What's On TV

SHOWS WORTH NOTING FOR OCT. 2 - 8

listings are not necessarily recommended by the Monitor. All times Eastern, check local listings.

SATURDAY 10/2 Saturday Night Live (NBC, 11:30 p.m.-1 a.m.): Live from New York, it's opening night. Jerry Seinfeld returns to network TV as host to celebrate the start of the 25th season. David Bowie appears as musical guest.

SUNDAY 10/3 Animal Farm (TNT, 8-10 p.m.): Jim Henson's Creature Shop brings George Orwell's 1945 political satire to life with state-of-the-art animatronic and computer effects (see story above).

TUESDAY 10/5 Major League Baseball (ESPN, 1-11 p.m.): The MLB Division Series begin today. While the Mark McGwire-Sammy Sosa home-run derby juiced up last season, this year the electricity is flowing from the tight playoff races. It was still uncertain who'd be playing in the playoffs at press time.

Nova - Fall of the Leaning Tower (PBS, 9-10 p.m.): Should the Leaning Tower of Pisa be pulled or pushed back to a safe angle? Should the soil beneath it be reinforced or extracted? Nova begins its 26th season by examining these questions about the 800-year-old medieval tower in Italy.

Sports Night (ABC, 9:30-10 p.m.): One of the smartest and best-written shows on television kicks off its second season. The opening episode has Casey (Peter Krause) struggling to ask out Dana (Felicity Huffman, both pictured at right). Meanwhile, Jeremy and Natalie's relationship turns rocky after one of them gets a job offer from another station.

Frontline - Secrets of the SAT (PBS, 10-11 p.m.): Thousands of high school students will gather with sharpened pencils on Saturday, Oct. 9, to take the standardized college entrance exam, the SAT. "Frontline" takes an inside look at the importance of this venerable test and its role in college admissions by following a group of San Francisco Bay area high school seniors through the stressful preparations.

WEDNESDAY 10/6 As Time Runs Out (CBS, 9-11 p.m.): An affluent Seattle industrialist (Stephen Collins) has 24 hours to save his kidnapped son. Tick. Tick. Tick. The suspense, when measured against the clock, moves at a leisurely pace. But the drama's twists, turns, and scenic vistas eventually give it the kind of momentum needed for a midweek movie. Karen Sillas costars as the investigating police detective.

FRIDAY 10/8 Six Billion and Beyond (PBS, check local listings): The world started this century with 2 billion people on the planet. This month, United Nations population experts predict, the 6 billionth person will be born. If two is company, 6 billion is a crowd. But can you imagine 12 billion people some day? This documentary probes the situation, not in a doomsday fashion, but by touching base with real families it profiles from around the world. The documentary highlights the innovative and controversial efforts to curb population growth.

(c) Copyright 1999. The Christian Science Publishing Society