TONIGHT'S MUST-SEE

"The Gathering" opener, 6 p.m., Lifetime; repeats at 4 p.m. Sunday, leading into the finale. After an amorous moment with his wife, a doctor is surprised to see that she's gone, but a raven is there. Stranger things are about to happen to their teen daughter. This is a high-energy miniseries that takes a two-hour, supernatural plot and has it sprawl over four hours; the extra time is filled with splashy effects and zippy montages. The story is neither original nor compelling but we're pulled along by the strong visuals and a sharp cast. Peter Gallagher stars as the doctor, with Jamie-Lynn Sigler ("The Sopranos") as an academic expert. Peter Fonda plays a mogul who seems a lot like Donald Trump, except for having two sons and access to supernatural powers.

"Saturday Night Live," 10:30 p.m., NBC. There will be an overload of musicians tonight. Jon Bon Jovi hosts, but has the Foo Fighters as his musical guests.

OF NOTE

"Charlie and Lola," 11:30 a.m., Disney Channel. This animated show is so sweetly told and smartly animated that adults and kids will be charmed. Today, in a special, 4-year-old Lola is discouraged by all the changes in school and in the autumn season.

Racing, 1:30 p.m., ABC. Instead of its usual college-football games, ABC has a NASCAR race from Concord, N.C.

Baseball, 2 p.m., Fox. The Boston Red Sox host the second game of the American League's best-of-seven series.

"Zoey 101: Curse of the PCA," 5 p.m., Nickelodeon. A campus legend says a student there went crazy, while studying for a tough test. The current students investigate that.

"Cold Case," 7 p.m., CBS. This rerun goes back to 1919 and the death of a passionate protester who was trying to get voting rights for women.

"Jim Norton: Monster Rain," 7 p.m., HBO. Even when packing lots of attitude, a comedian needs to include some clever lines. Jim Norton seems to forget that, in this concert taped in Washington, D.C.

"CSI: Miami," 8 p.m., CBS. In a rerun, an armed robbery at a posh party leaves two dead. One of those was a Paris Hilton type, raising new questions: Was she killed by the robbers, or by someone else, taking advantage of the situation? Was she killed to gain points in a "dead pool" contest, predicting which celebrities would die?