Gannett News Service

Must-see

The West Wing, 9 p.m., Channels 5, 22.

Television loves finding ways to confine its characters and stir their emotions. It will take any means - from a jury room to a quarantine - to force them together.

This time a possible foreign substance has been found in the White House. People stay in small rooms together and that brings confrontations.

Toby accuses Will of back stabbing. C.J. has strong advice for Donna. And Josh is really upset that Kate (the new deputy security adviser played by Mary McCormack) took his joke out of a speech.

Shorties Watchin' Shorties debut, 10:30 p.m., Comedy Central.

There are lots of clever stand-up comics out there. The trick is packaging their work in a way that will appeal to viewers.

Here's a new approach via cartoon. Two smart-talking, sophisticated babies (voiced by Nick DiPaolo and Patrice O'Neal) are alone with their TV set. They keep watching short cartoons, which are actually animated illustrations of real stand-up bits.

The cartoons don't add much, but many of the stand-up bits are hilarious. Tonight has fine moments from Gilbert Gottfried, Janeane Garofalo, Richard Jeni and more.

Worth watching

My Wife and Kids, 8 and 8:30 p.m., Channels 9, 2. In Everybody Loves Raymond, Ray once taped over his wedding video with a football game. Now Michael has the same problem when he tapes over Kady's first steps. So he tries a drastic solution. That's in a new episode followed by a rerun in which his son (an expectant father) practices on a fake baby.

The Bachelor, 9 p.m., Channel 9, 2. Jesse's friend grills the six finalists. At the end of the hour, two of them are cut.

The O.C., 9 p.m., Channels 19, 45. Caleb's bachelor party in Las Vegas brings some personal confrontations.

Moguls: The '60s, 9 p.m., TV Land. The real world was quaking in the 1960s but TV didn't budge. It made traditional shows, often solid dramas and awful comedies. That's indicated by the four producers this documentary chose to represent the decade. Quinn Martin made strong dramas, peaking with The Fugitive; Jack Webb did a workmanlike job with Dragnet. The comedy producers, however, are Sherwood Schwartz and Paul Henning, whose work (Gilligan's Island and Beverly Hillbillies, for instance) took small ideas and replayed them endlessly.

Law & Order, 10 p.m., Channels 5, 22. A Japanese tourist is slain and her husband describes the killers. Soon, however, cops are suspicious.