Return of the Fab Four

There were no second acts for the four leads of "Seinfeld" (OK, "The New Adventures of Old Christine" is still hanging on by a thread, but does anyone actually watch it?), so it will be interesting to see how the "Will and Grace" foursome fares when (possibly) three of the old gang return to prime time in the coming television year.

TNT has greenlighted the Tom Cavanagh-Eric McCormack series "Truth in Advertising" for next season. The show, set at a Chicago ad agency, is scheduled to premiere in 2009 and centers on Mason (McCormack) and Conner (Cavanagh), creative executives at the firm and longtime friends whose relationship changes when Mason earns a promotion. I've always been lukewarn on McCormack. I remember wishing Thomas Gibson -- from the otherwise intolerable "Dharma and Greg" -- had been cast as Will, but he did grow on me over the years.

Debra Messing had a hit with the miniseries "The Starter Wife." For some reason I couldn't get through the first half hour -- let alone the other 30 -- but apparently it was so successful that it is being brought back as a 10-episode series this fall on USA Network.

Meanwhile Megan Mullally -- whose daytime talk show bombed right after "W&G" went off the air -- has been tapped to star opposite Alicia Silverstone (as her mother!) in the ABC comedy pilot called "Bad Mother's Handbook." The show follows three generations of women in a family, a 32-year-old woman (Silverstone), her 16-year-old daughter, and her 48-year-old mother (Mullally). (See where this is going?) Not slated for anything big is Sean Hayes, whose foray into reality TV (of sorts), "Situation: Comedy," was a bit of a dud. He has been working steadily though, turning up in various things, most recently "The Bucket List" (poor thing).

I loved "Will and Grace" so will likely give all of the shows at least a look.