Bette Midler fans won't be disappointed by her new show, and Rocky Carroll's old Cincinnati neighbors might not recognize him in his new comedy role, in TV's second week of premieres.

        Bette (8 p.m., Channels 12, 7): For Ms. Midler's fans, her first TV comedy is truly divine.

        Ms. Midler plays herself, surrounded by fictional friends and family. Think of this as Jerry Seinfeld playing a stand-up comic on Seinfeld, or Lucille Ball and her husband having neighbors named Fred and Ethel.

Bette Midler

        Her TV family includes her professor husband (Kevin Dunn, Nixon), a teen-age daughter (Marina Malota), best friend (Joanna Gleason, Love & War) and her musical accompanist (James Dreyfus, Notting Hill).

        The Divine Miss M strikes the right chord with self-deprecating humor (being accused of quoting her movies and stealing Danny DeVito's cocktail party food); her "feud” with Oscar-winner Sally Field; and her hilarious rendition of Kid Rock's “Bawitaba,” which she turns into a boogie-woogie tune in a brilliant piece of musical comedy.

        Her relationship with her new TV pals seems so natural. When pianist Oscar (Mr. Dreyfus) points out that he “went to Juilliard,” Ms. Midler shoots back: “Once. On a date.”

        The four-time Grammy winner had been searching for a sitcom for several years, turning down several variations of the divorced mother/single mother themes.

        “I'm basically playing myself, so I'm hoping I won't be too far off the mark,” she joked with TV critics in July. “It's the role I'm most comfortable with.”

        She's perfect in it. You could call it the role of a lifetime.

        Welcome to New York (8:30 p.m., Channels 12, 7): Fans of Rocky Carroll (Chicago Hope, Roc) may not recognize the 1981 School for Creative and Performing Arts graduate as the vain Bryant Gumbel-style anchor on CBS' new comedy.

        His Adrian Spencer fibs about his college football experiences while calling the new weatherman (comedian Jim Gaffigan) “a dirty liar” when comparing the costs of their identical eyeglass frames. He's so good, and so different from Chicago Hope's Dr. Keith Wilkes, you will forget it's him.

        Welcome to News York appears to have all the right pieces. The Murphy Brown veterans who are producing the sitcom for David Letterman's Worldwide Pants Inc. (Ed, Everybody Loves Raymond), retooled the star vehicle for Mr. Gaffigan into an ensemble comedy with an insecure executive producer (Emmy-winner Christine Baranski, Cybill), her assistant (Sara Gilbert, Roseanne) and the arrogant anchor.

        The parallels with Murphy Brown don't stop at the TV show-within-a-show. Nearby is a deli, not unlike Phil's bar, where a clerk (Mary Birdsong) becomes the staff's confidant.

        The show opens with Mr. Gaffigan, who plays himself, arriving from Fort Wayne. “I love this Midwestern wholesomeness that you seem to have,” declares show-runner Marsha Bickner (Ms. Baranski).

        “We do not want to change you,” she says. “Well, just your clothes. And your hair a little bit. And next week we'll work on that corn-fed belly.”

        Paired with Bette, CBS has formidable competition for ABC's Who Wants to be a Millionaire (which viewers can watch three other nights a week anyway). The forecast looks promising for the TV weatherman.

Authors plugging in to instant publishing
How to read: The new way
Got twins? Join the club
Toledo mom began club in 1953
KIESEWETTER: New fall TV
Health briefs
Theater review
Get to it
Pig Parade: Cured Ham Sandwich