BY CLIF GARBODEN

THURSDAY 18

7:30 (2) Basic Black: Boston 2004 Inc. The Democrats are coming! The Democrats are coming! Next year, Boston will be immobilized by wishy-washy pols who lack the guts to thwart the Bush coup. A round-table discussion (just as soon as the conservatives approve the shape of the table). (Until 8 p.m.)

8:00 (6) Threat Matrix. How long after September 11 will it be cool to exploit terrorism for commercial drama? Until about now. Each morning, we’re told by the show’s PR engine, the president starts his day by reading the title document, which we presume alerts him as to which race, religion, nationality, or minority is ripe for targeting by the Undersecretary of Scaring Citizens. Sounds as if this show itself might dabble in a little right-wing fearmongering. The season premiere. Shake and cower, America; vote for a dictator; throw away your rights — or else the government will let the bad guys get you. If you buy that, you deserve to have a moron for a president. But the rest of us don’t. (Until 9 p.m.)

5:00 a.m. (44) Soundstage. Featuring music from Wilco and Sonic Youth. Good morning. (Until 6 a.m.)

FRIDAY 19

12:30 a.m. (2) Mystery: The Inspector Lynley Mysteries: For the Sake of Elena. Repeated from last week. Lynley and Havers (Nathaniel Parker and Sharon Small) solve the case of a woman murdered near Cambridge University. These are fine and elaborate yarns, but the basic premise — the class conflict between Lord Lynley and his cockney sidekick — has been reduced to passing references and is seldom central to the plots. (Until 2 a.m.)

SATURDAY 20

Noon (6) Football. Central Florida versus Syracuse.

2:30 (10) Football. Notre Dame versus Michigan State.

3:30 (6) Football. Michigan versus Oregon.

8:00 (6) Miss America. Tom Bergeron (currently of Hollywood Squares) hosts from Atlantic City. (Until 11 p.m.)

Midnight (2) Austin City Limits. Featuring By the Hand of the Father (at least we think that’s the name of a performing group) doing compositions by Alejandro Escovedo. (Until 1 a.m.)

SUNDAY 21

1:00 (12) Football. The Pats versus the New York Jets.

3:00 (44) Dance from the Heart. It appears to be "Dance Week" on WGBX, so expect a lot of bodies in motion. This show chronicles a collaboration between Chicago’s Joffrey Ballet and the "wheelchair dancers" of Dance Detour. (Until 3:30 p.m.)

3:30 (44) Who’s Dancing Now? In 1976, New York City Ballet former principal Jacques d’Amboise founded the National Dance Institute to promote dance in America. This show reunites some of the Institute’s original members. (Until 5 p.m.)

4:00 (64) Football. The New York Giants versus the Washington Redskins.

5:00 (44) Great Performances: Dance in America: Free To Dance. A showcase of work by African-American dancers and choreographers, including numbers by Bill T. Jones, Katherine Dunham, and Talley Beatty. (Until 8 p.m.)

8:00 (2) Evening at Pops. A salute to New York (hey, why not Cleveland or Missoula?) featuring the Poppers and Tony winner Barbara Cook. To be repeated tonight at 2 a.m. (Until 9 p.m.)

8:00 (12) Missions Impossible 2 (movie). Tom Cruise returns to his role as Impossible Missions operative Ethan Hunt in this 2000 sequel from director John Woo. Here, the IM team are out to find a batch of germs developed for biological warfare. Presumably they’ll have more luck than Bush’s folks have had in Iraq. At least they’ll be less likely to mistake a can of hairspray for a nerve-gas factory. (Until 11 p.m.)

8:00 (64) The 55th Annual Emmy Awards. The prime-time variety. (Until 11 p.m.)

8:00 (44) Juba! Masters of Tap and Percussive Dance. A celebration of contemporary tap. (Until 9 p.m.)

