"Hearts Afire" had its problems last season, but I always liked the main characters.
John Ritter and Markie Post were a nice couple. Nice people you'd enjoy spending some time with.The series, alas, wasn't as good. Cast as aides to a U.S. senator, the show was both too political and often of questionable taste.
Sex jokes - many of them completely inappropriate for an early time slot - abounded. And some viewers were uncomfortable with the obvious sexual relationship going on between Ritter and Post's characters (John Hartman and Georgie Anne Lahti).
But there's good news. "Hearts Afire" - which returns with an hourlong episode tonight at 7 p.m. on Ch. 5 - has undergone a good deal of remodeling, and the result is a big improvement.
The political angle has been dumped. John, Georgie and the kids have left Washington, D.C., for a small town, where they've bought the local newspaper.
It's John's rather unrealistic dream to create a "Leave It to Beaver" childhood for his kids by returning to his hometown - ob-vious-ly unaware that it's not the same little place he remembers from his own rosy childhood.
Fortunately, tagging along are Billy Bob (Billy Bob Thornton) and his daughter. Thornton's deadpan observations and dry wit steal almost every scene he's in.
Billy Bob's mother is also a hoot, but the other new character is less successful. Conchata Ferrell joins the cast as a suicidal psychologist. (Not to be confused with the lesbian marriage counselor she played in a couple of the episodes last season.)
But, overall, this is a much-improved show. There's a good deal of genuine humor - and anything that can make you laugh out loud is worth watching.
There's also a good deal of those old-fashioned "family values," albeit with a '90s twist. John and Georgie's hearts still are afire for each other, but there are worse things on TV than a married couple who are truly in love.
Tonight's season premiere is a bit too long at an hour, although it's still fun to spend time with these folks.
`SOUTH OF SUNSET': I'd like to tell you about CBS' new series "South of Sunset." I'd like to - but I can't, because it wasn't available for preview.
This is not a good sign. Usually, when tapes aren't sent out to critics it means the network doesn't want us to see the show. And you can guess why.
I did see clips of "Sunset" several months ago, and it looked like it had possibilities. Former "Eagles" band member Glenn Frey stars as a down-on-his-luck private detective.
Aries Spears, a very funny, personable young man, tags along as Frey's sidekick, and Maria Pitillo co-stars as an aspiring actress who serves as his secretary.
But whether these possibilities developed . . . I don't know. We'll see tonight at 8 p.m. on Ch. 5.
MORE PICKUPS: ABC has ordered a full season's worth of episodes of several more of its new series, as well as one of its old ones.
The best news is that "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" will be around for the entire season.
The other new shows getting picked up are "Boy Meets World," "Grace Under Fire," and "Phenom." ABC had previously announced that "NYPD Blue" will be around for the entire season.
(For those of you keeping count, that's six of nine new series that have appeared so far this fall on ABC - a darn good batting average in network television.)
The network has also ordered two more episodes of "Missing Persons" for a total of 15, as well as three additional scripts for the series.
New shows that haven't gotten any good news - at least not yet - are "Moon Over Miami" and "Joe's Life."
ABC has also upped its order from 13 to 22 episodes of the returning "America's Funniest People," but then all the news can't be good.
STILL MAD: Keenen Ivory Wayans, the creator/executive producer/star of the original "In Living Color," made an acrimonious departure from the show last season after battling with Fox.
And he's mad at the fourth network again for airing reruns of "Color" in place of the late, unlamented "Chevy Chase Show."
Wayans fears that by consistently rerunning the series every time it has a scheduling problem, Fox is hurting the show's value when it goes into syndications shortly.
And he's probably right.
LA LIZ: NBC is working on a four-hour miniseries about the life of Elizabeth Taylor.
Let's see . . . a four-hour miniseries, once you account for commercials, is really about 190 minutes long.
Hmm . . . that averages out to less than 24 minutes per marriage - assuming they leave out her entire childhood.
Of course, 24 minutes is about how long some of those eight marriages have lasted.