafinowicz, Griffin Newman, Jackie Earle Haley and Valorie Curry, The Tick is based on the cult comic book by Ben Edlund, who also created this series.

Marseille
Netflix
Season Premiere!
In Season 2, journalists surround the hospital where Robert Taro (Gérard Depardieu), the incumbent mayor of Marseille, is still in the intensive care unit as a result of his recent stroke. As the upcoming elections approach, Taro’s absence offers Lucas Barrès (Benoît Magimel) his shot to try to rise to power, but he is still nine votes short to become the new mayor of the city. The negotiations with all the different political parties begin, with the extreme right waiting backstage to make its move.

Mute
Netflix
Original Film!
Set in Berlin in the near future, this film follows Leo (Alexander Skarsgård), who — unable to speak from a childhood accident — searches for his missing girlfriend through the full spectrum of the city’s shadow-dwellers. As he seeks answers, Leo finds himself mixed up with Cactus Bill (Paul Rudd) and Duck (Justin Theroux), a pair of irreverent U.S. Army surgeons on a mission all their own. Described as a “soulful sci-fi journey,” the film comes from director Duncan Jones (Moon).

Seven Seconds
Netflix
New Series!
This anthological crime thriller comes from creator and executive producer Veena Sud (The Killing) and stars Regina King alongside breakout British actress Clare-Hope Ashitey. In the series, after a white cop accidentally hits and critically injures a black teenager, a northeastern city explodes with racial tensions, an attempted cover-up and its aftermath, and the trial of the century.

Ugly Delicious
Netflix
New Series!
Over eight episodes of this docuseries, James Beard Award-winning chef David Chang travels the world with writers, chefs, activists and artists who use food as a vehicle to break down cultural barriers, tackle misconceptions and uncover shared experiences. Oscar-winning director Morgan Neville (Twenty Feet From Stardom) helms the series.

Great Performances: “Movies for Grownups Awards With ‘AARP The Magazine’”
PBS, 9pm
Watch as Helen Mirren receives the 2017 Movies for Grownups Career Achievement Award. The Movies for Grownups Awards were established to celebrate and encourage filmmaking that appeals to movie lovers with a grownup state of mind — and to recognize its artists.

Strike Back
Cinemax, 10pm
More trouble for Section 20! Islamist terrorist Jane Lowry (Katherine Kelly) has recruited Magyar Ultra, the Hungarian gang of white nationalists that holds Mac (Warren Brown) hostage, to abduct a Russian chemical weapons expert.

2 Dope Queens: “Black Nerds”
HBO, 11:30pm
Series Finale!
Orange Is the New Black star Uzo Aduba does her homework on the plight of “Black Nerds” (a.k.a. Blerds) in the finale of HBO’s comedy specials featuring the “2 Dope Queens” Phoebe Robinson and Jessica Williams.

Saturday, Feb. 24

College Basketball
CBS, ESPN, ESPN2 & FOX, 12pm Live

With conference tournaments and March Madness just around the corner, catch a full Saturday of college hoops action, with top games including Seton Hall at St. John’s (FOX), Louisville at Virginia Tech (CBS), Villanova at Creighton (FOX), Iowa State at West Virginia (ESPN2), Gonzaga at BYU (ESPN2) and Arizona at Oregon (ESPN).

NASCAR Xfinity Series: Rinnai 250
FS1, 2pm Live

Tyler Reddick, Daniel Hemric, Cole Custer, Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe and other emerging NASCAR Xfinity Series stars head to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Rinnai 250.

Shot in the Dark
FOX, 4:30pm
After the conclusion of the Villanova vs. Creighton basketball game, catch this sports documentary executive produced by Dwyane Wade and Chance the Rapper. The film follows a Chicago high-school basketball team and its stars as they aspire for greatness despite the challenges they face and the systemic inequities that threaten to claim their future. “Shot in the Dark is an authentic and realistic look at high-school sports in Chicago and what it means for our youth,” says Chance. “It’s not really a game for some folks.”

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series: Active Pest Control 200
FS1, 4:30pm Live

A Saturday twin bill of NASCAR racing at Atlanta Motor Speedway wraps up with the Camping World Truck Series’ Active Pest Control 200.

FOX UFC Fight Night
FOX, 8pm Live
It’s a clash of featherweight fury when No. 4 Josh Emmett takes on hard-hitting No. 7 Jeremy Stephens in Orlando, Fla.

NBA Basketball: Oklahoma City at Golden State
ABC, 8:30pm Live
This ABC primetime matchup of NBA Western Conference rivals has Russell Westbrook leading the Oklahoma City Thunder against Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and the Golden State Warriors.

Royal Hearts
Hallmark Channel, 9pm
Original Film!
When Kelly (Cindy Busby), a hopeless romantic, and her rancher father, Hank (James Brolin), receive news that Hank has inherited an estate from a faraway land, they discover that he has also received a royal title that goes along with it.

Falling Water: “Nothing Personal”
USA Network, 10pm
Burton (David Ajala) faces his past, with Tess’ (Lizzie Brocheré) help. Shadowman stays one step ahead of Taka (Will Yun Lee) and Alex, while Woody (Kai Lennox) agrees to help bring Taylor Bennett (Mary McCormack) down, and Boerg (Zak Orth) remembers his lost sister.