Black History Month takes a strange turn tonight with the TV movie “Betty & Coretta” (Lifetime, 8 p.m.), about the friendship and alliance between the widows of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, Coretta Scott King and Betty Shabazz.
Angela Bassett, who played Shabazz in Spike Lee’s “Malcolm X,” moves over to the role as the regal Mrs. King while hip hop queen Mary J. Blige, who is also a producer of the film, takes on the Shabazz role. Blige isn’t quite up to the task here, though some of the other acting in the straightforward and rather timid film isn’t much better.
Ruby Dee, required by law to be in all civil rights movies, appears as an unnamed witness to the proceedings, though as a friend of Shabazz, she might be speaking from personal experience, albeit in a very animated way.
And while there are some interesting things to learn about Shabazz’s life and her horrible death, there isn’t much of a story other than: they got along. Terrance Blanchard’s score is pretty good though.
A veteran of his own awards shows, Alec Baldwin hosts something Super Bowl has been missing until recently, its own awards show. The second annual NFL Honors (CBS, 9 p.m.) conveniently also held in the Super Bowl city of New Orleans, pays tribute to the top plays and players with an MVP, coach of the year and Walter Payton Man of the Year to be named. No halftime show though.
New to cable tonight are the movies “Five Year Engagement” (HBO, 8 p.m.) with Jason Segel and Emily Blunt, Daniel Radcliffe in “The Woman in Black” (Showtime, 8 p.m.) and “Touchback” (Starz, 9 p.m.) with Kurt Russell.
Tim McGraw plays a new “Austin City Limits” (PBS, 9 p.m., check local listings).
Rascal Flatts joins Journey on a “CMT Crossroads” (CMT, 11 p.m.) that is also a tie-in to the Super Bowl in New Orleans.
It’s the 850th episode of “Cops” (Fox, 8 p.m.) and still the bad guys haven’t learned their lesson.
“War of the Worlds” (ABC, 8 p.m.) invades the whole of prime time. Other especially long movies tonight include “Open Range” (Encore, 8 p.m.), “Pride & Prejudice” (E!, 8:30 p.m.) and both “Batman Returns” (IFC, 8 p.m.) and “The Dark Knight” (TNT, 8 p.m.).
Oscar nominated films from the Warner Bros. studios in the 1940s are on Turner Classic Movies tonight, with “Casablanca” (8 p.m.), “The Maltese Falcon” (10 p.m.), “Mildred Pierce” (midnight), “Watch on the Rhine” (2 a.m.) and “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” (4 a.m.).
Men’s college basketball today includes Cincinnati at Seton Hall (ESPNU, 11 a.m.), Virginia Tech at North Carolina (Fox, noon), Syracuse at Pittsburgh (ESPN, noon), Purdue at Northwestern (ESPN2, noon), Austin Peay at Murray State (ESPNU, 1 p.m.), Duke at Florida State (ESPN, 2 p.m.), Notre Dame at DePaul (ESPN2, 2 p.m.), Dayton at Saint Louis (NBC Sports, 2 p.m.), Robert Morris at LIU-Brooklyn (ESPNU, 3 p.m.), St. John’s at Georgetown (CBS, 4 p.m.), Tennessee at Arkansas (ESPN, 4 p.m.), Wichita State at Northern Iowa (ESPN2, 4 p.m.), Ohio at Akron (ESPNU, 5 p.m.), Kentucky at Texas A&M (ESPN, 6 p.m.), Kansas State at Oklahoma (ESPN2, 6 p.m.), Columbia at Princeton (NBC Sports, 6 p.m.), Mississippi at Florida (ESPNU, 7 p.m.), Baylor at Iowa State (ESPN2, 8 p.m.), Nevada at New Mexico (NBC Sports, 8 p.m.), Michigan at Indiana (ESPN, 9 p.m.), Arizona State at Washington (ESPNU, 9 p.m.), and Gonzaga at San Diego (ESPNU, 11 p.m.).
You may wonder why Adam Levine didn’t sing with his band when he hosted “Saturday Night Live” (NBC, 11:30 p.m.) last week; he will tonight when Maroon 5 is musical guest on a rerun that Jeremy Renner hosted.