Steven

Devadanam

More New Shows

Last week I spotlighted some highly-touted new shows. Here's how the major networks are planning to muscle for the coveted 20-something audience. Don't say I didn't warn you:

Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place (ABC, premieres Wednesday at 8:30 p.m.) "How we gonna pay, how we gonna pay rent?" Pizza delivery! That's the premise of ABC's new 20-something sitcom, obviously designed to spar with NBC's House Rules. One problem: The story takes place in Boston. How many pizzas do you have to deliver to pay rent there!?

These are the Days (ABC, premieres Tuesday at 8:30 p.m.) A blue-collar New Yohka schticks his way through life with his snooty sister-in-law and son who've just moved in with him. This won't be as strong as ABC's "guy-girl-pizza thing," and if you want real snoot, watch Frasier.

Significant Others (Fox, premieres Wednesday at 8 p.m.) This is Fox's light-hearted answer to Party of Five. Get this: It's about a group of attractive friends in their 20s.

For Your Love (NBC, premieres Tuesday, March 17 at 8:30 p.m.) News flash: There are several shows this spring that deal with people in their 20s. This is one of them. News Update: This show features the little dog Jack Nicholson tossed in As Good as it Gets.

Night court, Judge Judy?

How do you know when you've made it in showbiz? You get parodied on Saturday Night Live. They've been doing great spoofs of Judge Judy more often, reflecting the show's numero uno daytime status. The show will move to late nights on UPN (that's KTXH for us locals.)

KTXH's programming director told me that the move is "classic counter-programming," meaning they want to butt heads with Keenan, Leno, Letterman and (gasp!) Mama's Family! Daytime TV lovers fear not, Her Honor will stay at the normal 12:30 p.m. time slot, with late nights starting tonight at 11 p.m.

Matt LeBlanc is so plastic

How else do you know when you've made it? When there's a four-inch action figure made in your image! As if being a Friends stud isn't enough, Matt LeBlanc gets immortalized in plastic soon. It's for his character in the new Lost in Space movie, major Don West. It's not even the 30-year-old's first shot at being plasticized, the bum. There was almost a Friends toy line.

School's a drag

Disney and cross-dressing, who would've thought?

Sunday night on ABC, Harland Williams (Wag the Dog, Half-Baked) gets to play dress-up as a swindler on the run. His character, Tucker, escapes being thugged by posing as the head of an all-girl school. His cover is constantly threatened by an ever-nosy Katey Sagal, or as most remember her, Peg from Married with Children.

Tom Hanks did it; so did Dustin Hoffman. So does dressing as a woman put Williams in line to become a major box-office draw? Probably not. Disney's The Headmistress airs Sunday night at 6 p.m. on ABC.

"Here she is..."

That's right, ladies and gentlemen, it's the 1998 Miss USA Pageant, live from Shreveport, La.! Highlights from this year's event are a music video on fitness (challenging stuff), segments on the metropolis that is Shreveport and judge Nancy Kerrigan, who won't be joined by Tonya Harding. Check this out Tuesday at 8 p.m. on CBS to see how Miss Texas does, and to see if anyone says, "I want to be a veterinarian because I love children."

Tales from the Converter Box

I didn't mean for this week's highlights to be so solemn, but there's quality cable programming out there that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Shiver Me Timbers!

Batten down the hatches and all that, Partrick "Picard" Stewart will head up a nifty cast in a rendition of Moby Dick that promises plenty of special effects, Gregory Peck and with hope, a parrot on someone's shoulder. I'm just looking forward to seeing Stewart with hair of any kind. The mega-Meliville classic premieres on USA, March 15-16 at 8 p.m.

Glory and Honor

Tonight at 10 p.m. and Thursday night at 9:30 p.m., a really decent historical tale airs on TNT. Called Honor and Glory, the story centers around Robert E. Peary and his African-American assistant, Matthew Henson, and their 18-year effort to conquer the North Pole. Peary is listed in history books as the man who discovered it, but in actuality, he was accompanied by Henson, who got there first and waited for him.

Henson, not surprisingly, never got credit for his achievement, working as a parking lot attendant while Peary enjoyed the fame. But it's a great story of friendship and final reward, with a good job by Delroy Lindo as the saintly Henson.

Have a favorite show I missed? Questions, comments, hate mail? E-mail me at BoobToobGy@aol.com.