Tonight on TV

• The Biggest Loser (7 p.m., Ch. 5): Actually, the biggest loser on NBC tonight is "Father of the Pride," which has been yanked off the air for the duration of the November sweeps. Which is a really, really bad sign for a show's future. To fill the 8-8:30 p.m. time slot, NBC expands "Loser" to 90 minutes tonight.

• Nova (7 p.m., Ch. 7): "America's Stone Age Explorers" examines the evidence and debates the theory that the first Americans came from Europe.

• The Rebel Billionaire: Branson Quest for the Best (7 p.m., Ch. 13): Ho, hum. Another show with a billionaire putting contestants through the paces. This show rips off both "The Apprentice" and "The Amazing Race" as Branson takes the hopefuls around the world. And one of them is a Utahn — spiky-haired Shawn, who's in danger of elimination pretty much from the get-go.

• Gilmore Girls (7 p.m., Ch. 30): Richard and Emily throw Rory a party — a party that convinces Dean he doesn't fit in Rory's privileged world.

• Frontline (8 p.m., Ch. 7): "The Persuaders" takes us inside "the persuasion industry" — a frightening journey that shows us how the advertising business works to manipulate us.

• Veronica Mars (8 p.m., Ch. 24): Veronica searches for a pregnant woman who disappeared after arguing with her boyfriend.

• One Tree Hill (8 p.m., Ch. 30): Secrets and lies are revealed when Brooke, Peyton, Haley and Anna have a slumber party.

• Scrubs (8:30 p.m., Ch. 5): Julianna Margulies, who spent six seasons in a TV hospital playing a nurse on "ER," is back in another TV hospital. (Albeit a much more humorous one.) She guest stars as the daughter of a patient. OK, she's not just a patient's daughter, she's a shark-like malpractice attorney.

• NYPD Blue (9 p.m., Ch. 4): In its final season, "NYPD Blue" isn't doing so well in the ratings. And, whether it's desperation or just the feeling that anything goes now, the show's writers are bringing somebody back from the dead. Jimmy Smits returns as detective Bobby Simone, who died a theatrical and highly rated death on the show back in 1998. Well, he sort of returns. The episode is titled "The Vision Thing," and Andy Sipowicz (Dennis Franz) is having one when he sees his old partner.