TONIGHT'S MUST-SEE

"NBC Fall Preview," 7 p.m., NBC; "CBS Fall Preview," 8:30 p.m., CBS. Two networks offer specials claiming their new fall shows will be dandy. Surprisingly, that's partially true. NBC can boast about "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," from "The West Wing" team; CBS has "Shark" with James Woods. The CBS special has Julia Louis-Dreyfus as host; NBC has some original material, and the entire cast of the Emmy-winning "The Office."

OF NOTE

"College Football," 2 p.m., ABC. Unlike previous years, ABC is officially listing "Saturday Night College Football" as its regular show for the fall season. It starts tonight with Notre Dame at Georgia Tech and instantly faces competition. In prime time there's also the University of Alabama (Birmingham) at Oklahoma at 1 p.m. on TBS; Washington State at Auburn at 1:45 p.m. on ESPN2; Southern California at Arkansas at 2:45 p.m. on ESPN.

"Heavy: The Story of Metal," 4 p.m., VH1. The documentary series reruns in one chunk.

"A Day in the Life of Television," 7 p.m., CBS. Dennis Haysbert hosts this special, which looks at how a dozen shows are produced. They vary widely, from "The Simpsons" to "ER," from a CBS newscast to a "Victoria's Secret" fashion show.

"Tiger Cruise" (2004), 8 p.m., Disney Channel. The children of Navy men happened to be on board a U.S. ship that was on its way to Pearl Harbor — as part of the WestPac deployment — when it was suddenly thrust into alert Sept. 11, 2001. That true story has been fictionalized here. The story is so-so, but Hayden Panettiere — one of the co-stars in NBC's "Heroes" this fall — is excellent in the lead.

"Saturday Night Live," 10:30 p.m., NBC. Jack Black hosts with music by Neil Young.