Fall television sneak peak

Take two
With all the reconstruction among returning series, you'd think Bob Vila was a network exec. A bevy of shows are being completely made over for next season, ranging from ABC's Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place, which will ditch the eatery theme and become Two Guys and a Girl, to CBS' Chicago Hope, which booted no fewer than six of its regulars (including Emmy winner Christine Lahti) and will get an infusion of new blood, including Lauren Holly, Carla Gugino, and Barbara Hershey. Among the other notable overhauls: NBC's Jesse, which will now feature Christina Applegate as a nursing student living alone (goodbye barmaid job, goodbye family, though hunky love interest Bruno Campos sticks around); and NBC's Suddenly Susan, in which Brooke Shields will now work for a men's magazine, complete with a new boss (replacing Judd Nelson) and a new love interest (both roles are yet to be cast). Why are networks going to all the trouble to fix these shows? Sometimes they have no choice (Warner Bros., producer of Suddenly Susan, tied the show's renewal to NBC's ER deal), but most often it comes down to economics. ''If you're launching a new show, you have to spend much more money,'' says Western Initiative Media's Spengler. ''These are shows that [the networks] think have potential. And it's better than starting from zero.''