Sunday's Returning Shows

FUTURAMA
She got an Emmy nomination for playing Dewey's babysitter on Malcolm in the Middle, and this season Bea Arthur guests on another Fox Sunday comedy, voicing Futurama's ''Femputer,'' the leader of a society of man-killing Amazons. There'll be no such animosity between pizza guy Fry and 31st-century fox Leela — they make it to the altar, and ''I'm not going to say what happens next, but it involves the Harlem Globetrotters,'' spills exec producer David X. Cohen. Violence breaks out again on the Christmas show, though. ''There's a lot of Santa Claus murdering and rampaging,'' says Cohen. ''I know it's going to be good because the Fox censors are very unhappy with it.'' (Nov. 5)

THE JAMIE FOXX SHOW
The In Living Color alum will launch his own WB sketch show midseason — but not before doing 15 more episodes of his eponymous sitcom, thus reaching the magic syndication number of 100. The finale will feature the wedding of Jamie and Fancy (Garcelle Beauvais). Says Foxx, pictured, ''We're going to end it on a bang.'' So to speak. (Oct. 8)

KING OF THE HILL
Guest voices-a-go-go: Brendan Fraser as a slow-minded jock whom substitute teacher Peggy flunks, much to husband Hank's chagrin (''His booster club and the whole town rises up against her,'' says executive producer Richard Appel); Lisa Kudrow as office worker Dale's stiff-necked new supervisor; Renée Zellweger as Hank's scantily attired new coworker; Kathy Bates as a traffic cop who develops a crush on Hank; Snoop Dogg as a white wannabe gangsta pimp; and Shanghai Noon's Owen Wilson as a 26-year-old virgin who falls for Hank's niece, Luanne. Plus, during a road trip to Austin, Hank moons Texas ex-governor Ann Richards. Guess George Dubya Bush was busy. (Nov. 5)

TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL
Richard Chamberlain alert! The Thorn Birds' randy priest appears in a dual role as a New York City socialite and his gold-mining great-grandfather in an 1893 flashback. Monica (Roma Downey) will also deal with such futuristic topics as ''What if there really is a Matrix?'' hints exec producer Martha Williamson. ''But God is behind the curtain.'' To quote Keanu Reeves: Whoa. (Oct. 1)

THE SIMPSONS
The cartoon enters its 12th season, and thankfully, Homer's got plenty of high jinks left in him: He gets his thumb chopped off by Marge, starts a civil war when Springfield is split into two area codes, grows thinner after going on a hunger strike, and gets smarter after a crayon that's been lodged in his brain since childhood is removed. Listen for the Who, Drew Barrymore, Edward Norton, Michael Keaton, and authors Stephen King, Amy Tan, and John Updike. ''What other cartoon can say that?'' boasts creator Matt Groening of this literary coup. ''Perhaps Scooby-Doo.'' (Nov. 5)