9:00 (2) Mystery: The Inspector Linley Mysteries: Missing Joseph. Lynley and Havers are dispatched to a peaceful village in Lancashire to investigate a suspicious death. To be repeated tonight at midnight, and on Channel 44 at 1 and 4 a.m., and on Thursday at 9 p.m. on Channel 44, and at 3 a.m. (Until 10:30 p.m.)

9:00 (6) Lethal Weapon (movie). Rather difficult to believe that ABC is showing LW One as opposed to Four, Three, or Two, but you never know. In truth, there’s not that much difference. Mel Gibson and Danny Glover play LA cops Riggs and Murtaugh. Riggs (Gibson) is nuts and thinks of himself as a lethal weapon. Once you understand that, the plot is mostly car chases and explosions punctuated by wry asides between the salt-and-pepper law-enforcement-team members. (Until 11 p.m.)

9:00 (44) Great Performances: Busby Berkeley: Going Through the Roof. Crazy old Busby gave the world some of the most outlandish "dance" numbers ever recorded on film. Berkeley victim Esther Williams and other old-time chorus girls get together with film historians to dissect the man’s over-the-top genius. (Until 10 p.m.)

10:00 (44) Great Performances: From Broadway: "Fosse." A production of the 1999 Tony winner based on the work of choreographer Bob Fosse and starring Ben Vereen and Ann Reinking. (Until midnight.)

Midnight (44) Globe Trekker: Cuba and Haiti. Repeated from last week. Trekker Ian Wright rumbas through Havana, puffs up at a cigar factory, and checks out the Bay of Pigs. Then he moves over to Haiti in time for the voodoo fest. (Until 1 a.m.)

MONDAY 22

8:00 (44) Balanchine Lives! Actually, not. But his choreography and his general approach to dance survive in the works of his former principals, who demonstrate same here. (Until 9 p.m.)

9:00 (2) The American Experience: Truman, part two. Continued from last week. Jason Robards narrates the conclusion of this sympathetic bio of Harry S Truman, who had greatness thrust upon him and remained humble. To be repeated tonight at 1 a.m.

9:00 (6) Football. The Oakland Raiders versus the Denver Broncos.

9:00 (44) Great Performances: Born To Be Wild: The Leading Men of American Ballet Theatre. Includes a piece by Mark Morris created for Angel Corella, Ethan Stiefel, Juan Manuel Carreño, and Vladimir Malakhov, the title ABT principals. (Until 10 p.m.)

10:00 (44) Great Performances: Lar Lubovitch’s "Othello" from the San Francisco Ballet. Pretty much what the title leads you to expect; set to a score by Elliot Goldenthal. (Until 11:30 p.m.)

TUESDAY 23

7:30 (2) La Plaza: Conversations with Ilan Stavans: Esmerelda Santiago. On September 27, Channel 44 will air the TV adaptation of Santiago’s autobiographical Almost a Woman. But first, let’s hear what the writer has to say about family, identity, and literature. (Until 8 p.m.)

8:00 (2) Nova: Neanderthals on Trial. A look at the connection between the traditional whipping boys of the evolutionary process and modern humans like us. We ourselves subscribe to the notion that the human race evolved in two strains — people who hit people and people who get hit. Of course, a little inter-breeding here and there has produced things like G.W. Bush, who has the brutal instincts and limited intellect of a Neanderthal but the appearance of a victim. To be repeated tonight at midnight. (Until 9 p.m.)

8:00 (44) Great Performances: Dance in America: Holo Mai Pele. Hawaiians dance too — and it’s more than the hula. Halau o Kekuhi is a dance company dedicated to mixing dance with traditional Hawaiian chanting. (Until 9 p.m.)

9:00 (2) Matters of Race: The Divide and Race Is, Race Ain’t. The start of a six-part project from executive producer Orlando Bagwell (who gave us the Africans in America series) focusing on the issues surrounding the changing multi-cultural/multi-racial US demographic. The films, we’re told, are "unflinching." The theme, it’s implied, is the intractable nature of social institutions. It all sounds a bit un-focused, but perhaps it’s just difficult to describe. Featuring commentary from authors John Edgar Wideman, Eric Liu, Jane Lazarre, Rubén Martínez, and more. To be continued on Wednesday starting at 9 p.m. To be repeated tonight at 1 a.m., and on Channel 44 at 1 and 4 a.m. (Until 11 p.m.)

