TV News
Cast changes planned for 'Ally McBeal,' 'ER'

USA Today

Cast changes are afoot on "ER" and "Ally McBeal."

Sherry Stringfield, who split after three seasons, returns as Dr. Susan Lewis for the next three seasons. Should be interesting, plotwise, since Susan and Mark (Anthony Edwards) had a thing going, but Mark is now married to Elizabeth Corday (Alex Kingston).

On "Ally," Josh Hopkins ("The Perfect Storm"), Regina Hall ("Scary Movie"), James Marsden ("X-Men") and Julianne Nicholson ("The Love Letter") reportedly will join the cast in a makeover that'll include departures of Lisa Nicole Carson and James LeGros.

Briefly:

• The popularity of HBO's "The Sopranos" seems to be drawing new viewers to the network. Sunday's fourth-season opener of "Sex and the City" drew 6.2 million viewers, a 48 percent increase over last season's debut. Newcomer "Six Feet Under" drew 5.1 million viewers — the largest audience for an HBO launch. By comparison, when "The Sopranos" launched three seasons ago, 3.5 million people tuned in.

• In the '90s, three out of four government-themed TV shows portrayed politics as corrupt or worse. But among current series (1999 to 2001) that trend has reversed itself, says a study by the Council for Excellence in Government. The group says NBC's "The West Wing" has created a ripple effect of fall dramas on the Supreme Court, the CIA and other agencies.

Teachers didn't fare well, reversing favorable ratings from the '90s, but the group noted that the primary drama about teachers is Fox's "Boston Public," which portrays them warts and all.