Tonight’s new Hallmark film is practically a home movie.
Ricky Scroder, the boy faced actor from “The Champ” and “Silver Spoons” to “NYPD Blue” co-wrote “Wild Hearts” (Hallmark, 8 p.m.) with his wife Andrea as a vehicle for their teenage daughter Cambrie.
The two play father-daughter here as well, albeit estranged ones. The cowboy played by Ricky doesn’t know about his big city daughter who seeks him out and gets involved with breaking wild horses. The other Schroder kids are in it as well, including one who plays the local bad guy.
It’s not a bad family film, though, as it concentrates on something diferent for a change, wild horses and breaking broncos. There’s a metaphor in there somewhere about letting something you love run free, but it was probably too obvious to catch.
In the other original movies on cable tonight, students at a tony fictional New England boarding school get involved in a sex tape scandal on the new “Restless Virgins” (Lifetime, 8 p.m.).
Vanessa Marano and Max Lloyd-Jones of “Switched at Birth” and Timothy Busfield star in the film loosely based on a 2005 scandal at Milton Academy near Boston. That one involved the hockey team; this one was the lacrosse team.
In a third original film, “Flying Monkeys” (Syfy, 9 p.m.) is a lower budget spinoff of “The Wizard of Oz” than the one in theaters. It’s set in Gale, Kansas — Dorothy Gale was from Kansas you recall — and about a girl’s pet monkey who turns into an evil shape shifter. Electra Avellan, Vincent Ventresca and Alvin Chon star.
Premium cable movie premieres tonight include “Project X” (HBO, 8 p.m.), “My Week with Marilyn” (Showtime, 8 p.m.), “Think Like a Man” (Starz, 9 p.m.), and “El Gringo” (Cinemax, 10 p.m.).
Barbara Walters looks at “The Greatest TV Shows of Our Time” as determined in a recent poll, on a new “20/20″ (ABC, 9 p.m.).
Loads of same week reruns on broadcast TV, including “Once Upon a TIme” (ABC, 8 p.m.), “Person of Interest” (CBS, 8 p.m.), “The Following” (Fox, 9 p.m.) and “Chicago Fire” (NBC, 9 p.m.),
A white slavery ring is uncovered on “Ripper Street” (BBC America, 9 p.m.).
Doesn’t seem like a Colorado dude ranch would be too out of bounds for “My Big Redneck Vacation” (CMT, 9 p.m.).
A shopper seeks an Ouija board on “Oddities” (Science, 9 p.m.).
The road trip on “Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best?” (WE, 9 p.m.) is not without its bumps.
“Grand Hotel” (TCM, 8 p.m.) kicks off a night about long weekends that includes “Weekend at the Waldorf” (TCM, 10 p.m.), “The Big Chill” (TCM, 12:30 a.m.), “Rules of the Game” (3:30 a.m.) and “Fun on a Weekend” (4:30 a.m.).
Lots of basketball today, as you can imagine. At noon: Syracuse at Georgetown (ESPN), Florida at Kentucky (CBS), Providence at Connecticut (ESPNU), and Alabama-Birmingham at Memphis (CBS Sports).
It’s La Salle at Saint Louis (NBC Sports, 1:30 p.m.), followed by these 2 p.m. games: UCLA at Washington (CBS), Marquette at St. John’s (ESPN), North Carolina State at Florida State (ESPN2), Lehigh at Lafayette (CBS Sports) and Texas A&M at Arkansas (ESPNU, 2 p.m.).
Also: San Diego State at Boise State (NBC Sports, 3:30 p.m.), Notre Dame at Louisville (CBS, 4 p.m.), Missouri at Tennessee (ESPN, 4 p.m.), Army at Bucknell (CBS Sports, 4:30 p.m.), Cornell at Harvard (NBC Sports, 5:30 p.m.), Kansas at Baylor (ESPN, 6 p.m.), Xavier at Butler (CBS Sports, 6:30 p.m.), Belmont vs. Murray State (ESPN2, 7 p.m.), Nevada at Colorado State (CBS Sports, 8:30 p.m.), Green Bay at Valparaiso (ESPNU, 8:30 p.m.), Duke at North Carolina (ESPN, 9 p.m.) and Gonzaga vs. Loyola Marymount (ESPN2, 9 p.m.).
Women’s basketball tournament play includes Tennessee vs Texas A&M (ESPNU, 4 p.m.) and Kentucky vs. Georgia (ESPNU, 6:30 p.m.).
Bernard Hopkins and Tavoris Cloud meet in light heavyweight boxing (HBO, 9:30 p.m.) in Brooklyn. It’s followed by the boxing talk show “The Fight Game with Jim Lampley” (HBO, 11:30 p.m.).
Jude Law, Milia Kuns, Judi Dench and Olly Murs are on a new “Graham Norton Show” (BBC America, 10:15 p.m.).
Robert Earl Keen and Hayes Carll play “Austin City Limits” (PBS, 9 p.m., check local listings).
Justin Timberlake returns to host and perform on “Saturday Night Live” (NBC, 11:30 p.m.) for a fifth time. And he’ll be in some of the commercials.
Earlier, the one hour version of “SNL” at 10 p.m. of last week’s Kevin Hart’s hosted episode, still won’t be funny.