TV Best Bets for March 12

Apple TV+, Original Film!

Inspired by the bestselling novel of the same name, this drama from directors Anthony and Joe Russo (Avengers: Endgame) features Tom Holland in the title role as an unhinged character who drifts from dropping out of college to serving in Iraq as an Army medic, and is only anchored by his one true love, Emily (Ciara Bravo). When Cherry returns home a war hero, he battles the demons of undiagnosed PTSD and spirals into drug addiction, surrounding himself with a menagerie of depraved misfits. The film is a darkly humorous, unflinching coming-of-age story of a man on a universal quest for purpose and human connection.

Paranormal Caught on Camera: “Rainbow Portal in Connecticut and More”

discovery+

A colorful anomaly in the sky dazzles onlookers in Connecticut; a parade of orbs floats through an abandoned Texas jail; a strange monolith pops up in the remote Utah wilderness; and more.

Marvel Studios Assembled: “Assembled: The Making of ‘WandaVision’”

Disney+, New Series!

In this series of documentary specials, join WandaVisionstars Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany, along with the show’s creative team, as they invite viewers behind the scenes of their hit series, which recently concluded its first season. Learn how the production’s surprising concept took shape by drawing inspiration from classic sitcoms. Witness how the crew went to great lengths to emulate various filmmaking methods used during the early years of television. Discover the unique challenges and ultimate rewards of performing an entire episode in front of a live studio audience. Spend time with exciting newcomers to the MCU, such as Teyonah Parris and Kathryn Hahn, along with returning favorites like Kat Dennings and Randall Park.

Marvel Studios: Legends: “Falcon”/“Winter Soldier”/“Zemo”/“Sharon Carter”

Disney+, New Episodes!

Ahead of the launch of the new Marvel series The Falcon and the Winter Soldiernext Friday on Disney+, check out these new Legendsepisodes to catch up on the backstories of some of the main heroes and villains that figure into the show.

Own the Room

Disney+

This documentary chronicles five students from around the world who take their budding business ventures to compete in the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards.

Paradise PD: Part 3

Netflix, Season Premiere!

The not-so-honorable police officers of Paradise engage in dog blackmail, sperm theft, doughnut shop intimidation and many more unspeakable crimes in the new season of this animated comedy.

Yes Day

Netflix, Original Film!

Always feeling like they have to say “no” to their kids and coworkers, Allison (Jennifer Garner) and Carlos (Édgar Ramírez) decide to give their three kids a “Yes Day” — where for 24 hours the kids make the rules. Little did they know that they’d be going on a whirlwind adventure around Los Angeles that would bring the family closer to each other than ever before. This comedy is based on the children’s book of the same name by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld.

MacGyver: “C8H7CIO + Nano-Trackers + Resistance + Maldives + Mind Games”

CBS, 8pm EST

In the new episode “C8H7CIO + Nano-Trackers + Resistance + Maldives + Mind Games,” Mac (Lucas Till) and Riley (Tristin Mays) head overseas to prevent a governmental collapse and inadvertently inhale new deadly microscopic technology.

The Single Mom Conspiracy

LMN, 8pm EST, Original Film!

Recently divorced, Grace (Allison McAtee) is struggling to manage her new home and restaurant venture, plus raise her teenage daughter Charlie (Aubrey Stevens), while also navigating a new romance with her much-younger employee Alex (Andrew Spach). Feeling increasingly overwhelmed, Grace agrees to let Lilith (Samantha Cope) move into her guest house so she can get extra help organizing the house and restaurant. But as things start to unravel in both Grace’s personal and professional life, she begins to question if Lilith is there to help or hurt her.

The Blacklist: “Dr. Laken Perillos”

NBC, 8pm EST

Red (James Spader) and Dembe (Hisham Tawfiq) land in peril when Townsend deploys a torture specialist who uses unorthodox methods to interrogate her victims.

Movie MacGuffins — Part 2

TCM, beginning at 8pm EST, Catch a Classic!

TCM airs three more legendary films featuring famous “MacGuffins” — objects or events that propel a story’s action and characters’ motivations, but which are ultimately not as important as the journey toward finding them. The evening begins with The Maltese Falcon, John Huston’s terrific 1941 film noir adaptation of the Dashiell Hammett novel. Here, private eye Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) finds himself in the middle of three unscrupulous characters (Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre) all in a quest to obtain the title MacGuffin — a jewel-encrusted ebony falcon statuette — and who aren’t above violence to obtain it, including the murder of Spade’s partner. The black bird is talked about a lot — with Spade at times derisively referring to it as “the dingus” and ultimately dismissing it and the troubles it’s caused sarcastically as “the stuff that dreams are made of” — until finally being seen near the end, but even then it isn’t quite what it’s been made out to be. Next, in Casablanca(1942), Bogart’s cynical expatriate Rick Blaine, who runs a café in the titular Vichy-held Moroccan city in the early days of World War II, says at one point, “Seems as long as I have those letters, I’ll never be lonely.” He’s referring to letters of transit entrusted to him by a crook before his arrest and subsequent death — valuable documents that would allow desperate refugees to escape to the United States. Rick is indeed not lonely, as everyone from his former love Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) to delightfully corrupt police captain Renault (Claude Raines) and German officials are poking around trying to find those letters. When we finally learn where the documents are, and what Rick has planned with them, it leads to the film’s iconic climax. Finally, in the first few moments of Orson Welles’ brilliant debut film, Citizen Kane(1941), we see media mogul Charles Foster Kane (Welles) uttering the word “Rosebud” with his dying breath. News of Kane’s final word sends a news team on a quest to find out just to what, or whom, “Rosebud” refers, leading us into Kane’s compelling backstory. Only we as the audience ever learn what that word really meant, in the film’s famous, and sad, final scene.

Magnum P.I.: “The Lies We Tell”

CBS, 9pm EST

Magnum (Jay Hernandez) and Higgins (Perdita Weeks) are hired by a married woman to find her lover’s killer, but they discover that the victim wasn’t who he claimed to be. Guest star Corbin Bernsen returns as Icepick in the new episode “The Lies We Tell.”

Love After Lockup: Life After Lockup

WE tv, 9pm EST, Season Finale!

The third season of the show that follows ex-cons as they attempt to live their lives ends tonight.

Blue Bloods: “For Whom the Bell Tolls”

CBS, 10pm EST

Det. Maria Baez (Marisa Ramirez) finds a corpse in her yard! Also, Assistant DA Erin Reagan (Bridget Moynahan) counters criticism from her boss, Kimberly Crawford (Roslyn Ruff), while her dad, police commish Frank (Tom Selleck), orders his team into therapy.

Unprotected Sets: “Seaton Smith & Yedoye Travis”

EPIX, 12:30am (late-night) EST, Season Finale!

Seaton Smith is smart, funny and thought-provoking. His cerebral wit and clever views of the world translate to a hilarious set loaded with relationship advice and “white positive” jokes. Yedoye Travis is a comedian on the rise. This Atlanta native is quickly setting himself apart with a sharp wit and brutal honesty. His theories on race relations and pop culture include making the argument that the devil is actually white.