Now that Hines is armed with his crack support team and encouraging early word from critics, perhaps the only thing he needs is a time slot that's more, well, mature; he's sandwiched between the Bronson Pinchot-as-alien sitcom Meego and Step by Step. "Gregory does have an adult appeal," Moonves says. "But if you like Meego, you'll like this, and if you don't like Meego, you'll like this." Adds Saperstein: "We're not concerned. If it was on Saturday morning at 7, it'd find an audience."
Of course, there's always one way to ensure a decent crowd: Care to break out those tap shoes, Gregory? "Actually, in one episode, I'm going to dream that I'm a dancer and I challenge [Broadway sensation] Savion Glover to a tap duel," he whispers with a wink. "And then I beat him, which is really dreaming."
PLAYERS
NBC, 8-9 p.m.
Starts Oct. 17
CONCEPT: Convicted criminals played by Ice-T, Costas Mandylor (Picket Fences), and Frank John Hughes go straight, helping the FBI catch bad guys.
THE SCOOP: Emphasizing the tongue-in-cheek aspect of this action hour, executive producer Ed Zuckerman says: ''This is a cop show the way Maverick was a Western.... They basically pull cons on the criminals.'' But a down-and-dirty series with stone-faced rapper Ice-T at 8 p.m.? Ice has a novel take on it: ''I like the early time slot.... Guys will be able to watch our show and see how to dress. All of a sudden, everybody in the clubs Friday nights is going to look like Players. We've really got a social commitment to change style in America.'' He adds a personal plea: ''They've got to let me get near a girl. I've been doing this stuff for years, and I cannot get within arm's reach of a girl in any script. What's up with that?''
BOTTOM LINE: As an alternative to ABC's and CBS' all-kid strategy, this updated Mod Squad seems too silly — even cartoony — for the grown-ups it's trying to lure.
THE VISITOR
Fox, 8-9 p.m.
Starts Sept. 19
CONCEPT: The visitor is Northern Exposure's John Corbett. He plays a pilot who was abducted by aliens back in the '40s. Now he's transported to 1997, and the government and aliens are after him — as a hero, he's the Lone X-File.
THE SCOOP: ''There's such a tendency to be really cold and hardware driven [in science fiction],'' says Dean Devlin, who along with Roland Emmerich produced Independence Day. ''We're trying to do a show where the center is its heart and its emotions.'' Devlin says doing a TV series is ''much, much harder than movies. If you have any standards of quality, to try to do this stuff on time and within those budgets [under $2 million an episode], it's a Herculean effort.''
BOTTOM LINE: Both Corbett and the pilot were stiff and solemn. Gee, watch it back-to-back with Millennium, and you've got two hours of grim poker faces!
MEEGO
CBS, 8:30-9 p.m.
Starts Sept. 19
CONCEPT: Bronson Pinchot is an alien-turned-Earth nanny; Jerry Maguire's Jonathan Lipnicki plays the youngest of the three kids.
THE SCOOP: ''I think the appeal of any nanny show is that it's your fantasy parent,'' says Pinchot. ''They have powers, they never get mad or smack you around.'' Upcoming plots? ''I only know about [one] episode, which is about building cool soapbox-derby cars. I build this magical one to show them how wonderful a soapbox car can be from outer space, but then I say you can't have that one. I'm not sure how that all works out, but I think I teach them some lesson...'' Yawn. We think we'd rather watch Meego slap the kids around.
BOTTOM LINE: Lipnicki's still darn cute, and it sure beats Boy Meets World.
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