TONIGHT'S MUST-SEE

"Scrubs" season-opener, 8 and 8:30 p.m., NBC. After a clumsy start to its season, NBC begins rebuilding tonight. Fortunately, it had some solid pieces in reserve. The network ordered new seasons of "Scrubs" and "Fear Factor," even when they weren't on the schedule. Now both help patch up Tuesdays with "My Name is Earl" and "The Office" moving to better turf on Thursdays. We haven't seen this week's "Scrubs" episodes, but next week's indicate it continues to be in its usual style. The humor has a stop-and-go quality. It's inconsistent but has enough sharp jokes to keep us watching. The season begins amid change. J.D. is an attending physician now, worrying about his relationship with the new doctors under him. Elliott is at a different hospital but misses her friends at Sacred Heart. Meanwhile, Carla wants to have a baby, but her husband Turk is slipping her birth-control pills.

OF NOTE

Orange Bowl, 3 p.m., ABC. Penn State (10-1) and Florida State (8-4) collide. Those are the teams of the two winningest coaches, Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden.

"Devil's Pond" (2003), 4 p.m., UPN (KIKU). Tara Reid and Kip Pardue star in a story of a young bride whose husband turned psychotic, keeping her trapped on a remote island.

"Fear Factor," 7 p.m., NBC. This show gets nastier than ever, transforming into "Psycho Fear Factor." The contestants must live in a version of Bates Motel. When the games start, things get worse. One stunt involves swimming with snakes. Another involves burying the women in coffins with rats and worms, under tons of dirt. The men try to rescue them.

"NCIS," 7 and 8 p.m., CBS. In the first rerun, Ziva (Cote de Pablo) is on the team now; her first assignment is to figure out why a modern copse is in a Civil War casket. In the second, a Navy commander has disappeared on the day a defense contractor's security is breached.

"Frontline: Is Wal-Mart Good For America?" 9 p.m., PBS. Here is a rerun of Hedrick Smith's report. The good news, he says, is Wal-Mart has helped slow inflation. The bad news is that its emphasis on foreign companies has stripped away blue-collar jobs for Americans.

"The Rainmaker" (1997), 9 p.m., USA Network. Francis Coppola has spent most of his career directing movies he helped produce. Here was one of the few times he was simply hired as an outsider. Maybe he should do that more often. "Rainmaker" combines Coppola's strong direction with a terrific John Grisham story about a young lawyer tackling his first cases. It is beautifully cast, with then-unknown Matt Damon starring; Claire Danes and Danny DeVito are in support.

"Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," 9 p.m., NBC. Malcolm David Kelly, the young "Lost" co-star, plays a teen who's been traumatized by a murder. When he strikes back, a tough legal case follows. Gordon Clapp ("NYPD Blue"), Annie Potts and Judith Light are other guest stars.