The 2003 TV season: new shows, new faces, new attitudes!

Ebony, Oct, 2003 by Zondra Hughes

On NBC, the beautiful Aisha Tyler re-ignites an interracial romance on the hit sitcom Friends; Mykelti Williamson co-stars in Boomtown; Mekhi Phifer and Sharif Atkins are back saving lives on the hit medical drama ER; Donald Faison keeps his patients in stitches in the sitcom Scrubs; Michael Beach and Coby Bell return in Third Watch; Dule Hill is back on The West Wing; Jesse L. Martin and S. Epatha Merkerson return to Law & Order, Courtney B. Vance returns to Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and Ice-T returns to Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

On Fox, award-winning music producer Randy Jackson is back making dreams come true on the run-away hit American Idol; Dennis Haysbert and Penny Johnson-Jerald are back on the thriller 24; class is back in session for Boston Public staffers Chi McBride, Sharon Leal, Brooke Harper and Loretta Devine; and Craig Lamar Traylor is back on the sitcom Malcolm in the Middle.

UPN & THE WB

UPN and the WB have traditionally remained ahead of the curve in the promotion of Black talent. New shows on UPN with Blacks in lead or recurring roles include Rock Me Baby, a sitcom about relationships and parenthood through the eyes of a radio shock jock, with Carl Anthony Payne; and Jake 2.0 co-starring Judith Scott.

Returning shows on UPN with Blacks in leading or recurring roles include Girlfriends, starring Tracee Ellis Ross, Persia White, Golden Brooks, Jill Marie Jones and Reggie Hayes; The Parkers, starring Countess Vaughn James, Mo'Nique, Dorien Wilson, and Yvette Wilson; Half and Half, starring Essence Atkins, Rachel True, Telma Hopkins, Valarie Pettiford and Chico Benyman; One on One, starring Flex Alexander and Kyla Pratt; and Enterprise with Anthony Montgomery.

The WB is offering three engaging comedies this year--Steve Harvey's Big Tune, a new talk/variety show where the comedian celebrates everyday people with extraordinary gifts; Like Family Holly Robinson Peete spearheads this hilarious multiethnic sitcom about two families, one White, one Black, who share the same household); and All About the Andersons, a semi-autobiographical comedy series about fathers and sons starring comic actor Anthony Anderson.

Returning shows on the WB with Blacks in leading or recurring roles include Smallville with Sam Jones III; Angel with J. August Richards; What 1 Like About You with Wesley Jonathan; Tarzan with Miguel Nunez; and Everwood with Irv Harper.

CABLE

On Showtime, Dead Like Me returns, featuring Jasmine Guy; Street Time with Erika Alexander and Terrence Dashon Howard; and Jeremiah with Malcolm-Jamal Warner. Soul Food is on hiatus, but currently, encore episodes are being shown. The fifth season of Soul Food will premiere in 2004.

On HBO, Keith Charles returns to Six Feet Under and the gritty drama series The Wire is back with Wendell Pierce, Lance Reddick, Frankie R. Faison, Clarke Peters and Seth Gilliam.

PBS

PBS is offering two new series for its viewers. For music buffs, there's The Blues, a series consisting of seven impressionistic and interpretive films that traces the roots of the music genre from Africa, to its worldwide influence today. Viewers can enjoy some rare and exciting performances by Muddy Waters, Bessie Smith, B.B. King and others. And NOVA Presents: The Elegant Universe, a three-hour miniseries where physicist and educator Jim Gates discovers the answer to one of Einstein's biggest quandaries: "The Theory of Everything."