Tube Notes

By Mike Hughes
Gannett News Service

TONIGHT'S MUST-SEE: "24" premiere, 8 p.m., FOX. Two months into the TV season, the year's best series launches. Each episode depicts only one hour. The entire season (24 episodes) covers a day. The plot — created long before Sept. 11, with mild tweaks afterward, centers on Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) in a fed-eral unit fighting terrorism. At work, he's trying to prevent the assassination of a presidential candidate. At home, his wife scrambles to find their daughter. "24" is superbly directed by Stephen Hopkins and intelligently written.

TONIGHT'S MUST-SEE 2: "NYPD Blue" season opener, 8 p.m., ABC. After sometimes floundering, "Blue" roars back with two compelling episodes. At the core are some seminal moments for Andy Sipowicz (Dennis Franz). He learns what happened to his missing partner. His recovery from alcoholism teeters. He's thrown into the TV spotlight. And he meets a young cop (Mark-Paul Gosselaar, an excellent actor) who is the son of his enemy (Joe Spano). The one flaw here is that these two hours show three different cops brutalizing suspects. The rest is superb.

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer," 8 p.m., UPN (seen on KFVE). Everyone in Sunnydale seems compelled to sing and dance. Can Buffy stop this?

"Nova," 8 p.m., PBS. A Russian military base still packs awesome might. With 10 of its missiles it can deliver devastation totaling 350 times the impact in Hiroshima.

"Spin City," 7 and 7:30, ABC. The first new episode includes Queen Latifah; the second, Denise Richards.

"The Simpsons," 7:30, FOX. Here, a bit tardy, is the Halloween episode.

"Smallville," 7 p.m., WB (seen on KFVE). Clark Kent discovers X-ray vision, which is not necessarily a good thing.

Tonight on News 8

• Darren Pai reports live from New York on Ben Gov. Cayetano's visit to the World Travel Congress.

• What do celebrity chefs prepare when they're cooking for themselves? Lyle Galdeira has the answer in "Home Cooking."