Gannett News Service

Must-see

Medical Investigation, 10 p.m., Channels 5, 2.

After Thursday's debut, this show settles into its regular night and faces the toughest question: Can it continue to be as good as it was in the pilot?

Tonight, the medical team heads to St. Louis, where four teenage girls have collapsed from inflammation of the brain. Was it sexually transmitted? Were they poisoned? Doctors scramble, as new cases arrive.

Pop Rocks, 8-10 p.m., ABC Family.

Jerry Hardin is a middle-aged, middle-income, middle-American who works at a bank and lectures his two teenagers.

He's also keeping a secret, even from his wife. He used to be Dagger, a singer for a once popular heavy-metal band that disappeared.

That notion has lots of potential. Pop Rocks starts well, stumbles (amid extreme plot contrivances), and then rights itself at the finish.

Sherilyn Fenn is wasted in her role as a wife with an Ann Landers haircut, but Gary Cole - an Illinois guy who starred in the Brady Bunch movies - is ideal as Jerry. It's sort of like learning that Mike Brady used to be a hard-core rocker dressed up like Kiss.

Worth watching

Dateline, 8-10 p.m., Channels 5, 2. For six days, Aron Ralston was stuck in Blue John Canyon in Utah, his arm pinned by a 600-pound boulder. With his video camera, he made farewell messages to his family; then he decided to cut off his own arm. Tonight Tom Brokaw reports. Ralston returns to the canyon for the first time since the tragedy seven months ago. He also plays some of the tapes he made.

Complex: Malibu, 8 p.m., Channels 19, 45. This is the new slot for the show originally set for Mondays. There are six couples left, each fixing up a condo.

Football, 8 p.m. Channels 9, 22. Here's a surprise addition tonight. This Florida State-Miami game was planned as a Labor Day game on ABC. As Hurricane Frances neared, however, the game was postponed to today. It replaces four comedies and 20/20.

The Next Great Champ, 9 p.m., Channels 19, 45. This is a rerun of the opener in which fledgling boxers star. The show was originally set to air only on Fridays. Now it will have new episodes on Tuesdays and reruns on Fridays in September. After baseball season, it will only be on Fridays, with new episodes.

Stargate, SG-1, 9 p.m., Sci Fi Channel. It's an all-Jolene Blalock night for science-fiction buffs. At 8 p.m., they can see her regular duty on UPN's (Channel 25) Enterprise. At 9, she guest stars here as a Jaffa who is held captive by the evil Moloc.