Remote patrol

Cable TV is continuing to pull viewers away from the broadcast networks, and here are two couldn't-be-simpler reasons. At 8 tonight, Animal Planet (Time Warner channel 57; Jones channels 61M, 45K; Time Warner TCI channel 35B) presents "Twisted Tales," showing how three creatures demonized by the pop culture - bats, snakes and crocodiles - are actually wonderful animals we're lucky to have in our ecosystem. The documentary on bats is delightfully written (the more so with Dick Cavett's narration) and sympathetically filmed. Also at 8, Sci-Fi Channel presents "Martian Mania," a 60th-anniversary look back at Orson Welles' groundbreaking radio adaptation of "War of the Worlds. " Nothing fancy here, just a re-creation of that fateful night in 1938 when the broadcast aired, with recollections from some of those tricked by Welles' realistic drama.