David Letterman

The Starz cable channel debuts a drama series tonight inspired by Crash, the feature film that won an Oscar as best picture in 2006. None of the original cast made the transition to the small screen, and while the TV series is still set in Los Angeles, it is being filmed in Albuquerque, N.M. Not surprisingly, Crash, the TV series, does not measure up very well against the film in terms of atmosphere and acting. But the biggest problem with the pilot is that even though it includes characters with different ethnic, racial and social-class backgrounds coming into contact (often violently)

There are some impressive finds off the beaten path of network prime-time TV. If you can't give up House or Dancing with the Stars, consider the DVR. MY FATHER, THE PHYSICIST: Nova, the splendid PBS series that makes science fascinating and accessible, has one of its season's best tonight with "Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives." It features the journey by Mark Oliver Everett, singer and guitarist for the rock band the Eels, to understand his father, Hugh Everett III, a famed physicist, who died of a heart attack when Mark was 19 years old. The documentary is complicated, touching and illuminating.

You can go with the usual Thursday night network mainstays, like NBC's The Office or ABC's Grey's Anatomy. Nothing wrong there. But if you are looking for something different, here are a couple of music-based productions. THE ROOTS OF THE MAN IN BLACK: This look at country singer Johnny Cash and the thematic currents of his music and life is first-rate film biography from two outstanding documentary filmmakers, Robert Gordon (Muddy Waters: Can't Be Satisfied) and Morgan Neville (Hank Williams: Honky Tonk Blues)

We are now officially only days away from the election of a lifetime, and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama comes to prime time tonight with a half-hour paid political announcement that is expected to reach such a large audience that Fox was willing to rearrange its World Series schedule to open up some airtime for the candidate. (8 p.m., WBAL-Channel 11, WJZ-Channel 13, WBFF-Channel 45 and cable channel BET) GIVE ME MORE POLITICS The Biography Channel, meanwhile, weighs in tonight with profiles of the two presidential candidates: John McCain: American Maverick and Barack Obama.

It would be hard to find a better lineup of celebrity performers or a bigger TV event tonight than the second annual CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute that honors ordinary people who have achieved extraordinary accomplishments in their communities and beyond. The program, which is hosted by CNN anchor Anderson Cooper from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, will be broadcast to a global audience starting tonight at 9. Alicia Keys and John Legend headline the performers. During the show, CNN will honor 10 heroes and reveal the CNN Hero of the Year, who will receive an additional $100,000.

TNT is using its hit The Closer to serve as lead-in tonight to the premiere of Trust Me, a new series starring Eric McCormack and Tom Cavanagh. Trust me, there is almost nothing in this drama that works. The series is set in an ad agency with McCormack and Cavanaugh playing two best friends since childhood who now work together thinking up ads for products like cell phones. In the opening scenes, the two are shown mid-day stretched out at a pool, recovering from hangovers. They lie shamelessly about how hard they are working when the boss calls.

Ihave to admit that, at first, I wasn't a big fan of documentarian Alexandra Pelosi. I gave a positive review to her first film, the 2000 Emmy Award-winning HBO documentary Journeys with George, in which she followed then-presidential candidate George W. Bush on his campaign. It was an engaging and occasionally illuminating film, but I thought there was far too much of Pelosi in the final product, and I found her on-screen persona too cutesy. But after seeing The Trials of Ted Haggard, Pelosi's latest film, which premieres tonight on HBO, I believe in her talents.

After all the drama and importance of watching the presidential campaign play out on TV in recent months, I felt like it might be a long, long time before I could ever get hooked on a reality TV series again. But now comes the season premiere of Top Chef, and I love it. Everybody in Baltimore has by now seen at least five stories or items about Jill Snyder, executive chef of Red Maple and one of 17 contestants this season. I will give away nothing about how she fares in tonight's episode.

If the sitcom genre isn't dead, this is the kind of comedy that will kill it. That is what I was feeling 10 minutes into the new CBS comedy Gary Unmarried, which premieres tonight. Jay Mohr stars as a recently divorced dad who is having a hard time adjusting to his former wife's new relationship with another man. So, what does he do? He acts like an adolescent, which is the way all husbands and dads behave in network sitcoms. As for the last 10 minutes of the pilot, believe me, I would not have hung around had someone not been paying me to do so. (8:30 p.m., CBS)