The Steve Harvey Show The WB, 8-8:30 PM
The Original King of Comedy's sitcom will sign off after 13 episodes this season, but not before word of the secret romance between vice principal Steve (Harvey) and principal Regina (Wendy Raquel Robinson) leaks out. ''There's a constant merry-go-round of problems that comes up because she's his boss,'' says exec producer Stan Latham. Trouble also abounds when Cedric (Cedric the Entertainer) and Lovita (Terri J. Vaughn) argue over the name of their impending arrival. ''He made a deathbed promise to his grandfather,'' says exec producer Winifred Hervey. ''[But]she will not name her child Ezekiel.'' How about Cedric the Entertainer Jr.? (Oct. 7)
Malcolm In the Middle Fox, 8:30-9 PM
Frankie Muniz knows what he wants in the sitcom's third season: ''Hopefully, a girlfriend!'' says the 15-year-old star. According to creator Linwood Boomer, it's a definite possibility. ''We're dealing a lot more with girls this year,'' he says. ''It lets us increase the misery content of the show by about 100 percent.'' So does older brother Reese (Justin Berfield) when he starts driving illegally. Eldest child Francis (Christopher Kennedy Masterson) is ''leaving the military academy, but he isn't returning home,'' Boomer says. ''I can't tell you where [he's going].'' Masterson has an idea: ''Francis becomes a vegan and starts breaking into test clinics and stealing animals, and then having love affairs with the animals,'' he suggests. ''How cool would that be?'' We hope he's kidding. (Nov. 4)
THE X-FILES
FOX, 9-10 PM
''In many ways, it's a new series,'' says exec producer Frank
Spotnitz. David Duchovny's Mulder is gone for good, Gillian
Anderson's Scully is a mother, and Annabeth Gish's FBI
agent Monica Reyes is now a full-time lead. Cary Elwes
(The Princess Bride) will play a recurring role as Gish's old
flame, an FBI assistant director, and ex-Warrior Princess Lucy
Lawless guests on the ninth season's first two episodes, but
details of her role are top secret. With their spin-off axed, the
Lone Gunmen (Bruce Harwood, Tom Braidwod, and Dean Haglund) will
be back -- as will creator Chris Carter, who flirted with the idea
of exiting the show. And don't be surprised if we see the
presumed-dead Krycek (Nicholas Lea) again. ''Anything can happen,''
says Spotnitz. ''I would look at [Krycek's] dialogue very closely
before he got shot.'' That sound you hear is millions of X-Philes
racing to their VCRs. (Nov. 4)
NIKKI
THE WB, 9-9:30 PM
How do you attract viewers to a show that ranked 136th in its
first season? Just add robots. Aspiring pro wrestler Dwight
(Nick von Esmarch) invents a new sport where he grapples with
Battlebot-esque contraptions. The sitcom will channel past TV
hits when Nikki (Nikki Cox) imagines herself as Roseanne
Conner and Dwight dreams of her as Peg Bundy (Married...With
Children neighbors Amanda Bearse and David Garrison pop up).
''It's gonna be a much funnier show,'' promises creator Bruce
Helford, who says Cox has cleared one big hurdle: ''People don't
see her as a young tart anymore -- they see her as a young
comedienne.'' One with gigantic breasts. (Oct. 7)
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