TV This Week for March 17-23: ‘Bates Motel’ on A

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This week’s TV Movies

SUNDAY

The route remains roughly the same — from Dodger Stadium to Downtown, Echo Park, Silver Lake, Hollywood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Westwood, West Los Angeles and Santa Monica — at the annual running of “The L.A. Marathon.” 7 a.m. KTLA

Calling all Wildcats! The new sports doc “Bluegrass Kingdom: The Gospel of Kentucky Basketball” tells the story of the University of Kentucky’s men’s basketball program from its humble beginnings to last year’s NCAA championship. 8 p.m. Tru

Youth, it is said, is wasted on the young. We’re not sure if that’s true, but we do know that Lena Dunham’s coming-of-age comedy “Girls,” which ends its sophomore season tonight, surely makes us glad that our 20s are far, far behind us. 9 p.m. HBO

Perhaps you’ve already had your fill of St. Patrick’s Day cheer. If not, you can hook up with six Boston twentysomethings for whom the partying seldom stops in the new reality series “Wicked Single.” 11 p.m. VH1

MONDAY

Country music’s Wynonna Judd and Kellie Pickler, comics Andy Dick and D.L Hughley and figure skater Dorothy Hamill are just some of the spangle-suited celebs set to compete on a new season of “Dancing With the Stars.” 8 p.m. ABC

The new documentary “American Winter” introduces viewers to eight formerly middle-class families left out in the economic cold by the 2008 financial crisis, the mortgage meltdown, rising healthcare costs and cutbacks to the social safety net. 9 p.m. HBO

A 12-year-old girl’s disappearance sets events in motion in “Top of the Lake,” a seven-part mystery-drama set in rural New Zealand and co-created by “The Piano’s” Jane Campion. Holly Hunter and “Mad Men’s” Elisabeth Moss star. 9 and 10 p.m. Sundance

They’ll leave the light on for you: Vera Farmiga and Freddie Highmore, above, are Norma and Norman Bates, mother-and-son proprietors of the “Bates Motel” in this new drama, a sort-of prequel to Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 thriller “Psycho.” 10 p.m. A&E;

TUESDAY

NBA great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, comic Louie Anderson and “Kendra’s” Kendra Wilkinson are just some of the swim-suited celebs set to compete on the new reality series “Diving With the Stars” — oh, sorry, it’s just called “Splash.” 8 p.m. ABC

After the season finale of “Pretty Little Liars,” get “Twisted” with a sneak peak at that new drama, set to premiere this summer, about a troubled teen who becomes the prime suspect in a murder. Seriously, what is it with kids today? 8 and 9 p.m. ABC Family

WEDNESDAY

“Food” plus “ridiculous” equals “Foodiculous.” That’s the equation for this new series that sends Mikey Roe, Andrew Zimmern, et al., around the world in search of global variations on classic American fare like burgers and pizza. 8 and 8:30 p.m. Travel

Hip-hop and haute couture collide at “Rip the Runway 2013,” the latest edition of the annual fashion event. Boris Kodjoe and singer Kelly Rowland host. 10 p.m. BET

THURSDAY

This way lies March Madness: After some early-round action Tuesday and Wednesday, the “NCAA College Basketball Tournament” gets rolling with so many games we’re only gonna list the first four. 9 a.m. CBS; 9:30 a.m. Tru; 10:30 a.m. TBS; 11 a.m. TNT

Some female comics — including Joan Rivers, Lily Tomlin, Kathy Najimy, Janeane Garofalo, Brett Butler, Sandra Bernhard, Rita Rudner and Paula Poundstone — walk into a bar, then they explain it to you in the new special “Why We Laugh: Funny Women.” 8 p.m. Showtime

FRIDAY

Last laughs: It’s season-finale time for the Tim Allen sitcom “Last Man Standing” and the Reba McEntire sitcom “Malibu Country.” 8 and 8:30 p.m. ABC

Got “Au”? That’s the symbol on the periodic table of the elements for the shiny, malleable and much sought-after metal that’s the stuff of the specials “Lost Gold of the Dark Ages: Revealed” and “Secret History of Gold: Revealed.” 8 and 9 p.m. Nat Geo

SATURDAY

When we were kids, we never got a choice. We had to watch what grown-ups watched and listen to what they listened to. These young-uns today don’t know how good they have it with specials like the “26th Annual Kids’ Choice Awards.” 8 p.m. Nickelodeon

If you like jukebox musicals and 1980s hair metal — we don’t, and we don’t — there’s the 2012 big-screen adaptation of the Broadway hit “Rock of Ages.” Tom Cruise, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Alec Baldwin, Russell Brand and Julianne Hough star. 8 p.m. HBO

We will always love her: Whitney Houston gave her final on-screen performance in “Sparkle,” the 2012 remake of the 1976 musical drama about a Motown-era girl group. With Jordin Sparks and Cee Lo Green. 9 p.m. Starz

Patricidal? A college student (Matt Barr) is the prime suspect in the shocking ax murder of his own father in the new made-for-cable docudrama “Romeo Killer: The Chris Porco Story.” Eric McCormack and Lolita Davidovich also star. 8 p.m. Lifetime

Those who do not remember history are doomed to get their facts further confused with the new made-for-cable creature feature “Chupacabra vs. the Alamo” and the 2012 terror tale “Chernobyl Diaries.” 9 p.m. Syfy; 10 p.m. Cinemax