TONIGHT'S MUST-SEE

"Friday Night Lights" debut, 7 p.m., NBC. In a Texas town life centers on football. The coach (Kyle Chandler) and the quarterback (Scott Porter) face huge expectations. These are quietly decent guys facing life's complications. Romances start and sputter. One running back comes from a troubled family; another faces racism. Then, in the season's first game, everything changes profoundly. Peter Berg (who also directed the movie) skillfully directed a solid cast of newcomers. "Friday Night Lights" starts as a fairly good show, then grabs our emotions. In this hour, it gets us to care intensely.

OF NOTE

"Law & Order: Criminal Intent," 8 p.m., NBC. Brooke Shields plays a supermodel whose husband is a murder suspect.

"Help Me Help You," 8:30 p.m., ABC. For a therapist, Bill (Ted Danson) really hasn't been making good decisions. Now he decides to break into his wife's house and steal the mattress.

"Boston Legal," 9 p.m., ABC. Tom Selleck is back as Shirley's ex-husband. He's in court trying to void his post-nuptial agreement.