By MIKE HUGHES
Gannett News Service

Must-see

The Amazing Race 5 debut, 9:30-11 p.m., Channels 12, 7.

One of TV's best reality shows makes a strong return. Crisply taped and edited, Amazing Race also has fascinating people. Eleven duos race around the globe while following clues. Catch Charla Faddoul and Mirna Hindoyan, cousins who were born in Syria a month apart. They're 27, live in Maryland and speak five languages. They also face physical limits, including Faddoul's dwarfism; that's tough when they must carry a 55-pound beef carcass. Or Kami and Karli French, highly competitive 26-year-old twins from Oregon. Or Marsha McCoy, 26, a Florida law student; she's with her dad Jim McCoy, 53, a Vietnam veteran who is so tough that he tries to ignore an injury that requires 25 stitches.

Worth watching

Crossballs debut, 7:30 p.m., Comedy Central; repeats Wednesday and Thursday. There are hilarious moments as regular people think they are on a Crossfire or Hardball type show. Instead, improv actors are talking bizarrely. Tonight, there are brilliant bits from Matt Besser (Upright Citizens Brigade) as a reality-show competitor and Andrew Daly as a slow-witted man who wants to be on a hidden-camera show.

Big Brother 5 debut, 8-9:30 p.m., Channels 12, 7. This odd show has never matched the appeal of CBS' Amazing Race or Survivor, but the network keeps trying to push it. Tonight, 13 mismatched people enter the camera-filled house. Julie Chen hosts.

Last Comic Standing, 8 and 9 p.m., Channels 5, 22. Last week Todd Glass was ousted in a close vote when Tammy Pescatelli won. That leaves six men and two women. This week you can see it again in a rerun at 8 p.m. and a new episode at 9; Next Action Star moves to Wednesday.

8 Simple Rules, 8 p.m., Channels 9, 2. David Spade and James Garner become reluctant roommates.

Nova: Galileo's Battle for the Heavens, 8-10 p.m., Channels 48, 16. Skillfully mixing dramatizations and a documentary approach, this film shows how Galileo - a Catholic whose daughter was a nun - was imprisoned because his scientific beliefs clashed with the church.

The Jury, 9 p.m., Channels 19, 45. In the style of Twelve Angry Men, one determined juror (played by Mary Alice) makes an impact.

P.O.V.: War Feels Like War, 10 p.m., Channel 16. At first, this documentary only shows that war coverage is hectic, especially for those not embedded with military units. "It's just your garden-variety chaos," P.J. O'Rourke, an ABC radio reporter (also known as a humor writer), says. Gradually, some involving portraits emerge - especially of Stephanie Sinclair, a diligent young Chicago Tribune photographer, covering her first war.

Nip/Tuck, 10 p.m., FX. It's another tough, angry episode, but there's a great scene near the end when Joely Richardson's character confronts her mother, played by Vanessa Redgrave (her real-life mother).