A Week Like No Other

Wow, what a time for me to be taking some time off. Blogging here will be intermittent, if at all, next week during what may be the best TV week of the year.

Think of your birthday and Christmas all wrapped into one. Sports-wise, you've got the season debut of baseball with the Mets-Cardinals at 8 p.m. Sunday on ESPN, followed by a slew of games on Monday. The Braves kick off their season Monday in Philadelphia (TBS, 1 p.m.) You also have a little thing called the NCAA national men's basketball championship Monday night on CBS, with the Florida-UCLA winner meeting the Georgetown-Ohio State winner.

As the networks gear up for their final stretch runs by airing mostly new episodes the rest of the way, you have the return of TV's best cop show, "The Shield," Tuesday night on FX. The season kicks off with the return of Vic's (Michael Chiklis) nemesis, Lt. John Kavanaugh (Oscar winner, but unfortunately not Emmy winner, Forest Whitaker) as the fallout from the death of Vic's teammate Lem continues.

As if that weren't enough, the week ends with the season premiere of "The Sopranos" (HBO, April 8, 9 p.m.), which will be wrapping up its final season. Yes, the series was a little uneven last year, but even mediocre "Sopranos" is better than nine-tenths of the stuff out there, especially when the cast is led by James Gandolfini and Edie Falco.

So, sit back on your couches and enjoy!

WEEKEND'S BEST BETS: Sci-Fi is running a mini-"Heroes" marathon tonight beginning at 7 p.m., so this is your chance to catch up with the most-recent several episodes of the season.

The NCAA semifinals will dominate Saturday night beginning at 7 p.m. on CBS. Also, another pitch for the terrific new version of "Robin Hood" (BBC America, Sat., 9 p.m.)

I previously dissed "The Amazing Race All-Stars" (CBS, Sunday, 8 p.m.) but the show has gotten a bit better of late, though the obnoxious Charla-Mirna team has somehow manage to win the past two weeks.

Also on Sunday is the debut of the 10-part miniseries, "The Tudors" (Showtime, 10 p.m.) with Jonathan Rhys-Myers as Henry VIII. Critics say it echoes HBO's "Rome" in content and production values, so it's probably worth checking out.