‘Roswell’ Arrives Intact on UPN

The aliens have landed.

After a two-year stint building a near-cult status on the WB, “Roswell” begins a new incarnation at 9 tonight on UPN.

The young-adult drama with a science-fiction pulse, scripted tonight by executive producer Jason Katims, was cut adrift by the WB (a subsidiary of Tribune Co., which owns the Los Angeles Times) in May.

UPN President Tom Nunan attributed the problems to lineup shuffling by that network and mismatched lead-ins such as the softer family drama “7th Heaven.”

But now, with fellow WB refugee “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” leading the way, “Roswell” may find a larger audience for its quirky charms.

Those charms arrive intact for the new season, with the plot line’s budding romance between lead alien Max Evans (Jason Behr) and earthling Liz Parker (Shiri Appleby) being challenged by the FBI, Utah police and, perhaps most formidably, by their respective parents.

Even for those uninitiated in “Roswell’s” interplanetary machinations, tonight’s episode offers deft use of flashbacks and time-stamped subtitles to get you up to speed.

Evocative music, offbeat humor and stylish direction by Allan Kroeker get “Roswell” off to a rousing start. And although it has an occasional wobble in the acting and a hormonal precociousness that may offend some, where else can you get such dialogue-with-a-wink banter as in a scene with Max and Liz?

“Liz, I just want to put everything that happened behind us.”

“Yeah, I know that. I would too if I had impregnated an alien who had murdered one of our best friends and then left the planet with my unborn child.”

“So you’re still holding on to that?”

Out of this world.

Surf Report

SPORTS

Fox spreads coverage of major league baseball’s division series playoffs across its broadcast and cable outlets (1 p.m. KTTV, 1 and 5 p.m. Fox Family).

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SERIES

On the mend after last season’s car accident, Dharma’s ready to go, but Greg says “no” to resuming their physical relationship, on “Dharma & Greg” (8 p.m. ABC).

No rest for the slayer: Barely back from the dead, and yet another demon for Sarah Michelle Gellar to face on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (8 p.m. UPN).

With the U.S. airstrikes underway, PBS moved up Thursday’s edition of “Frontline,” which deals with the men believed to be behind the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks (9 p.m. KCET). An earlier “Frontline” about Osama bin Laden will be repeated at 8 p.m.

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MOVIES

Gong Li and Leslie Cheung star in “Temptress Moon” (5:30 and 10 p.m. IFC), a sumptuous tale of opium and intrigue set in 1920s Shanghai.

If “Where were you in ‘62?” is the question, “Modesto” might be the answer in director George Lucas’ nostalgia-driven “American Graffiti” (11:30 p.m. TCM), starring Richard Dreyfuss.