Weeks after rivals introduced their new fall programming, to no great fanfare, baseball-delayed Fox is about to unload its big guns. (Related item : Baseball boosts Fox ratings)

Besides promising starter The O.C., which returns Oct. 29 on a new night after a seven-week summer run, there are returning hits such as Joe Millionaire (tonight, 8 ET/PT), 24 (Oct. 28), The Simpsons (Nov. 2) and American Idol (January). Helping kick off the season tonight is the steamy soap Skin (9 ET/PT), which could benefit from Joe’s lead-in. The show follows star-crossed lovers whose dads - a porn mogul and a district attorney - are at war. From there, look for :

•A Minute With Stan Hooper (Wednesdays, 8 :30 p.m., Oct. 29) stars comedian Norm Macdonald as a faux-folksy TV commentator who gives up Manhattan for rural Wisconsin, where he’s surrounded by eccentric locals.

•Tru Calling (Thursdays, 8 p.m., Oct. 30) is a fast-paced drama starring Eliza Dushku (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) as a woman who can relive an entire day to prevent tragedies.

•Arrested Development (Sundays, 9 :30 p.m., Nov. 2), the season’s most critically praised comedy, is a wacky dysfunctional-family series narrated and produced by Ron Howard. Jason Bateman stars with Jeffrey Tambor.

•The Simple Life (Tuesdays, 8 :30 p.m., Dec. 2), a reality series that follows rich pals Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie to a farm in Arkansas.