Though still waddling around in their safety-pinned diapers, Chuckie, Angelica, Tommy, Phil and Lil will turn 10 when Nickelodeon kicks off a new season of Rugrats on Jan. 15 beginning with a six-hour Rugrats marathon, capped off by the season premiere.

        In addition, the new season's episodes, which will air Saturdays, feature a new opening title for the first time since the show's premiere in 1991. The updated sequence shows the babies frolicking with new characters Kimi, Dil and Susie, and a new arrangement of the show's theme music.

        “During the past decade, Rugrats has evolved from a ratings powerhouse, being the number one children's show on TV, to pop icon status,” said Cyma Zarghami, Nickelodeon executive vice president and general manager. “And it has secured a place in the hearts of both kids and adults, who see it from their own point of view.”

        In the season opener titled “Finsterella,” Angelica plants seeds of doubt and fear in Chuckie's mind about his future with a new stepmother and stepsister, and he dreams about a fate where he caters to Angelica and Kimi's every whim, while the other babies get ready for a lavish party. Chuckie wakes up to a party in which Kira and Chuckie's dad, Charles, celebrate the adoption of each other's child.

        Bergen back: It took awhile for Candice Bergen to get used to acting again when she appeared in the new movie Miss Congeniality.

        The former Murphy Brown star said she had forgotten how much longer it takes to make a movie than a TV show.

        “I just couldn't believe how many hours I was in my trailer. I got to know my Winnebago better than I ever hoped,” she said. “And I forgot because I hadn't acted at all since Murphy Brown, and that was three years, and I hadn't done a movie for 15, and I just forgot how much downtime there is.”

        Ms. Bergen said when Murphy Brown went off the air in 1998 after 10 years, she wanted to take some time off.

        “As you get older, you don't have as many opportunities to do things,” Ms. Bergen, 54, told reporters. “I want to do comedy. I love doing comedy. I really miss doing the show for the comedy, among other things.”

        In Miss Congeniality, Ms. Bergen plays a scheming former beauty-pageant queen who runs the Miss United States contest. Sandra Bullock, Michael Caine and Benjamin Bratt also star.

        Ellen update: Ellen DeGeneres, who made history when she and her character came out on ABC's Ellen in 1997, will pop up as a nun on NBC's gay-friendly Will & Grace.

        In “My Uncle the Car,” set for February, Ms. DeGeneres plays savvy Sister Louise, “who looks to make a profit when she buys the jalopy once owned by Grace's (Debra Messing) late uncle.”

        Ms. DeGeneres has been working on a new series for CBS, now tentatively slated for fall. The show has evolved from a sketch comedy show or a Larry Sanders-style show-within-a-show to a traditional sitcom format.

        CBS President Les Moonves says Ms. DeGeneres requested the change because “she just felt more comfortable” in a traditional format. The new series will feature Ellen as a lesbian who returns to her small Midwestern hometown.

        Sound familiar? “I'd like to describe it as "Normal, Ohio,' but I won't,” Mr. Moonves says, referring to the short-lived Fox comedy starring John Goodman as a gay man who returned to his fictional hometown outside of Cincinnati.

        TV awards: Television fans can start marking 2001 awards show dates on their calendars:

        • CBS' 27th Annual People's Choice Awards airs Sunday (9 p.m., Channels 12, 7).

        • The 58th Annual Golden Globe Awards air on NBC Jan. 21 (8 p.m., Channels 5, 22).

        • The third annual TV Guide Awards, which lets fans pick the winners, will be taped by Fox Feb. 24 for broadcast March 7. Nominees selected by entertainment industry executives and producers will be published in TV Guide editions of Saturday and Jan. 13. Votes also may be cast online in January at www.tvguide.com.

        • The 53rd annual Prime-time Emmy Awards will be presented Sept. 16 in Los Angeles. Nominations will be announced July 12.

        Daily no-show: Jon Stewart, host of Comedy Central's The Daily Show, will take time off this year to make his first movie in two years.

        The comedian will play a ruthless network executive in Death to Smoochy, a comedy starring Robin Williams and Danny DeVito.

        Mr. Stewart plans to host The Daily Show as much as possible around filming in New York and Toronto. He'll also cover the inauguration of George W. Bush later this month for the cable channel.

        Mr. Stewart has a year to go on his contract, but there's no talk about his splitting to become a full-time movie actor like former Talk Soup host Greg Kinnear.
       The Associated Press, USA Today and the Philadelphia Inquirer contributed to this report.

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