TONIGHT'S MUST-SEE

"Battlestar Galactica" season-opener, 6 p.m., Sci-Fi Channel. The sharp detour "Galactica" took at the end of last season was unprecedented. Here was a terrific show, daring to turn everything inside-out. After years of eluding the Cylons, the humans found and settled on a habitable planet. Their soldiers became careless; a year later, the Cylons swooped back. That's where the season starts. New Caprica is a grim and barren place. Humans have a puppet government (led by the devious and overwhelmed Baltar), but nothing else. Some submit; some resist. Even the tough Kara "Starbuck" Thrace (superbly played by Katee Sackhoff) has no solution. Leoben has her in a separate apartment. He keeps trying to domesticate her; she keeps killing him, to no avail. (Get used to that; this is science fiction.) Far away in space, the soldiers — led by Admiral Adama (Edward James Olmos) and his son, Lee "Apollo" Adama — are helpless to plan an escape. Stick with this one. The first five hours (through Oct. 27) are great television.

OF NOTE

"Doctor Who," 5 p.m., Sci-Fi Channel. The time-trekking doctor tries to save Queen Victoria.

"Grey's Anatomy," 7 p.m., ABC. Here's a quick rerun of Thursday's episode. Izzie tries to return to the hospital for the first time since quitting the intern program. Also, Cristina tries to console Burke, the surgeon who has hand tremors.

"The Ghost Whisperer," 7 p.m., CBS. The ghost of a drowned girl is ruining property values by haunting her old home.

"Men in Trees," 8 p.m., ABC. Abraham Benrubi, the giant actor who played Jerry on "ER," gets some focus tonight. His character (Ben) goes to his ex-girlfriend (Sara) for an appraisal of his lovemaking. Meanwhile, Jack and Patrick are holding back information that could hurt their relationships with Marin and Annie, respectively.

"Close to Home," 8 p.m., CBS. A rape trial gets more difficult when a woman recants her statements about her husband.

"Numb3rs," 9 p.m., CBS. When a valuable painting is stolen, it revives charges that it was Nazi loot that should have been returned to the Jewish family that owned it.

"Law & Order," 9 p.m., NBC. When a building explodes, it kills a young passerby. Now comes the difficult task of trying to link that death to a murder charge.