Blue Glow

Salon's TV picks for Monday, Sept. 20, 1999

By Joyce Millman

Sep 20, 1999 | Fall Premieres

The sitcom Ladies Man (8:30 p.m., CBS) stars Alfred Molina as a guy with a wife, an ex-wife, a mother, a mother-in-law and two daughters, and he wants them all to get out of his face. Created by Chris Thompson, who must have saved his good stuff for "Action." Co-starring Sharon Lawrence, Betty White, Park Overall and Dixie Carter. "7th Heaven" creator Brenda Hampton's family drama Safe Harbor (9 p.m., WB) stars Gregory Harrison as a widowed sheriff raising three sons and a foster daughter in a Florida beach town. Rue McClanahan (hey, it's "Golden Girls" comeback night!) pokes in as his mom. The most intriguing premiere tonight has to be Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (9 p.m., NBC), the "Law & Order" (with a little "Homicide" thrown in) spinoff set in the sex crimes unit and starring Chris Meloni ("Oz"), Dean Winters ("Oz"), Mariska Hargitay ("ER"), Dann Florek as his Capt. Cragen character from "Law & Order" and Richard Belzer, reprising his John Munch character from "Homicide." Finally, there's Family Law (10 p.m., CBS), yet another single mom-lawyer drama. But this one's created by Paul Haggis, who gave us the late, great, prematurely canceled "Sopranos" precursor, "EZ Streets." What's up with that? Kathleen Quinlan, Julie Warner and Dixie Carter (what, again?) star.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Series

Jenny Jones is profiled on a new Biography (8 p.m. EDT/9 PDT, A&E). The revamped Suddenly Susan (8 p.m., NBC) has its season premiere. Eric Idle is now aboard as Susan's new boss at the Gate, which is being transformed into a hip men's magazine. Whatever. On the season premiere of The King of Queens (8 p.m., CBS), Doug tries to recapture his youth by buying a motorcycle. 7th Heaven (8 p.m., WB) begins a new season with Matt preparing to fly the nest, except he needs a job first. Veronica's Closet (8:30 p.m., NBC) -- yes, it's still around -- begins a new season in a new time slot and with a new boss for Veronica: the widow of Alec (Ron Silver), who died in a freak volcano accident. On the season opener of Everybody Loves Raymond (9 p.m., CBS), Debra contemplates cosmetic surgery when Ray pays too much attention to the well-endowed mother of one of Ally's classmates. Debra? A boob job? Sounds uncharacteristic, but I'm sure the "Raymond" writers know what they're doing. Becker (9:30 p.m., CBS) opens the season with the doctor thinking a patient is stalking him.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Sports

Football:
Falcons at Cowboys (9 p.m., ABC)

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Talk

Rosie O'Donnell (syndicated) Queen Latifah, Kevin James, Sela Ward
David Letterman (CBS) Michael J. Fox
Jay Leno (NBC) David Spade, Debra Messing
Conan O'Brien (NBC) Tom Selleck, William Shatner (rerun)

• View blog reactions