The pirate saga “Black Sails” (Starz, 9 p.m.), one of the most popular shows on that network, returns for its second season tonight bigger than ever, adding additional ships to the fleet it’s assembled in Cape Town to replicate a former british colony of the New Providence Islands in the Bahamas in trying to recreate the “Treasure Island” prequel.
“The challenge for us for the second season was to make it bigger, louder, deeper, you know, to try to do things that we hadn’t done yet and to do them in a better way,” says executive producer and co-creator Jon Steinberg at this month’s TV Critics Association winter press tour. “We wanted to see more of the world. We wanted to see London, which brings a whole host of production challenges with it in terms of trying to not just create new sets, but create a new feeling of a new environment, a new world, a new canvas. And we wanted to make sure that we built to a great big finale that didn’t feel like the first one, that felt both bigger in scope, but also qualitatively differently. And that kind of entailed a whole other build of a whole other world.”
Here’s a good deal: The Golden Globe winning “Transparent” (Amazon Prime, streaming) is available free to all today for binging. Have at it.
Last year’s sequel “300: Rise of an Empire” (HBO, 8 p.m.) makes its premium cable debut. Also on is Steve Coogan and Judi Dench in “Philomena” (Showtime, 8 p.m.) and Mark Wahlberg’s 2013 Navy Seal movie, “Lone Survivor” (Cinemax, 10 p.m.).
On the new TV movie “With This Ring” (Lifetime, 8 p.m.), three friends — Brooklyn Sudano, Eve, and Regina Hall — vow to get married within a year in the adaptation of the best-seller “The Vow” that also stars Jill Scott and Deion Sanders.
Also new tonight, “Love by the Book” (Hallmark, 9 p.m.) in which a bookstore owner (Leah Renee) weighs the virtues of storybook romance against reality. Ryan Bittle, John Schneider, Kristopher Turner and Stefanie Powers round out the cast.
Unusual sports invade prime time with the U.S. Figure Skating Championships (NBC, 8 p.m.) featuring ladies’ freestyle from Greensboro, N.C. Then there is the always unwelcome UFC Fight Night (Fox, 8 p.m.) from Stockholm.
Julia Roberts, Lily Collins and Armie Hammer star in the 2012 “Snow White” remake “Mirror Mirror” (ABC, ABC, 8 p.m.).
“48 Hours” (CBS, 10 p.m.) looks into the death of a Google executive who died of a heroin overdose on his yacht.
Big cats and tiger sharks both qualify as “Preposterous Pets” (Animal Planet, 8 p.m.).
“MythBusters” (Discovery, 9 p.m.) investigate the myths of “The A-Team” TV show. For example: Do fools deserve our pity?
King Louis goes out on the town but it ends badly on “The Musketeers” (BBC America, 9 p.m.), The casts almost completely change between “Grease” (ABC Family, 7 p.m.) and “Grease 2” (ABC Family, 9:30 p.m.).
Once there was a whole series called “The Littlest Groom” of questionable taste. Now there’s a series called “Little and Looking for Love” (Discovery Life, 8 p.m.).
Yes, “Sex Sent Me to the E.R.” (TLC, 10 p.m.) but the woman on “Body Bizarre” (Discovery Life, 9 p.m.) is having 50 orgasms a day.
Loads of men’s college basketball on today including Oklahoma State at Kansas State (ESPN2, noon), Kentucky at South Carolina (ESPN, noon), College of Charleston at Drexel (NBC Sports, noon), Tulsa at East Carolina (ESPNews, noon), Rutgers at Penn State (ESPNU, noon), DePaul at Xavier (Fox Sports 1, noon), Kansas at Texas (CBS, 2 p.m.), Arkansas at Missouri (ESPN2, 2 p.m.), Northeastern at William and Mary (NBC Sports, 2 p.m.), Florida State at North Carolina (ESPN, 2 p.m.), TCU at West Virginia (ESPNU, 2 p.m.), Anderson at Queens (CBS Sports, 2 p.m.), Georgetown at Marquette (Fox Sports 1, 2:30 p.m.), Miami at Syracuse (ESPN2, 4 p.m.), UCLA at Oregon (CBS, 4 p.m.), Michigan State at Nebraska (ESPN, 4 p.m.), Iowa State at Texas Tech (ESPNU, 4 p.m.), Oklahoma at Baylor (ESPN2, 6 p.m.), Houston at SMU (CBS Sports, 8 p.m.), LSU at Vanderbilt (ESPNU, 8 p.m.), Wisconsin at Michigan (ESPN, 7 p.m.), Memphis at Tulane (ESPNU, 8 p.m.), Utah State at UNLV (CBS Sports, 8 p.m.), San Diego State at Colorado State (ESPNU, 10 p.m.) and Arizona State at Stanford (ESPNU, midnight).
Women’s games include Anderson at Queens (CBS Sports, 11:30 p.m.) and Fordham at Saint Louis (CBS Sports, 4 p.m.).
In the Australian Open (ESPN2, 9 p.m.), the Round of 16 compete.
It’s hockey’s all -star weekend which begins with its Skills Competition (NBC Sports, 7 p.m.). In basketball, Detroit at Milwaukee (NBA, 7:30 p.m.).
Ryan Adams and Jenny Lewis play a new “Austin City Limits” (PBS, 8 p.m., check local listings).
Blake Shelton hosts a new “Saturday Night Live” (NBC, 11:30 p.m.), in which he is also the musical guest.