Fall premieres
The sitcom Stark Raving Mad (9:30 p.m., NBC) stars Neil Patrick Harris -- that's Doogie Howser to you -- as a high-strung editor assigned to help bestselling but seriously weird horror writer Tony Shalhoub ("Wings") stick to his deadline. The ensemble drama Third Watch (10 p.m., NBC), about firefighters, paramedics and police officers who work the busy nighttime shift, makes its debut in the primo "ER" slot before it moves to Sunday. How did this freshman series swing such a sweet deal? It's produced by John Wells, who also produces "ER."
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Series
Live From Lincoln Center (check local times, PBS) opens a new season with cellist Mstislav Rostropovich and the New York Philharmonic. On the season premiere of Friends (8 p.m., NBC), we learn who actually got hitched in Vegas last season -- that is, if Ross and Rachel and Chandler and Monica can manage to figure it out themselves. Jesse (8:30 p.m., NBC) returns with Jesse beginning nursing school and taking a job as an aide at a university clinic. Creator David E. Kelley wrote the season opener of Chicago Hope (9 p.m., CBS), in which those left standing after last season's staff purge say hello to a trio of babe-a-licious new docs, played by Barbara Hershey, Lauren Holly and Carla Gugino. Paging Dr. McBeal ... On the season opener of Frasier (9 p.m., NBC), Frasier dates a woman who is a ringer for the Crane brothers' late mother. On Action (9:30 p.m., Fox), Peter tries to raise money to finance "Beverly Hills Gun Club," while his screenwriter grapples with writer's block.
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Talk
Rosie O'Donnell (syndicated) John Lithgow, Heather Matarazzo
David Letterman (CBS) Adam Sandler, Mark Wahlberg, Roger Ebert
Jay Leno (NBC) Pamela Anderson Lee, D.L. Hughley, Alanis Morissette
Politically Incorrect (ABC) Richard Lewis, Holly Robinson-Peete
Conan O'Brien (NBC) Norm Macdonald, Sean Hayes
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