TONIGHT'S MUST-SEE

"Alias" return, 7 p.m., ABC. One of TV's smartest and best-made shows is finally back after months on the shelf. This is its final run, which means it can finally answer questions and wrap things up. It also can bring people back. That includes the missing people — there are a lot of them on "Alias" — and the people who were thought to be dead. When the show left off, Syd (Jennifer Garner) had escaped from her captors. Also, she was profoundly pregnant. This two-hour episode — sorry, no "Lost" tonight — should give us a baby and more. Stick around.

OF NOTE

"Celebrity Cooking Showdown," 7 p.m., NBC. Here's the last of the three preliminary rounds. Soap star Alison Sweeney, football player Tony Gonzalez and general sexy personality Cindy Margolis compete. One will join two other winners in Thursday's finale.

"Bones," 7 p.m., Fox. After a week off, this show returns and puts Brennan in trouble. She meets some voodoo people. Soon, there's a day she can't remember. She's also a murder suspect.

"Amazing Race," 7 p.m., CBS. Last week, Lake and Michelle got lost and got eliminated. Tonight, the duos face extremes — a flooded road and the searing desert heat.

"American Idol," 8 p.m., Fox. It's time to trim the field to six. Also, Rod Stewart performs.

"The Standard of Perfection: Show Cats," 8 p.m., PBS. This documentary views competitors at an international cat show in Houston. We meet Betsy Gaither, who gives the best room in her house to her cats. And Ken and Janelle Lawrence, who named their cat Nicole Kidman and say she knows she's beautiful. And Donna Hinton, with this bit of grooming advice: "If you think you've rinsed enough, rinse again."

"Holy Warriors," 9 p.m., PBS. As the third Christian Crusade raged in 1187, two mighty leaders drew fame. One was England's King Richard I, known as Richard the Lionheart. He was brave (fighting alongside his foot soldiers) and brutal (massacring 3,000 unarmed Muslim prisoners). The other was Saladin. Born in the town of Tikrit (also the birthplace of Saddam Hussein), he was an educated man, this documentary says, who respected his enemy and spared the defeated soldiers.

"CSI: NY," 9 p.m., CBS. A body apparently has been buried in the end zone of Giants Stadium.

"Invasion," 9 p.m., ABC. Here's another well-made show that has spent too long on the shelf. Russell and Dave are starting to realize the widespread impact of part-alien "hybrids" in their Florida community. Tonight, they visit the island that's a focal point. Also, at school, there's trouble between the hybrids and the others.