TONIGHT'S MUST SEE

"AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: WE SHALL REMAIN" DEBUT, 9 P.M., PBS

Here is an ambitious attempt to tell the sprawling story of North America's natives and their troubled relations with Europeans.

It does it with gifted people creating dramatizations and re-enactments. Some of the filmmakers are used to doing documentaries, including Ric Burns ("New York") and Stanley Nelson ("Jonestown"); others are used to scripted films, including Chris Eyre ("Smoke Signals").

Instead of tackling the full, four-century story, this five-week series views five key points. Tonight's opener, directed by Eyre, look at 1621, the year after what is called the first Thanksgiving. Massasoit negotiated with a ragged collection of pilgrims. The result strengthened his Wamanoag people against other tribes. It would lead to eventual trouble, however; his son faced a brutal war with the pilgrims.

TONIGHT'S MIGHT-SEE

"24," 8 P.M., FOX

Remember the first season, when Kim Bauer seemed to be kidnapped every few hours? Kim (Elisha Cuthbert) stayed for two more seasons of jeopardy, but hasn't been seen (except for two hours in 2006) in five years.

Now she's back, just as her dad (Jack Bauer, played by Kiefer Sutherland) is mid-crisis. A blackmail scheme surfaces as he tries to prevent an attack on the U.S.