Regina King as Shirley Chisholm, Classic TV Movies on TCM, French Cuisine a la Wiseman, Men’s and Women’s NCAA Action

Wonderfully and metaphorically described as “100 pounds of nuclear energy,” Oscar and four-time Emmy winner Regina King’s marvelous performance as pioneering Black congresswoman Shirley Chisholm is reason enough to check out this entertaining docudrama that depicts her quixotic but inspiring run in 1972 for the Democratic presidential nomination. Her belief in herself and determination to be heard within a white male power structure adds to a compelling character study. She gets terrific support from the late Lance Reddick in his final role as her campaign advisor “Mac” Holder, with Terrence Howard, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Lucas Hedges as other members of her team and a poignant Michael Cherrie as her overshadowed husband Conrad. Christina Jackson also impresses as student activist Barbara Lee, who will eventually follow Chisholm’s congressional lead.

For one night, TCM turns its focus to classic movies made for television, and what a lineup it is, starting with 1971’s Peabody and Emmy-winning football tear-jerker about the friendship between Chicago Bears players Gale Sayers (Billy Dee Williams) and Brian Piccolo (James Caan), who receives a devastating cancer diagnosis. Followed by John Travolta from 1976 as The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (10/9c), and at midnight/11c, Steven Spielberg’s riveting and career-launching thriller Duel from 1971, starring Dennis Weaver as a motorist at war with an unseen semi-truck driver. Overnight at 2 am/1c, Cicely Tyson stars in the Emmy-winning civil rights drama The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. Network TV is a poorer place for having abandoned the art of making these punchy and powerful stories.

An immersive four-hour documentary from the legendary Frederick Wiseman (now in his 90s, with his 44^th film) profiles one of the most famous culinary families in France, the Troisgros, who for generations have earned acclaim and a following for their central French restaurants Troisgros, Le Central and Colline de Colombia. Without narration or commentary, as is Wiseman’s style, the film captures daily life within the restaurants and the farming community that produces the goods served with such care to patrons. Doesn’t cassoulet sound good right about now?

With the field of 64 now set, the women’s basketball championship series gets underway at 11:30 am/ET on ESPN2 with No. 9 Michigan State vs. No. 8 North Carolina, and more games through the day and evening on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPNEWS. The men’s series continues, starting at 12:15 pm/ET on CBS with No. 9 Northwestern taking on No. 8 Florida Atlantic, with more games on truTV, TBS and TNT. No. 1 seed UConn plays No. 16 Stetson at 2:45 pm/ET on CBS, No. 1 seed Purdue takes on No. 16 Grambling at 7:25 pm/ET on TBS and No. 1 seed Houston faces No. 16 Longwood at 9:20 pm/ET on TNT.

INSIDE FRIDAY TV: