Happy Renew Year

Image credit: Pasadena: Aaron Rapoport/Fox

'CHINA' BITCH Delany will channel Joan Collins in her new role as a huffy matriarch on ''Pasadena''

Dana Delany, ''Pasadena'' You remember her fondly from the esteemed Vietnam War drama ''China Beach,'' but Delany's new TV vehicle is a Fox nighttime soap in which she plays the wicked wife in a rich-Los-Angeles-family saga -- think of it as Delany's homage to ''Dynasty'' and ''Dallas.''

Ellen DeGeneres, ''Ellen Show'' Meet the new ''Ellen Show'' on CBS, not the same as the old ABC ''Ellen'' show. Here, DeGeneres plays a big city woman who moves back to her small hometown to live with her mother, played by the spry, 75-year-old Cloris Leachman. Yep, Ellen's still gay, but in a gentler, less in-your-face kinda way that befits a gentler, more cozy comedy.

Which of these returning faces has the best chance of success? I'd say Bakula has picked himself a prime franchise with ''Enterprise'' -- it's got rock-'em, sock-'em action, along with a new wrinkle in ''Star Trek'' time. Of the two Delany/Delaneys, Kim probably has a better shot than Dana, if only because ''Philly'' is a comfy lawyer show in a prime time slot (Tuesdays at 10 p.m.) while ''Pasadena'' is a genre that hasn't suceeded in recent years and is stuck on a Friday night, when nighttime soap fans are likely to be out whooping it up. And if Alexander's ''Bob Patterson'' can put even a small dent in the magnificent sailing yacht that is ''Frasier'' on Tuesdays at 9:00, I'll eat a yardarm. Whatever that is.