Tube Notes

By Mike Hughes
Gannett News Service

Tonight's Must-See

"Leap of Faith," 7:30 p.m., NBC. At last, the Thursday-at-7:30 jinx has been broken. For years, NBC has stuffed the slot with bland comedies, from "Single Guy" to "Suddenly Susan." Now it has a show that's immensely enjoyable. The mastermind is Jenny Bicks, a former writer-producer for "Sex and the City." This show has the same audacity as that HBO series, but is more smoothly endearing. Sarah Paulson (who played the best friend on "Jack and Jill") stars as Faith, an advertising executive. She considers herself the good-girl type, the opposite of her saucy co-worker (Lisa Edelstein). In the good-girl tradition, she's about to marry a dreary banker. In the TV tradition, she suddenly meets an outrageously handsome actor (Brad Rowe). This series is stuffed with strong co-stars, including Jill Clayburgh as Faith's mom, Tim Meadows as her boss and Regina King as her friend. The real star, however, is the writing of Biggs.

Of Note

"Survivor: Marquesas," 7 p.m., CBS. The third "Survivor" series ("Survivor: Africa") chose a setting so dry and unforgiving that contestants were overwhelmed. Unable to fish, hunt or swim, they simply schemed. The result was disappointing. Now, fortunately, "Survivor" goes in the opposite direction. It's on Nuku Hiva, a Tahitian island with food, history (Herman Melville, author of "Moby Dick," wrote two books about his time there), horses and gentle weather.

"Friends," 7 p.m., NBC. Things are finally settled now with the word that the show will have one final season after this one. That's good, because it is at a quality peak. Tonight, Joey tells Rachel he has fallen in love with her.

"Will & Grace," 8 p.m., NBC. This starts a two-part episode with Will and Grace hunting for apartments and Jack probing Karen's past.

"CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," 8 p.m., CBS. When a hockey player is killed in a fight during a game, an investigation begins.

"Horatio Hornblower: The Duel" (1999), 7 p.m., A&E. This was the start of a superbly made miniseries based on C.S. Forester novels. Ioan Gruffudd, a young Welshman, stars as the novice Navy officer.

"ER," 9 p.m., NBC. Just before the Olympic break ,this series had a harsh and powerful episode. Among other shell shocks, Mark Greene (Anthony Edwards) found that his brain-tumor problems were returning. Tonight, he tries to keep his wife from finding out.