BEST BETS FOR FRIDAY, SEPT. 05, 2008

	STAND UP TO CANCER ABC, CBS, NBC, 8 p.m. ET This first-time commercial-free TV fundraiser against cancer, broadcast simultaneously on ABC, CBS and NBC, is designed as an intentionally very mixed bag, like some modern edition of Omnibus, only with pleas for donations. Included in the hour: Katie Couric takes Abigail Breslin on a visit to Philadelphia’s Children’s Hospital; Mariah Carey, Beyoncé, Melissa Etheridge and Sheryl Crow perform together; Dana Delany undergoes a mammogram; and Christina Applegate, whose own struggles with cancer were made public this summer, also appears.
	SAMURAI GIRL ABC Family, 8 p.m. ET Because of young viewers not drawn to the cancer fundraiser on the broadcast networks, this three-part ABC Family miniseries, with a strong young female lead, ought to attract quite a sizable audience for this network. Jamie Chung plays a modern young woman who may have ninja warrior ancestry – and have it in her future, too.
	SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON TCM, 8 p.m. ET I admit it. When this movie came out in 1960, I may have fallen in love for the first time – with the castaways’ amazing multi-level treehouse. I don’t know whether, all these years later, this family movie can inspire anywhere near the same level of wonder. But I wonder…
	DOGTOWN National Geographic, 9 p.m. ET This series begins its second season with an extended episode about a quartet of pit bulls, rescued from Michael Vick’s property, rehabilitated at the Best Friends animal sanctuary.
	STAR STORIES BBC America, 9:20 p.m. ET There’s just enough goofy outrageousness in this satirical series, which pretends to offer TV tabloid-type celebrity biographies, to keep me interested – and watching. Tonight’s impersonated subject: Catherine Zeta-Jones.
	THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART Comedy Central, 11 p.m. ET In interviews as well as check-the-record clip features, this show has coarsed through the conventions like a guided missile, with more accurate and deadly aim than its “serious” counterparts. Tonight, on this special Friday edition, the two weeks of inspired convention coverage concludes. And don’t forget HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, which starts at the same time. But for tonight, record that, and start with this.