ABC keeps viewers on ice

Who needs spring? March Madness may be marching, and baseball appears just over the horizon, but ABC hopes viewers will cling to winter for a couple more nights with “Thin Ice” (8 p.m., ABC), a professional skating contest concluding Sunday.

Elisabeth Hasselbeck of “View” fame hosts with skater Kurt Browning. Judges include familiar faces from Winter Olympics past, including Katarina Witt, Kristi Yamaguchi and veteran broadcaster Dick Button.

But these three medalists won’t have the final say. Home viewers can cast their votes at www.abc.com, and those ballots will count for 50 percent of the total score. That means that folks who have never even laced up a pair of skates get a powerful say. On the other hand, you don’t have to be able to sing to vote for your “American Idol.”

Competitors arrive from all over the frozen globe for this event, held at a casino in Las Vegas. American skaters include John Zimmerman and Michael Weiss.

Want to create a critically acclaimed series? First afflict your main character with a powerful sense of personal and professional failure. Then strike him down with terminal cancer and have him turn to drug dealing in order to cope with his medical bills and leave a little something behind for his wife and handicapped kid.

Relentlessly grim and consistently good, “Breaking Bad,” starring Brian Cranston, returns for a third season on Sunday. To prepare viewers for that, AMC will air six of the first two seasons’ best episodes from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. tonight.

Looking for the next Martin Scorsese? “Film Positive” (8 p.m., Hallmark Movie Channel) presents student films selected by a panel including Alec Baldwin, Marcia Gay Harden and Billy Crystal. The network also set the criteria for the selection. Films had to show a high production value, good storytelling and be appropriate for family viewing. On second thought, Scorsese would never have won this contest.

The Encore Channel returns to the 1980s with an onslaught of films, including “Risky Business” (8 p.m.); “The Breakfast Club” (9:40 p.m.); “Bachelor Party” (11:20 p.m.); and “Revenge of the Nerds II” (1:10 a.m.).

What better way to prepare for next Friday’s release of “Hot Tub Time Machine,” a “Back to the Future” movie for viewers who weren’t even born when Michael J. Fox went back to the future?

Other highlights

The first round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament (7 p.m., CBS) continues.

ABC Family kicks off three nights of Potter movies with “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” (7:30 p.m., ABC Family, TV-PG). Between ABC and Family, Harry practically has his own network.

Series executive producer Lisa Kudrow looks into her ancestry on “Who Do You Think You Are?” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-14).

Daniel plays mind games to find Zoe on “Caprica” (10 p.m., Syfy, TV-14).

Late night

Jay Leno welcomes John Cusack and Barenaked Ladies on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC) … Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dave Salmoni and Ryan Bingham appear on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (12:05 a.m., ABC, r) … Jennifer Garner, Brooklyn Decker and Sade appear on “Late Show with David Letterman” (12:35 a.m., CBS) … Ted Danson, Kara DioGuardi and Air chat on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” (12:35 a.m., NBC) … Craig Ferguson hosts Gabourey Sidibe, OK Go and Jeff Stilson on “The Late Late Show” (1:37 a.m., CBS, r).