THE WEEK

A guide to notable programs by BRUCE FRETTS. (Times are Eastern standard and are subject to change.)

SERIES

WOE IS WE: There will be no new Larry Sanders Shows this year while Garry Shandling makes a movie. So for the time being, we'll have to make do with occasional appearances by Sanders' cast members, like Janeane Garofalo's guest spot on ELLEN (ABC, April 3, 8-8:30 p.m.). Larry's talent booker (soon to be seen on the big screen in The Truth About Cats & Dogs) plays a prickly patient whom Ellen (Ellen DeGeneres) meets while waiting to undergo a mammogram. Meanwhile, an animated Shandling graces the couch of DR. KATZ: PROFESSIONAL THERAPIST (Comedy Central, April 7, 10-10:30 p.m.). The neurotic stand-up shares his sexual philosophy with Jonathan Katz's low-key shrink (''I think it's really more important to start together than finish together''). We could do without the doctor's other headcase -- obnoxious, accordion-toting Judy Tenuta. But as always, when Shandling's on, the no-flipping rule is in effect.

TWO MONTHS back on a typically serious episode of GRACE UNDER FIRE (ABC, April 3, 9-9:30 p.m.), Robert Klein guested as Mr. Mullens, an HIV-positive grade school janitor. Grace (Brett Butler) defended him against small-minded parents who wanted him fired -- only to change her mind after she experienced his misanthropy. This week Grace reaches out to a caller on a crisis hotline, unaware it's Mullens. Klein again confronts bigotry on SISTERS (NBC, April 6, 10-11 p.m.) when his character, Big Al, ponders a business alliance with a racist (Jerry Hardin, known to X-Philes as Deep Throat). This ethical dilemma spurs Al to study up on his own ethnic traditions in a Very Special Sisters entitled -- we kid you not -- ''Guess Who's Coming to Seder.''

WHAT'S THIS -- an all-new night of Must See TV and it isn't even May sweeps? Seems like forever since a repeat-free Thursday night on NBC, but it's finally happened. The evening begins with FRIENDS (NBC, April 4, 8-8:30 p.m.), in which Chandler (Matthew Perry) and Joey (Matt LeBlanc) bond with fellow basketball fan Richard (Tom Selleck). SEINFELD (NBC, April 4, 9-9:30 p.m.) finds Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) dating a clothing salesman (Harry Van Gorkum) with an attractive employee discount. Robby Benson and director John Landis play themselves on CAROLINE IN THE CITY (NBC, April 4, 9:30-10 p.m.) when a movie shoots in the neighborhood. And Anthony Edwards steps into the spotlight on er (NBC, April 4, 10-11 p.m.) when Dr. Greene supervises a skeleton crew on a stressful night shift. Oh, and if you need a bathroom break, there's a new Boston Common, too.

FURTHER EVIDENCE that HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREET (NBC, Fridays, 10-11 p.m.) has unseated NYPD BLUE (ABC, Tuesdays, 10-11 p.m.) as TV's best cop drama was provided by recent episodes with striking parallels. Both dealt with child killings, but on NYPD it was another open-and-shut case for the frictionless partnership of Simone (Jimmy Smits) and Sipowicz (Dennis Franz), with the latter scaring a confession out of the murderer (American Gothic's Jake Weber) by threatening to beat him. On Homicide, however, the stabbing of a girl stirred up the simmering tension between Pembleton (Andre Braugher) and Bayliss (Kyle Secor), who tried to link the crime to a long-unsolved case. The culprit turned out to be a simpleton (SNL vet Chris Rock) who succumbed to Pembleton's interrogative coaxing. Both shows also engaged in nepotism, yet while Smits' real-life lady friend, Wanda De Jesus, seemed stiff portraying a cop, Braugher's wife, Ami Brabson, was warmly convincing as Pembleton's spouse. Case closed.