I am – Hercules!!

Angel

The First, we learn, did an even shoddier job than expected. The Watchers Council still appears to up and running – or, at least, will be soon. (Is this maybe why Buffy is in Europe?) “Angel” casting execs indicate that for 5.7 they’re looking for someone to play Wesley’s dad, Roger Wyndam-Pryce, a representative of the council sent to evaluate whether Wes should be restored to its ranks.

But, wait, what about 5.6? Script pages for that episode went out to casting agents Friday, and it seems the episode will center around an employee working in the Wolfram & Hart mailroom. He’s a former Mexican wrestler who did in the 1950s what Team Angel does now: ridding us of monsters and other ne’er-do-wells. Seems the wrestler, who went by the name “Number Five” once defeated a demon known as Tezcatcatl, “The Aztec Warrior,” who murdered his four wrestling brothers. Now that the creature has returned 50 years later, Angel needs Number Five’s help.

The OC

Tuesday’s “OC” will be the last “OC” on Tuesday. The series will disappear for six weeks (to make room for Fox’s snoretastic sports programming) and reappear permanently Thursday nights at nine (so those of us who couldn’t give a doot about “Will & Grace,” “CSI” and “Extreme Makeover” have something to watch).

Here’s what happens Tuesday, as the kids undertake an impulsive road-trip to Tijuana: Marissa will get news of her parents' impending divorce AND catch bullying boyfriend Luke with another girl. A big-deal local law firm, impressed with how Sandy Cohen rescued Jimmy Cooper from a prison sentence, tries to recruit Sandy to do the same for other rich Newport Beach residents with legal trouble. He’s recruited by supersexy lawyer Rachel Hoffmann, who, when she was an assitant district attorney, was routinely defeated by Sandy.

When the show returns on Oct. 30, Sandy will have quit the public defender’s office to set up shop at Patridge, Savage & Kahn. Ryan will have to take an impossible placement test to join Seth at Pacific Harbor High. And Marissa, reeling from Luke’s infidelity and her parents’ split, will find herself in hospital and readied for admission into a psychiatric facility.

The West Wing

The big news is that about six or seven weeks into the new season, with John Amos off playing the grouchy dad on “All About The Andersons,” Admiral Fitzwallace will have been replaced a new head of the joint chiefs, one Gen. Alexander.

Josh, meanwhile, continues to deal with the fallout from his dust-up with the Democratic senator from Idaho. The administration in hastily recruiting someone else to handle the White House’s legislative affairs, and Josh is finding his ability to influence in freefall.

C.J. finds herself undertaking an unexpectedly long trip to Oklahoma when the president, moved by the aftermath of a deadly and devastating tornado, impulsively decides to stick around for a memorial service the next day. This makes the secretary of state nuts, because Bartlet was slated to meet with German dignitaries back in D.C.

Gilmore Girls

The momentarily untiled fifth episode will see Rory underake her first post-Jess date, which goes badly. She’s also coping with a lot of dorm laundry room ettiquette. Lorelai is shocked to discover the woman she hired to decorate the Dragonfly was the same individual who remodeled Emily & Richard’s house two years earlier. Perhaps feeling a little lonely with Rory gone, Lorelai invites Luke over to watch “Casablanca.” This script made Herc laugh out load at least five different times, which never happens. Whoever wrote (or rewrote?) it was in rare form.

ER

The big news is nurse-turned-med-student-turned-nurse Abby Lockhart is a med student again. Within the first handful of episodes this season, she’ll be working rotations under both Corday and a former boyfriend, doing rounds alongside much younger students (like the one played by “Bend It Like Beckham” star Parminder Nagra). In other developments, superhot pharmaceutical rep will arrive bearing gifts and snacks for the residents. Against the wishes of many, including the mother and his supervisors, Pratt will push to save the life of a preemie born after only 24 weeks of gestation. Another doctor will support a teen who stops taking his haldol. Romano pushes for the administration of more medical tests per patient to drive up the ER’s bottom line.

In a later episode, Abby will make a huge mistake while on her first day of ER rotation, Gallant makes a tough call when he decides to transport a 12-year-old leukemia victim in septic shock, Romano will have to administer a rape kit to a young Latino man, and Susan and Abby will discover a soccer mom’s bizarre secret.

The Amazing Race

This morning’s Variety reports that CBS has given the go-ahead to cast a fifth edition of “The Amazing Race,” even though the network hasn’t actually ordered a fifth season.