TV

TV Database

EW Presents...

Exclusive star interviews

EW Games

Cover Story

Returning Shows

Fall TV Preview/Tuesday

More

By Kristen Baldwin

Kristen Baldwin

Kristen Baldwin is an assistant managing editor for EW

HOME IMPROVEMENT ABC, 8-8:30 PM

As the sitcom gears up for what will likely be its final season, Tim (Tim Allen) starts an outreach program, tooling around in a van and helping neighbors with fix-it projects, while sidekick Al (Richard Karn) woos an actress (A League of Their Own's Megan Cavanagh) who owns a pet rat. Two ex-rugrats are deserting the series: We'll see a lot less of Zachery Ty Bryan's Brad, who pursues a pro-soccer career in Europe, and Jonathan Taylor Thomas' Randy, who'll travel to Costa Rica to try to save the rain forests. Which is probably easier than saving this sinking show. (Sept. 22)

MOESHA UPN, 8-8:30 PM

Randy's L.A. teen is now a high school senior, which means homecoming, prom, and thinking-about-college episodes. Plus, in the season premiere, Moesha meets her famous look-alike, pop star Brandy. Explains executive producer Vida Spears: ''Kim [Countess Vaughn] was supposed to get tickets to a Brandy concert, but she oversleeps, so she tells Moesha, 'Well, you look like her.' A security guard mistakes her for Brandy and lets them in.'' What's Brandy's reaction to her doppelganger? Says exec producer Sara Finney, ''At first she's afraid, but they wind up realizing they have a lot in common.'' Like genes. (Oct. 6)

MAD ABOUT YOU NBC, 8-8:30 PM

Helen Hunt and Paul Reiser have begun shooting what will probably be the sitcom's last season on location in Manhattan, where Hunt has been starring in Broadway's Twelfth Night. While they were in town, fellow zillionaire Jerry Seinfeld shot a cameo as himself; he mistakes Paul for a crazed fan. (Sept. 22)

JAG CBS, 8-9 PM

Expect loads of action on this military drama, and maybe even some real action for David James Elliott's Lieut. Comdr. Harmon Rabb Jr.. His ideal leading lady? ''My wife [actress Nancy Chambers] is fabulous with me -- that's the God's honest truth. There's great sexual tension between us.'' One would hope. (Sept. 22)

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER THE WB, 8-9 PM

With Angel (David Boreanaz) banished to hell, Sarah Michelle Gellar's Buffy tentatively reenters the dating arena. ''Hopefully, at least one of the people she dates won't be a monster,'' jokes creator Joss Whedon. Angel will rise again later in the season (he'll materialize in Buffy's dreams in the meantime) and gets his own spin-off in fall '99. There are plenty of other romances: Oz (Seth Green, now a regular) flunks 12th grade and returns to squire Willow (Alyson Hannigan), who's dabbling in witchcraft. Xander (Nicholas Brendon) continues his love-hate relationship with Charisma Carpenter's Cordelia. Even straight-laced librarian Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) may, in Whedon's words, ''get some.'' ''I was about to, and she got killed,'' says Head, referring to Giles' courtship of doomed Miss Calendar. ''It was the best contraceptive I've ever seen.'' What with Brimstone, death as birth control is getting a real workout this season. (Sept. 29)

Page 1 of 3 Next