9:00 (10) Frasier. The season opener, in which Niles and Daphne confront infertility — apparently the trendy sit-com motif of the new season. (Until 9:30 p.m.)

9:00 (44) Flamenco: The Passion of Spanish Dance. Teatro Flamenco celebrates the mildly threatening Spanish dance form. (Until 10 p.m.)

WEDNESDAY 24

8:00 (10) Ed. The season opener. Ed has two girlfriends, though it’s difficult to figure what either one of them sees in him. But this has pretty much been the same plot of every show since the first in this mysteriously long-lived series. (Until 9 p.m.)

8:00 (44) Paul Taylor: Dancemaker. An Oscar-nominated profile of modern-dance icon Taylor. (Until 9:30 p.m.)

9:00 (2) Matters of Race: We’re Still Here and Tomorrow’s America. The unflinching documentary continues. To be repeated tonight at 1 a.m., and on Channel 44 at 1 and 4 a.m. (Until 11 p.m.)

9:00 (10) The West Wing. The season premiere. The president’s not infertile, but he is sick, and his daughter has been kidnapped by terrorists . . . or possibly Republicans. (Until 10 p.m.)

9:30 (44) Streb: Pop Action. Behind the scenes and in rehearsal with New York choreographer Elizabeth Streb. (Until 10:30 p.m.)

10:00 (10) Law & Order. The season opener. Looks like the same cast. But since seasons past of this series are almost always on TNT, you can pretty much shop around for your favorite era — Elisabeth, Angie, Carey, Jill, or even Richard. (We favor Jill.) If you’re truly bored or want to find out what it’s like to be obsessive for its own sake, check out the roster of L&O guest stars since 1990 on-line at http://members.tripod.com/~MindHarp/lorepeat.html (Until 11 p.m.)

10:30 (44) The Men Who Danced. A short documentary from 1986 recalling the nation’s first all-male dance troupe, which was founded in the 1930s by choreographer Ted Shawn. The film included rare archival performance footage plus interviews with some of the surviving dancers. (Until 11 p.m.)

THURSDAY 25

8:00 (10) Friends. The season opener. Monica and Chandler face infertility. Rachel and Joey hook up — or was that another dream? In any case, they promise this is the last season. (Until 8:45 p.m.)

8:45 (10) Will & Grace. The season opener. Will and Jack hook up — or was that another dream? (Until 9:30 p.m.)

9:00 (2) Wide Angle: Dying To Leave. One of the many things we just don’t get here in America is that most of the world is being displaced. Each year, millions upon millions flee poverty, industrialization, de-industrialization, environmental upheaval, political change, war, famine, and all manner of dreadful bothers to someplace else . . . not necessarily someplace better. And masses of these migrants cross borders illegally — with forged documents or stuffed inside car trunks or the like. This two-hour survey of illicit people traffic covers 13 countries and offers first-hand accounts of people being shipped in and out of jurisdictions (where they often end up being exploited one horrible way or another). To be repeated tonight at 1 a.m., and on Channel 44 at 1 and 4 a.m. (Until 11 p.m.)

9:00 (44) Mystery: The Inspector Linley Mysteries: Missing Joseph. Repeated from Sunday at 9 p.m.

9:30 (10) Coupling. The series opener. Students of the original British version of this sex-and-singles sit-com by now have recognized word-for-word dialogue in the promo spots for this reworked version. Bad move. And the characters seem 1) less talented and 2) more easily confused with each other than the ones portrayed by the British cast. Curiosity will have us watching. (Until 10 p.m.)

10:00 (10) E.R. The season opener. Somebody’s bound to be infertile. (Until 11 p.m.)