Meanwhile, annoying programs like "Dharma & Greg" and "Two Guys, A Girl and a Pizza Place" keep coming back (the latest campaign is dropping the pizza place and giving the three telegenic stars - who, to be fair, try very hard with the material they’re given - a cool commercial to draw in more viewers), and "90210" simply refuses to die, despite the demise of its spin-off, the guilty pleasure known as "Melrose Place". This year, "Suddenly Susan" and "Jesse" will be extensively overhauled, which is good news, since Brooke Shields and Christina Applegate are generally appealing, game performers stuck with lousy material and situations. The war horse known as "Friends" proved itself a stalwart hit yet again, with some of the series’ best writing and the increasingly hilarious ensemble cast (notable mention to Jennifer Aniston; thumbs down to David Schwimmer’s noticeably one-note characterization) doing great work. "Dawson’s Creek" grew raunchier, more complex with the arrival of the improbably screwed-up but entertaining McPhee family, and proved that it wasn’t a flash in the pan. Now, if somebody will give James Van Der Beek’s Dawson something to do rather than just react to everyone else, the show might further improve. Also, for the last time, will Katie Holmes stop shrugging those shoulders of hers? And bring back Meredith Monroe, who was perfect as Joshua Jackson’s foil, even though she was later asked to play some pretty over-the-top, daytime soap opera histrionics.

"The X-Files" and "ER" are both losing grip on their audiences; the former probably due to that movie, and the latter due to lackluster scripts and a confusing roster of characters that re-define the term "revolving door". Unfortunately, Juliana Margulies and (more tragically) Gloria Reuben’s impending departures do not bode well for the show. Give Alex Kingston and Noah Wyle more to do, and make up your minds about Anthony Edwards’ character! It’ll also be nice if Brian Wimmer, who made a guest-starring appearance two seasons ago, got a chance to somehow come back.

So, what’s coming up for 1999? Well, for one thing, there’re far fewer new series being launched, which means a lot of returning "favorites" (I use the term loosely). Of the new crop of shows, ABC seems to have the stellar line-up. The only thing vaguely interesting on CBS is "Now and Again", created by Glenn Gordon Caron of "Moonlighting" fame. This confusing hybrid of scifi-action-comedy-drama about a dead cop’s brain being put into another body, and the attendant requirement that he severe all ties with his grieving widow and family, would sound terrible if not for the fact that Caron made the confusing hybrid of suspense-comedy-drama-romance work so beautifully on "Moonlighting" - let’s hope he hasn’t lost his touch. NBC plays it safe with "Law and Order: Special Victim’s Unit", a spin-off of the increasingly addictive, and more importantly, steadily improving "Law and Order". If the spin-off is anything like the most recent crop of the original, NBC has a solid, possibly! long-lasting stalwart on their hands. This year’s "Felicity" award goes to the greatly hyped "The West Wing", which looks nauseatingly self-righteous - but since the incredible Allison Janney is in it, I’m willing to give it a shot. The other big buzz show "Freaks and Geeks" sounds cute, but will it take off with audiences weaned on impossibly beautiful teens like the ones on "Popular", "Manchester Prep" and "Roswell"? Hmmm.

The WB continues its assault on teens with probably the same results. The unexpected success of "Charmed" will be tested this year when audiences finally realize that every episode is more or less identical (one of them will see the future, the other one will stop time, the third one will hurl things or people etc etc) , and "Angel" seems like a bad idea to me, but then again, so did "Buffy", so what do I know?

So why ABC? Why not? Although they are notorious for being impatient, flipping the death switch on "Cupid" and, a few years ago, "Homefront" (something thousands of fans have never forgiven them for), they were also smart enough to leave "Sports Night" and "The Practice" on air long enough for viewers to catch on to these quality programs. With an admittedly patchy track record of nurturing quality shows, one hopes that they give "Once and Again" (not to be confused with CBS’ "Now and Again") a fair run before making up their minds. The new Marhsall Hershkowitz-Ed Zwick hour of angst stars the almost legendary, multiple award-winning Sela Ward and Billy Campbell (best known as "The Rocketeer") as fortysomething single parents who start dating again - cutesy set-up promises many monologue filled moments, but since "thirtysomething" and "My So-Called Life" (which, incidentally, was another casualty of ABC’s trigger happy style) were stellar in spite of their premises, I’m willing to bet that "Once and Again" will be much-loved even if it not much-watched. Inheriting the Tuesday night slot of (the increasingly vapid) "NYPD Blue" for its initial run may alienate "Blue’s" hardcore fans, but it should give the show a decent shot at finding its own audience. Wunderkind Kevin Williamson’s "Wasteland" is a dicier bet - we know he’s a darling with teen audiences, but will his show about twentysomethings be any good? Of the hot cast being actively promoted, the most familiar name - Rebecca Gayheart - also plays the most re-written character, which is not a good sign. Brad Rowe, who gave a suitably enigmatic performance in "Billy’s Hollywood Screen Kiss", is touted as the breakout hunk, and Marisa Coughlan (who also appeared in Williamson’s "Teaching Mrs. Tingle") is being pushed forward as the virginal protagonist most viewers will root for (ie. She’s this year’s Keri Russell), while the others have been relegated to the background. My question is: Why isn’t Jeffrey Sams being promoted? Lastly, David E Kelley stretches himself even thinner by introducing "Snoops", which really sounds like either the new "Charlie’s Angels" (which is worrying) or a variation of "VIP" (which is even more worrying). Kelley has managed to wring success from unlikely sources in the past (I hate "Ally McBeal"), and he does have the chops to create wonderful shows ("The Practice", "Picket Fences"), and landing Gina Gershon, Paula Marshall and (the hitherto unjustly overlooked and underused; ie. He’s this year’s Mark Feuerstein) Edward Kerr can only help. But what’s the show really about - that, more than anything else, is likely to determine it’s success, and the jumbled ads about it so far are not promising.

Well, my hope this year is that ABC will be patient, and that UPN stops trucking out those stinkers. Most of all, when all else fails, there’s always "Will & Grace" - last season’s most consistently appealing freshman segueing ahead into its sophomore year. If the quality doesn’t sag, this show alone will give us all hope for the coming year.