The Drew Carey Show
At the heart of this lively ABC sitcom is the battle between Carey, a heavyset average Joe working in Personnel, and his boss's bullying assistant (Kathy Kinney), who looks like Tammy Faye Bakker's evil twin.
Seinfeld
Killer envelopes! Parallel-universe diners! Japanese tourists sleeping in dresser drawers! Everything, it seems, but an owl and a pussycat in a beautiful pea-green boat turned up as the NBC sitcom entered its hilariously delirious eighth season.
Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
These two syndicated shows have the cheap fun of an old gladiator movie. But the '50s never saw ancients so lean and toned as Lucy Lawless and Kevin Sorbo, who could inspire even proud couch potatoes to head for the gym.
Gotti
Armand Assante, absolutely riveting as New York City mobster John Gotti, clawed and killed his way to the top in HBO's Godfather of TV crime movies—brutal, fast and profane.
The X-Files
Didn't see the notorious "incestuous mutants" episode? It was only the creep-out of the year. Given the amount of flesh this paranormal series typically sends crawling, that's saying a lot.
Profit and Nowhere Man
Both so cool, both so canceled. Fox's Profit plotted the rise of a lethally ambitious junior executive (Adrian Pasdar). UPN's Nowhere Man starred Bruce Greenwood as a photojournalist whose identity was erased in an Orwellian conspiracy.
The Politician's Wife
In this beautifully acted Masterpiece Theatre two-parter, Juliet Stevenson, the demure spouse of a Conservative member of Parliament, just as demurely exacts her revenge after she discovers that her husband is philandering. Considerably more suspenseful than It Takes a Village.
Late Night with Conan O'Brien and The Rosie O'Donnell Show
In his fourth season, NBC Late Night host O'Brien has finally taken command of his desk. And the ebullient O'Donnell, kicking off her own celebrity-worshipping show in syndication, overnight became TV's hottest hostess.
Relativity
From the team that created My So-Called Life and thirtysome-thing, this warm, offbeat drama about two new lovers (Kimberly Williams and David Conrad) and their family ties was embraced by critics, but audience response has been cool.
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