Mr. Show Must Go On

After Mr. Show pulled in some dicey numbers in its first season, it took another comedy VIP — Sanders star Garry Shandling — to help persuade HBO chairman/CEO Jeff Bewkes to renew the series. Despite limited network publicity, Mr. Show slowly cultivated a fervid following, especially among college blokes and their comic heroes like Chris Rock and David Spade. ''The reason we've kept Mr. Show around is just because it's good,'' says HBO's Albrecht. ''A show like this comes around only once in a while. Whereas Sanders had tremendous prestige in the scripted-comedy world, Mr. Show has even more in the alternative-comedy world.''

Whether Mr. Show will ever earn any mainstream prestige remains to be seen. For his part, Albrecht is moving the show from cool-kids'-night-out Friday to Monday and vows to up HBO promotion. And this season, there's plenty to plug: Film hunk Vince Vaughn guest-stars! The boys take on medical marijuana! Meanwhile, Odenkirk and Cross have been upping their profiles elsewhere — they appeared in tandem on NewsRadio and Odenkirk popped up on Everybody Loves Raymond. Then there's the big-screen exploit: The pair hope to star in Universal's Hooray for America, a dark comedy they wrote about an evil corporation backing a clueless actor's bid for the American presidency. Like all mad scientists, the guys are reluctant to reveal too much about the project. Whispers Cross: ''All I can say is...I hope you like Charo.''